Fun Facts:
1) This song was composed for a song cycle titled Ariettes Oubliees.
2) The text is based on a poem by Verlaine also titled "Green."
3) Debussy aimed for this song, and others like it, sound like it was in a speaking tone, which is why it has a few high notes amidst an almost entirely low tonality.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918):
Green
(No. 5 of Ariettes oubliées)
(composed in 1886; first published in 1903)
Text: Paul Verlaine*
Original Key/Recorded Key: A-flat Minor
Teach-Track begins: m. 1
Accompaniment Track begins: m. 1
Pianist: Daniel Michalak
* The subtitle ?aquarelle? (watercolor), which appears in some editions of this song, refers to the section of Verlaine?s Romances sans paroles in which the poem appears.
"Here - some fruit, some flowers, some leaves and branches,
And here - my heart which beats for you alone.
Do not rend it with your two pale hands,
But let it be a small gift, sweet to your beauteous eyes.
I arrive covered with dew,
Which the morning wind freezes upon my brow.
Suffer me in my fatigue to lie at your feet,
Dreaming of sweet moments that will revive me.
On your young bosom let my head rest,
Still filled with your last kisses;
Let my thoughts subside after such a wondrous storm
And let me sleep a little while you lie by my side."