Richibi’s Weblog

   “The Ballet Class“ (1871 – 1874) 

          Edgar Degas

             ________

ballet dancers will attach weights 

to their ankles during exercises 

to add lift to their legs when they 

are on stage, such is the point of 

études for a piano player, a 

workout for the fingers before 

public performance 

Chopin, however, made them, by

themselves, works of great art,

followed by, among others,

Debussy

here’s Chopin, his Opus 25

here’s Debussy, his own “Études

pour piano, Livre 1“, or Book 1

how are they different

you tell me

listen

R ! chard

psst: this is an easy one, Chopin is

          Romantic, Debussy, manifestly,

          is not, Debussy is Impressionistic,

          it is a new perspective, you can 

          hear it, it’s textural rather than 

          emotional, indeed, it’s even

          abstract

          but nearly a century has gone by,   

          and Impressionism is the new  

          aesthetic, the new preoccupation

          which belongs to not only the  

          painters, let me point out, but to  

          all the arts, for better, once again, 

          or for worse