Claude Debussy

Achille-Claude Debussy (IPA /aʃil klod dəby'si/) (August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918) was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel he is considered the most prominent figure working within the style commonly referred to as Impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions. Debussy was not only among the most important of all French composers but also a central figure in all European music at the turn of the twentieth century. His music virtually defines the transition from late-Romantic music to twentieth century modernist music. In French literary circles, the style of this period was known as Symbolism, a movement that directly inspired Debussy both as a composer and as an active cultural participant.

Life and work

Debussy at the Villa Médici in Rome, 1885, at centre in the white jacketClaude Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye in 1862. His parents owned a china shop. Debussy began music instruction when he was nine years old. His talents soon became evident and at age ten Debussy entered the Paris Conservatoire. During Debussy's twelve years at the Paris Conservatoire beginning in 1872, he studied with Ernest Guiraud, César Franck and other significant figures of the era. From 1880 to 1882 He was employed by the patron of Tchaikovsky, Nadezhda von Meck, giving music lessons to her children.[1]

As the winner of the Prix de Rome, he received a scholarship by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, which included a four-year residence at the Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome to further his studies (1885-1887). According to letters from this period, Debussy often was depressed and unable to compose, but he also met Franz Liszt, and finally composed four pieces, which were sent to the Academy; the symphonic ode Zuleima, after Heinrich Heine, the orchestral piece Printemps, and the cantata La damoiselle élue (1887-1888), which was criticized by the Academy as "bizarre" and in which some stylistic features of Debussy's later style emerged for the first time. The fourth piece was the Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, which was still indebted to César Franck's music and withdrawn by the composer himself.

With his visits to Bayreuth (1888, 1889) Debussy was exposed to Wagnerian opera, which was to have a lasting impact on his later work. Wagner's influence is evident in the La damoiselle élue and the Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire (1889) but other songs of the period, notably the settings of Verlaine—Ariettes oubliées, Trois mélodies, Fêtes galantes—all are in a more capricious style.

Later, during 1889 the Exposition Universelle in Paris, Debussy heard Javanese gamelan music. Although direct citations of gamelan scales, melodies, rhythms, or ensemble textures have not been located in any of Debussy's own compositions, the equal-tempered pentatonic scale appears in his music of this time and afterward.

Early works

Debussy at the piano, behind him is the composer Ernest Chausson, 1893Beginning in the 1890s, Debussy developed his own musical language largely independent of Wagner's style and heavy emotionalism. In contrast to the enormous works of Wagner and other late-romantic composers, Debussy chose to write in smaller, more accessible forms. Debussy's String Quartet in G minor (1893) paved the way for his later, more daring harmonic exploration. In this work he utilised the Phrygian mode as well as less standard scales, such as the whole-tone, which creates a sense of floating, ethereal harmony.

The Suite bergamasque (1890) recalls rococo decorousness with a modern cynicism and puzzlement. This suite contains one of Debussy's most popular pieces, Clair de Lune.

Influenced by the contemporary symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé, Debussy wrote one of his most famous works, the revolutionary Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. In contrast to the large orchestras so favoured by late-romanticism, Debussy wrote this piece for a smaller ensemble, emphasising instrumental colour and timbre. Despite Mallarmé himself, and colleague and friend Paul Dukas having been impressed by the piece, it was controversial at its premiere. Composer Camille Saint-Saëns thought it "pretty" but lacking any "style".[citation needed] Prélude subsequently placed Debussy into the spotlight as one of the leading composers of the era.

Middle works
The three Nocturnes (1899), include characteristic studies in veiled harmony and texture as demonstrated in Nuages; exuberance in Fêtes; and whole-tones Sirènes". La Mer (1903-1905) essays a more symphonic form, with a finale that works themes from the first movement, although the middle movement, Jeux de vagues, which proceeds much less directly and with more variety of colour. The three Images pour orchestre (1905-1911) are more loosely linked, and the largest, Ibéria, is itself a triptych medley of Spanish allusions and fleeting impressions.

In reaction to Wagner and his highly elaborate late-romantic operas,[citation needed] Debussy wrote the symbolist opera Pelléas et Mélisande, which would be his only complete opera. Based on the play by Maurice Maeterlinck, the opera proved to be immensely influential to younger French composers, including Maurice Ravel. These works brought a fluidity of rhythm and colour quite new to Western music.

