Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Revision as of 20:45, 21 October 2014 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 20:51, 21 October 2014 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) Next diff → |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
+ | {| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5" | ||
+ | | style="text-align: left;" | | ||
+ | [[Pierre Boulez]] dates the awakening of [[musical modernism|modern music]] from ''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'', observing that "the [[flute]] of the [[faun]] brought new breath to the art of music." | ||
{{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
'''''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun''''' (commonly known by its original [[French language|French]] title, '''''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune''''') is a [[musical composition]] for [[orchestra]] by [[Claude Debussy]], approximately 10 minutes in duration. It was first performed in [[Paris]] on [[December 22]], [[1894]], conducted by [[Gustave Doret]]. | '''''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun''''' (commonly known by its original [[French language|French]] title, '''''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune''''') is a [[musical composition]] for [[orchestra]] by [[Claude Debussy]], approximately 10 minutes in duration. It was first performed in [[Paris]] on [[December 22]], [[1894]], conducted by [[Gustave Doret]]. |
Revision as of 20:51, 21 October 2014
Pierre Boulez dates the awakening of modern music from Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, observing that "the flute of the faun brought new breath to the art of music."
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (commonly known by its original French title, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune) is a musical composition for orchestra by Claude Debussy, approximately 10 minutes in duration. It was first performed in Paris on December 22, 1894, conducted by Gustave Doret. Inspiration and influenceThe composition was inspired by the poem L'Après-midi d'un faune by Stéphane Mallarmé, and later formed the basis for a ballet choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. It is one of Debussy's most famous works and is considered a turning point in the history of music; composer-conductor Pierre Boulez even dates the awakening of modern music from this score, observing that "the flute of the faun brought new breath to the art of music.". About his composition Debussy wrote:
The opening flute solo is one the most famous passages in musical modernism, consisting of a chromatic descent to a tritone below the original pitch, and the subsequent ascent. CompositionThe work is scored for three flutes, two oboes, english horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four french horns, two harps, two crotales and strings. Notable is the absence of trumpets, trombones, and timpani. Although it is tempting to call this piece a tone poem, there is very little musical literalism in the piece; instead, the languorous melody and shimmering orchestration as a whole evoke the eroticism of Mallarmé's poem.
The work is called a prelude because Debussy intended to write a suite of three movements – Prelude, Interlude, and Final Paraphrase – but the later two were never composed. The Prélude at first listening seems improvisational and almost free-form; however, closer observation will demonstrate that the piece consists of a complex organization of musical cells, motifs carefully developed and traded between members of the orchestra. A close analysis of the piece yields a deep appreciation of the ultimate compositional economy of Debussy's craft. The main musical themes are introduced by woodwinds, with delicate but harmonically advanced underpinnings of muted horns, strings and harp. Recurring tools in Debussy's compositional arsenal make appearances in this piece: Bracing whole-tone scale runs, harmonic fluidity without lengthy modulations between central keys, tritones in both melody and harmony. The development of the slow main theme moves fluidly between 9/8, 6/8 and 12/8 meters. Debussy explores voicings and shading in his orchestration brilliantly, allowing the main melodic cell to move from solo flute to oboe, back to solo flute, then two unison flutes (yielding a completely different atmosphere to the melody), then clarinet, etc. Even the accompaniment explores alternate voicings; the flute duo's soaring, exotic melodic cells ride lush rolling strings with violas carrying the soprano part over alto violins (the tone of a viola in its upper register being especially sumptuous). And, in the first minute of the piece, Debussy mischievously throws in a bar of complete silence, giving the listener the opportunity to explore the musical quality of negative space within a gentle flowing river of sound. In popular culture
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
|