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Home > Debussy, Claude Achille > Préludes 2 > "Feux d'artifice"

Debussy, Claude Achille : Préludes 2　"Feux d'artifice"

Work Overview

Music ID : 22387
Instrumentation：Piano Solo　
Genre：prelude
Total Playing Time：4 min 00 sec
Copyright：Public Domain

Commentary (1)

Author : Shiraishi, Yuriko

Last Updated: January 28, 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.

This piece depicts the Bastille Day (Fête Nationale) on July 14. Debussy may have witnessed these fireworks in the summer of 1912. Above rapid, even triplet passages, chordal fireworks erupt, and the scene gradually approaches (mm. 1-18). The main motif finally emerges amidst tremolos and ascending/descending scales (mm. 27-30). This motif is varied, unleashing a display of colorful lights (mm. 35-40, mm. 41-56). The middle section portrays leisurely, rubato-inflected flickering fireworks (mm. 57-64), but with the return of the main motif from m. 65, sharp flashes reappear. This motif is further amplified with increasing power, reaching its climax (mm. 79-89), and the celebration of sound, light, and color concludes with the national anthem, La Marseillaise, heard from afar (mm. 90-98) (see musical example).

[Musical Example: mm. 90-94]

Writer: Shiraishi, Yuriko

Reference Videos & Audition Selections(4items)

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Japanese