During this period Debussy wrote much for the piano. The set of pieces entitled Pour le piano (1901) utilises rich harmonies and textures which would later prove important in jazz music. His first volume of Images pour piano (1904–1905) combine harmonic innovation with poetic suggestion: Reflets dans l'eau is a musical description of rippling water; Hommage à Rameau, the second piece, is a slow and yearningly nostalgic. It takes as its inspiration a melody of from Jean-Philippe Rameau's, Castor et Pollux.

The evocative Estampes for piano (1903) give impressions of exotic locations. Debussy came into contact with Javanese gamelan music during the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. Pagodes is the directly inspired result, aiming for an evocation of the pentatonic structures employed by the Javanese music.[2] Debussy wrote his famous Children's Corner Suite (1909) for his beloved daughter, whom he nicknamed Chou-chou. The suite recalls classicism—the opening piece Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum refers to Muzio Clementi's collection of instructional piano compositions Gradus ad Parnassum, as well as a new wave of rag-time music. In the popular final piece of the suite, Golliwog's Cakewalk, Debussy also pokes fun at Richard Wagner.

The first book of Preludes (1910), twelve in total, proved to be his most successful work for piano. The Preludes are frequently compared to those of Chopin. Debussy's preludes are replete with rich, unusual and daring harmonies. They include the popular La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair) and La Cathédrale Engloutie ("The Engulfed Cathedral"). Debussy wanted people to respond intuitively to these pieces and so he placed the titles at the end of each one in the hope that listeners would not make stereotype images as they listened.

The music for Gabriele d'Annunzio's mystery play Le martyre de St. Sébastien (1911), a lush and dramatic work and written in only two months, is remarkable in sustaining a late antique modal atmosphere that otherwise was touched only in relatively short piano pieces.

Late works
Debussy's harmonies and chord progressions frequently exploit dissonances without any formal resolution. Unlike in his earlier work, he no longer hides discords in lush harmonies. The forms are far more irregular and fragmented. The whole tone scale dominates much of Debussy's late music.

His two last volumes of works for the piano, the Études (1915) interprets similar varieties of style and texture purely as pianistic exercises and includes pieces that develop irregular form to an extreme as well as others influenced by the young Igor Stravinsky (a presence too in the suite En blanc et noir for two pianos, 1915). The rarefaction of these works is a feature of the last set of songs, the Trois poèmes de Mallarmé (1913), and of the Sonata for flute, viola and harp (1915), though the sonata and its companions also recapture the inquisitive Verlainian classicism.

With the sonatas of 1915–1917, there is a sudden shift in the style. These works recall Debussy's earlier music, in part, but also look forward, with leaner, simpler structures. Despite the thinner textures of the violin sonata (1917) there remains an undeniable richness in the chords themselves. This shift parallels the movement commonly known as neo-classicism which was to become popular after Debussy's death. Debussy planned a set of six sonatas, but this plan was cut short by his death in 1918 so that he only completed three (cello, flute-viola-harp and violin sonatas).

The last orchestral work by Debussy, the ballet Jeux (1912) written for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, contains some of his strangest harmonies and textures in a form that moves freely over its own field of motivic connection. At first Jeux was overshadowed by Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, composed in the same year as Jeux and premiered only two weeks later by the same ballet company. Decades later, composers such as Pierre Boulez and Jean Barraqué pointed out parallels to Anton Webern's serialism in this work. Other late stage works, including the ballets Khamma (1912) and La boîte à joujoux (1913) were left with the orchestration incomplete, and were later completed by Charles Koechlin and André Caplet, who also helped Debussy with the orchestration of Gigues (from Images pour orchestre) and Le martyre de St. Sébastien.

The second set of Preludes for piano (1913) features Debussy at his most avant-garde, sometimes utilising dissonant harmonies to evoke moods and images, especially in the mysterious Canope; the title refers to a burial urn which stood on Debussy's working desk and evokes a distant past. The pianist Claudio Arrau considered the piece to be one of Debussy's greatest preludes: "It's miraculous that he created, in so few notes, this kind of depth."

