Claude Debussy started composing the famous Clair de Lune (Moonlight) in his late 20s. It is part of a collection of pieces called "Suite Bergamasque"and is a very beautiful and tender music piece, in contrast with the meaning "bergamasque" being a clumsy dance. The music was inspired by the poem of the same title written by the symbolist poet Paul Verlaine. In the poem, everything we perceive becomes a symbol for something else; our own minds must make connections to find the hidden meaning. Verlaine writes in "Clair de Lune" :
"your soul is a choice landscape, in which there roam charming maskers and bergamaskers, playing the lute and dancing, as if sad beneath their fantastical disguises".
In another part of the poem he writes:
Their songs mingle with the calm moonlight, 'sad and beautiful', while the birds dream in the trees and between marble statues great fountains sob with ecstasy".
Debussy's "Clair de Lune" shares with the poem this suggestion for a blend of joy and sorrow. At the same time, the music is open for interpretation, as it was always Debussy's aim to spark individual feelings to the listener and make them imagine a personal story which connects them with the music, thus finding a personal meaning to it rather than telling them what to feel. The combination of this mystery and beauty in "Clair de Lune" is what makes it perennial in the music world.