Music Appreciation 3e Kamien
	Online Learning Center

Claude Debussy

Prélude À L'après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faune)

Instrumentation: flutes (3), oboes (2), English horn, clarinets (2), bassoons (2), French horns (4), harps (2), antique cymbals, strings

One of the most famous examples of musical impressionism is the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, by Claude Debussy (1894). The vague sense meter, the exotic orchestral timbres, and the seemingly lack of any definite tonal center are characteristics of the style.

A Section
15) Main melody is presented by a solo flute. Note the harmonic and rhythmic ambiguity.

:23 Harp glissando ushers in the French horn. (p).
:33 Brief pause.
:37 Harp glissando is heard, followed by soft horn calls.

16) Flute (main melody) strings in background.
:22 Subtle transition to oboe.
:41 Orchestral crescendo begins.
:57 Solo clarinet fades into next section.

17) Flute presents main melody which varied and expanded form.
1:15 Clarinet enters supported by harp and cellos

18) New oboe melody.

:12 Violins enter with new melody. Crescendo and accelerando lead to the climax of the work.
:53 Clarinet leads into B section.

B Section
19) Woodwinds present a legato melody in long notes

:35 Strings repeat the melody supported by the harps and woodwinds.
1:10 Orchestra gradually becomes softer (decrescendo).
1:25 Horns, solo violin, clarinet, and oboe finish the section.

A' Section
20) Flute (supported by harp) presents the main melody in longer (augmented) notes
:21 Oboe (trills and staccato motif).
:36 Oboe (supported by harp) presents the main melody in longer notes.
:56 English horn, harp glissando (trills and staccato motif).

21) Antique cymbals accompany reappearance of the main theme in the flute.
:09 Solo violins in high register.
:45 Flute and cello present the main melody supported by harp.
1:04 Oboe brings the melody to a close.
1:36 Harps reappear (p).
1:43 Muted horns and violins, present the beginning of main melody, as if in the distance. Subsequently, the flute antique cymbals and harp, bring the work to a close.

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