“Clair de lune” – Debussy, right?
The work began as a piano piece, one of the movements from Debussy’s “Suite bergamasque.” However, the lovely orchestral version was produced by André Caplet.
One of the reasons superior sorts tend to look down their noses at film music is that the composers frequently work with orchestrators (though the better composers are very meticulous about notating their requirements). However, the practice is not exclusive to Hollywood.
The Dutch masters were not always responsible for all the elements in the paintings attributed to them. For a famous example, see Rubens’ “Prometheus Bound” (which you can view in person, if you are reading this locally, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art). Similarly, successful authors sometimes set up studios, kind of like architects, with anonymous collaborators doing a lot of the heavy lifting. The practice dates back to at least Alexandre Dumas, who churned out novels at a dizzying rate.
In classical music, many of the orchestral works of Grieg and Liszt received ample assistance from others (though Liszt gained confidence – and autonomy – as time went on). Charles Koechlin worked behind the scenes with Debussy and Gabriel Fauré.
Caplet, a winner of the esteemed Prix de Rome, provided orchestrations for Debussy’s “Children’s Corner,” “Clair de lune,” “The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian” and “La Boiîte à joujoux.”
He directed the Boston Opera from 1910 to 1914. While serving in the First World War, he was caught in a gas attack, which resulted in the pleurisy that plagued him for the remainder of his short life. Caplet died in 1925, at the age of 44.
Why is it so important to us, I wonder, that a work of art emerge seemingly from a single source – the “auteur,” as it were? While most of Caplet’s own music languishes in obscurity, his work for Debussy lives on.
Happy birthday, André Caplet!
Caplet’s orchestration of “Clair de lune”:
His own “Septuor” for string quartet and three female voices:
Rubens’ “Prometheus Unbound”:
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/104468.html
PHOTO: Caplet (left) with Debussy