And what would a ?generic? Shakespeare comedy include? Certainly it would center around a pair of young lovers, probably kept apart either by social circumstances or obstructionist parents. There would probably be an important situation involving mistaken identity or some other intrigue, moments of both decorum and revelry, plus some comic relief along the way, something like Peter Quince and the ?rude mechanicals? in Midsummer Night?s Dream, or Dogberry and his bumbling constables in Much Ado About Nothing.) And the whole thing would likely be capped off by a wedding.

So here is a little suite which looks back beyond the great examples of incidental music by Grieg (Peer Gynt), Mendelssohn (Midsummer Night?s Dream) or Bizet (L?Arl�sienne), all the way back to Henry Purcell?s Ayres for the Theatre, published in 1697. It features a blend of 17th century forms and contrapuntal textures with 21st century ?wrong note? harmonies and changing meters in a diverting and accessible audience pleaser. Performance time is about 14 minutes.

The accompanying audio file gives you the first halves (roughly) of the first (Sinfonye) and last (Wedding March) movements. Yes, I know the Wedding March is in 3/4 time. Please don?t write to complain.

Recorded by Nicolas Horvath on Grand Piano records (GP822)

Debussy?s friendship with the versatile poet and playwright Gabriel Mourey began in 1899, and in July 1907 Mourey offered Debussy a libretto based on Le roman de Tristan - Joseph B�dier?s adaptation of a twelfth-century Breton romance by the Anglo-Norman poet known as Thomas - which had recently been published in Paris. Debussy enthusiastically outlined the four-act plot to Victor Segalen that October, and the main differences from Wagner?s Tristan und Isolde are that none of the action takes place in Cornwall and that ?Isolde of the White Hands? is found guilty of cuckolding King Marc with Tristan, who has to rescue her from the leper colony in which she is abandoned in Act 1. She also betrays him when he goes mad at the end.

The idea of a Tristan that restored its ?legendary character? and had no connections with Wagner, appealed to Debussy, who was extremely moved by the circumstances of Tristan?s death. Even if he thought that Mourey?s poetry was ?not very lyrical and many passages do not exactly ?invite? music?, he did work on the libretto and the music that summer and sent his publisher, Jacques Durand, ?one of the 363 themes for the ?Roman de Tristan?? in a letter sent from Pourville on 23 August, 1907. The present prelude grows from this theme, together with the poignant Breton folksong ?Le Faucon?. After a short atmospheric introduction, Debussy?s dance-like theme (which is definitely not a leitmotif) gradually gains momentum and after it reaches its ecstatic climax, representing the transient happiness of the lovers, it dissolves into an expressive coda and an elegiac close (all growing from Debussy?s opening, off-stage trumpet calls), leaving us with the ultimate tragedy of their ill-fated affair.

Unfortunately, Mourey?s actual libretto has been lost and the project eventually foundered because B�dier?s cousin, Louis Artus, wanted Debussy to use the scenario he had prepared and copyrighted for the stage, and would not allow him to proceed with Mourey?s version. Debussy, it need hardly be said, would never have dreamed of collaborating with the author of the vaudeville hit La culotte (The pants)!

Robert Orledge