The Petite Suite, L 65, is a suite for piano four hands by Claude Debussy. It has been transcribed many times, most notably in an orchestral version by Debussy's colleague Henri Büsser.
I have arranged the complete suite for both wind quintet and wind dectet.
I have also upliaded the following movement for wind dectet
other movements in preparation.
Background
The suite, which was composed from 1886 to 1889, was first performed on 2 February 1889 by Debussy and pianist-publisher Jacques Durand at a salon in Paris.It may have been written due to a request (possibly from Durand) for a piece that would be accessible to skilled amateurs, as its simplicity is in stark contrast with the modernist works that Debussy was writing at the time
Structure
The work, which lasts about 13 minutes in performance,has four movements:
En bateau (Sailing): Andantino
Cortège (Retinue): Moderato
Menuet: Moderato
Ballet: Allegro giusto
The first two movements of his Petite Suite are drawn from two poems of Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) from his 1869 volume Fêtes galantes.
i. En bateau (sailing)
In En bateau (Sailing), revelers in a boat have their minds on romantic trysts as they sail at dusk on a dark lake. Debussy’s music captures perfectly a mood of water-borne serenity and languor, opening with a kind of musical sigh that made the Petite Suite immediately popular with a wide audience.
II. The title “Cortège (Retinue)” does not refer to a funeral cortege, rather to a promenade.
Debussy happily conveys Verlaine’s outward textual playfulness as a lady and her escort of a liveried monkey and pageboy go for a promenade and then retire upstairs. Nor does he miss the less-than-pure thoughts on the minds of her companions as their mistress proceeds.
Debussy’s setting suggests a procession but without much elegance.
Both the movements that follow lack literary reference.
III.Menuet is the most intimate and personal movement of this work. Register shifts are introduced here, allowing us to appreciate the fast changes in tone quality.
IV. The finale, Ballet, has a strong rhythmic drive and percussive quality. This movement, which has features of Javanese gamelan music, might perhaps be the most carefree music of Debussy.
Transcriptions:
The Petite Suite was orchestrated by Debussy's colleague Henri Büsser in 1907, and published by A. Durand & Fils. Büsser's transcription calls for two flutes(second doubling piccolo), two oboes (second doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, percussion (cymbals, tambourineand triangle), harp, and strings.
My dectet transcription is for double wind quintet.
English translations of the 2 poems by Verlaine
Aboard
(Fêtes Galants: En Bateau)
The shepherd’s star, it shivers,
The steersman, in darker waters,
Seeks fire in the depths of his trousers.
Now’s the hour, Gentlemen, or never,
To be daring, and you’ll discover
My hands, from now on, all over!
Atys, the knight, scratching at
His guitar, on cool Chloris casts
A glance, and a wicked one at that.
The priest confesses poor Églé,
And that Vicomte, in disarray,
Prince of the Fields, gives his heart away.
Meanwhile the moon sheds its glow
On the skiff’s brief course below,
Gaily riding the dream-like flow.
Her Retinue
(Fêtes Galants: Cortège)
A monkey in brocaded vest
Gambols and cavorts for She
Who twists a lace handkerchief
In her hand gloved to the wrist,
While a small black slave in red
Holds the train, at arm’s length,
Of her heavy robe, intent
To see that no fold’s disordered.
The monkey never takes his eyes
From the lady’s soft white throat.
Opulent treasure whose rich note
Asks a god’s torso, bare, as prize.
The slave will sometimes raise the height,
Rascal, higher than he needs,
Of his sumptuous load, so he
May see what he dreams of at night;
Yet she appears now unaware
As up the flight of stairs she goes
How insolent approval shows
In her familiar creatures’ stare.