Claude Debussy, Claire de Lune (Victor Borge)
You have probably heard Claire de Lune. It’s Debussy’s most famous work, and it’s been in a few movies. Debussy is one of the most unique and influential figures in classical music history, and Victor Borge is... well, that’s like asking who Daffy Duck is. You’ll have to find out for yourself.
To explain Debussy (pronounced “Deb - you - see”), first I need to remind you of the Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Monet is a household name because of his famous lily pad paintings. You are likely familiar with their unique effect: they’re beautiful from a distance, but look closely enough and they seem to blur, as though lacking in precision and detail. The essence of Monet’s paintings is not in their perfectionistic imitation of reality but rather in the impression they give. Yet, I wager fans of Monet’s work would defend how carefully he placed each brush stroke to achieve that desired effect.
What Monet was to painting, Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was to music. Debussy scorned the German Romantics who dominated music in the 19th century, who employed melody as protagonist and harmony as developing force in their straightforward musical narratives. Debussy sought to create an atmosphere of sound, in which musical ideas appear unbidden, like the elements of a landscape which seem to fade in and out of view of their own accord on a foggy day. And yet woe to the student who treats this with imprecision, who thinks he can achieve this effect without attention to each one of Debussy’s carefully chosen notes! Impressionism is as precise and well-ordered as any other musical style. And yet, it is almost unrecognizable next to German music of the same era. And this marked a major turning point in classical music history. Since the Middle Ages, music had developed many times and in many ways, but musicians, as a group, had generally remained on the same compositional train track. Debussy broke with this tradition and deliberately ventured out onto a brand new track, even as the Germans and Russians kept chugging along on theirs. In the twentieth century, compositional styles began to diverge far more, as though the great long track of musical creativity was now breaking apart into many smaller ones. Was Debussy the beginning of all of this? I believe he was.
Now, to the performance: What Victor Borge (1909-2000) does in this video is exceedingly unusual: he treats Clair de Lune with utmost seriousness. I should explain. Borge entertained the public for over 80 years. His worldwide fame was not due to his legendary interpretations of great works, but rather his side-splitting stand-up comedy routines at the piano. And while his humor remains the key element of his enduring popularity, this recording shows that he was also an unquestionably serious musician. He adored Clair de Lune, and is supposed to have said that he simply couldn’t poke fun at it. Many of Borge’s most devout fans (highly educated music listeners!) insist that his approach to this piece is more beautiful than any other.
Serious Victor Borge performances like this one are to be treasured because they’re so hard to find, but Borge’s comedy routines are all over the Internet. He was a magnificent performer who turned classical music, one of life’s most serious pursuits, into an uproarious experience.
For more of Debussy’s music, click here. (I particularly recommend the musical imagery of #5: La cathédrale engloutie, “The submerged cathedral”)