- Debussy The Girl With The Flaxen Hair Analysis
- Claude Debussy A The Girl With The Flaxen Hair Analysis Book
- Perhaps the most notable is La fille aux cheveux de lin (otherwise known as The Girl With The Flaxen Hair), which Debussy originally conceived as a song written especially for a soprano with (unsurprisingly) flaxen-coloured hair. But with twelve preludes to enjoy in whatever order you like - though performers often choose to play them in the.
- Buy Girl with the Flaxen Hair, The by Claude Debussy/ at jwpepper.com. Concert Band Sheet Music. Delicately scored and carefully paced, here is Debussys /item/detail/B/Girl with the Flaxen Hair, The/10022284.
It is the girl with the flaxen hair, the beautiful girl with cherry lips ' In orchestral form, the simplicity of this music takes on a particularly touching quality, and is again in Debussy’s 'pastoral' mood. Nocturnes Nocturnes—another of Debussy’s three-movement works—dates from between 1897 and 1889. It epitomises his fascination.
- The image of a girl with flaxen-coloured hair has been utilized in fine art as a symbol of innocence and naivety. Musical writers have suggested that Debussy's successful portrayal of these emotions was tied in with the musical simplicity of the prelude—specifically, the technical and harmonic elements.
- The Girl With the Flaxen Hair (La fille aux cheveux de lin) is the eighth of Claude Debussy's Preludes, Book I (1909-1910), for piano. It is gentle, fluid, and full of light, flowing harmonies.
Des pas sur la neige is a musical composition by French composer Claude Debussy. It is the sixth piece in the composer's first book of Préludes, written between late 1909 and early 1910. The title is in French and translates to 'Footprints in the Snow' The piece is 36 measures long and takes approximately three and a half to four and a half minutes to play. It is in the key of D minor. The prelude was, along with Danseuses de Delphes, one of the preludes Debussy believed should be played 'entre quatre-z-yeux' (literally 'between four eyes') meaning intimately, as if privately.
The Girl with the Flaxen Hair Spread out on a hay bale that later that afternoon was taken away to feed the cattle on HRH The Prince of Wales' estate. Musical accompaniment by Claude Debussy.
Background and influence[edit]
The piece is one of four Debussy preludes in both books whose title origins are unknown.[1][2]David Schiff suggests that the inspiration for the title could have stemmed from a painting depicting a snowy landscape. This was an extremely popular backdrop among Impressionist artists like Claude Monet or Alfred Sisley; the latter painted Snow at Louveciennes.[3] Furthermore, Debussy's inspiration from Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky is evident in this piece through his utilization of a 'block-like dissonant chord' just before the middle part of the piece.[4]
History[edit]
Debussy dated this prelude December 27, 1909, a day after he wrote Les collines d'Anacapri.[5] Critical music writer Victor Lederer states how the dates Debussy wrote at the top of some of his preludes are more likely the date he completed the pieces rather than the day he started writing them, given that some of them were quite long and musically complex.[6] The piece was first published in April 1910, along with the rest of his preludes from Book I. It premiered later that year at the Salle Érard in Paris, with Debussy himself performing the work.[7]
Musical analysis[edit]
Placement within Preludes, Book I[edit]
Debussy was known for being extremely particular in organizing his preludes.[4] Pianist and musical writer Paul Roberts asserts that this prelude, along with the two that immediately follow it, forms 'the central arch'[1] of Book I's structure, since the three pieces provide the most 'dramatic contrast'[1] out of all the preludes in the first book. The seventh prelude, Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest (What the West wind saw), brings about a violent and tumultuous feeling, while the La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair)—the eighth—evokes a feeling of warmth and gentleness.[8] In complete contrast to these two, Des pas sur la neige exudes a sense of isolation, with Lederer describing the prelude as a 'stark expression of loneliness and desolation.'[4] By placing these three preludes in this particular order, Debussy ensured that arguably the most technically challenging composition of the collection (Vent d'ouest) was sandwiched in-between the two that are the simplest to play out of the twenty-four.[8]
