Children's Corner

Children's Corner (L. 113) is a six-movement suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by Durand in 1908, and was given its world première in Paris by Harold Bauer on 18 December that year. In 1911, an orchestration of the work by Debussy's friend André Caplet received its première and was subsequently published. A typical performance of the suite lasts roughly 15 minutes.

It is dedicated to Debussy's daughter, Claude-Emma (known as "Chou-Chou"), who was three years old at the time. The pieces are not intended to be played by children; rather they are meant to be evocative of childhood and some of the toys in Claude-Emma's toy collection.

Claude-Emma was born on 30 October 1905 in Paris, and is described as a lively and friendly child who was adored by her father. She died of diphtheria on 14 July 1919, scarcely a year after her father's death.

There are six pieces in the suite, each with an English-language title. This choice of language is most likely Debussy's nod towards Chou-Chou's English governess. The pieces are:

The title of the first alludes to Johann Joseph Fux's (1660-1741), Gradus ad Parnassum ("Steps to Parnassus"). Gradus ad Parnassum "became the first 'counterpoint text' in the modern sense and the greatest schoolbook in the history of European music." Although it is unlikely that this textbook would be found on the book shelf of the average French pianist, the "Gradus Ad Parnassum" by Muzio Clementi was - and still is in some quarters. The exercises resemble Czerny's in many respects and are often boring to practice or listen to for many people. This piece is actually a rather ingenious study in finger independence with a Twentieth Century vocabulary. In the middle, the pianist slows down and tries his material in other keys for exercise. Debussy's Doctor Gradus Ad Parnassum is of intermediate difficulty and requires experienced fingers. The pianist gets wilder toward the end and finishes the piece with a bang.

This work describes an elephant, Jumbo, who came from the French Sudan and lived briefly in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris around the time of Debussy's birth. The misspelling "Jimbo" betrays the Parisian accent which often confuses the pronunciation of "um" and "un" with "im" and "in". It is a beautiful lullaby with some dark moments and whole-tone passages in the middle.

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