Suite bergamasque

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The Suite Bergamasque (ber-gah-'mask) is one of the most famous piano suites of Claude Debussy, and is widely regarded as the most fascinating. It was likely named after Paul Verlaine's poem "Clair de lune", which references a bergamask. It was published in 1905 and consists of four parts, or movements.

Prélude
Menuet
Clair de Lune
Passepied

The Prélude is played in the key of F, tempo rubato. It is full of dynamic contrasts with a very spectacular beginning and ending. The second movement is entitled Menuet, according to the typical Baroque suite form. It is quite mysterious, yet playful during its pianissimo parts and shows interesting harmonies. It is followed by the well-known Clair de Lune (Moonlight), a very soft and tender masterpiece of Debussy, played mostly pianissimo. Finally, the Passepied. It is played in F-sharp minor, allegretto ma non troppo; it is again playful and ends with a very quiet part after going through a section in C minor.

[edit] Clair de Lune de la Suite Bergamasque

Perhaps the most famous part is the third movement of Claude Debussy's Suite bergamasque for solo piano, composed in 1890. It is mostly played pianissimo, and the variations between intensity and distance make this masterpiece one of the most beautiful from the Impressionist epoch. It is played in D-flat major, with the exception of its climax which modulates to E major.

[edit] Use in film

Walt Disney had planned to use Clair de Lune for a segment of the 1940 film, Fantasia, but the sequence was deleted from the film at 70% completion because of Fantasia's excessive length. The animated Clair De Lune sequence, which illustrates the flow of the music with the movements of swans, was later restored from a workprint in 1996 and included on a 2000 Fantasia DVD box set.

In Federico Fellini's 1983 imaginative fable E la nave va (English title: And the Ship Sails On) Clair de Lune is played in many scenes.

Nick Nolte's character plays a portion of Clair de Lune at a piano in the Paul Mazursky film Down and Out in Beverly Hills while boasting to Jenny Whiteman that he "...opened with this piece back when [he] toured the concert circuit..."

Clair de Lune is used as a theme in the 1997 film Seven Years in Tibet, specifically as the music box first given to the Dalai Lama.

Clair de Lune is used in David Fincher's The Game in the restaurant scene and contains a hint to Christine's real name.

An orchestral arrangement of Clair de Lune by Lucien Cailliet is featured in the concluding part of the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, presented as part of the Bellagio Resort's fountain show. The song remains a part of the show's musical rotation. Also, a solo piano arrangement can also be heard, albeit extremely quietly, in the background of the scene where the characters meet for the first time in Reuben's backyard.

A solo piano arrangement is used on the soundtrack of "Man on Fire."

Another orchestral arrangement is found in the 1983 film The Right Stuff, during a scene in exotic dancer Sally Rand performs a flower dance in honor of the Mercury Seven astronauts during a Texas barbecue hosted by then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson.

Different portions of Suite Bergamasque are used in the Japanese film All About Lily Chou-Chou.

Also portions of Suite Bergamasque have been found in a Japanese drama by the name of "Orange Days."

Most recently, Clair de Lune has been used in a Chanel commercial starring Nicole Kidman, as well as an NFL Network commercial starring Chad Johnson.