Composition[edit]
The prelude is in binary form, which was one of the most common forms that Debussy composed in.[9] The A section lasts from bars 1–15, followed by the B part in measures 16–31 and finally a coda in the last five bars.[10] Although the prelude stays in its home key and does not modulate, it goes on to explore all twelve semitones in the octave throughout the piece.[11] It also makes use of different modes, specifically the A♭scale in Mixolydian and Dorian modes, as well as the whole tone scale in C.[12] Its texture consists of three layers that remains unbroken for almost all of the prelude.[1]
The piece begins with a three-note motif based around the tonic pedal of D, rising to E and then F,[13] constantly shifting between dissonance and resolution.[1] It has been suggested that the D–E and E–F pattern throughout the prelude symbolizes the footprints made in the snow by both the right and left foot in alternating fashion.[14] The middle section sees the utilization of complex dissonant chords leading up to the climax of the piece, which evokes a sense of sorrow. The opening motif then repeats itself with increased dissonance, before arriving at a new passage where the ascending melody withdraws from the 'sighing' chords.[4] Although the melody at the end is firmly rooted in G minor, the last chord is in the tonic of D minor. Coupled with the morendo and piano pianissimo dynamic markings, this gives the impression that the prelude simply flickers off without resolving itself.[1]
References[edit]
Claude Debussy The Girl With The Flaxen Hair Analysis Techniques
Footnotes
Claude Debussy The Girl With The Flaxen Hair Analysis Involves
- ^ abcdefRoberts, Paul (2001). Images: The Piano Music of Claude Debussy. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 252–255.
- ^Cummins, Linda (January 1, 2006). Debussy and the Fragment. Rodopi. p. 158.
- ^Schiff, David (January 7, 2012). The Ellington Century. University of California Press. pp. 41–42.
- ^ abcdLederer 2007, p. 97.
- ^Nichols, Roger (April 28, 1998). The Life of Debussy. Cambridge University Press. p. 131.
- ^Lederer 2007, p. 92.
- ^'Préludes (Premier livre)'. Debussy.fr. Centre de documentation Claude Debussy. 2007. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
- ^ abLederer 2007, p. 98.
- ^Reti 1951, p. 204.
- ^Hinson, Maurice, ed. (2004). Anthology Of Impressionistic Piano Music: Intermediate to Early Advanced works by 20 Composers. Alfred Music Publishing. p. 6.
- ^Smith, Richard Langham; Potter, Caroline, eds. (2006). French Music Since Berlioz. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 208.
- ^Tymoczko, Dmitri (February 21, 2011). A Geometry of Music: Harmony and Counterpoint in the Extended Common Practice. Oxford University Press. p. 322.
- ^Bruhn, Siglind (January 1, 1997). Images and Ideas in Modern French Piano Music: The Extra-musical Subtext in Piano Works by Ravel, Debussy, and Messiaen. Pendragon Press. pp. 89–96.
- ^Brunk, Jeremy Matthew (2007). Reflection of Debussy: A Comparative Analysis of Solo Marimba Works by Jacob Druckman and Richard Rodney Bennett. ProQuest. pp. 14–15.
Bibliography
- Lederer, Victor (2007). Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary. New York: Amadeus Press. ISBN978-1-57467-153-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Reti, Rudolph (1951). The Thematic Process in Music. New York: Macmillan. ISBN0-8371-9875-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Claude Debussy The Girl With The Flaxen Hair Analysis Review
External links[edit]
Claude Debussy The Girl With The Flaxen Hair Analysis Summary
- Des pas sur la neige by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli on YouTube
Claude Debussy The Girl With The Flaxen Hair Analysis Review
Claude Debussy’s “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” ranks right up there alongside his “Clair de Lune,” “Beau Soir” and “Afternoon of a Faun” on my “favorite short classical pieces” list. In spite of their brevity, all of them immediately transport you, taking you to a vivid, sensual, evocative place that, once you’ve returned to the “real world” and the slog of daily life, you feel the piece’s presence still, a deep vibration in your core. I’ve blogged about the above three pieces before; you can find them HERE, HERE and HERE, respectively.
