In 1913, three years after publication of the Préludes I, another collection of twelve Préludes appeared. The pieces are longer and make use of a very wide register, which is why Debussy mainly notated them on three staves. As with the first volume of Préludes the programmatic additions only appeared at the end of each piece. The cycle closes with the virtuosic and brilliant Feux d’artifice, fireworks of pianistic bravura in the true sense of the word. The piano writing and title of no. 11, Les tièrces alternées, already hints at the twelve Études of 1915 (HN 390) with which Debussy was to end his piano œuvre.
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
