Claude Debussy

Sarabande

Pour le Piano, considered the earliest mature composition by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) for the piano, was published in 1901. He composed the middle movement "Sarabande" much earlier, in the winter of 1894, as a part of the collection Images Oubliées. Revised for the latter work, it was first heard in the initial performance of this piece by Ricardo Viñes on January 11, 1902 at the Salle Érard in Paris for Société Nationale de Musique. Debussy once said that it should sound "like an old portrait in the Louvre". It was orchestrated by Ravel in 1923. This LudwigMasters reprint edition features an organ transcription by Alexandre Cellier. (5:00)