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From Orchestra to Piano: Debussy’s La Mer

by Maureen Buja

With its full title, La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre (The sea, three symphonic sketches for orchestra), we can understand what Claude Debussy (1862–1918) was trying to show in his 1905 orchestral work.

I. De l’aube à midi sur la mer (From dawn to midday on the sea)
II. Jeux de vagues (Play of the Waves)
III. Dialogue du vent et de la mer (Dialogue of the wind and the sea)

The three sections let us know that Debussy is capturing different aspects of the sea. The three great influences on his work at the time, Impressionism, Symbolism, and Japonism, all played a role in this work. If we look at the first edition of the work, the cover makes the Japan connection clear as it shows a detail from Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Mount Fuji and all the boats in the water have been removed.

The cover for the full score, published by Durand et Fils in 1905, recoloured the wave from its original blue to ‘various shades of green, blue, tan, and beige.’

First edition cover

The work was given its orchestral premiere in October 1905 by the Orchestre Lamoureux conducted by Camille Chevillard. Early reception of the piece was poor, with audiences expecting rather more of the sea than the ‘agitated water in a saucer’ that the critics reported. It was only later, in 1908, that the work was a success. As conducted by the composer, it was felt that the 1908 concert presented the ‘first real performance of the piece’.

André Caplet, a long standing friend of Debussy’s made a two-piano arrangement of the work, which is used by the duet on this recording. It was published the same year as the premiere.

André Caplet and Debussy

As recorded by the piano duet team of Vaness Wagner and Wilhem Latchoumia, the use of the two keyboards to replace the orchestra gives us a different kind of work. We’re on the top of the waves, rather than in the darker waters that the orchestral version can take us into.

Vanessa Wagner and Wilhem Latchoumia (Photo by William Beaucardet)

The two performers are well aware of the different ways in which they play the piano and see value in the fact that their ‘respective touches, while not necessarily similar, go together very well (VW)’. They take up the challenge of Debussy’s orchestral timbres and how it requires a certain finesse, fluidity, and shimmer to complete the early 20th-century sound on the piano. Latchoumia quotes Debussy: ‘It was Debussy who encouraged pianists to look for a mellow sound that would make you forget the instrument has hammers. I think that sums up the way we should approach French music’.

The pianists deliberately chose to use André Caplet’s version of La mer for 2 pianos rather than Debussy’s version for 1 piano 4 hands. Even Debussy thought Caplet’s version was better than his!

Wagner and Latchoumia’s recording presents the best of French music at the turn of the century with the trio of Debussy, Satie, and Ravel, but in works that are often more famililar in the orchestra versions. Ravel’s La Valse, Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune are given in their piano transcriptions. Works so familiar heard in a new guise can be so rewarding.

Debussy, Ravel, Satie: Piano Twins
Vanessa Wagner and Wilhem Latchoumia
La Dolce Volta LDV 120

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Slave Pianist Sensation: “Blind Tom”

By Georg Predota 

“Blind Tom,” as he was generally known, was born into slavery in Columbus, Georgia in 1848. He was sold with his family during infancy to General James Neil Bethune, a country lawyer and newspaper publisher. The blind child was considered mentally impaired, but one day he crawled to the piano and started playing one of the pieces the General’s daughter was practicing. The General quickly recognized the musical aptitude of his young charge—not to mention the possibility of making serious money—and started Tom on lessons.

Blind Tom at the piano

By the tender age of five, Tom apparently composed his first tune and barely a year later he was performing publically throughout Georgia. Recognizing the commercial value of the autistic savant, Blind Tom was hired out to the travelling showman and concert promoter Perry Oliver. He was advertised as “a gorgon with angel’s wings,” emphasizing the transformation from animal to artist. A member of the audience wrote, “Before the audience’s very eyes, Tom would stop twitching and rocking. His blank open-mouthed expression would vanish. He would sweep his hands over the keys with the air of a master and draw the most beautiful, heartfelt music from the instrument. I am astounded. I cannot account for it, no one can, and no one understands it.”

Blind Tom and General Bethund

Blind Tom’s Wellenklange

Tom had the ability to reproduce complex musical scores after a single hearing, and over time his repertoire included several thousand works. Besides American and European vernacular music, he also played pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mendelssohn and Liszt, and well as over a hundred of his own compositions! A good number of his compositions, at Tom’s insistence, were published under the pseudonyms, “François Sexalise,” “Prof. W. F. Raymond,” “J.C. Beckel,” and “C.T. Messengale.”

