The Classical Music Book

228

I GO TO SEE THE

SHADOW YOU

HAVE BECOME

PRÉLUDE À L’APRÈS-MIDI D’UN FAUNE

( 1894 ), CLAUDE DEBUSSY

C

omposed between

1891–1894, and based on

the poem by Stéphane

Mallarmé, Claude Debussy’s first

published orchestral work Prélude

à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to

the Afternoon of a Faun) has since

been hailed as the first significant

“impressionist” musical work. Later

the composer Pierre Boulez even

claimed that the work marked the

very beginning of modern music.

Debussy’s musical language

was an ideal counterpart to

Mallarmé’s symbolist poetry. The

composer described the work as

“the general impression of the

poem ... it follows the ascending

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Impressionism

BEFORE

1891 Gabriel Fauré’s “Cinq

mélodies ‘de Venise’” uses

subtle, elusive harmonic

progressions, similar to the

“impressionist” style.

1882–1892 Ernest Chausson’s

Poème de l’amour et de la mer

contains passages and chord

progressions, which more

vividly prefigure the harmonic

language of Debussy’s Prélude.

AFTER

1912 In the ballet Daphnis

et Chloé, Maurice Ravel uses

fast-moving “dots” of sound,

the musical equivalent of a

pointillist painting.

1928–1929 The young Olivier

Messiaen composes his

Préludes, a collection of pieces

heavily influenced by Debussy.

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