Debussy's La fille aux cheveux de lin — the title is not printed at the top but at the end. Every one of his preludes is like that: the name comes after the music, in brackets, as if to say "that thing you just heard is called this". Thirty-nine bars, one minute forty-eight, G flat major with six flats, marked Très calme et doucement expressif at 66 to the quarter. The full piano score is on screen, note by note.
The title comes last because he did not want to answer first
Debussy's two books of Préludes hold twenty-four pieces, and every title is printed at the end, in brackets. Not a typesetting accident but his design — he did not want you listening with a picture already in your head.
The name comes from a poem — the nineteenth-century French poet Leconte de Lisle included La fille aux cheveux de lin in his Chansons écossaises, about a girl sitting among the clover.
Debussy had already set that poem as a song in 1882, at twenty and still at the Conservatoire; twenty-eight years later, in 1910, he wrote the same subject as this piano piece.
The two books of Préludes are the most-played part of his piano output. The first, twelve pieces written in 1909 and 1910, has this as No. 8, alongside The Sunken Cathedral, La danse de Puck and Voiles.
It is an outlier in his work: none of the whole-tone writing or blurred harmony he is known for, just a clear tune over plain chords, and one of the shortest of the twenty-four at one minute forty-eight.
Six flats, and it sounds like nothing complicated
The opening tune walks alone, no accompaniment, one line down and back up; the chords arrive four bars later to hold it. Those four bars are what you will find yourself humming.
G flat major has six flats and none of the difficulty shows — the harmony is about as plain as Debussy gets, major triads and their neighbours.
After 0:22 the tune starts again at a different height; from 0:41 comes the densest stretch, where the right hand takes chords and the note count jumps from the teens to the thirties.
From 0:57 the music settles and Debussy writes Cédez — give way; from 1:16 the opening tune returns, and from 1:32 it closes on Murmuré et retenant peu à peu, murmured and holding back little by little.
This one goes into all three situation playlists: one minute forty-eight, never above mf, with no sudden attack — it will sit under work, reading or the evening.
Thirty-nine bars, and the emptiest holds two notes
Thirty-nine bars, no repeats, 3/4, G flat major with six flats, six hundred and seventy-two sounding notes plus one grace note, sixteen dynamics, eighteen hairpins and no pedal marks at all — the piece holds together on its harmony alone.
Bar counts run between two and forty-three, averaging seventeen point seven: bar 7 holds two notes, the emptiest and exactly where the first sentence finishes, while bar 22 holds forty-three. The bass goes down to F sharp 1 exactly once — the rest of the time both hands stay in the middle, which is part of why it sounds light.
The range is F sharp 1 to F sharp 6, five octaves, and the shortest note lasts 0.151 seconds.
There are fourteen French markings on the page, all Debussy's own.
The difficulty is not playing it with too much feeling
First, those opening four bars. A single line with nowhere to hide; every length and every weight is exposed.
Second, do not add. Debussy wrote sans rigeur and also sans lourdeur — flexible, but do not lean. A great many performances make this a deeply felt piece; it is not one.
Third, the feel of six flats. G flat major is mostly black keys and the hand shape is nothing like a white-key key; if it is unfamiliar, get the scale under the fingers first.
Fourth, the pedal. There are no marks, so it is your decision; the harmony moves slowly and will take more than usual, but every harmonic change needs a clean lift.
Fifth, the last bars. Murmuré is a dynamic instruction, not a tempo one; the slowing is written separately as retenant peu à peu. Do the two things separately.
The tempo is 66 to the quarter, printed at bar 1 with Très calme et doucement expressif in Debussy's own hand, and taken as it stands. Be aware that most performances run about two minutes twenty, considerably slower than the marking. This recording follows the page.
We rate this 3 out of 5.
Eleven more in the same book
The first book of Préludes has twelve numbers and this is the eighth; the same book holds Voiles, Le vent dans la plaine, La sérénade interrompue and the two best known, La cathédrale engloutie and La danse de Puck. A second book adds twelve more. The Debussy Préludes playlist here holds only this piece so far.
His other piano music already on this channel includes Clair de lune from the Suite bergamasque, both Arabesques, and Rêverie.