His legendary performances were soon the talk of the nation—he had also been taken on a European concert tour—and he was summoned to the White House to play for President James Buchanan. Tom’s annual earnings from his concerts amounted to a staggering $100,000 dollars, making him the most highly paid pianist of the 19th century! Blind Tom’s life and incredible musical ability caught the imagination of various authors, including Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and Willa Cather who wrote, “Tom is a human phonograph, a sort of animated memory, with sound producing power.”

More recently he has been the subject of scholarly studies, documentaries, novels, poems, motion pictures and even a 2013 song by Elton John entitled, “The Ballad of Blind Tom.”

Georges Bizet’s Hidden Gems: The Playful and Poetic World of His Piano Music

 by Hermione Lai

It’s not really common knowledge, but Georges Bizet was an absolutely brilliant pianist. He entered the class of Antoine-François Marmontel at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of nine, eventually winning Premiers Prix for piano, organ, fugue, and composition.

Young Georges Bizet, 1860

In 1861 Bizet met Franz Liszt and sight-read a fearsomely difficult work that Liszt had just performed. Liszt commented, “my young friend, I had thought that there were only two men capable of struggling victoriously against the difficulties with which I enjoyed peppering this piece; I was mistaken; there are three of us, and the youngest of us is perhaps the boldest and most brilliant.” 

In terms of praise, it doesn’t get any better! However, Bizet performed very little in public as he was not interested in a career as a concert pianist. “I find the performer’s trade an odious one,” he wrote to a friend. He also feared that being labelled a virtuoso might overshadow his intended career as an operatic composer.

As we all know, Bizet would distinguish himself as a composer of orchestral and operatic music, but on the occasion of the anniversary of his death on 3 June 1875, let’s feature some of his beautiful piano miniatures.

Chants du Rhin

Georges Bizet’s Chants du Rhin

In 1865, Georges Bizet composed his Chants du Rhin, paying homage to this legendary waterway that inspired lots of music. However, this collection of pieces with the subtitle “Songs without words,” was not inspired by an actual river journey but by six stanzas of poetry written by Joseph Méry.

Bizet composed a cycle of six dreamy miniatures on the subject of the river and its inhabitants, and he freely translated the poems into musical terms. “L’Aurore” features an expressive melody with arpeggio accompaniment, while “Le Départ” vividly portrays a river song of young woodcutters.

“Les Confidences” and “Le Retour” whisper confidences and salute the river, but all songs are symmetrically grouped around the central “La bohémienne.” The overall theme thus concerns a beautiful and free-spirited gypsy girl. And all that ten years before Carmen!

Trois esquisses musicales

Georges Bizet’s autograph letter

Bizet composed his Trois esquisses musicales in 1857, and this set of three piano sketches showcase his early brilliance as a pianist and composer. Written when he was in his early twenties, these “musical sketches” reflect his virtuosic piano writing and his knack for vivid and evocative storytelling.

The set opens with a spirited “Rondo turque,” a lively rondo that pulses with exotic, Turkish-inspired rhythms. It conjures images of bustling bazaars and whirling dancers, and virtuosic flourishes provide for an almost mischievous spirit.

The “Sérénade” shifts to a tender, flowing melody, like a moonlit song drifting over calm waters. Its lyrical warmth and delicate textures create a dreamy, intimate mood, inviting quiet reflection. Finally, the “Caprice” dances with impish delight, its sparkling runs and sudden dynamic shifts showcasing Bizet’s wit and pianistic flair. 

Magasin des familles

Georges Bizet’s Magasin des familles – II. Romance sans paroles

The three pieces published as musical supplements in the Magasin des familles (Family Magazine) were composed during Bizet’s Prix de Rome period. They reflect his early musical style, blending lyrical Romanticism, exotic influences and a vigorous dance-like energy.

“Méditation religieuse” opens the set in a serene and contemplative mood. It features a gentle hymn-like melody in the minor key that evokes a quiet moment of spiritual reflection. The piece has an almost prayerful quality, perfectly suited for the introspective tastes of the Magasin des Familles readers.

The “Romance sans paroles” is a lyrical gem that gently flows with tender and wordless emotion, while “Casilda” sounds a polka-mazurka full of vibrant dance energy. The syncopated melody evokes a festive ballroom, blending the elegance of a mazurka with the spirited bounce of a polka. Full of character and charm, this set offers a glimpse into Bizet’s early pianistic imagination. 

L’arlesienne Suite No. 1

L’arlesienne

L’Arlésienne was originally composed as incidental music for Alphonse Daudet’s play. The music was later arranged into two orchestral suites, with the first dating from 1872 and the second arranged by Ernest Guiraud after Bizet’s death.

