This piece, probably the young Debussy’s best known piano piece, was the slow third movement of his Suite bergamasque (HN 381) in four movements. Although it is conventional as far as the harmony is concerned, the tonal and melodic details already anticipate Debussy’s later piano style. The suite was only published in 1905, although Debussy had made it clear by adding the date of composition “1890” to the proofs that it was an earlier work. The fact that he agreed to its publication shows that he still identified with this piece from a period whose style he had long since left behind him.
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
