Debussy String Quartet

Just one year before Debussy wrote his legendary Prelude to the
Afternoon of a Faun, he completed another groundbreaking
work.  It was a string quartet, which he expected to be the
first of many. But in the end, it would be the only one he would
ever write. If you aren’t familiar with Debussy’s music, this
quartet might be the perfect place to start. In the string
quartet, Debussy mastered for the first time many of the things
that would mark his later orchestral masterpieces, like La Mer,
Images, and of course the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. It
is full of the virtuosity and brilliance of a young composer, the
experimentation of one of the true radicals of his time, and the
sensual beauty from a composer who said that music should exist
above all to give pleasure to the listener.  Today I’ll take
you through the piece, discussing Debussy’s Symbolist, NOT
impressionist influences, his Brahmsian simultaneous embrace and
destruction of musical form, and the vitality that carries you
straight through one of the great string quartets of all time.
Join us!