Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 01/08/2008, uploaded on 01/23/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Claude Debussy composed his two books of preludes during a remarkably brief period—the first, between December 1909 and February 1910; and the second, during roughly the same period in 1912-13. Though totaling twenty-four in number between the two books, Debussy’s preludes do not follow the precedent established by J. S. Bach’s ubiquitously known Well-Tempered Clavier (namely, a prelude in each of the major and minor keys) and imitated by several other composers, including Frédéric Chopin, Charles-Valentin Alkan, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. However, this does not mean that Debussy’s preludes are without order, and the relationships that can be found among them indicate that their published order was, to a certain extent, quite purposeful, yet also designed with a degree of inherent flexibility. Debussy, in keeping with the artistic philosophy of his day, also composed each prelude with specific scene or image in mind. Yet, to partially disguise these intents from the listener and to allow his audience to discover them of their own accord, Debussy craftily placed his titles at the end of each prelude. Performance practice of the preludes varies. Early performances, even by Debussy himself, established a precedent of grouping the prelude in threes or fours, allowing performers to pick those in which they perhaps are most comfortable. However, some performers also choose to perform each book in their entirety.

Standing third in Debussy’s second book of preludes is La puerta del Vino, inspired by the Moorish Alhambra Palace in Grenada, Spain. Debussy captures the Spanish setting of the palace within the form of the habanera, a dance which originated in Cuba, made its way into European culture via Spain, and became quite popular in French and English salons by the latter decades of the 19^th century. The typical habanera rhythm is established in the opening measures of the prelude, sounded upon the pitches D-flat and A-flat, and which persists through much of the dance as a sort of harmonic pedal. Atop this rhythmic accompaniment the dance’s melody unfolds, at times coaxing and restrained, but becoming more passionate and fiery as the prelude progresses. The prelude’s climax is reached when, after a restatement of its opening measures, the static habanera bass suddenly descends a minor third, effecting a key change from D-flat major to B-flat. The intensity of this climax gradually wanes, leading into a last statement of the opening melody before the prelude’s quiet close.      Joseph DuBose

___________________________________________________________

La puerta del vino (from Preludes, Book II)       Claude Debussy

The two pieces by Claude Debussy chosen for this program share the ambience of a habanera. La Puerta del Vino (The Wine Gate), from the second book of Preludes for Piano, describes an image Debussy had, based on a postcard he had received, of the Moorish gate by the Alhambra Palace in Granada. A habanera rhythm is consistently heard in the left hand while the right hand mimics flamenco-style singing and guitar. The Arabic scale and guitar strumming in Soirée dans Grenade (Evening in Granada) evoke aromatic images of Granada, Spain. Although at the time, Debussy had only spent a few hours in Spain, Spanish composer Manuel de Falla described Soirée as containingnot"even one measure of this music borrowed from the Spanish folklore, and yet the entire composition in its most minute details, conveys Spain admirably."      Stephanie Shih-yu Cheng

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.