Rhapsody for alto saxophone and orchestra (Debussy)

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Claude Debussy, 1908, Photography Studio Otto

The rhapsody for alto saxophone and orchestra (original title "Rapsodie pour orchester et saxophone") by the French composer Claude Debussy (1857–1934) was only brought into a performance-ready version by Jean Roger-Ducasse after his death .

Origin, premiere and reception

Elise Hall, 1905

In 1901, Boston-based saxophonist Elise Hall asked Claude Debussy, along with other composers, for a work for her instrument. Debussy accepted the commission paid in advance, but it is unclear whether he actually began composing in 1901. In any case, the work on the solo work for an instrument he was unfamiliar with progressed so slowly that in 1903 he sent the client a copy of his opera Pelléas et Mélisande as a gift. He wrote to a friend in 1903: "The saxophone is a reed animal whose habits I hardly know [...]". In the same year he wrote to the oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Georges Longy, who acted as mediator and at the same time as teacher of Elise Hall : "I'm actually only a good fifty bars missing."

Other written statements by Debussy testify to the multiple changes in the title of the work, from “Rapsodie orientale” to “Fantaisie pour saxophone-alto-enmi-bémol” to “Rhapsodie arabe” to “Rhapsodie mauresque pour orchestre et saxophone principal”. The composition had progressed so far in the summer of 1903 that Debussy signed a contract with the publisher Durand on August 18, 1903 . Other work, for example on La Mer , let the work recede into the background, although Elise Hall and Longy made several inquiries. During Debussy's lifetime the composition did not reach a ready-to-print stage.

After Debussy's death, his composer friend Jean Roger-Ducasse created a version with both piano and orchestra, using the instrumentation information in Debussy’s past score . Even if the recapitulation is only sketched there, Debussy's intentions for the entire course of the work are largely evident. In January 1919 Durand published the work under the title "Rapsodie pour orchester et saxophone". On May 14, 1919, the premiere took place under the direction of André Caplet in the Salle Gaveau in Paris , played by the orchestra of the Société nationale de musique. Either Pierre Mayeur or Yves Mayeur was the soloist . Debussy's original manuscript went to the client, who - at this point almost deaf - could no longer perform the work. The manuscript dated "1901 = 1908" is kept in the library of the New England Conservatory of Music .

The incomplete score of a composer apparently not very inclined to accept the commission, from whom disparaging remarks about the client have been passed down, as well as contemporary assessments of a musical and instrumentational implementation that was not perceived as convincing, led on the one hand to decades of neglect in concert operations, on the other hand to new instrumentation; the first was created in 1935 by Ernest Ansermet for the saxophonist Sigurd Raschèr .

The work, which is now part of the standard saxophone repertoire, bears the number CD 104 in the 2001 catalog of François Lesures , and in his earlier catalog of works from 1977 it was numbered L. 98.

Cast and characterization

In addition to the solo alto saxophone , the score in Roger-Ducasse's arrangement provides for the following orchestral line-up:

3 flutes , 2 oboes , English horn , 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , 4 horns , 2 trumpets , 3 trombones , tuba , timbales , triangle , tambourine , cymbals , harp and strings .

The performance of the rhapsody is about 10 minutes. The work is in one movement and - as the title of the work changes several times - has a distinctly Spanish or “Moorish” coloring. The work is less of a virtuoso piece for the saxophone, but rather uses it as an additional color that is often embedded in the orchestra (cf. also the title sequence “… pour orchestre et saxophone”).

In the introduction carried by strings and horns ( Très modéré , 2/4 time), the saxophone joins in the 14th measure with a melody characterized by triplets . The following Allegretto scherzando begins with a dance rhythm in 6/8 time. The thickening orchestral movement leads to a unison theme of the strings, which is taken up by the solo instrument. After resuming the dance rhythm, the work ends with a short coda . Parts of the motif material of the rhapsody are reminiscent of the orchestral work “La Mer”, which was composed around the same time.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cit. n. Ernst-Günter Heinemann: Foreword to the study edition of Claude Debussy's Rhapsodie for alto saxophone and orchestra, G. Henle, 2010, HN 989, ISMN 979-0-2018-0989-2
  2. ^ Ernst-Günter Heinemann: Foreword to the study edition of Claude Debussy's Rhapsodie for alto saxophone and orchestra, G. Henle, 2010, HN 989, ISMN 979-0-2018-0989-2
  3. ^ Clément Himbert: Claude Debussy: Esquisse d'une "Rhapsodie mauresque" pour orchestre et saxophone principal. De controverses en interprétation
  4. ↑ Debussy: Rhapsodie mauresque pour orchester et saxophone principal, manuscript
  5. ↑ Information from MusicBrainz
  6. ↑ CD text by Alessandro De Bei on “The Art of Saxophone”, works by Glasunow, Debussy etc., Mario Marzi, Hansjörg Schellenberger, Orch. Sinfonico di Milano, ARTS Music 47748-8, 2009

literature

  • James R. Noyes: Debussy's "Rapsodie pour orchester et saxophone" . The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 90, No. 3/4 (Fall - Winter, 2007), pp. 416–445. Oxford University Press ( limited preview, subscription required)

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