“The Girl with the Flaxen Hair,” or “La fille aux cheveux de lin” in its original French, is the eighth piece in Book I of Debussy’s solo piano Préludes, written around 1910. The title was inspired by an 1852 poem by Charles-Marie René Leconte de Lisle, which I’ll post below.
Although it was written for solo piano, different arrangements abound. The first version I heard, actually, was Joshua Bell on violin with orchestral accompaniment. I discovered it a dozen years ago, mid-December, where Bell’s compilation CD slotted in nicely with the Christmas music I play regularly around that time. Best of all, once the holidays had passed, the Christmas CDs shelved for the year, Bell’s “Romance of the Violin” was still there for me. It’s a lovely CD, the perfect musical touch for those early January days when, much as the holidays exhausted you, you find yourself still yearning to light candles and plug in festive lights. (Or is that just me? Tell me some of you do the same.) Each year, now, it is my favorite January CD, and “Girl with the Flaxen Hair” my favorite. It always sounds fresh, nuanced and ephemeral. Within it, there’s a sense of space, of simplicity, and yet, it’s got all those trademark nuances that makes me adore Debussy’s music — its unexpected intervals, parallel chords, exotic scales, ethereal harmonies.
Here’s the arrangement — and the CD — I love so much (and HERE is the link to peruse and/or buy the CD yourself).
I was going to post Leconte de Lisle’s poem next, but before that, let’s pause to hear one more rendition that is amazing. The group is the Los Angeles based cello quintet, SAKURA (Michael Kaufman, Benjamin Lash, Gabriel Martins, Yoshika Masuda, and Peter Myers). This arrangement, for five cellos, is just stunning, fascinating to watch and listen to. Such a rich sound, from cellos alone. Who knew?! (Note to self: research SAKURA for a potential future blog.)
Now for the poem. English translation follows below.
La fille aux cheveux de lin
by Charles-Marie René Leconte de Lisle
Sur la luzerne en fleur assise,
Qui chante dès le frais matin ?
C’est la fille aux cheveux de lin,
La belle aux lèvres de cerise.
L’amour, au clair soleil d’été,
Avec l’alouette a chanté.
Ta bouche a des couleurs divines,
Ma chère, et tente le baiser !
Sur l’herbe en fleur veux-tu causer,
Fille aux cils longs, aux boucles fines ?
L’amour, au clair soleil d’été,
Avec l’alouette a chanté.
Debussy The Girl With The Flaxen Hair Analysis
Ne dis pas non, fille cruelle !
Ne dis pas oui ! J’entendrai mieux
Le long regard de tes grands yeux
Et ta lèvre rose, ô ma belle !
L’amour, au clair soleil d’été,
Avec l’alouette a chanté.
Adieu les daims, adieu les lièvres
Et les rouges perdrix ! Je veux
Baiser le lin de tes cheveux,
Presser la pourpre de tes lèvres !
L’amour, au clair soleil d’été,
Avec l’alouette a chanté.
And now, the English version
Sitting amidst the alfalfa in flower,
Who sings in the cool morning hour?
It is the girl with the flaxen hair,
The beauty with cherry lips so fair.
Love, in the summer sun so bright,
Sang with the lark for sheer delight.
Your mouth has colors so divine,
It tempts a kiss, o, were it mine!
Come chat with me in the flow’ring grass,
Girl with the long lashes, silken tress.
Love, in the summer sun so bright,
Sang with the lark for sheer delight.
Do not say no, o cruel girl!
Do not say yes, far better still
To read your large eye’s longing gaze,
Your rosy lips which I so praise!
Love, in the summer sun so bright,
Sang with the lark for sheer delight.
Claude Debussy A The Girl With The Flaxen Hair Analysis Book
Farewell to deer, farewell to hare!
And to red partridges! I shall dare
a kiss of your crimson lips to steal,
your flaxen locks to caress and feel!
Love, in the summer sun so bright,
Sang with the lark for sheer delight.
And, okay, I suppose I should include a solo piano arrangement, since that’s how Debussy composed it.
Which one is YOUR favorite?
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