Music Director
Claude Debussy:
Prelude de l’apres-midi d'un faune
The term impressionism was first applied to a school of French painting that was popular from 1880 until the end of the century. Claude Monet was its chief proponent. Musically, Debussy was drawn to the piano works of Polish composer Frederic Chopin, and the dream-like orchestral effects of Wagner's orchestral works.
Using modal, exotic, and pentatonic scales, shimmering orchestration, and chords which provide color rather than serving a tonal harmonic function, Debussy created a revolutionary style of music that has been labeled impressionistic. This revolutionary approach to composition exerted a profound influence on composers of the twentieth century.
Debussy was first taught piano by an aunt, but had no formal education until he entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1872 at age 10. In 1879 he toured European music centers and heard the music of Verdi and Wagner, and Mussorgsky. His financial sponsor was Nadehzda von Meck, Tchaikovsky's patron. Debussy spent several years teaching von Meck's children
In 1884. Debussy won the Grand Prix de Rome for his cantata. L'enfant Prodigue. He studied in Italy for two years, a condition of the prize, and submitted new works to the Grand Prix committee, including "Printemps", and a cantata. "La Demoiselle Elue", based on a poem by British author Rossetti.Dante Gabriel.
In the 1890s, Debussy became attracted to the dreamy romanticism of the Symbolist Movement. Debussy met frequently with such symbolists as the French writer Stephane Mallarme , whose poem "Prelude de l’apres-midi d'un faune" was the inspiration for Debussy's astonishingly innovative orchestral work.
In keeping with the Symbolist Movement, Debussy sought not to tell a story as in a tone poem, but to depict the atmosphere of a scene and the erotic passions of a faun who has just woken from a nap. In a dreamlike monologue, the faun recalls his encounters with several nymphs. L’apres-midi was first performed on December 22 1894 in Paris. The conductor was Gustave Doret. In a French book about symbolism and music, Debussy recalled:
"The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of Mallarme's beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it. Rather there is a succession of scenes through which pass (he desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and niads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams of possession in Nature."
The opening solo flute theme descends chromatically to a dissonant tritone below the opening pitch before ascending. It is one of the most famous themes in modern music. The ballet L'apres-midi d'un faune (or The Afternoon of a Faun) was choreographed by the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky for the Ballets Russes, and was first performed in the Theatre du Chatelet, Paris, on May 29. 1912. Nijinsky danced the main part himself.
Notes by Beth Fisher