Songs and chansons form very significant part of Debussy's early oevrue, he wrote almost a hundred songs prior to his opera Pelléas and Melisande in 1902. Green is the fifth song from the cycle Ariettes oubliées (mélodies pour voix et piano) of Verlaine's poems. The cycle was written in 1885 and revised in 1887, and it is often mentioned as a milestone in Debussy's handling of lyrics. During these years, he discovered how to arrange musical elements - colors and motion - in respect of the lyrics - the words - with great sensitivity.
Particularly Green is composed on the poem Green (Aquarelles #1) by Verlaine. The song has an ABA form with a short coda. Probably the coda is the most difficult part of the interpretation, due to its constantly deep vocal range.
Interesting to note that this is characteristic to a handful number of Debussy's songs, the tessitura - the average vocal range - is low in general, however one cannot transpose up because of a few high notes. With this technique, Debussy wanted to reach a spoken-like sounding to emphasize the lyrical part as the base of his music.
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