Claude Debussy composed the incredibly romantic piano piece “Clair de Lune” in 1890 when he was just 28, but it wasn’t published for another 15 years!
The title means ‘Moonlight’ and the piece is actually part of the four-movement work Suite Bergamasque.
‘Clair de lune’ takes its title from an atmospheric poem by the French poet Paul Verlaine which depicts the soul as somewhere full of music ‘in a minor key’ where birds are inspired to sing by the ‘sad and beautiful’ light of the moon.
Here is pianist Simone Dinnerstein who plays it beautifully for us:
