Petite Suite (Debussy)
{{Short description|Suite for piano (4 hands)}}
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The Petite Suite, L 65, is a suite for piano four hands by Claude Debussy. It has been transcribed many times, most notably in an orchestral version by Debussy's colleague Henri Büsser.
Background
The suite, which was composed from 1886 to 1889,{{cite book|last=Rowland|first=David|title=The Cambridge Companion to the Piano|series=Cambridge Companions to Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEy1MRsnVHIC&pg=PA173|access-date=8 October 2012|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-47986-8|pages=173–}} was first performed on 2 February 1889 by Debussy and pianist-publisher Jacques Durand at a salon in Paris.{{cite book | title = The Life of Debussy |author=Roger Nichols|author-link=Roger Nichols (musical scholar)| publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1998 | volume = 4 | series = Musical Lives | edition = reprint | isbn = 0521578876 | page = 56 }} It may have been written due to a request (possibly from Durand) for a piece that would be accessible to skilled amateurs, as its simplicity is in stark contrast with the modernist works that Debussy was writing at the time.{{cite web|url=http://www.symphonysiliconvalley.org/concerts.php?pagecontID=56&showID=16|title=Program Notes|publisher=Symphony Silicon Valley|first=Beth|last=Fleming|access-date=8 October 2012}}
Structure
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Claude Debussy - Menuet Nº3 de la petite Suite - David Hernando Vitores - Kayoko Morimoto (Wasei Duo).ogg|title=3. Menuet|description=Performed on piano and saxophone by the Wasei Dúo}}
The work, which lasts about 13 minutes in performance,{{cite web|url=http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/music/petite-suite-claude-debussy|title=Petite Suite|last=Hiroshima|first=Grant|date=|work=Philpedia|publisher=Los Angeles Philharmonic|access-date=8 October 2012}} has four movements:
- {{Lang|fr|En bateau}} (Sailing): Andantino
- {{Lang|fr|Cortège}} (Retinue): Moderato
- {{Lang|fr|Menuet}}: Moderato
- {{Lang|fr|Ballet}}: Allegro giusto
The first two movements are inspired by poems from the volume {{ill|Fêtes galantes (Verlaine)|fr|lt=Fêtes galantes}} by Paul Verlaine (1844–1896).{{Wikisourcelang-inline|fr|En bateau|"En bateau"}}; {{Wikisourcelang-inline|fr|Cortège (Verlaine)|"Cortège"}}
Transcriptions
The Petite Suite was orchestrated by Debussy's colleague Henri Büsser in 1907, and published by A. Durand & Fils. Büsser's transcription calls for two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes (second doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, percussion (cymbals, tambourine and triangle), harp, and strings. The work has also been transcribed for clarinets, for harp, for brass band, and for chamber wind ensemble.{{cite web|url=http://faculty.washington.edu/gerhart/dwqbibliography/|title=Annotated Bibliography of Double Wind Quintet Music|first=Catherine|last=Gerhart|access-date=23 January 2014}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMSLP|work=Petite_suite_(Debussy,_Claude)|cname=Petite Suite}}
- {{YouTube|_NN0n8-YCfs|Animated score}}, Anastasia (primo) and Liubov (secondo) Gromoglasova, piano
{{Claude Debussy}}
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Category:Suites by Claude Debussy