# Why Debussy never wrote a Piano Concerto?



## TudorMihai

Claude Debussy was an amazing piano composer, writing many pieces for piano solo. He also wrote quite a few pieces for orchestra, proving that he was a very good orchestrator. He even wrote a fantasia for piano and orchestra. Yet, unlike his contemporary Maurice Ravel, he never wrote a piano concerto. What could be the reason for this decision?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Maybe he didn't want to?


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## kv466

silly boy~


I really can't believe I've never wondered this myself and now you've got me creating Debussy concertos in my head!


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## Hausmusik

I'd venture a guess sort of like my guess as to why Schubert never did so. The genre of the piano concerto tends toward the "bravura" and neither Debussy nor Schubert gravitated toward that in their compositions.


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## Ukko

Hausmusik said:


> I'd venture a guess sort of like my guess as to why Schubert never did so. The genre of the piano concerto tends toward the "bravura" and neither Debussy nor Schubert gravitated toward that in their compositions.


Interesting theory, but... even if you consider one or more of Beethoven's concertos to be 'bravura' (I don't), there was no pre-Romantic _tendency_ toward it. Schubert must have had other reasons.

Debussy's musical 'language' and style simply doesn't lend itself to the concerto format, either Mozartean or Romantic. I have difficulty even _imagining_ a Debussy piano concerto, and my imagination is active enough to get me in trouble. I suppose he was capable to sticking a piano obbligato part into La Mer... but it wouldn't be a concerto.

...

Hah. Now my imagination is running; none of its results are useable, and I may be getting a cantankerous spirit message from Debussy.


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## Mahlerian

Hausmusik said:


> I'd venture a guess sort of like my guess as to why Schubert never did so. The genre of the piano concerto tends toward the "bravura" and neither Debussy nor Schubert gravitated toward that in their compositions.


I agree with this. Debussy's music is really not very showy. Even Beethoven's music, for all of its inward nature, has its showy, outward-facing aspects. Debussy's doesn't. It's pretty much entirely inward-facing. Same reason why Takemitsu's pieces for soloist and orchestra don't really sound like concertos.


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## Weston

Hilltroll72 said:


> Debussy's musical 'language' and style simply doesn't lend itself to the concerto format, either Mozartean or Romantic. I have difficulty even _imagining_ a Debussy piano concerto, and my imagination is active enough to get me in trouble.


What do you think about the Rapsodie arabe for Alto saxophone and Orchestra? That could by a stretch be considered a concerto. On the other hand, the saxophone sort of serves the same role as the flute in Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. It is atmospheric.


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## Ukko

Weston said:


> What do you think about the Rapsodie arabe for Alto saxophone and Orchestra? That could by a stretch be considered a concerto. On the other hand, the saxophone sort of serves the same role as the flute in Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. It is atmospheric.


Yeah, somehow the sax doesn't achieve the 'authority' - equal standing? - with the orchestra that I expect in a concerto. It seems analogous to the viola in Berlioz's "Harold In Italy". Good call though; I had forgotten that work. Maybe I need to double up on the ginkgo biloba.


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## PetrB

There is Debussy's early "Fantasie pour piano et orchestre," which has a similar vocabulary and other traits / earmarks as in his other early orchestral piece, "Printemps."

The Fantasie is charming, 'bubbly / frothy.' [[ADD: It is also a concertante obbligato role vs. a concertante solo protagonist role.]]

Much later in life, after having composed the preludes and etudes with their radically different pianistic and musical vocabularies, Debussy did speak with pianist Marguerite Long, saying he planned to compose a piano concerto for her, "in which the piano will function in a completely new way" from the more traditionally expected role in concertante works.

The piece did not materialize (not even sketches), and the rest, though more than tantalizing -- especially when Debussy says of his conception of the piece that the piano would function in a completely different way -- is conjecture.


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## Eschbeg

In addition to what has already been said, concertos usually involve virtuosity for virtuosity's sake. Debussy seemed not to be terribly interested in flashiness just for the sake of showing off the performer's skill. There are some wickedly difficult moments in his piano music (_Reflets dans l'eau_, etc.), but the difficulty is usually more interesting for its sonority than for its flashiness.


