The music of Debussy and Schumann has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Schumann’s song cycles have long been a favorite of mine, and for a period in my youth, I listened to some of them almost daily. Debussy has been the focus of my father’s work in musicology, which, in turn, established Debussy as another central figure who helped shape my musical upbringing. For my debut album, I wanted to return to the origins of my identity as a musician and to the composers who have inspired me deeply.

Dialogue: Debussy & Schumann is also a double portrait of two composers whose artistic kinship – transcending time, nation, and instrumentation – has long been overlooked. This album features original works as well as transcriptions for cello and piano. While some compositions may be familiar to avid listeners of the cello repertoire, others are likely new. What all these pieces share is the two composers’ pursuit of a musical language defined by deep introspection, lyrical expression, and fantasy.

In collaboration with pianist Kevin Ahfat, I invite you to experience Debussy and Schumann’s intimate dialogue and hope their intertwining musical worlds resonate with you as deeply as they have with me.

Juliette Herlin

While Claude Debussy (1862–1918) is frequently associated with Frédéric Chopin, his connection to Robert Schumann (1810–1856) is far less often recognized. Yet Debussy held Schumann’s music in high regard, so much so that he transcribed the Six Studies for Pedal Piano for two pianos, as well as À la fontaine, originally a four-hand piece, for solo piano. One of Debussy’s close friends, the writer Louis Laloy, had already drawn parallels between the two in 1904, evoking a “link between the author of Dichterliebe and the subtle musician of the Ariettes oubliées.” Their shared affinity for the art song set to poetry – whether Lieder or  mélodies – the blend of introspection and fantasy in their music, as well as their sound worlds filled with mystery and depth, are so many bonds that unite the composers’ musical universes. Both Debussy and Schumann’s chamber music output is concentrated in relatively brief creative periods. Schumann composed the majority of his chamber works in 1842 and 1849. And aside from a few youthful works, Debussy devoted himself to the genre primarily between 1915 and 1917. For both, the blossoming of chamber works coincided with a “prolific year,” as biographers often put it, when each composer rekindled a surge of creative energy.

Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op.73, and Adagio and Allegro, Op.70, were conceived between February 11 and 17, 1849. Initially titled Soiréestücke  (“Evening Pieces”), the Fantasiestücke, Op.73, while designed to showcase the registers of the clarinet, can also be performed on the violin or cello. The three pieces form a continuous set, as indicated by the “attacca” markings at the end of the first two movements. Their character evolves from “Tender and expressive” (Zart und mit Ausdruck) to “Fast and fiery” (Rasch mit Feuer), passing through a “Lively and light” (Lebhaft, leicht) middle section. The musical form recalls that of the Lieder ohne Worte (Songs Without Words) for solo piano, a genre in which Mendelssohn had excelled throughout his life. Schumann had barely completed the Fantasiestücke before launching, with equal enthusiasm, into the composition of Adagio and Allegro for piano and horn on February 14, drafting a first version in a single day. Completed by February 17, these two pieces are equally suited to the violin or cello. The opening Adagio, originally titled Romance, unfolds with a sense of intimate expressiveness in stark contrast to the subsequent Allegro’s passionate and impetuous energy.

Like the preceding two cycles, the Drei Romanzen, Op.94, were also composed in the span of a few days, between December 7 and 12, 1849. They return to the spirit of the Lied ohne Worte, developing an intimate song imbued with emotion, simplicity, and introspection. Finally, Juliette Herlin has adapted two Lieder from the Liederkreis for cello. Remaining within the realm of vocality, the two cycles were composed in 1840: Op. 24, set to nine poems by Heinrich Heine, and the second, Op.39, based on twelve poems by Joseph von Eichendorff. Each Lied evokes a distinct atmosphere. Mit Myrthen und Rosen (“With Myrtles and Roses”), which concludes Op.24 with a message of hope, was warmly received by Clara Schumann, who described the Liederkreis as “a true treasure.” In der Fremde  (“In a Foreign Land”), the opening Lied of Op. 39, conveys nostalgia with a melodic line, gently accompanied by piano arpeggios, steeped in melancholy.

In his youth, Debussy composed a handful of chamber works, including the  Intermezzo. The genesis of this piece remains mysterious as it was often confused with an orchestral work of the same name, which the young composer wrote in Guiraud’s class in 1882, drawing its theme from the forty-third poem of Heine’s  Lyrisches Intermezzo. The only known manuscript, once owned by the cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, bears neither date nor signature. However, its highly refined style suggests that the Intermezzo for cello and piano dates from the same period as the song Séguidille, composed between 1883 and 1884, if only due to their shared Spanish character. Finally, it remains unknown for whom Debussy intended this work. One possible recipient could have been the cellist Danilchenko, with whom he spent summers at Madame von Meck’s retreats during the 1880s.

The three other works by Debussy (L’Âme évaporée, Beau soir, Rêverie), two of which have been transcribed by Juliette Herlin, were all composed in 1891, four years after the composer’s return from the Villa Medici. The first two originate from mélodies inspired by Aveux, a collection of poems by Paul Bourget published by Lemerre in 1882. In L’Âme évaporée, Debussy displays a particular poetic sensitivity, notably in the shift in color between the two stanzas, highlighted by a more fluid piano writing and a major-key illumination. As for Beau soir, this mélodie represents a peak in Debussy’s early style: the depth and suppleness of its harmonies, which shift in color according to the meaning of the text, the suspension of time, and the rhythmic interweaving that envelops the melodic line. Although published in 1905 and transcribed by Ferdinando Ronchini in 1914, Rêverie for piano dates from the same period. While Debussy expressed some reservations about its belated publication, this piece, with its great freshness, possesses an undeniable melodic charm.

With the exception of his String Quartet, composed in 1892–1893, Debussy set aside chamber music for many years, only returning to the genre near the end of his life. Written in the summer of 1915 in Pourville, three years before his death, the Sonata for Cello and Piano was intended as the first of a cycle of six sonatas for various instruments. Only three came to fruition. In revisiting chamber music, Debussy created a work which, despite its playful second movement, is nonetheless infused with deep nostalgia. The creative difficulties he had faced since late 1913, including the outbreak of World War I and the suffering caused by his cancer, had plunged him into immense despair. Confronted with such turmoil, Debussy envisioned this sonata as a response to Germanic influence, while also seeking to revive the French musical spirit of the eighteenth century – a model, in his eyes, of concision and clarity, as he noted in an August 1915 letter: “It is not my place to judge its excellence, but I love its proportions and its form, almost classical in the best sense of the term.”

Denis Herlin