Death

Debussy's grave at Cim. de PassyClaude Debussy died in Paris on March 25, 1918 from colorectal cancer, in the midst of the German aerial and artillery bombardment of Paris during the Spring Offensive of World War I. At this time, the military situation in France was desperate, and circumstances did not permit his being paid the honour of a public funeral or ceremonious graveside orations. The funeral procession made its way through deserted streets as shells from the German guns ripped into his beloved city. It was just eight months before France would celebrate victory. He was interred in the Cimetière de Passy, and French culture has ever since celebrated Debussy as one of its most distinguished representatives.

Musical style
Rudolph Réti points out these features of Debussy's music, which "established a new concept of tonality in European music":

Glittering passages and webs of figurations which distract from occasional absence of tonality;
Frequent use of parallel chords which are "in essence not harmonies at all, but rather 'chordal melodies', enriched unisons";
Bitonality, or at least bitonal chords;
Use of the whole-tone and pentatonic scale;
Unprepared modulations, "without any harmonic bridge."
He concludes that Debussy's achievement was the synthesis of monophonic based "melodic tonality" with harmonies, albeit different from those of "harmonic tonality" (Reti, 1958).

The application of the term "impressionist" to Debussy and the music he influenced is a matter of intense debate within academic circles. It is widely held that the term is a misnomer, an inappropriate label which Debussy himself opposed. In a letter of 1908, he wrote "I am trying to do 'something different'-in a way realities-what the imbeciles call 'impressionism' is a term which is as poorly used as possible, particularly by art critics."

Mathematical structuring
Given that Debussy's music is apparently so concerned with mood and colour, it is somewhat unexpected to discover that, according to one author, many of his greatest works appear to have been structured around mathematical models even while using an apparent classical structure such as sonata form. Howat (1983) suggests that some of Debussy's pieces can be divided into sections that reflect the golden ratio, frequently by using the numbers of the standard Fibonacci sequence. Sometimes these divisions seem to follow the standard divisions of the overall structure. In other pieces they appear to mark out other significant features of the music. The 55 bar-long introduction to 'Dialogue du vent et la mer' in La Mer, for example, breaks down into 5 sections of 21, 8, 8, 5 and 13 bars in length. The golden mean point of bar 34 in this structure is signalled by the introduction of the trombones, with the use of the main motif from all three movements used in the central section around that point (Howat, 1983).

The only evidence that Howat introduces to support his claim appears in changes Debussy made between finished manuscripts and the printed edition, with the changes invariably creating a Golden Mean proportion where previously none existed. Perhaps the starkest example of this comes with La cathédrale engloutie. Published editions lack the instruction to play bars 7-12 and 22-83 at twice the speed of the remainder, exactly as Debussy himself did on a piano-roll recording. When analysed with this alteration, the piece follows Golden Section proportions. At the same time, Howat admits that in many of Debussy's works, he has been unable to find evidence of the Golden Section (notably in the late works) and that no extant manuscripts or sketches contain any evidence of calculations related to it.

Influence on later composers
Claude Debussy is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. His harmonies, considered radical in his day, were influential to almost every major composer of the 20th century, especially the music of Igor Stravinsky, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, and the minimalist music of Steve Reich and Philip Glass as well as the influential Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. He also influenced many important figures in Jazz, most notably Duke Ellington, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jimmy Giuffre and Bill Evans.

List of compositions by Claude Debussy

This is a list of compositions by Claude Debussy, organized by the catalogue created by musicologist François Lesure in 1977, since Debussy did not use opus numbers, except for the String Quartet for which Debussy used Opus 10.