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## Guest

Maybe someone could graft some of the Preludes/Etudes/Estampes onto La Mer...


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## MrCello

Debussy was busy continuing a newfound French musical tradition. Concerti, symphonies, and even chamber music were all seen as German types of music. Luckily César Franck brought chamber music to the French musical tradition. Symphonies and Concerti never really made it's way into the French musical tradition that was started around fin-de-siecle France.


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## TrevBus

TudorMihai said:


> Claude Debussy was an amazing piano composer, writing many pieces for piano solo. He also wrote quite a few pieces for orchestra, proving that he was a very good orchestrator. He even wrote a fantasia for piano and orchestra. Yet, unlike his contemporary Maurice Ravel, he never wrote a piano concerto. What could be the reason for this decision?


Don't really know. Suppose it's a good question to ponder. Perhaps, he died before he could work on one. Perhaps, as someone else said, he didn't want to. Much like why didn't Chopin compose a symphony? Fun to explore but will probably never know. So we enjoy or not enjoy what they produced.


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## Cosmos

Maybe because piano concertos are pretty much viewed as showmanship pieces. Despite the difficulty of Debussy's piano music, he isn't really the type to show off pianistic ability, unless it is necessary for the music to be crowd-pleasingly difficult.


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## PaoloT

The Fantasia for piano and orchestra was sort of a piano concerto, and he retired it. Too exuberant for what he already felt he was becoming.

The Rhapsody for sax and orchestra was never completed by Debussy, and was only orchestrated by Jean Roger-Ducasse after Debussy's death. But in this case I think it was because of his low love for the solo instrument.

Paolo


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## Strange Magic

I think, given suggestive elements of _Images pour orchestre_ and some (fewer) from _Afternoon, _Debussy could have crafted a small but sensuous piano concerto along the lines of de Falla's _Nights, _but a little more sparkly and brilliant. But he did eschew both symphony and concerto in favor of smaller pieces though some consider _La Mer _a symphony.


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## Joachim Raff

PaoloT said:


> The Fantasia for piano and orchestra was sort of a piano concerto, and he retired it. Too exuberant for what he already felt he was becoming.
> 
> The Rhapsody for sax and orchestra was never completed by Debussy, and was only orchestrated by Jean Roger-Ducasse after Debussy's death. But in this case I think it was because of his low love for the solo instrument.
> 
> Paolo


Yes, Fantasia for piano and orchestra was a Piano Concerto all but name. Lovely early work that deserves more attention.


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## Waehnen

Debussy Piano Concerto is something that gets my imagination running! I almost hear it! Wow!


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## elgar's ghost

Maybe Debussy simply didn't like the idea of the piano having to compete - or even collaborate with - an orchestra. It seems in that respect chamber works were, in the end, as far as he was prepared to go (what a pity he didn't live to finish his planned series of six sonatas with different instruments). With regards to the piano as a lead instrument Debussy was essentially a composer of programmatical miniatures, and solo piano has the required intimacy for that kind of picture-painting.


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## Kreisler jr

He could have written a chamber concerto or one with the piano tightly integrated into the orchestra. I don't think his solo piano music or violin, cello sonatas are without virtuoso display. But it's idle speculation, he didn't want to or didn't get around to write a concerto, he didn't compose that many works anyway and probably focussed on those he did in fact write for good reasons.


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## Rogerx

PaoloT said:


> *The Fantasia for piano and orchestra was* sort of a piano concerto, and he retired it. Too exuberant for what he already felt he was becoming.
> 
> The Rhapsody for sax and orchestra was never completed by Debussy, and was only orchestrated by Jean Roger-Ducasse after Debussy's death. But in this case I think it was because of his low love for the solo instrument.
> 
> Paolo



The first thing that I thought before I even saw your post, great job, welcome by the way.


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## Enthusiast

I'm not sure that Debussy's piano writing and his orchestral writing would go well together. There is not enough contrast in the sound for a dialogue to develop.


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## hammeredklavier

He wanted to do things differently from guys like Brahms, from the inside out.


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