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Alternatives: Cello Sonata in D minor - Claude Debussy
The final years of Claude Debussy were clouded by the increasing debility and pain of cancer, from which he was to die in 1918, and by the conditions of France in war-time. Now, in 1915, he embarked on the composition of a planned set of six sonatas, offered in hommage to his second wife, Emma-Claude. Of these only the first three were complete, the Cello Sonata, a Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, and a final work for Violin and Piano [click the link to listen to this Sonata]
Debussy, who proudly announces himself as “musicien français” on the title page, described the first of these as ‘presque classique dans le bon sens du mot’ (almost classical in the good sense of the word). The original intention was to give the Cello Sonata the title Pierrot fâché avec la lune (Pierrot angry with the moon), a reference to Debussy’s continued preoccupation with the strange figures of the harlequinade, 'les fébriles fantômes, menant leur ronde vaste et morne’ (the feverish ghosts, leading their vast, dismal dance). Debussy seems to have identified himself with the figure of Pierrot.
The 'Prologue’, unified by the rhythmic figure that appears in the first bar, leads to a poignant theme, marked Poco animando. There is a central section of greater activity and tension, before the return of the opening material, the exposition. The 'Sérénade’, marked Modérément animé, with the subsidiary instruction fantasque et léger, casts the cello as the guitar, to re-appear, it would seem, as a mandolin and as a flute. The Finale follows without a break, its relatively cheerful course interrupted by moments of introspection. Here again the figures appear, in the words of Verlaine, 'quasi tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques’ (as if sad under their fantastic disguises).
The alternatives
Cello & Piano: Paul Tortelier & Jean Hubeau
- I. Prologue
- II. Sérénade
- III. Finale
Cello & Piano: Jean-Guihen Queyras & Alexandre Tharaud
- I. Prologue
- II. Sérénade
- III. Finale
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