Debussy composed this atmospheric work in 1909-10 as an audition/competition piece for the Paris Conservatoire.
Originally composed for clarinet and piano, it was officially premiered in 1911 by the Conservatoire’s clarinet professor, Prosper Mimart. Debussy was most pleased after hearing the performance, considering it one of the most pleasing pieces he had ever written. He then proceeded to orchestrate it in 1911, and it is best known in that setting.
The “Première Rhapsodie” is mostly free-form. Although only 8 minutes long, it is musically rich while making great technical and musical demands on the soloist. A slow, dreamy opening gives way to a haunting clarinet theme, later characterized by third and sixth intervals. Clarinet mini-cadenzas and flourishes abound against poignant whole-tone chords in the winds and strings. The latter part of the Rhapsodie is a spirited scherzando that accelerates to a climax in the horns. A soaring clarinet cadenza ends this work with a flourish.
Première rhapsodie
Composed in 1911
By Claude Debussy
