Pour le piano

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Sarabande
Toccata

Pour le piano (“For the piano”) is a suite for piano solo by Claude Debussy , consisting of 3 independently composed movements : Prélude, Sarabande, Toccata, which Debussy combined to form this complete cycle.

The work was completed and published in 1901, and it premiered on January 11, 1902 in the Salle Érard in Paris with the pianist Ricardo Viñes .

There is an orchestral version of the 2nd movement by Maurice Ravel .

Pour le piano is widely regarded as Debussy's first “mature” composition; numerous recordings by various interpreters exist of this popular work.

The publishing house Bärenreiter published a critical edition in 2018 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Debussy's death.

Emergence

Claude Debussy composed the three movements at different times:

The second movement, a sarabande , dates to the winter of 1894 and originally belonged to the “Images oubliées”, dedicated to Yvonne Lerolle, the daughter of Henry Lerolle . Debussy composed little piano music during the 1890s and instead focused on opera and orchestral music. Finally, however, he completed the suite in 1901 by finally reworking the sarabande. He dedicated this revised version, as well as the third movement, the Toccata , to Yvonne Lerolle (later: E. Rouart). The suite was published by Eugène Fromont in 1901. It was premiered on January 11, 1902 in the Salle Érard in Paris at a concert by the Société Nationale de Musique with the pianist Ricardo Viñes , who learned about the suite through his friend Maurice Ravel . The completion and publication of this work represented a turning point in Debussy's creative output, which then devoted himself to writing piano works in greater depth. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Debussy's death, the publishing house Bärenreiter published a critical edition of Debussy's piano music in 2018, which also included Pour le piano.

The sentences

The first movement, Prelude , is entitled “Assez animé et très rythmé”, which means something like “Quite lively and very rhythmic”. It was dedicated to Debussy's pupil Worms de Romilly; she noted about the sentence that it reproduced the sounds and music of the island of Java . The pianist Angela Hewitt notes: The prelude begins with a theme in the bass, followed by a long passage with sustained pedal sounds. The theme is repeated with loud fortissimo chords, along with glissandi , which Debussy associated with "d'Artagnan drawing his sword". In the middle part, the left hand is holding an A major chord to which the right is adding colors. The ending, “Tempo di cadenza”, again consists of glissando figures.

The second movement, the Sarabande , is headed “Avec une élégance grave et lente”, which can be translated as “with slow and solemn elegance”. Debussy said it should be like an "old portrait in the Louvre ". Émile Vuillermoz described Debussy's playing of this movement as “with the easy simplicity of a good 16th century dancer”. Hewitt calls it antique and modern at the same time. The movement is valued as an intimate piano work, with an affinity for Erik Satie , such as B. his three dances from 1887, which are also called "Sarabande".

The third and last movement, the toccata , is headed “Vif” (lively). He is described as “well-balanced and energetic, extroverted and graceful at the same time” and shows influences from Domenico Scarlatti's sonatas. Hewitt remarks about the virtuously written piece that speed was not Debussy's goal, but clarity and precision.

Recordings

(Selection):

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d François Lesure : Preface . In: Pour le piano, Urtext . G. Henle Verlag , Munich 1984.
  2. ↑ Images oubliées (IMSLP)
  3. ↑ a b Pour le piano. FL 95 / suite ( French ). Bibliothèque nationale de France , 2018 (accessed 23 August 2018).
  4. ↑ a b Simon Trezise, ​​Jonathan Cross: The Cambridge Companion to Debussy . Cambridge University Press , 2003, ISBN 978-0-52-165478-4 , p. 185.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h Angela Hewitt : Pour le piano, L. 95 . Naxos Records. 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  6. ↑ Eugène Fromont (BnF)
  7. ↑ a b c d John Keillor: Claude Debussy / Pour le piano, suite for piano, L. 95 . AllMusic . 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2018.