Haven't I Heard That Before Preview | Debussy Préludes
- Leah Froyd
- Jun 1
- 4 min read
Hello and welcome to the last preview of our upcoming concert, Haven't I Heard That Before with Daniel Anastasio! To introduce you to Daniel and his work, we will spotlight his videos and respond to them below! Follow along for some fun insights from Daniel and our team and join us June 6th and 7th to hear his performance live at the Clocktower Salon.
Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps in the Snow) | Claude Debussy
Des pas sur la neige is a movement of Debussy's set of 24 preludes, made in the compositional practice previously set by composers like Bach, Chopin, and Scriabin. However, unlike his predecessors, Debussy did not center his preludes on the key but rather a set of poetic vignettes. Some other titles of these preludes include "Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir" ("The sounds and fragrances swirl through the evening air"), Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest (What the Winds of the West Have Seen), and La cathédrale engloutie The Engulfed Cathedral).
It should be noted that despite these highly illustrative titles, in the original edition, that titles were printed at the END of the piece in order to allow the player/listener to create their own impression of the music first.
In addition to the titles, Debussy also gives the performer additional clues in the performance direction. For example, at the beginning of Des pas sur la neige, the opening words translate to: "this rhythm must sound like the sad and frozen countryside" and later, "expressive and sorrowful". Towards the end, another description is given to play a certain melodic line "as a tender and sad regret".
These performance notes are highly instructive for the way the performer will treat and inflect the notes. Just like in other performing arts practices like theater or dance, the musical performer is encouraged to imbue the music with the emotional characteristics of the material by choosing specific articulations, dynamics, or tone qualities.
The musical material of this movement is extremely solemn and isolated. Notice that the introduction only consists of two notes that are very close together, first at unison and then at a M2. This sparse writing evokes a very lonely feeling, and creates a metaphorical fork in the road as the two voices diverge.
"My composition professor introduced me to this piece as an example of economy of motif, which means using as little material as possible to tell the musical story. Debussy’s two note “footsteps” wander through a winter landscape, but the stark changes in harmony evoke the inner world and introspection of the walker. Debussy’s harmonies provide different shades and contexts for the motif, which remains the same until a climactic ascent that ends on a pure Db major chord, far from D minor where the walk began, and of a crystalline quality that purges the emotional turmoil from before. The them is restated in octaves at the end, with a foreboding countermelody that seems to suggest a harrowing realization, before the final descent into the darkness of a plagal cadence. The final chord is chilling, voiced in the extreme high and low registers of the piano, like the black beneath a frozen pond."
-- Cooper Grosscup
The ending features a final descent down the pentatonic (5 note) scale in the bass, concluding the scene.
"I had a brilliant professor at SFCM who always knew exactly when to throw in these asides that would catch your attention. One time he shared with us what it's like to freeze to death. "It's actually a rather peaceful way to die. The cold makes all of your bodily functions slow down one by one. Of course you get very sleepy, and if it's cold enough for you to freeze to death of course you can't feel anything. Your entire body is numb and it gets harder and harder to keep your eyes open, and at some point...you simply never wake up." It was his delivery that really made it stick with me. That tangent in my class always helps me play this piece, especially the ending."
-- José Daniel Vargas
Voiles (Sails) | Debussy
For an additional guided listening, we will explore another movement from this set, Voiles (Sails).
The shortest title Debussy gives is for the movement, Voiles. This cryptic description is matched with an equally mysterious opening, based purely on this gesture:
My favorite thing about this movement is the juxtaposition between the swift and light motif above and the imposing, more solemn left hand. To me, this is illustrative of a small boat facing a large wave.
As the movement continues, the left and right hands become more entwined and free. The 32nd notes are transformed into grace notes, and Debussy instructs the player to play them as glissandos (gestural). This musical development is illustrative of a fantastical voyage.
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