The Two Arabesques (Deux arabesques), L. 66, is a pair
of arabesques composed by Claude Debussy. They are two
of Debussy's earliest works, composed between the years
1888 and 1891, when he was still in his twenties.
Although quite an early work, the arabesques contain
hints of Debussy's developing musical style. The suite
is one of the very early impressionistic pieces of
music, following the French visual art form. Debussy
seems to wander through modes and keys, and achieves
evocative...(+)
The Two Arabesques (Deux arabesques), L. 66, is a pair
of arabesques composed by Claude Debussy. They are two
of Debussy's earliest works, composed between the years
1888 and 1891, when he was still in his twenties.
Although quite an early work, the arabesques contain
hints of Debussy's developing musical style. The suite
is one of the very early impressionistic pieces of
music, following the French visual art form. Debussy
seems to wander through modes and keys, and achieves
evocative scenes through music.
The Arabesque No. 2 (Andantino con moto) is written in
the key of G major and is noticeably quicker and more
lively in tempo than the Arabesque No. 1. It opens with
left hand chords and right hand trills. The pieces
makes several transpositions and explores a lower
register of the piano. Again notable is a hint of the
pentatonic scale. The style more closely resembles some
of Debussy's later works. Like the closing bars of the
first arabesque, this arabesque closes in a similar
fashion.
The vocabulary of Debussy's music is rich in harmonic
dimension. The composer uses 7ths, 9ths, 11th and more,
while he intersperses whole tone progressions that are
so characteristic of his writing. If density, or volume
ever applied to musical performance, this piece meets
all requirements for a slow entry into notes, and a
swimming motion through them therefore although
originally written for Piano (and variations thereof),
I chose to create this arrangement for concert harp to
accentuate these characteristics of the original work.
