VI Golliwogg's Cakewalk ~ Debussy ~ Sergei Kvitko
The best version I have ever heard of Debussy's sixth and final piece from "Children's Corner Suite", 'Golliwogg's Cakewalk'' is performed here by Sergei Kvitko ~ http://www.sergeikvitko.com & http://www.bluegriffin.com/index.php/BGR-Artists/Sergei-Kvitko.html
A Golliwogg is a doll, a black doll with large white eyes, that was the subject of a book by Florence Kate Upton. Unfortunately, the character became a symbol of racism in the U.S. The grotesque looking doll often had large paws for hands and, sometimes, claws. The fact that the character carried racist connotation in the states didn't carry over to France, where Debussy, 'artiste Parisien', composed the piece.
A 'Cakewalk' is a dance. The origins of the dance are found in the southern U.S. in the period of slavery. The dance was a way for slaves to mock their masters, dancing about and joking the aristocratic and grandiose gestures of southern high-society, the rich folks who owned the slaves.
Debussy, ever the man to mock or play upon icons, used the piece to poke fun at the German composer of the opera "Tristan und Isolde", Richard Wagner. This piece was composed during the height of tension between French and German composers. Debussy references what has come to be known as the "Tristan Chord", a new and innovative series of notes that opened Wagner's popular opera. You will hear the notes, which carry a slight dissonance, around 1:17, followed by a "laugh" or mimicing of laughter; this repeats several times throughout the piece, the staccato notes unmistakable as laughter. Debussy was thumbing his nose at the German system of art (or lack thereof, as he saw it) and the Germans in general. The "War to End All Wars" ensued 10 years after the publishing of this Suite and Debussy would pass away from cancer during the bombings of his beloved France by German aircraft.
The wonderful CD can be purchased at http://www.bluegriffin.com/index.php/Compact-Disks/Of-Lands-and-People-Far-Away/flypage.tpl.html or at Amazon ~ http://www.amazon.com/Lands-People-Far-Away/dp/B001DQYCCW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1265068116&sr=1-1
