Syrinx (Debussy)

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Claude Debussy around 1908
Syrinx, played by Sarah Bassingthwaite

Syrinx , L. 129, is a composition for transverse flute solo by the French composer Claude Debussy (1862–1918).

Origin and title

Debussy composed Syrinx for flute solo in 1913. Originally, the piece, which has long since become independent , was intended to be the stage music for “Psyché”, a dramatic poem in three acts by Gabriel Mourey , under the title “La Flûte de Pan” . The first performance of the drama took place on December 1, 1913 in the Paris theater Louis Mors (according to other information on December 13, 1913). The soloist was the flautist and music journalist Louis Fleury (1878-1926), who also played invisibly behind a screen on later occasions - Fleury had exclusive performance rights - according to the director's instructions .

The title of the piece refers to the ancient myth of metamorphosis of the nymph Syrinx, which was handed down in Ovid's Metamorphoses . While fleeing from the shepherd god Pan , she was turned into reeds. From this Pan then put together a seven-tone flute, on which he conjured his longing for Syrinx.

characterization

The first two bars of Syrinx

The work comprises 35 bars and usually lasts less than 3 minutes. The range extends from des 'to fes' '' and thus leaves out the high registers of the flute. The key of the piece oscillates between B flat minor and D flat major, but is only hinted at due to the lack of cadences . Instead of a harmonic full ending , the piece ends in a “perdendosi” (“getting lost”) descending whole tone scale .

Structurally, syrinx than three part form ABA 'with Coda be considered (bars 1 to 8: exposure , clock 9 to 25: implementation , clock 26 to 30: recapitulation , clock circuit 31 to Coda).

Syrinx has developed into one of the central standard repertoire pieces for flute solo and is accordingly available in numerous recordings.

Source situation

The autograph is lost. It was not until 1927 that the work was published posthumously by the Paris publishing house Jobert with a dedication to Louis Fleury. The publisher had arbitrarily changed the title to “Syrinx”, perhaps to avoid confusion with the song “La Flûte de Pan” (from Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis ), which was also published by Jobert . Later editions up to 1991 are based on this edition. In that year an early manuscript was found in the collection of Mme. Paul Hollanders de Ouderaen (Brussels), which originates from the Debussy-Fleury environment, possibly by Louis Fleury himself Lecture specifications differ in several places from those in the first edition.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gunther Pohl: Comparison of sheet music editions: Claude Debussy's “Syrinx” for flute solo. Flöte aktuell 4/2009, p. 44 ( Memento from September 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 314 kB)
  2. ↑ Cambridge Companion to Debussy, 2003, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521654784 , p. 126

literature

Web links