From the very first measure one is intrigued by the rhythmic pattern-a simple triplet subdivision of the three quarter notes, but with an unexpected chord on the last triplet eighth note. This second of Debussy’s published songs, written no later than two years after the first, is already the work of a master. Un conseil de goûter le charme d’être au monde,Ĭependant qu’on est jeune et que le soir est beau,Ĭar nous nous en allons comme s’en va cette onde, Un conseil d’être heureux semble sortir des choses Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses,Įt qu’un tiède frisson court sur les champs de blé, The tempo indication- allegro -warns against too languid a feeling, especially since the 6/8 rhythm can lure one into a lullaby. The piano introduces the E♭ tonality with harplike broken chords.

He simply paints a sad but lovely picture of the melancholia of lost love. Its author, Théodore de Banville, like all “art for art’s sake” purists, has no message to convey, no moral to expound. The poem is of equal charm and youthful innocence.

Its charming melody is a remarkable achievement for a fourteen-year-old boy, but the naïveté of its chordal accompaniment reveals the youth of its composer. Although the date of this song is somewhat uncertain (probably 1876), it is surely the earliest of the fifty-five songs Debussy published over a period of almost forty years.

Voici jesus revient des cieux