Images pour orchestre
Encyclopedia
Images pour orchestre is an orchestral composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 in three sections by Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...

. Debussy wrote the music between 1905 and 1912. Debussy had originally intended this set of Images as a two-piano sequel to the first set of Images (solo piano), in a letter to his publisher Durand as of September 1905. However, by March 1906, in another letter to Durand, Debussy had begun to think of casting the work for orchestra rather than two pianos.

I. Gigue
Gigue
The gigue or giga is a lively baroque dance originating from the British jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th century and usually appears at the end of a suite...

s (1909–1912)

The original title of Gigues was Gigues tristes. Debussy used his memories of England as inspiration for the music, in addition to the song "Dansons la gigue" by Charles Bordes
Charles Bordes
Charles Bordes was a French music teacher and composer.-Timeline:Bordes studied pianoforte with Antoine François Marmontel and composition with César Franck. He was organist and maître de chapelle at Nogent-sur-Marne from 1887 to 1890...

 the Scottish folk tune "The Keel Row".

Controversy exists over the role of André Caplet
André Caplet
André Caplet was a French composer and conductor now known primarily through his orchestrations of works by Claude Debussy.-Biography:...

 in the orchestration of Gigues. Robert Orledge
Robert Orledge
Robert Orledge is a leading scholar of early twentieth century French music.He was born in Bath, Somerset on 5 January 1948 and educated at the City of Bath Boys' School and at Clare College, Cambridge where he gained a BA Music degree in 1968 and an MA in 1972...

 and Williametta Spencer are two writers, for example, who have accepted Caplet as assisting with the orchestration. In contrast, François Lesure has stated, based on manuscript examination in the Bibliothèque National (MS 1010), that Caplet did not assist with the orchestration.

II. Ibéria (1905–1908)

Ibéria is the most popular of the three orchestral Images and itself forms a triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...

 within a triptych. The three sections of Ibéria are:

  1. Par les rues et par les chemins ("In the streets and by-ways")

  2. Les parfums de la nuit ("The fragrance of the night")

  3. Le matin d'un jour de fête ("The morning of the festival day")



The music is inspired by impressions of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Richard Langham Smith
Richard Langham Smith
Richard Langham Smith is an English musicologist who has written on Debussy and contemporary French music in general....

has commented on Debussy's own wish to incorporate ideas of juxtaposing elements of the visual arts in musical terms, including a quote from Debussy to Caplet from a letter of 26 February 1910:

You can't imagine how naturally the transition works between 'Parfums de la nuit' and 'Le Matin d'un jour de fête. Ça n'a pas l'air d'être écrit.


Matthew Brown has briefly commented on Debussy's use of techniques such as incomplete progressions, parenthetical episodes and interpolations in Ibéria.

III. Rondes de printemps ("Round dances of spring") (1905–1909)

Debussy utilized two folk tunes, "Nous n'irons plus au bois" and "Do, do l'enfant do" in this movement. Brown, Dempster and Headlam have analyzed the tonal structure of this movement.

External links

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