Bizet wrote the original music during a period of financial strain, and he infused the drama with vivid Provençal folk melodies and Romantic passion. While the play flopped, the suites gained lasting popularity. Some movements were transcribed for the piano, bringing their vibrant colours to the salon.

The Suite No. 1 bursts to life with the “Prélude,” and a march-like melody that evokes a festive procession under the Mediterranean sun. The “Minuetto” dances and swirls like a couple in an Arles ballroom, while the “Adagietto” is a heart-tugging gem. The concluding “Carillon” sparkles with bell-like clarity, evoking joy and festivity. 

L’arlesienne Suite No. 2

The “Suite No. 2” was only compiled after Bizet’s death, and the piano transcription crafted for salon performers. The orchestral richness is adapted into accessible and evocative pieces. This version brought the vibrant colours of southern France to the salons of Paris.

The “Pastorale” rocks with a rolling melody that paints a sunlit landscape, with shepherds piping in the fields. Next, the “Intermezzo” shifts to a more dramatic tone, its expressive melody carrying a sense of longing and introspection.

The “Menuet” is actually borrowed from Bizet’s opera La Jolie Fille de Perth, and it dances with elegant charm, while the concluding “Farandole” explodes with infectious energy. The piano transcription captures the exuberance of this dance, leaving listeners swept up in a foot-stomping finale. 

Nocturnes

Georges Bizet’s Nocturne in D Major

Living and working in Paris, it’s no surprise that Bizet would be in touch with piano nocturnes. I am sure he heard them and he played them, and he certainly composed two of his own. The Nocturne in F major dates from around 1854, when Bizet was 16 and studying at the Paris Conservatoire.

It features a lilting, almost dance-like melody that floats over soft and rolling chords. Moments of playful brightness are woven together with tender and reflective passages. It all builds to a gentle and luminous close, and this Nocturne offers a glimpse at Bizet’s precocious pianistic and compositional ability. 

Although it was written fourteen years later in 1868, Bizet gave the Nocturne in D Major the No. 1. This Nocturne opens with a delicate and singing melody over a flowing and arpeggiated accompaniment. It evokes a sense of quiet introspection, with delicate trills and ornament echoing Chopin.

This piece is approachable for amateur pianists, and its emotional nuance can captivate listeners in any cosy salon setting. Both Nocturnes reflect the era’s love for lyrical and expressive piano music. Written for the salon audience, these pieces showcase Bizet’s early talent for crafting intimate and evocative music that balances technical accessibility with emotional warmth. 

Jeux d’enfants

Georges Bizet’s Jeux d’enfants

If Georges Bizet composed a masterwork for piano, it might well have been Jeux d’Enfants (Children’s Games) for piano duets. Composed in 1871, this set of twelve delightful piano duets is not intended for children to play. Rather, these pieces capture the playful and innocent spirit of childhood.

Bizet included memories of his own childhood, intertwined with the joyful prospect of offspring and marital bliss. Although his son Jacques was born in 1872, Bizet never enjoyed the marital bliss he had hoped for, and he died only three years later.

Each of the twelve-character pieces has two titles. One is a children’s game, and the other is the musical form selected for it. “L’escarpolette” (The swing), for example, sounds like a sequence of opposing arpeggios that evokes gentle and dreamy rocking.

“La poupée” (The doll) is a lullaby, while the concluding “Le Bal” (The Ball) provides the suite with a fast and turbulent conclusion as a galloping dance. In 1872, Bizet orchestrated five pieces from this piano suite as the “Petite Suite.”

Youthful, Vivid, and Fun

The piano works by Georges Bizet reveal a youthful and versatile composer with a gift for vivid storytelling. Composed primarily in the 1850s and 60s, his pieces showcase his melodic charm and pianistic flair. Written for cultured salon audiences, these pieces blend playfulness, emotional warmth, and technical finesse that highlight Bizet’s versatile genius. And did I mention that they are really fun to play?

Ten Pieces of Musical Advice from the Great Composers

by Emily E. Hogstad  June 7th, 2025

The great composers left behind more than just great music: they also left behind advice for their fellow artists.

Much of that advice is still surprisingly relevant, even in our fast-paced digital age.

Today, we’re looking at ten pieces of advice from the great composers.

Johann Sebastian Bach

J.S. Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685, and sadly, not many verifiable direct quotes from him survive.

However, we do have a biography called Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work by Johann Nikolaus Forkel, published in 1802, half a century after Bach’s death.

