Hommage à Rameau

Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy (trans. Donald Hunsberger)

Subtitle: Dance in the Style of a Sarabande

General Info

Year: 1905 / 2009
Duration: c. 7:45
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Piano
Publisher: Alfred Music
Cost: Score and Parts - $150.00   |   Score Only - $30.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo/Flute IV
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contra-Bassoon
Bb Soprano Clarinet I-II-III-IV
Eb Alto Clarinet
Bb Bass Clarinet/Bb Contrabass Clarinet
Bb Soprano Saxophone
Eb Alto Saxophone
Bb Tenor Saxophone
Eb Baritone Saxophone
Flugelhorn I-II
Bb Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium (Bass Clef & Treble Clef)
Tuba
String Bass
Piano/Celeste
Harp
Timpani
Percussion, including:

• Bells
• Chimes
• Suspended Cymbal
• Tam-Tam
• Triangle
• Vibraphone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Seldom has a work by a master of the Impressionistic Period been made available to the wind world. Such a piece is Debussy's Hommage á Rameau, now in an exotic wind orchestration by Donald Hunsberger, who continues his long line of scoring contributions to the wind band. Hommage is from Debussy's Miroirs (1905) and was scored from the original piano edition.

- Program Note by publisher

Dedicated to the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor.

- Program Note from score

The Hommage movement in the 1905 piano Images is the second of three movements, being framed by Reflets dans l’eau and Mouvement (moto perpetuo). The dedication to Rameau (and earlier French clavenists) was a direct reproach of another popular figure, Christoph Gluck. Debussy loved and appreciated things very French. Upon the work’s first performance, some of Debussy’s detractors felt that the movement was “one of the graver and stiffer piano works.” By way of contrast of opinion, Andres, who wrote a biography of Debussy in 1922, felt that” ... with the Sunken Cathedral, Hommage a Rameau is the most beautiful piece for the piano ... since the last three sonatas of Beethoven” and he finds “grandeur and purity of architecture," “gentle majesty of proportions,” “simplicity of effect,"and “extreme refinement."

The present setting for wind band attempts to build upon the melodic and harmonic progressions developed by Debussy in a manner that supports his constant flow of musical ideas. Particular effort has been made to ascertain the lightness of lower dynamic passages while retaining the ability to create major climactic peaks. The wind orchestration will hopefully remind one of Debussy’s own orchestrations while demonstrating the vast possibilities of timbral resources inherent in today’s wind band.

- Program Note by the Midlothian High School Wind Ensemble concert program, 17 December 2014

Commercial Discography

• Audio CD: Eastman Wind Ensemble (Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor) - 2009

Audio Links

• Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• University of Georgia (Athens) Hodgson Wind Symphony (Jacqueline Hartenberger, conductor) – 10 February 2020
• University of Texas (Austin) Wind Symphony (Cheldon Williams, conductor) – 4 May 2018
• Vassar College and Community Wind Ensemble (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) (James Osborn, conductor) – 25 February 2018
• Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Ensemble (Donald Hunsberger, conductor) – 24 February 2017
• Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Daniel Tembras, conductor) – 8 October 2015
• Midlothian (Tex.) High School Wind Ensemble (Larry Doran, conductor) - 17 December 2014 (2014 Midwest Clinic)
• Midlothian (Tex.) High School Wind Ensemble (Larry Doran, conductor) - November 2014

Works for Winds by this Composer

• Afternoon of a Faun, The (arr. Walters) (1894/1950/1999?)
• Beau Soir (arr. Warner)(1880/1971)
• Children’s Corner Suite (arr. Winterbottom) (1908)
• Clair de lune (arr. de Meij) (1890/1905/2017)
• Danses Sacrée et Profane (arr. Odom) (1904/2019
• Debussy: Girl with the Flaxen Hair (arr. Akey) (1910/1995)
• The Engulfed Cathedral (tr. Longfield) (1910/1987)
• The Engulfed Cathedral (tr. Patterson) (1910/1993)
• The Engulfed Cathedral. See also: La Cathédrale Engloutie
• Fêtes from "Three Nocturnes" (tr. Tatebe)
• Four Debussy Songs (trans. Anderson) (2018)
• Golliwog's Cakewalk (arr. Curnow) (1908/1985)
• The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (tr. Brand) (1910)
• The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (tr. Bernotas) (1910)
• The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (arr. Moss) (1910/2007)
• The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (arr. Sparke) (1910/2007)
• Hommage à Rameau (arr. Hunsberger) (1905/2009)
• La Cathédrale Engloutie (arr. Mortimer) (1910/2016)
• La Cathédrale Engloutie. See also: The Engulfed Cathedral
• La Mer (trans. Odom) (1905/)
• L’isle joyeuse (arr. Mashima) (1904/2005)
• Marche Écossaise (tr. Schaeffer) (1891/1908/1964)
• Marche Écossaise (tr. Scatterday) (1891/1908)
• 'Menuet' from Suite Bergamasque (arr. Keane Southard) (1890/2012)
• Minstrels (tr. Scarbrough) (1910/2016)
• Pagodes from "Estampes" (arr. Grainger) (1996)
• Petite Suite (tr. Winterbottom)
• Petite Suite (arr. Kimura)
• Premiere Arabesque (1891)
• Premiere Rhapsody (arr. Walker; ed. Pappas) (1910/1963/2004)
• Sarabande (tr. Bennefield) (1894/1901/2020)
• Suite Bergamasque Mvt 2 Menuet (arr. Thompson)
• Three Debussy Pieces (arr. Singletary)

References

None discovered thus far.