Claude Debussy’s “Clair De Lune” Essay

1. Re-read Take a Closer Look: Exploring Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” in your textbook.

2. Carefully listen to the piano piece “Clair de Lune” and critically examine its components, style, context, and influence. Listen for and try identifying at least TWO basic elements of music described in the required Module 6 textbook pages. You may also wish to refer back to the Module 6 Online Exploration resources as well as the required pages in your textbook for Module 6.

3. Read the essay “Musical Impressionism: The Early History of the Term” by Ronald L. Byrnside from The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 66, No. 4 (October, 1980), pp. 522-537, published by Oxford University Press here in Module 6.
4. Now that you’ve carefully examined and researched the work of music, write and submit the finished essay using at least three fully developed paragraphs and at least 500 words, in which you:

Describe Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” analytically. In doing this, identify at least TWO basic elements of music described in the Module 6 required textbook pages “The Basic Elements of Music.”
Identify the “mood” of the song. What kind of “Impression” does it give you?
Explain whether “Clair de Lune” is Apollonian or Dionysian, and provide evidence supporting your argument.
Knowing that “Clair de Lune” belongs to a musical school known as Impressionism (based on your research) describe the similarities and differences between Impressionism as an artistic movement (as we learned about in Module 5) and as a movement in music. Use evidence from “Clair de Lune” and your exploration of Impressionism to support your arguments.
Conclude by commenting on whether or not you believe that Music and Visual Art should share an artistic classification such as “Impressionism.” In other words, does referring to “Clair de Lune” (the song) AND Claude Monet’s “Impression Sunrise” (the painting) both as “Impressionism” make sense? Or is this just an example of Academicians in Humanities making an unnecessary connection?
Be sure to use and cite “Musical Impressionism: The Early History of the Term” by Ronald L. Byrnside and/or another essay you have already found and read as a research source article concerning the musical school and movement known as Impressionism

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.