While writing his book, Forkel drew from Bach’s obituary (a document known as the Bach Nekrolog) and corresponded with two of Bach’s sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.

This J.S. Bach quote appears in Forkel’s book:

I was obliged to be industrious; whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.

Did Bach really say this? He was among the most prolific composers in the classical canon, so it’s certainly possible!

Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn

In 1776, a 44-year-old Joseph Haydn was asked to prepare a brief autobiography for a collection of profiles. He turned in a charming sketch that was published two years later.

In it, he writes about his childhood:

Proper teachers I never had. I always started right away with the practical side, first in singing and playing instruments, later in composing.

I listened more than I studied, but I heard the finest music in all forms that was to be heard in my time…

Thus little by little my knowledge and my ability were developed.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

When his opera Don Giovanni was being prepared and premiered in Prague in 1787, Mozart performed on the harpsichord. Composer, conductor, keyboardist, and all-around Mozart booster Jan Křtitel Kuchař worked alongside him.

Mozart explained to his colleague:

I have spared neither care nor labour to produce something excellent for Prague. Moreover it is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me.

I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently and diligently studied.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven

It’s hard to imagine gruff Ludwig van Beethoven answering fan mail from children, but in 1812, he did exactly that.

A ten-year-old pianist named Emilie sent him an embroidered pocketbook as a gift, including an admiring letter.

He began his thank-you note with a heartwarming salutation: “My dear good Emilie, my dear Friend!”

He went on to write:

The true artist has no pride; unhappily he realises that art has no limitations, he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and while perhaps he is admired by others, he grieves that he has not yet reached the point where the better genius shall shine before him like a distant sun.

He also marveled at how music can bring people together:

If you wish, dear Emilie, to write to me, only address straight here where I shall be still for the next four weeks, or to Vienna; it is all one. Look upon me as your friend, and as the friend of your family.

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

Today, we usually think of Frédéric Chopin as a composer first and foremost, but he was also very active as a teacher.

He was especially popular with Parisian aristocrats and women students.

One of those students was a woman named Emilie Timm, also known as Emilie von Gretsch after her marriage.

In an 1844 letter, she relayed what Chopin told her at one of her lessons:

It seems to me that you don’t dare to express yourself as you feel. Be bolder, let yourself go more. Imagine you’re at the Conservatoire, listening to the most beautiful performance in the world. Make yourself want to hear it, and then you’ll hear yourself playing it right here…

I see that timidity and lack of self-confidence form a kind of armour around you, but through this armour I perceive something else that you don’t always dare to express, and so you deprive us all…

Be bold and confident in your own powers and strength.

The advice must have worked, as Timm went on to become a professional musician, teaching piano in St. Petersburg. 

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, 1839

In 1848, composer Robert Schumann wrote a long list of tips for young musicians to accompany his Album für die Jugend, or Album for the Young, which he wrote for his three young daughters.

Here are two of his tips:

Play strictly in time! The playing of many a virtuoso resembles the walk of an intoxicated person. Do not take such as your model.

It is not only necessary that you should be able to play your pieces on the instrument, but you should also be able to hum the air without the piano. Strengthen your imagination so that you may not only retain the melody of a composition, but even the harmony which belongs to it.

We wrote more about Schumann’s list of tips for young musicians.

Clara Wieck Schumann

Andreas Staub: Clara Wieck, 1839

In the spring of 1858, Robert Schumann’s widow, the pianist and composer Clara Schumann, visited one of her dear friends. soprano Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient.

Devrient was one of the true divas of her age. She created several important Wagnerian roles, including Venus in Tannhäuser.

She was also known for her series of intense romantic relationships, and ended up in jail for the political stances she took during the 1848 Revolution.

The two women got along well, even when they disagreed. Schumann wrote in her diary in April:

A long chat with Devrient, who thinks me mistaken in asking Johannes [Brahms] and [violinist Joseph] Joachim for advice as to my playing… She declares that it makes one lose one’s self-reliance.

I say, “no”, a strong intellect will know how to pick out the good, or rather that which suits its particular individuality, and can only profit by so doing.

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Arthur M. Abell was a violinist, journalist, and eccentric. In 1955, he published a book called Talks with Great Composers. It included a purported transcription of a long conversation with Johannes Brahms.

Abell wrote that he had promised Brahms to wait fifty years after his death to share the transcript.

So is this quote entirely accurate? Maybe, maybe not. Take it with a grain of salt. But it’s still famous.

