Two Arabesques

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The arabesques

The two arabesques are given these tempo marks: [3]

  1. Andantino con moto
  2. Allegretto scherzando

Arabesque No. 1. Andantino con moto

This arabesque is in the key of E major. The piece begins with parallelism of triads in first inversion, a composition technique very much used by Debussy and other Impressionists which traces back to the tradition of fauxbourdon. It leads into a larger section which begins with a left hand arpeggio in E major and a descending right hand E major pentatonic progression.

The second quieter B section is in A major, starting with a gesture (E-D-E-C), briefly passing through E major, returning to A major and ending with a bold pronouncement of the E-D-E-C gesture, but transposed to the key of C major and played forte.

In the middle of the recapitulation of the A section, the music moves to a higher register and descends, followed by a large pentatonic scale ascending and descending, and resolving back to E major.

Arabesque No. 2. Allegretto scherzando

The second arabesque in G major is noticeably quicker and more lively in tempo. It opens with left hand chords and right hand trills. The piece makes several transpositions and explores a lower register of the piano. Again notable is a hint of the pentatonic scale. It closes in a similar fashion to the first arabesque.

In other media

The first piece was used as the theme to Star Gazers . It is also featured in the 2001 Japanese film All About Lily Chou-Chou along with other works from Debussy.

References

  1. Stillman, Mimi (Fall 2007). "Debussy, Painter of Sound and Image". The Flutist Quarterly. 33 (1): 41–46.
  2. Lesure & Smith (eds.) Debussy on Music 1977, p84. Cited in Stillman, Mimi (Fall 2007). "Debussy, Painter of Sound and Image". The Flutist Quarterly. 33 (1): 41–46.
  3. Olson, Lynn Freeman (1985). Debussy -- Deux Arabesques for the Piano. Alfred Music Publishing. ISBN   0739023063.