Scored for 21EH22/2200/timp/1perc/hp/strings Parts on rental.

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 - Joesph Bédier?s adaptation of a twelfth-century Breton romance by the Anglo-Norman poet known as Tomas - which had recently been published in Paris. Debussy enthusiastically outline 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 Cornwal 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 hi when he goes mad at the end.

The idea of a Tristan that restorced 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 pubisher 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 it ecstatic climas, representing the transient happiness of the lovers, it dissolves into an expressive coda and an elegiac close (all growing from Debussy?s opennning, off-stage trumpet calls), leaving us with the ultimate tragedy of their ill-fated advice.

Unforunately, Mourey?s actual libretto has been lost and the project eventually foundered because Bédier?s cousin, Louis Artus, wanted Debussy to use the scenario he had prepared and copyrights 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)!

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 Bédier?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 Bédier?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

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the celebrated pianist Nicolas Horvath for enthusiastically
bringing my Debussy works to public attention in their solo piano formats, both through his recent
recitals across France and through this Naxos Grand Piano release (GP822). In some cases these are
true piano pieces (like Toomai des éléphants), in others they are piano reductions of orchestral scores
(like Fêtes galantes), while in others they are piano solos in their own right that also exist in orchestral
versions (as in the incidental music for Le Roi Lear). Needless to say, most of these tracks are world
première recordings, and this is certainly true of A Night in the House of Usher and its companion piece Un Jour affreux avec Le Diable dans le beffroi (?A Dreadful Day with the Devil in the Belfry?) which I arranged specially for Nicolas in November 2018 as a virtuosic, almost Lisztian paraphrase-fantasy. To remind us of the plot as the dramatic scenes unfold, Un Jour affreux avec le Diable dans le beffroi, like the start of No-ja-li) has a narrator (spoken in French by Florient Azoulay on the Grand Piano recording):

[After an overture rising from the underworld, with a polka and a citation of a chldren?s folksong Savez vous plantez les choux?, a carillon rings out]: Hearing it, the Dutch villagers start to count, with the bells of the belfry / 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 8, 9, 11, and 12 / Perfect! / 13!?!/ The bell rang 13 times / 13! / The Devil is here where the clock should be! / Damn! / The bells are cracked. / The Devil laughs fit to burst / He pulls from the pocket of his coat, a small dancing master?s violin / ?My God!? says the devil ? and he tunes his violin slowly / The Devil leads the villagers in a fantastic and relentless jig [making jokes at the expense of concertos by Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky] / The Devil directs the villagers towards the canal ? where he jumps to the other side, laughing all the time / The villagers try to imitate him, but they fall into the water. / [In Part 2] the villagers are transported to a hedonistic and lively Italian village. They are similarly transformed: the men have crooked hats ? the women have wide open bodices! They dance a mad Tarantella / 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 13 / shouting ?Hey there! (Hola?) / Jean, the young hero, makes a fervent prayer to God against the Devil / The prayer is answered and the bell again rings normally! / The expression of the Devil changes: he shudders! / Everything goes black / The devil disappears in a brief red glow ? / And the carillon and the bells chime as usual / 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 / Perfect! / But the Devil?s grinning face ap-
pears once again where the clock should be ? briefly

Item Number: S0.436319

A MIDI rendition of the arrangement can be found here: https://youtu.be/UpY89yA2kAM
A recording of the original piano piece can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALh4FNUudEg.

Debussy's famous Clair de Lune adapted and revised so that beginners of all levels can perform the work, is in a tonally eased and reduced version, giving priority to the main theme of the piece. This version was made for bassoon quartet, for beginners who intend to learn the original work in the future.

Pour le piano (For the piano), L. 95, is a suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It consists of three individually composed movements, Prélude, Sarabande and Toccata. The suite was completed and published in 1901. It was premiered on 11 January 1902 at the Salle Érard, played by Ricardo Viñes. Maurice Ravel orchestrated the middle movement.

This is my arrangement of that movement.based on Ravel's orchestration.

Regarded as Debussy's first mature piano composition, the suite has frequently been recorded.Arranged double wind quintet/double bass
Clarinet parts are for clarinets in A
Oboe 2 is for cor anglais

Debussy's famous Clair de Lune adapted and revised so that beginners of all levels can perform the work, is in a tonally eased and reduced version, giving priority to the main theme of the piece. This version was made for flute quartet, for beginners who intend to learn the original work in the future.

Debussy's famous Clair de Lune adapted and revised so that beginners of all levels can perform the work, is in a tonally eased and reduced version, giving priority to the main theme of the piece. This version was made for soprano saxophone quartet, for beginners who intend to learn the original work in the future.

Debussy's famous Clair de Lune adapted and revised so that beginners of all levels can perform the work, is in a tonally eased and reduced version, giving priority to the main theme of the piece. This version was made for oboe quartet, for beginners who intend to learn the original work in the future.

Debussy's famous Clair de Lune adapted and revised so that beginners of all levels can perform the work, is in a tonally eased and reduced version, giving priority to the main theme of the piece. This version was made for tenor saxophone quartet, for beginners who intend to learn the original work in the future.

Debussy's famous Clair de Lune adapted and revised so that beginners of all levels can perform the work, is in a tonally eased and reduced version, giving priority to the main theme of the piece. This version was made for bassoon quartet, for beginners who intend to learn the original work in the future.

Debussy's famous Clair de Lune adapted and revised so that beginners of all levels can perform the work, is in a tonally eased and reduced version, giving priority to the main theme of the piece. This version was made for recorder quartet, for beginners who intend to learn the original work in the future.

Debussy's famous Clair de Lune adapted and revised so that beginners of all levels can perform the work, is in a tonally eased and reduced version, giving priority to the main theme of the piece. This version was made for bassoon quartet, for beginners who intend to learn the original work in the future.

Debussy's famous Clair de Lune adapted and revised so that beginners of all levels can perform the work, is in a tonally eased and reduced version, giving priority to the main theme of the piece. This version was made for saxophone quartet, for beginners who intend to learn the original work in the future.

Debussy's famous Clair de Lune adapted and revised so that beginners of all levels can perform the work, is in a tonally eased and reduced version, giving priority to the main theme of the piece. This version was made for woodwind quartet, for beginners who intend to learn the original work in the future.