Fêtes from "Three Nocturnes"

From Wind Repertory Project
Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy (trans. Tatebe)


General Info

Year: 1899 / 1999
Duration: c. 6:00
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Bravo Music Company
Cost: Score and Parts - $110.00   |   Score Only - $15.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo (doubles Flute IV)
Flute I-II-III
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II (doubles flugelhorn)
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-II, including:

  • Cymbal (crash)
  • Marimba
  • Military Drum


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Fêtes, Festivals, is the brilliant second movement of the orchestral work Three Nocturnes. This movement and the first (Nuages) were premiered in Paris on December 9, 1900. The third part, titled Sirenes, was premiered with a repetition of the other two on October 27, 1901.

Debussy's imagination, according to his own written description, dwelt on "the restless dancing rhythms of the atmosphere, interspersed with abrupt scintillations." After the exciting opening section, a procession starts as if approaching from a distance. Debussy described it as "a wholly visionary pageant, passing through and blending with the revelry, the background of the uninterrupted festival persisting: luminous dust participating in the universal rhythms." The music ends with a repetition of the opening measures, fading away into the distance.

- Program note from Band Music Notes


Nocturnes, L. 91, CD. 98 (also known as Trois Nocturnes or Three Nocturnes) is an impressionist orchestral composition in three movements by the French composer Claude Debussy, who wrote it between 1892 and 1899. It is based on poems from Poèmes anciens et romanesques (Henri de Régnier, 1890).

Debussy writes: "[The second movement,] Fêtes, gives the vibrating, dancing rhythm of the atmosphere with sudden flashes of light. There is also the episode of the procession (a dazzling fantastic vision), which passes through the festive scene and becomes merged in it. But the background remains resistantly the same: the festival with its blending of music and luminous dust participating in the cosmic rhythm. "

Debussy went on to explain to Poujaud that "Festivals" had been inspired by a recollection of merry-making in the Bois de Boulogne, with noisy crowds watching the drum and bugle corps of the Garde Nationale pass in parade.

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Media

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State Ratings

  • Florida: VI


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • University of Louisiana at Lafayette Wind Ensemble (William J. Hochkeppel, conductor) - 20 October 2021
  • Centenary College of Louisiana (Shreveport) Wind Ensemble (Thomas Hundemer, conductor) – 19 November 2019
  • Brooklyn (N.Y.) Wind Symphony (Jeff W. Ball, conductor) – 10 June 2017
  • Brooklyn (N.Y.) Wind Symphony (Jeff W. Ball, conductor) – 24 October 2009


Works for Winds by This Composer

This composer primarily wrote orchestral music. Other transcriptions of his music include:

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources