Dances for Harp and String Orchestra

By 1904 Claude Debussy was established as one of France's leading composers. His 1902 opera Pelléas et Mélisande had brought him international fame,"Music: Pelléas et Mélisande", The Times, 22 May 1909, p. 13 and he had been appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur the following year.Dietschy, p. 126 Gustave Lyon, director of the Pleyel harp-making company, had invented a new type of instrument – the chromatic harp – with no pedals but with an additional set of strings, slanting across the others, enabling harpists to play any note in the chromatic scale with either hand.Avis, Peter (1992). Notes to EMI CD set 7243 5 85171 2 5 Lyon commissioned Debussy to write a work for the new instrument, originally for the competitions at the Brussels Conservatoire, where a class had been established for the study of the ancient harp in its modernised form.Vallas, p. 167{{refn|According to the musicologist Albert Birch in a study of the modern development of the harp, "the Danses are now [1969] commonly played on the pedal harp, and are in fact easier on this than on the chromatic harp for which they were conceived".Birch, p. 195|group=n}}

The work was premiered on 6 November 1904 at one of the Concerts Colonne at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris, with Lucile Wurmser-Delcourt as soloist.

[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2867899/f5.item.r=%22harpe%20chromatique%22.zoom "Concerts-Colonne"], Le Figaro, 6 November 1904, p. 5 It had a mixed reception. Pierre Lalo, music critic for Le Temps, usually an admirer of Debussy, wrote, "It really seems as though the Dances are not by M. Debussy, but by some of his unfortunate imitators and one would like to be able to say as much, rather than being forced to recognise that M. Debussy is beginning to imitate himself".Lalo, Pierre. [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k238077c/f3.item.r=%22harpe%20chromatique%22 "Musique"], Le Temps, 29 November 1904, p. 3 When the Dances were first heard in London, The Musical Times commented, "At least it can be said that they held the attention if they did not at once excite admiration". After the American premiere The New York Times described the Dances as "music of distinctive charm and flavor".

The work was published in 1904 by Éditions Durand in Paris and Novello in London."New Foreign Publications", The Musical Times, 1 August 1904, p. 551 Arrangements for other combinations of instruments followed; Durand published versions for piano and strings, piano duet, harp and piano, violin and piano, and cello and piano.Debussy, title page The title of the original score was expanded by Durand to read "Danses pour harpe chromatique ou harpe à pédales, ou piano avec accompagnement d'orchestre d'instruments à cordes". The published work is dedicated to Lyon.

The work was first heard in Britain in June 1908 in the piano and orchestra version, with Julius Harrison as soloist and Granville Bantock conducting."Birmingham School of Music", Birmingham Daily Gazette, 25 June 1908, p. 4 The original version was given at the Bechstein Hall in February 1909 by the Société de Concerts Français."Music", The Times, 22 February 1909, p. 10 Wurmser-Delcourt was the soloist;"London Concerts", The Musical Times, 1 April 1909, p. 259 in her American début, she again played the Danses, at a concert in Aeolian Hall, New York, in December 1919,"French Harpist Plays", The New York Times, 29 December 1919, p. 7 but did not give the US premiere, which was in December 1916 in a concert at the same venue, when Carlos Salzedo was the soloist in the Dances and in the first American performance of Maurice Ravel's Introduction and Allegro."Programs of the Week", The New York Times'', 3 December 1916, p. 10

Both dances are in D, the first principally in Dorian mode and the second principally in Lydian. The theme of the Danse sacrée appears to have been borrowed from that of the Danse du voile, by Debussy's friend Francisco de Lacerda.Lesure, François (2008), Notes to a CD [http://www.joseeduardomartins.com/essays/Debussy%20et%20Lacerda.pdf Debussy and Lacerda]. See also Ferguson, Joan Laurel (1988), "Francisco de Lacerda and Claude Debussy's Danses: sacrée et profane", The American Harp Journal 11/4, pp. 13-15.

The Danse sacrée is marked Très modéré, the metronome mark is ♩ =120 and the time is {{music|time|3|2}}.Debussy, p. 1 The strings begin in the first seven bars and then the harp enters pianissimo, doux et soutenu. The Danse profane – marked modéré, ♩ =152, and {{music|time|3|4}}Debussy, p. 10 – is a slow swirling waltz, with its theme alternating with more animated interludes, before fading to a quiet conclusion.Halbreich, Harry (2014). Notes to Timpani CD 1C 1207 The two dances are of approximately equal duration, typically lasting about ten minutes between them.{{refn|Some typical playing times from versions in the Recordings section: Chalifoux: 5m:8s and 4m:59s; Challan: 5:19 and 5:14; Langlamet: 4:27 and 4;57; Laskine: 4:27 and 4:32|group=n}}

Debussy's biographer Léon Vallas, calling the music "simple and pleasantly harmonious", comments, "The use of the ancient modes, as well as certain details of the instrumentation, may possibly recall Erik Satie's Gymnopédies".

Recordings include:

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• {{cite book | last = Birch| first = Albert|chapter= The Modern Development of the Harp|editor= Anthony Baines| title = Musical Instruments Throughout the Ages| date = 1969| location = London| publisher = Penguin| isbn = 978-0-14-020347-9}}
• {{cite book | last = Debussy| first =Claude | title =Danses | date = 1904| location =Paris | publisher = Durand| oclc=21808571 }}
• {{cite book | last = Dietschy | first = Marcel | title= A Portrait of Claude Debussy | date = 1990| location = Oxford| publisher = Clarendon Press| isbn = 978-0-19-315469-8}}
• {{cite book | last = Vallas | first= Léon | title =Claude Debussy, His Life and Works | date = 1973|orig-date=1933| location = New York | publisher = Dover | isbn = 978-0-486-22916-4}}

{{Claude Debussy}}

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Category:Concertante works by Claude Debussy

Category:1904 compositions

Category:Harp concertos

Category:Compositions for string orchestra

Category:Pleyel et Cie