Claude Debussy

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, L. 86) was composed by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) in 1894. A symphonic poem based on Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem L’après-midi d’un faune, the work is simultaneously among Debussy’s most famous, a masterpiece of Impressionist composition, and a turning point in the history of Western music. Mallarmé’s poem depicts a faun playing his panpipes who fails in his amorous pursuit of some passing nymphs, then lays down to sleep after the effort to maybe recapture it all in a dream. While not a tone poem in the strict sense, it does evoke the erotic feeling of the text. It includes one of the most well-known orchestral flute solos in the repertoire, and the music was set to a short and highly controversial ballet in 1912 by famed dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Instrumentation: 3.2+EH.2.2: 4.0.0.0: Perc(1): Hp(2): Str (9-8-7-6-5 in set). Edited by Clinton Nieweg.