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20 DEBUSSY, RAVEL_STRING QUARTETS
In the spring of 1889, Paris adopted a new look: a series of gilded domes,
pavilions, huts from early ages, ephemeral palaces and panoramic rotundas
stretched fromthe Champ deMaris to the esplanade at theTrocadéro.A steel
monster had risen in the capital’s sky: the Eiffel Tower. The World’s Fair had
just opened and huge crowds were already flocking to the site, enjoying the
bronze rays of a May sun. Among themwas Achille-Claude Debussy, visiting
with Paul Dukas. The two men headed toward the Palais du Trocadéro, a
Moorish-style structure at the top of the esplanade, with two minarets
echoing the Giralda in Seville. In short, a colorful and solemn place, like the
string quartet Debussywould soon compose. Debussy andhis friend climbed
the granite staircase leading to the Palais de Trocadéro, where they enjoyed
a vast panorama of the World’s Fair from the top. This venue had a 5000-
seat theater, and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov himself was about to conduct a
few of his own works:
Antar
,
Concerto for Piano
and
Capriccio Espagnol
.