L 1, Ballade à la lune: C'était dans la nuit brune for voice and piano (1879)
L 2, Madrid: Madrid, princesse des Espagnes for voice and piano (1879)
L 3, Piano Trio in G major (1879)
L 4, Nuits d'étoiles: Nuit d'étoiles, sous tes voiles for voice and piano (1880)
L 5, Caprice: Quand je baise, pâle de fièvre for voice and piano (1880)
L 6, Beau soir: Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses for voice and piano (1880)
L 7, Fleur des blés: Le long des blés que la brise fait onduler for voice and piano (1880)
L 8, Rêverie: Le zéphir à la douce haleine for voice and piano (1880)
L 9, Danse bohémienne for piano (1880)
L 10, Symphony for piano, four hands (1880)
L 11, Souhait: Oh! quand la mort que rien ne saurait apaiser for voice and piano (1881)
L 12, Triolet à Phillis [Zéphyr]: Si j'étais le zéphyr ailé for voice and piano (1881)
L 13, Les roses: Lorsque le ciel de saphir for voice and piano (1881)
L 14, Séguidille: Un jupon serré sur les hanches for voice and piano (1881)
L 15, Pierrot: Le bon Pierrot que la foule contemple for voice and piano (1881)
L 16, Aimons-nous et dormons: Aimons-nous et dormons, sans songer au reste du monde for voice and piano (1881)
L 17, Rondel chinois: Sur le lac bordé d'azalée for voice and piano (1881)
L 18, Tragédie: Les petites fleurs n'ont pu vivre for voice and piano (1881)
L 19, Jane: Je pâlis et tombe en langueur for voice and piano (1881)
L 20, Daniel: Versez, que de l'ivresse. Aux accents d'allégresse for three soloists and orchestra (1881)
L 21, Fantoches: Scaramouche et Pulcinella for voice and piano (1882)
L 22, Le lilas: O floraison divine des lilas for voice and piano (1882)
L 23, Fête galante: Voilà Sylvandre et Lycas et Myrtil for voice and piano (1882)
L 24, Printemps: Salut printemps, jeune saison for female choir and orchestra (1882)
L 25, Flôts, palmes et sables: Loin des yeux du monde for voice and piano (1882)
L 26, Nocturne et Scherzo for piano and cello (1882)
L 27, Intermezzo for cello and orchestra (1882)
L 28, En sourdine: Calmes dans le demi-jour for voice and piano (1882)
L 29, Mandoline: Les donneurs de sérénades for voice and piano (1882)
L 30, Rondeau: Fut-il jamais douceur de cœur pareille for voice and piano (1882)
L 31, Pantomime: Pierrot qui n'a rien d'un Clitandre for voice and piano (1882)
L 32, Clair de lune: Votre âme est un paysage choisi for voice and piano (1882)
L 33, La fille aux cheveux de lin: Sur la luzerne en fleur for voice and piano (1882)
L 34, Sérénade: Las, Colombine a fermé le volet for voice and piano (1882)
L 35, Choeur des brises: Réveillez-vous, arbres des bois for female a cappella choir (1882)
L 36, Divertissement for piano, four hands (1882)
L 37, Hymnis for soloist, choir, and orchestra (1882)
L 38, Le triomphe de Bacchus for piano, four hands (1882)
L 39, Coquetterie posthume: Quand je mourrai, que l'on me mette for voice and piano (1883)
L 40, Invocation: Élevez-vous, voix de mon âme for male choir and orchestra (1883)
L 41, Le gladiateur: Mort aux Romains, tuez jusqu'au dernier for three soloists and orchestra (1883)
L 42, Chanson espagnole: Tra la la… nous venions de voir le taureau for vocal duet (1883)
L 43, Romance [musique pour éventail]: Silence ineffable de l'heure for voice and piano (1883)
L 44, Musique: La lune se levait, pure, mais plus glacée for voice and piano (1883)
L 45, Paysage sentimental: Le ciel d'hiver si doux, si triste, si dormant for voice and piano (1883)
L 46, L'archet: Elle avait de beaux cheveux blonds for voice and piano (1883)
L 47, Chanson triste: On entend un chant sur l'eau dans la brume for voice and piano (1883)
L 48, Fleur des eaux for voice and piano (1883)
L 49, Églogue: Chanteurs mélodieux, habitants des buissons for soprano and tenor duet and piano (1883)
L 50, Suite for orchestra (piano reduction) (1883)
Fête
Ballet
Rêve
Bacchanale
L 51, Diane au bois for soprano and tenor duet and piano (1883-1886)
L 52, Romance: Voici que le printemps, ce fil léger d'avril for voice and piano (1884)
