Reverie Debussy Analysis

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Introduction

Reverie' was composed by French composer Claude Debussy (1862-1918.) The piece was written in 1890 and associated with the Impressionist movement. The piece became popular when it first came out although Debussy had not wanted it to be published at first. “I regret very much your decision to publish Reverie ... I wrote it in a hurry years ago, purely for material consideration. It is a work of no consequence and I frankly consider it absolutely no good” (Schmitz 58). Reverie' has been arranged for different instruments and been used as the basis for some popular songs today.

(1) Sound

Reverie is for solo piano and played with paddle creating a dreamy sound. The dynamics are consistent and mostly marked P to PP. The piece begins with single melody Bb C D G D C Bb and then a careful contrapuntal melody is introduced in measure 3 to 10. The range is Bb 2 to G4 here. In bar 11 to18, the left hand melody range becomes wider and the melody contour is prolonged. In bar 19 to 26, the right hand starts playing chords instead of single melody. In bar 27 to 30, the climax of the piece is reached where the range is G0 to F5 and the dynamics are the strongest. In measure 36, a new texture is introduced and the left hand begins playing melody. In measure 51 to 65, both hands are playing chords as a new texture. In measure 69 to 75, a series of octave notes on the right hand following by a big arpeggio leads to the A' section of the piece. In bar 76 to 82, this period is developed from bar 3 to 8, although the texture of left hand is broken into two parts and the second part switch to right hand. In measure 88 to 91, the melody outline stays the same as 15 to 17, but the harmony is altered. In bar 92 to 99, the texture is developed from bar 51 to 58, but the harmony is changed as well. Finally, a big arpeggio ends the piece.

(2) melody

The range of melody in the right hand in A section is C3 to F5, the melody shift to left hand in bar 35 to 50 and then shift back to right hand in bar 51 to 75.in B section. The range of melody in this section is D0 to G5. In A' section, the melody range is F3 to A5. The motive in first measure Bb C D G D C Bb. The motive has been developed into arpeggio and the outline has been prolonged in bar 11. It has been repeated throughout the A and A' section. In bar 35 to 48, the motive is inverted and the rhythms and intervals are altered on the left hand. The motive reappears in the A' section (mm 76 to 81,) the melody is broken into two parts and the second part has been raise five octaves and switch to the right hand. Another motive is one the right hand melody in measure 3 to 4. Its intervals has been altered and developed into