But don’t make the mistake…of thinking that because I attach such importance to inspiration from above, that that is all there is to it; by no means.

Structure is just as consequential, for without craftsmanship, inspiration is a ‘mere reed shaken in the wind’ or ‘sounding brass or tinkling cymbals’.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Émile Reutlinger: Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, 1888

Here’s the opening to our 2023 article about Nadezhda von Meck:

In 1877, Tchaikovsky received a letter that would change his life forever. It was from a wealthy woman named Nadezhda von Meck, who described herself as a “fervent admirer.” She commissioned some chamber music from him, and eventually, she began paying him the impressive sum of 6,000 rubles a year so that he could devote himself to composition…on one condition: they could never meet.

In March 1878, early in their arrangement, when they were both getting to know each other, Tchaikovsky wrote to her:

Do not believe those who try to persuade you that composition is only a cold exercise of the intellect. The only music capable of moving and touching us is that which flows from the depths of a composer’s soul when he is stirred by inspiration.

There is no doubt that even the greatest musical geniuses have sometimes worked without inspiration. This guest does not always respond to the first invitation.

We must always work, and a self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood. If we wait for the mood, without endeavouring to meet it half-way, we easily become indolent and apathetic. We must be patient and believe that inspiration will come to those who can master their disinclination.

A few days ago, I told you I was working every day without any real inspiration. Had I given way to my disinclination, undoubtedly I should have drifted into a long period of idleness.

But my patience and faith did not fail me, and to-day I felt that inexplicable glow of inspiration of which I told you; thanks to which I know beforehand that whatever I write to-day will have power to make an impression, and to touch the hearts of those who hear it.  

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Kubey-Rembrandt Studios: Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1921

Last but certainly not least, here’s a short and simple quote from pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff:

A technique must be built, just as a house must be built. It takes years to do this. There are no real short cuts.

Summing Up the Great Composers’ Advice

What should be the takeaways from these masters? Here are simplified summaries:

1. Be industrious. (Bach)
2. Always be listening, and attend the finest performances you can. (Haydn)
3. Be aware that making music won’t be easy, and that’s okay! Even Mozart had to work hard! (Mozart)
4. You’ll often feel very far from your artistic goals. Keep going. And make friends along the way! (Beethoven)
5. Be bold and confident. When you play, pretend you’re listening to the most beautiful performance in the world. (Chopin)
6. Play in time. Also, hum the music you’re working on, apart from playing it on an instrument. (Robert Schumann)
7. Ask trusted friends for feedback…but also trust yourself and your own judgment. (Clara Schumann)
8. Inspiration needs technique and craftsmanship to be fully expressed. (Brahms)
9. Don’t work just when you’re inspired; keep at it all the time. (Tchaikovsky)
10. When learning music, there are no real shortcuts. You have to put in the work! (Rachmaninoff)

We hope these tips from these great composers inspire you, no matter what stage of your music studies you’re in!

Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major, K. 456

24,755 views Mar 23, 2017

Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major, K. 456 Rachmaninov Hall Of Moscow Conservatory Moscow Youth Chamber Orchestra Arina Pan - piano, student of Ksenia Knorre Daiana Hoffmann - conductor 15/03/2017

"Sabay-sabay": Celebrating 127th Anniversary of Philippine Independence

 Joseph Isidore Saluta

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Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra is with Department of Foreign Affairs, Republic of the Philippines and Philippine Embassy in Cambodia in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

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"Sabay-sabay": Celebrating 127th Anniversary

of Philippine Independence

MSJO Concert and National Day Reception

June 10, 2025 Shangrila Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Upon the kind invitation of Ambassador Tata Puzon Mayo, Philippine Ambassador to Cambodia, a delegation of 26 members of the Manila Symphony Junior Orchestra (MSJO) performed a concert attended by over 350 guests from government, diplomatic, business, academic, religious, military and cultural sector in Cambodia. Special guest of honor from the government of Cambodia was led by H.E. Cham Nimul, Minister of Commerce.

Joining the MSJO in the performance are Ms. Bianca Lopez Aguila and Keiko Cayanga, known as the Nightingales, a soprano duo from the Philippine Madrigal Singers. The program consisted of Classical, Filipino and Cambodian music, especially arranged for the MSJO led by their conductor Mr. Jeffrey Solares and violin teacher and program coordinator Ms. Sara Maria Gonzales.

After the concert the MSJO proceeds to city of Siem Reap, for additional concerts at the Grand Hotel D' Angkor for the Filipino Community and will film some music videos at the historic sites of the world cultural heritage site of the Angkor Wat.