L 53, Apparition: La lune s'attristait Des séraphins for voice and piano (1884)
L 54, La romance d'Ariel: Au long de ces montagnes douces for voice and piano (1884)
L 55, Regret: Devant le ciel d'été, tiède et calme for voice and piano (1884)
L 56, Le printemps: L'aimable printemps ramène dans la plaine for choir of four voices and orchestra (1884)
L 57, L'enfant prodigue for soprano, baritone, and tenor and orchestra (1884)
L 58, Barcarolle: Viens! l'heure est propice for voice and piano (1885)
L 59, Zuleima for choir and orchestra (1885-1886)
L 60, Ariettes oubliées for voice and piano (1885-1887)
C'est l'extase: C'est l'extase langoureuse'
Il pleure dans mon cœur: Il pleure dans mon cœur comme il pleut sur la ville
L'ombre des arbres: L'ombre de arbres dans la rivière embrumée
Chevaux de bois: Tournez, tournez, bons chevaux de bois
Green: Voici des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles
Spleen: Les roses étaient toutes rouges
L 61, Printemps in E major for choir, piano, and orchestra (1887)
L 62, La demoiselle élue: La demoiselle élue s'appuyait sur la barrière d'or du ciel for two soloists, female choir, and orchestra (1887-1888)
L 63, Axel for voice and piano (1888)
L 64, Poèmes de Baudelaire for voice and piano (1887-1889)
Le balcon: Mère des souvenirs, maîtresse des maîtresses
Harmonie du soir: Voici venir les temps où vibrant sur sa tige
Le jet d'eau: Tes beaux yeux sont las, pauvre amante
Recueillement: Sois sage, ô ma douleur
La mort des amants: Nous aurons des lits pleins d'odeurs légères
L 65, Petite suite for piano, four hands (1886-9)
En bateau
Cortège
Menuet
Ballet
L 66, Two Arabesques for piano (1888, 1891)
L 67, Mazurka for piano (1890)
L 68, Rêverie for piano (1890)
L 69, Tarantelle styrienne for piano (1890)
L 70, Ballade slave for piano (1890)
L 71, Valse romantique for piano (1890)
L 72, Rodrigue et Chimène opera (1890-1892)
L 73, Fantaisie for piano and orchestra (1889-1890)
L 74, La belle au bois dormant: Des trous à son pourpoint vermeil for voice and piano (1890)
L 75, Suite bergamasque for piano (1890)
Prélude
Menuet
Clair de Lune
Passepied
L 76, Les Angélus: Cloches chrétiennes pour les matines for voice and piano (1891)
L 77, Marche écossaise sur un thème populaire for piano, four hands (1891)
L 78, Dans le jardin: Je regardais dans le jardin for voice and piano (1891)
L 79, Romances for voice and piano (1891)
Romance: L'âme évaporée est souffrante
Les cloches: Les feuilles s'ouvraient sur le bord des branches
L 80, Fêtes galantes Set 1 for voice and piano
En sourdine: Calmes dans le demi-jour
Fantoches: Scaramouche et Pulcinella
Clair de lune: Votre âme est un paysage choisi
L 81, Mélodies for voice and piano (1891)
La mer est plus belle que les cathédrales
Le son du cor s'afflige vers les bois
L'échelonnement des haies moutonne à l'infini
L 82, Nocturne for piano (1892)
L 83, Three Scènes au crépuscule for orchestra (1892-1893)
L 84, Proses lyriques for voice and piano (1892-1893)
De rêve: La nuit a des douceurs de femme
De grève: Sur la mer les crépuscules tombent
De fleurs: Dans l'ennui si désolément vert
De soir: Dimanche sur les villes
L 85, String Quartet in G minor (1893), Opus 10
L 86, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
L 87, Images inédites for piano (1894)
L 88, Pelléas et Mélisande opera (1893-1902)
L 89, La Saulaie for baritone and orchestra (1896-1900)
L 90, Chansons de Bilitis for voice and piano (1897-1898)
La flûte de pan: Pour le jour des Hyacinthies
La chevelure: Il m'a dit «Cette nuit d'ai rêvé»
Le tombeau des Naiades: Le long du bois couvert de givre
L 91, Nocturnes for orchestra (and Female Choir, in Sirènes) (1897-1899)
Nuages
Fêtes
Sirènes
L 92, Chansons de Charles d'Orléans for choir of four mixed voices a cappella (1898-1908)
Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder!
Quand j'ai ouy le tambourin sonner
Yver, vous n'estes qu'un villain
L 93, Berceuse: Il était une fois une fée qui avait un beau sceptre for voice without accompaniment (1899)
L 94, Nuits blanches: Tout à l'heure ses mains plus délicates for voice and piano (1899-1902)
