“Nuages” by Debussy

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was one of the most important composers leading into the 20th century. He pushed against boundaries, created his own harmonies, and paved the way for future composers to compose beautiful and unique sounds. Read more about him here.

Musical Analysis

Nuages is the first movement of a work called Nocturnes, a set of three symphonic poems (a symphonic poem is a work that illustrates a poem, painting, etc.). Debussy wrote Nocturnes around 1897, but it wasn’t premiered until December 1900 (read more about the work here).

At first listening, Nuages is light and shimmery, but there is much going on musically. The woodwinds introduce the opening theme, which they then develop and change throughout the work. And be sure to listen for the gorgeous 2nd theme that appears in the flute and harp and alternates with a solo violin/viola duet (4:52-6:10). Fun fact: the English horn has a very unique role in Nuages. It plays the same 5 note pattern all the way through with extremely little variation (the first rendition is 0:20-0:34).

Fun fact: the English horn has a very unique role in Nuages. It plays the same 5 note pattern all the way through with extremely little variation (the first rendition is 0:20-0:34).

Images Through Music

So what does it all mean? First of all, nuages is French for “clouds.” With that interpretation in mind, this piece is full of imagery! Let’s take a closer look.

The opening theme represents ever-shifting clouds as they move through the sky. Parallel triads constantly changing tonalities but then holding a C major chord where the French horn interjects softly with an E (2:12-2:30) is a ray of sunlight peeking through the clouds.

I’d also like to point out that the E played by the horns here is the pivot note into the next section, where unison strings create a new melody based on E while the woodwinds build in a counter-rhythm on top.

In the program for the concert where Nuages was premiered, Debussy wrote that his intent for this piece was to capture “the unchanging appearance of the sky with the slow and melancholy progress of the clouds, ending in a gray dissolution gently tinged with white”.