Children's Corner (L. 113) is a six-movement suite for
solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by
Durand in 1908, and was given its world première in
Paris by Harold Bauer on December 18 of that year. In
1911, an orchestration of the work by Debussy's friend
André Caplet received its première and was
subsequently published.
It is dedicated to Debussy's daughter, Claude-Emma
(known as "Chou-Chou"), who was three years old at the
time. The pieces are not intended to be played b...(+)
Children's Corner (L. 113) is a six-movement suite for
solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by
Durand in 1908, and was given its world première in
Paris by Harold Bauer on December 18 of that year. In
1911, an orchestration of the work by Debussy's friend
André Caplet received its première and was
subsequently published.
It is dedicated to Debussy's daughter, Claude-Emma
(known as "Chou-Chou"), who was three years old at the
time. The pieces are not intended to be played by
children; rather they are meant to be evocative of
childhood and some of the toys in Claude-Emma's toy
collection.
This work describes an elephant, Jumbo, who came from
the French Sudan and lived briefly in the Jardin des
Plantes in Paris around the time of Debussy's birth.
The misspelling "Jimbo" betrays the Parisian accent
which often confuses the pronunciation of "um" and "un"
with "im" and "in". It is a beautiful lullaby with some
dark moments and whole-tone passages in the middle.
Debussy quotes the French lullaby "Do, do, l'enfant
do," several times in the course of the piece and uses
the interval of the major second, sometimes as a
taunting song so prevalent in European music.
Although originally written for Piano, I created this
abbreviated arrangement for Bassoon Trio (Bassoons (2)
& Contrabassoon).
SHEET MUSIC