Inspired by Debussy's 150th birthday anniversary this week, every morning at 8:30 we'll play a composition by Debussy inspired by some specific place. Today we find him in at the museum. After hearing Souvenir du Louvre, there's also L'Isle Joyeuse ("The Joyous Isle"), Debussy's musical interpretation of a famous painting there: L'Embarquement pour Cythere ("Voyage to Cythera"):
This painting is one of Antoine Watteau's favorite subjects, known as fêtes galantes ("scenes of gallantry"), in which elegant court ladies and gentlemen pass their time in pleasant dalliance among trees and shrubbery. Cythera was the island where Aphrodite (goddess of erotic love) first stepped after being born from the seafoam.
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