La Boite a Joujoux (The Toy Box)

Composer: DEBUSSY, Claude
  • Debussy’s La Boite a Joujoux (The Toy Box) is a children’s ballet written in 1913. The composer dedicated the work to his daughter, “Chou Chou” (Claude-Emma) and was inspired by the toys in her toybox.
  • The work comprises six sections:
    1. Prélude
    2. Le Magasin de jouets (The toy store)
    3. Le Champ de bataille (The battlefield)
    4. La Bergerie à vendre (The sheepfold for sale)
    5. Après fortune faite (After making a fortune)
    6. Épilogue
  • Debussy actually died before completing the orchestral score for La Boite a Joujoux. He had only finished the piano score before the outbreak of WWI, and eventually his passing. The orchestral score was completed by friend of the composer André Caplet in 1919.1
  • Listen for – key leitmotifs used in the music to represent figures in the ballet’s plot, such as the toy box, the doll, the soldier, and Polichinelle (Pulcinella). Debussy also makes ample use of children’s, folk, and popular songs and quotes them throughout the work.2

*View the cute illustrations accompanying Debussy’s piano score here.

Sources

  1. “La boîte à joujoux (Debussy, Claude),” IMSLP, accessed November 26, 2024, https://imslp.org/wiki/La_bo%C3%AEte_%C3%A0_joujoux_(Debussy%2C_Claude).
  2. Mirna Lekic, “Secrets of a Toy-box: A Study of Claude Debussy’s La Boîte à joujoux” (DMA Thesis, CUNY, 2014), https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1442&context=gc_etds.

Cut IDs

26653