We know that Spanish folklore had a great influence on many of the French composers of the second half of the 19th century. The presence of Granados, Albéniz, or De Falla in Paris at the time is one of the factors. However, the folklore that attracted the French was not always peninsular. It could come from the colonies. From Cuba, for example. It is the case of the "habanera", a dance and rhythm with origin in Havana to which an extensive list of authors, headed by Georges Bizet (the author of the most famous one), made use of. He'll be followed by Massenet, Chabrier, Lalo, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Ravel... The list goes on.
Of course, Claude Debussy could not be missing from the count. His 1903 piano triptych, Estampes, gained popularity thanks to a second movement of sensual harmony, a habanera entitled "Afternoon in Granada".
In his forties, the author of "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" was enjoying the success of his first opera, Pelléas et Melisande. The possibility of a second lyric work seemed like a natural continuation, but the idea gradually lost momentum as the maestro turned his attention to writing for the piano. Among the production of that year, 1903, stands out what was to be Debussy's first great piano work.
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| C. Debussy (1862 - 1918) |
Premiered in January 1904 by his friend Ricardo Viñes at the Salle Erard of the Société Nationale de Musique, this is a collection of three short pieces for piano: Pagodes (a piece of Javanese music), the habanera already mentioned, and Jardins sous la pluie (as if a child were watching the rain fall behind the glass of a window).
A new style
In less than fifteen minutes in length, Debussy proclaims here a new style, signaling the birth of a more intimate and delicate piano technique than was in vogue, a technique that does not require virtuoso feats, rather on the contrary, he sees in the piano a friendly factory of dreams and a companion for imaginary journeys.
Claude Debussy never traveled to Spain. But he could have imagined an afternoon in Granada...
Sections:
00:00 Pagodes. Modérément animé
05:55 La soirée dans Grenade. Habanera movement
11:14 Gardens under the rain. Net et vif
The rendition is by brilliant Russian pianist Anna Zassimova.
