Children's Corner
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Children's Corner is a suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy, completed in 1908 (L 113).
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.
Emma-Claude was born on October 30, 1905 in Paris, and is described as a lively and friendly child who was adored by her father. She died of diphtheria on July 14, 1919, scarcely a year after her father.
There are six pieces in the suite, each with an English-language title. This choice of language reflects Debussy's Anglophilia, and may also be a nod towards Chou-Chou's English governess. The pieces are:
- Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum
- Jimbo's Lullaby (This may well be a mis-translation from the English: Jumbo's Lullaby)
- Serenade for the Doll
- The Snow is Dancing (Isao Tomita's first album, of which this was the title track, rendered it as "Snowflakes are Dancing")
- The Little Shepherd
- Golliwogg's Cakewalk (often misspelled "golliwog", but this is a later usage)
The title of the first alludes to Muzio Clementi's collection of instructional piano pieces, Gradus ad Parnassum, which, interestingly and probably circumstancially begins similarly to Bach's prelude in C major, the initial piece of the Well-Tempered Clavier. The most familiar piece is the last, Golliwogg's Cakewalk. The middle section of this cakewalk is jokingly interrupted on several occasions by quotations of the opening of Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde, marked "avec une grande émotion" (with great feeling). Each quotation is followed by a sort of musical chuckle in staccato chords:
Children's Corner was published by Durand in 1908, and was given its world premiere in Paris by Harold Bauer on December 18 of that year. In 1911 an orchestration of the work by André Caplet received its premiere (on March 25) and was subsequently published. A typical performance of the suite will last around 15 minutes.
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Debussy's Doctor Gradus Ad Parnassum is a beautiful piece, but a difficult piece and requires well-experienced fingers. It has many diverse sections that a very impressionistic style to the work.
