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Home > Debussy, Claude Achille > Préludes 1 > "Le vent dans la plaine"

Debussy, Claude Achille : Préludes 1　"Le vent dans la plaine"

Work Overview

Music ID : 22366
Instrumentation：Piano Solo　
Genre：prelude
Total Playing Time：2 min 00 sec
Copyright：Public Domain

Commentary (1)

Author : Shiraishi, Yuriko

Last Updated: January 27, 2020
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Note: This article is automatically translated from the original Japanese text. The author of the original work did not supervise this translation.

In 1887, Debussy composed the song "En sourdine" (the first song of Ariettes oubliées), based on a poem by Verlaine, using the poetic line "Le vent qui passe, s'arrête" (The wind that passes, stops) by the playwright Charles-Simon Favart (1710-1792) as an epigraph. Under the instruction "aussi légèrement que possible" (as lightly as possible), the main motif with a dotted rhythm emerges from amidst a continuous rush of arpeggios, and in the next moment, a series of chords descends like falling leaves (measures 1-12). Here, the opening arpeggio and dotted rhythm motif temporarily return (measures 13-27), but the insertion of chordal attacks adds dynamism to the piece (measures 28-34). From measure 34, the music returns to the arpeggio and dotted rhythm motif, and the piece concludes with a floating sensation, like a gentle breeze.

Writer: Shiraishi, Yuriko
Japanese