L 95, Pour le piano suite for piano (1894-1901)
Prélude
Sarabande
Toccata
L 96, Music for Chansons de Bilitis for two flutes, two harps, and celesta
Chant pastoral
Les comparaisons
Les contes
Chanson
La partie d'osselets
Bilitis
Le tombeau sans nom
Les courtisanes égyptiennes
L'eau pure du bassin
La danseuse aux crotales
Le souvenir de Mnasidica
La pluie du matin
L 97, Lindaraja for two pianos (1901)
L 98, Rhapsody for alto saxophone and piano or orchestra (1901-1911)
L 99, D'un cahier d'esquisses for piano (1903)
L 100, Estampes for piano (1903)
Pagodes
La soirée dans Grenade
Jardins sous la pluie
L 101, Le Diable dans le beffroi (1902-1911)
L 102, Chansons de France for voice and piano (1904)
Rondel: Le temps a laissié son manteau
La Grotte: Auprès de cette grotte sombre
Rondel: Pour ce que Plaisance est morte
L 103, Danses for harp and string quintet (1904)
Danse sacrée
Danse profane
L 104, Fêtes galantes Set 2 for voice and piano (1904)
Les ingénus:Les hauts talons luttaient avec les longues jupes
Le faune: Un vieux faune de terre cuite
Colloque sentimental: Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé
L 105, Masques for piano (1904)
L 106, L'Isle Joyeuse for piano (1904)
L 107, Le roi Lear for orchestra (1904)
L 108, Pièce pour piano for piano (1904)
L 109, La Mer for orchestra (1903-1905)
L 110, Images, Set 1 for piano (1905)
Reflets dans l'eau
Hommage à Rameau
Mouvement
L 111, Images, Set 2 for piano (1907)
Cloches à travers les feuilles
Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut
Poisson d'or
L 112, La chûte de la maison Usher (1908-1917)
L 113, Children's Corner for piano (1906-8)
L 114, The Petit Nègre for piano (1909)
L 115, Hommage à Joseph Haydn for piano (1909)
L 116, Rhapsody for clarinet and piano or orchestra (1909-1910)
L 117, Préludes, Book 1 for piano (1909-10)
L 118, Le promenoir des deux amants for voice and piano
Auprès de cette grotte sombre
Crois mon conseil, chère Climène
Je tremble en voyant ton visage
L 119, Ballades de François Villon for voice and piano (1910)
Ballade de Villon à s'Amye: Faulse beauté qui tant me couste cher
Ballade que Villon feit à la requeste de sa mère pour prier Nostre Dame: Dame du ciel, régente terrienne
Ballade des femmes de Paris: Quoy qu'on tient belles langagières
L 120, Petite pièce for clarinet and piano or orchestra (1910)
L 121, La plus que lente for piano (1910)
L 122, Images Set 3 for orchestra
Gigues (1909-1912)
Ibéria (1905-1908)
Rondes du printemps
L 123, Préludes, Book 2 for piano (1912-3)
L 124, Le martyre de Saint Sébastien (1911)
L 125, Khamma ballet (1911-1912)
L 126, Jeux ballet (1912-1913)
L 127, Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé for voice and piano (1913)
Soupir: Mon âme vers ton front où rêve, ô calme sœur
Placet futile: Princesse! À jalouser le destin d'une Hébé
Évantail: Ô rêveuse pour que je plonge
L 128, La boîte à joujoux ballet (1913)
L 129, Syrynx for flute (1913)
L 130, Le palais du silence ou NO-JA-LI ballet (1914)
L 131, Six épigraphes antiques for piano, four hands (1914)
Pour invoquer Pan
Pour un tombeau sans nom
Pour que la nuit soit propice
Pour la danseuse aux crotales
Pour l'égyptienne
Pour remercier la pluie au matin
L 132, Berceuse heroïque for piano (1914)
L 133, Pièce pour le Vêtement du blessé for piano (1915)
L 134, En blanc et noir for two pianos (1915)
L 135, Cello Sonata (1915)
L 136, Études for piano (1915)
Pour les cinq doigts
Pour les tierces
Pour les quartes
Pour les sixtes
Pour les octaves
Pour les huit doigts
Pour les degrés chromatiques
Pour les agréments
Pour les notes répétées
Pour les sonorités opposées
Pour les arpèges composés
Pour les accords
L 137, Sonata for harp, flute, and viola (1915)
L 138, Elégie for piano (1915)
L 139, Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison: Nous n'avons plus de maison for voice and piano (1915)
L 140, Violin Sonata (1916-1917)
L 141, Ode à la France: Les troupeaux vont par les champs désertés for soprano, mixed choir, and orchestra (1916-1917)