Préludes (Debussy)

Claude Debussy's Préludes are two sets of pieces for solo piano. They are divided into two separate livres, or books, of twelves preludes each. Unlike previous cycles of twenty-four preludes, like that of Chopin, Debussy's does not follow a set pattern of key signatures, but instead moves arbitrarily through the possible keys, not even touching five of them. The first book was written between December of 1909 and February of 1910, and the second between 1911 and April of 1913.

Premier Livre:

1. Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi): Lent et grave
2. Voiles (Veils or sails): Modéré
3. Le vent dans la plaine (The Wind on the Plain): Animé
4. «Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir» (The sounds and fragrances swirl through the evening air): Modéré
5. Les collines d'Anacapri (The Hills of Anacapri: Très modéré
6. Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps in the Snow): Triste et lent
7. Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest (What the West Wind has seen): Animé et tumultueux
8. La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair): Très calme et doucement expressif
9. La sérénade interrompue (Interrupted Serenade): Modérément animé
10. La cathédral engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral): Profondément calme
11. La danse de Puck (Puck's Dance): Capricieux et léger
12. Minstrels: Modéré

Deuxième Livre:

1. Brouillards (Fogs)
2. Feuilles mortes (Dead Leaves)
3. La Puerta del Vino
4. «Les Fées sont d'exquises danseuses»
5. Bruyères (Heathers)
6. Général Lavine - excentric
7. La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune
8. Ondine
9. Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C.
10. Canope
11. Les tierces alternées
12. Feux d'artifice

Debussy never intended the pieces to be performed in a series; he thought of them as individual works. The titles were given by the composer to create images or sensory associations for the listener. Several are poetically vague. For example, the meaning of Voiles the title of the second preludes of the first book, is ambiguous, since the noun's gender is unknown. They are written at the end of the music, suggesting that the pieces are in fact preludes for thoughts.

The most famous of the preludes are both from the first book: La fille aux cheveux de lin is a brief but harmonically complex Pre-Raphaelite expression of beauty. La cathédrale engloutie alludes to the legend of the sunken city of Ys. Only the spires of the cathedral were visible above the waves of the Atlantic.