Claude Debussy
PRELUDE A L’APRES MIDI D'UNE FAUNE
Goodmusic Concert Classics GMCL247
Catalogue Number: GMCL247
Difficulty level: E What's this?
ISMN: 9790222339590
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Arranged by Peter Lawson. Orchestration: 3 Flutes, 2 Oboes, Cor Anglais, 2 Clarinets in A or Bb, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns in F
Percussion (1 player: Crotales [or Glockenspiel]), Harp
Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)
Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un faune was written in 1894 and first performed in Paris in December of that year. It was inspired by L'Apres-midi d'un faune, a poem by Stephane Mallarme. Debussy described it as ‘a very free illustration of Mallarme's beautiful poem… there is a succession of scenes through which pass the desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon…tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams’. Mallarme was sceptical about the idea of invoking the poem in music, but was invited by the composer to the first performance and wrote to him afterwards with his full endorsement: ‘I have just come out of the concert, deeply moved…your illustration…presents no dissonance with my text, but goes much further…with sensuality, with richness.’
From the beginning, where a solo flute invokes the faun playing his pan pipes, the listener is transported by the gentle magic of Debussy’s famous score - one of the all-time masterpieces of musical picturepainting, which has endured in popularity ever since. In 1912, Nijinsky choregraphed it, with himself dancing as the faun.
Although this work is much loved by concert-goers, it is not performed as often as it deserves, mainly because it requires two harps. In this version, I have combined these into one, preserving most of the original harp music. If there is no Cor Anglais player available, I have cued it into instruments which are not playing at the time. The crotales (‘antique cymbals’), if not available, could be played in the top octave of a Glockenspiel. Peter Lawson
Duration 10 minutes
A PACK includes a full score plus all wind, brass and percussion parts and strings 4/4/3/4/2.
Percussion (1 player: Crotales [or Glockenspiel]), Harp
Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)
Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un faune was written in 1894 and first performed in Paris in December of that year. It was inspired by L'Apres-midi d'un faune, a poem by Stephane Mallarme. Debussy described it as ‘a very free illustration of Mallarme's beautiful poem… there is a succession of scenes through which pass the desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon…tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams’. Mallarme was sceptical about the idea of invoking the poem in music, but was invited by the composer to the first performance and wrote to him afterwards with his full endorsement: ‘I have just come out of the concert, deeply moved…your illustration…presents no dissonance with my text, but goes much further…with sensuality, with richness.’
From the beginning, where a solo flute invokes the faun playing his pan pipes, the listener is transported by the gentle magic of Debussy’s famous score - one of the all-time masterpieces of musical picturepainting, which has endured in popularity ever since. In 1912, Nijinsky choregraphed it, with himself dancing as the faun.
Although this work is much loved by concert-goers, it is not performed as often as it deserves, mainly because it requires two harps. In this version, I have combined these into one, preserving most of the original harp music. If there is no Cor Anglais player available, I have cued it into instruments which are not playing at the time. The crotales (‘antique cymbals’), if not available, could be played in the top octave of a Glockenspiel. Peter Lawson
Duration 10 minutes
A PACK includes a full score plus all wind, brass and percussion parts and strings 4/4/3/4/2.
