In autumn 1891 Debussy’s early piano piece, Ballade slave, was published by Choudens. When he had it re-engraved by Fromont in a slightly revised form in 1903, he deleted the word slave. Thus the title pointed more markedly to the work’s narrative character. Yet one can detect a certain Russian influence, stemming from the time he spent with Nadeshda von Meck – Debussy was at times her house pianist. Even echoes of Balakirev can be heard. The occasionally unconventional tonal approach already heralds the Debussy of the important cycle Pour le Piano, published in 1901.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
