The first of Debussy’s larger piano works was published in 1901. The slow middle movement had already been written in 1894. This grave Sarabande in the old style was published in a newspaper supplement in 1896 in its first version (regarding this early version see HN 846, Images 1894) and was slightly revised for Pour le piano. The Sarabande soon became popular and was later orchestrated by Ravel. The first movement, Prélude, evokes Javan music with ringing gongs; and the virtuoso Ricardo Viñes even had to repeat the motoric Toccata at the première.
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- Other titles with this level of difficulty
- Pour le piano
- Sarabande
- Piano 6 medium
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Preface
Pour le piano is the first of Claude Debussy’s (1862–1918) mature piano works. Although the final autograph bears the date January –April 1901, the work was not written in a single stretch. The second of its three movements, the Sarabande, dates from the winter of 1894, and appeared previously in the Grand Journal (supplement to Monday, 17 February 1896). It originally … more
Critical Commentary
About the composer

Claude Debussy
Most important French composer around 1900, whose music, primarily characterized by its sound, exhibits profound innovations. His oeuvre bears a close relationship to Symbolism.
1862 | Born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye on August 22. |
1872–84 | Studies at the Conservatoire de Paris. During this time, he travels with the family of Nadezhda von Meck to Switzerland, Italy, Vienna, and Russia, where he becomes acquainted with Russian and Gypsy music. |
1884 | Wins the Prix de Rome with his cantata “L’Enfant prodigue.” Thereafter resides in Rome until 1887. |
1887–89 | Songs, “Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire.” |
1888/89 | Visit to the Bayreuth Festival; criticism of Wagner. |
1889 | Exposition universelle (World Exposition) in Paris, where he learns about East Asian music, which influences his style. |
1890 | Connection to Mallarmé and his circle. |
1891/1903 | Series of songs, “Fêtes galantes,” after Verlaine. |
1891–94 | Orchestral work “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune” (“Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”) with arabesque-like melodies. |
1897–99 | Nocturnes for orchestra and women’s voices. |
1901 | Beginning of his activity as a music critic. |
1902 | Performance of the opera “Pelléas et Mélisande” after the Symbolist drama by Maeterlinck, which despite criticism spells his breakthrough. |
1903–05 | Orchestral work “La Mer” uses symphonic principles and “Impressionist” tonal language. |
1905–07 | Books one and two of “Images” for piano. |
1906–08 | “Children’s Corner,” children’s pieces for piano. |
1909–10/11–1913 | Books one and two of the “Préludes” for piano; the programmatic titles of these character pieces, some of which are quite esoteric, are listed at the end of each one. |
1913 | Songs “Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé.” |
1915–17 | Chamber music sonatas, drawing from the French tradition of the eighteenth century. |
1918 | Death in Paris on March 25. |