Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 04/10/2004, uploaded on 01/13/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Composed in 1903-04, L’isle joyeuse (“The Happy Isle”) is a single-movement work for the piano and a trademark piece of Debussy’s mature compositional style. Debussy took his inspiration for the piece from Jean-Antoine Watteau’s Rococo painting L'Embarquement pour Cythère (“The Embarkation for Cythera”). Cythera, one of the Greek isles, according to legend is the birthplace of Venus, the goddess of love. In Watteau’s painting, illustrating the joyous and pleasurable time enjoyed by the French aristocracy following the death of Louis XIV, an amorous couple is seen in the presence of a statue of Venus, while others, encircled by cupids, make their way down a hill to a golden boat. Some have speculated that the painting is, in fact, a departure from the island of Cythera, suggesting the brevity of love and perhaps coinciding better with Debussy’s chosen title.

Fashioned in a sort of modified sonata form in A major, Debussy begins L’isle joyeuse with a cadenza-like passage of brilliant and rapid figurations that lead to the piece’s principal theme. This energetic subject is based predominantly on the Lydian mode but later, with the arrival of a related idea, adopts the whole-tone scale. Appearing roughly a third of the way into the piece is the lyrical second subject in a rich diatonic A major, with only occasional inflections from the Lydian mode and set against rippling arpeggio quintuplets. Throughout the development, fragments of both themes are heard amongst the interesting and lush textures which Debussy so masterfully could usher forth from the piano. Each theme is given a reprise in the recapitulation. However, the second theme’s return is delayed with much expectation so as to gives its fortissimo rendering near the end greater weight. Following this climatic reprise, an altered form of opening cadenza brings the piece to a brilliant conclusion.      Joseph DuBose

L'Isle Joyeuse (The Island of Joy)    Claude Debussy

This work, from 1904, is said to have been inspired by Watteau's painting "The Embarkation for Cythere."  The water, waves, and the enchantment of the island of joy, as seen in the painting, is perfectly captured in the music. The first theme, with dotted rhythms and triplets, creates a sense of gaiety and animation. The lyrical second theme embodies the tenderness and love of the island. The coda is a glorious fanfare in honor of the goddess Aphrodite.    Miyuki Otani

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.