Analyzing the Form of Debussy's Beau Soir

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) 

I chose to analyze Beau Soir/Beautiful Evening (1883) because I l o v e it. It always gives me a glowy and warm kind of nostalgia. Well, it makes me feel both nostalgic (of the past) and sentimental (of the present). I like the violin and piano version of this most than any other version. 

"When the rivers are rosy in the setting sun, 

and a mild tremor runs over the [fields of wheat], 

an exhortation to be happy seems to emanate from things 

and rises towards the troubled heart. 

An exhortation to enjoy the charm of being alive 

while one is young and the evening is beautiful, 

for we go away, as this stream goes: 

the stream to the sea, we to the tomb."

Piano and violin

Piano and voice

The melody (the violin or voice) is full of expression. It comes really softly, like being so caring and delicate. It goes high, low, takes small steps first, then leaps. I think Debussy was a genius and I really, reeeaaaally like his works. The melody line is simple, as in it's not that ornamented which makes me find it so raw, like innocent and having such pure and powerful, deeply rooted emotions. The piano accompaniment rises up in every measure, making me feel like I'm being swayed to reach somewhere (more than something). In the 2nd half of the piece, for a few measures the accompaniment falls and then goes up again and then I can hear the same melody and accompaniment from the beginning of the piece except this one has fewer notes, because it seems like the note values had been compounded together. There are tons of altered notes, so it would be reaaallly hard for me to analyze this technically. I found another blog with an analysis of the piece: Mode Mixture in Debussy’s “Beau Soir”

With reference to the 2nd video, for me..

0:00-0:50 is A

0:50-1:12 is B

1:12-1:50 is C

1:50-end is A