Despite being contemporaries, Debussy and Tchaikovsky were different in many ways.
Tchaikovsky, older by 22 years, was one of the great Romantic composers. Debussy was the first of the Impressionists. Tchaikovsky was, in all likelihood, homosexual, while Debussy was a notorious womanizer.
Their paths crossed directly in 1880. Debussy, 18 at the time, had just landed his first job: pianist in the household of Nadezdha von Meck, a wealthy Russian businesswoman whose financial support of Tchaikovsky allowed him, it has been argued, to be the legendary composer he became. Von Meck sent Tchaikovsky a copy of young Debussy’s “Danse Bohemien,” to which he responded:
“It is a very pretty piece, but it is much too short. Not a single idea is expressed fully, the form is terribly shriveled, and it lacks unity.”
Ouch. Debussy may have taken this criticism harshly; the piece remained unpublished until 1932, years after Debussy’s death. Or, he may have shrugged his shoulders and gone right on having affairs with married women.
Differences aside, they overlap in their historic genius for gorgeous, moving music. This 2015 cover of one of Debussy’s finest piano compositions is as unusual as it is beautiful.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The bluegrass instrumentation. Debussy and banjo working well together sounds about as likely as Debussy and Tchaikovsky collaborating on an opera. But Punch Brothers’ Noam Pikelny (who we’ve also met on this blog before) makes it work.
2. On the Punch Brothers’ album Phosphorescent Blues, this track comes directly after “Julep,” a slow, brooding, Americana/Roots style track which was nominated for a Grammy in 2016. Following that with this is brilliantly bold.
3. In Debussy’s Suite Bergamesque, this is the fourth movement, coming directly after the much slower, much more legato “Clair De Lune,” which we featured here in week 29. Listened to in sequence, they sound like twins whose lives have veered in completely different directions.
Recommended listening activity:
Enjoying a glass of red wine. And a hamburger.