Complete Preludes, Books 1 and 2

By Claude Debussy

Here, in one volume, are two bodies of work that, perhaps more than any others, reveal the essence of Claude Debussy's extraordinary expressiveness and his innovative gifts for musical imagery. Each book contains twelve preludes for the piano, many of them known to today's musical audiences because of their great popularity with pianists worldwide. Ranging from the mystical "La Cathédrale engloutie" to the capricious "Ondine" to the explosive "Feux d'artifice," they offer special joys to pianists of varying levels of ability.
Other favorites from the piano repertoire in this collection include: "Danseuses de Delphes," "Ce qu'a vu le Vent d'Ouest," "La fille aux cheveux de lin," "La danse de Puck," and "Feuilles mortes." Some are technically simple, others comparatively difficult. All of them afford pianists an unparalleled opportunity to explore and develop their expressive range.
This authoritative edition of the complete Preludes, with a helpful glossary of French terms, has been carefully printed on durable paper and sturdily bound to provide students and lovers of fine music a lifetime of study and enjoyment of these beloved masterpieces of piano composition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Jan 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9780486312163

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Complete Preludes, Books 1 and 2

Claude Debussy

Copyright

Copyright © 1998 by Dover Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 1998, is a new compilation of works originally published by G. Schirmer, New York, in separate volumes of Schirmer’s Library of Musical Classics under the group title Frédéric Chopin/Complete Works for the Pianoforte. The préludes were originally published with three rondos in Volume 34, 1895; the études, in Book VIII of the Chopin series, 1916.

Carl Mikuli’s full-length German Vorwort [Foreword] first appeared in Fr. Kistner’s original publication of the Mikuli edition, Leipzig, 1879. The edited translation that has been adapted for the present publication appeared in Book XI [Sonatas] of Schirmer’s Chopin series, 1895.

The Dover edition adds new headings as well as dates of composition based on primary sources. Popularized subtitles in the contents list are included as familiar references; they appeared neither in the composer’s manuscripts nor in early editions of the music.

We are indebted to the Music Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for making the score of Préludes and Rondos available for this publication.

9780486312163

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Glossary of French Terms

Preludes,