Claude Debussy

La plus que lente

Slow waltzes enjoyed a special vogue in Parisian salons of the early twentieth century, leading Debussy - with a twinkle in his eye - to produce his piano waltz 'La plus que lente' ('The Slower-than-Slow'). Parisian publisher Durand brought Debussy's piano waltz, issued in July 1910, to a wider public by publishing it that same year as a supplement to Le Figaro, as well as in arrangements (by others) for violin and piano and for piano, 4-hands. Debussy himself produced a version for orchestra, and in 1913 he even - at a rather faster tempo - recorded it on a piano roll for the Welte-Mignon company.

This work, headed 'molto rubato con morbidezza' (with much rubato, morbidly), is now available as a separate Henle Urtext. A preface, extended from those in the anthology volumes HN 1194 and HN 404, will stimulate curiosity about this charming miniature waltz.