golliwogs cake walk

[lea]

does nyone know nything about the petite negre from the golliwog cake walk from debussy's childrens corner suite which d.bussy wrote for his daughter???

or on the cakewalk or suite???

cheers

[amee]

Isn't there another post like this somewhere?

Well The Petite Negre and Golliwog's Cakewalk are the only pieces Debussy wrote in that sort of style (syncopated rhythm).  Golliwog was a doll.

The suite was written for his daughter, Chouchou.

[chopinetta]

can you give me a link to the midi of these pieces? i really want to know how they sound like!

[amee]

Both of the midis can be found at https://www.classicalarchives.net/debussy.html.

[tempest-Sonata]

hey amee.
the name of youe piece THE LITTLE NEGRO and GALLIWOGS CAKE WALK. ARE EXTREMLY CCCCUUUUTTTEEE!!!!
hahahaha
debussy is exremely picky in giving names to his composition becuase he thought of it over and over again to make it sound CUTE!
i think you are CUTE TOO. becuase your pieces have CUTE NAMES and CUTE SOUND.
haHAHAHAHAH
HEHEHEHEHEHe

[amee]

Debussy actually failed composition at the Paris Conservatory where different harmonies from the ones everyone was used to were frowned upon.  In fact, seveal years later, another Conversatory student was expelled just for having a Debussy score in his possession!

[rachfan]

And to expand on amee's point, when Artur Rubinstein was a pupil of Hans Barth in Germany, Barth termed Debussy's music "trash".  Fortunately, his opinion did not become the prevailing one.

[ned]

Segue-ing from what RachFan said, Rubinstein also recounted that when he played Brahms in France and the Latin countries it was often hissed. Once he was talking to some prominent French musicians and said he liked Brahms.  Their remark was: "Comme il est drole, le petit, il aime la musique de ce sinistre enmerdeur." Which means more or less "What a funny kid he is, he likes the music of that sinister pain in the @." Wow! Those were the days when passions ran high. It is interesting that Rubinstein in his memoires only quotes conversations in their original language when the though is quite pungent and memorable. Must have made an indelible impression on him.  In fact, Barth referred to Debussy' s music as "Schweinerei" which is much harsher than "trash."

[rachfan]

Ha!  I do not know German, but phonetically I get the full gist of schweinerei!  

[chopinetta]

and there's the story of debussy in a conservatoire with his classmates, where the teacher was teaching what harmony should be.

Then the teacher went out for something and debussy took over. he played on the piano with such ugly chords and said it's what it should be like. and the teacher, hearing the racket from the room came back and found debussy. he was probably raged!!

[rachfan]

Debussy was definitely a terror and gave his professors at the conservatory apoplexy.  Nonetheless they knew he had high potential and saw fit to award him the prestigious Prix de Rome which furthered his development.  In the years after Liszt, there can be no question that the next big wave of innovation in composing was Debussy.  Marguerite Long studied all of Debussy's output with him, he often demonstrated at the piano, and she thought he was a marvelous pianist too.

By the way, similar to Rachmaninoff, Debussy wrote a whole book of songs.  And his being a pianist, the accompaniments are everything you would want and expect from Debussy.  I remember doing "Beau Soir" with a soprano in recital.  It was fabulous!

[lea]

yeah tempest-sonata golliwogs are CUTE

has nyone ever owned one??? my piano teacher had one, it was a normal girl doll and when u flipped up the skirt and turned it round there was a golliwog

hehe cool aye

[Jo]

Debussy actually failed composition at the Paris Conservatory

It seems the French weren't very good at picking talent. Around the same period, Satie was told by his composition teacher that he sucked and should be a performer. His performance teacher told him he sucked and should be a composer. He has composed some of the most beautiful music of that era.