21 VASSILENA SERAFIMOVA ∙ QUATUOR ARDEO It is worth recalling that the piece, composed between April and May 1904, was commissioned by the Brussels Conservatoire for a chromatic harp competition. Somewhat tactlessly, the students asked that the director of the institution, François-Auguste Gevaert (1828 – 1908), approve the choice of work. Offended and unwilling to make concessions, Debussy sent a note to his publisher: “Does he [the director of the Conservatoire] imagine that this music uses foul language and will make his students blush? […] If Belgium is not happy, it can compose its own competition pieces in prison.” The work was ultimately dedicated to Gustave Lyon (1857 – 1936), director of the Pleyel company, which produced harps among other instruments. The two pieces were premiered at the Concerts Colonne under the direction of Édouard Colonne (1838 – 1910) on 6 November 1904, with the harpist Madame Wurmser-Delcourt as soloist. At the time, Debussy was in the midst of composing La Mer, and the influence of that “symphony” can be heard in the two linked sections of the Danses. Commentators have spoken of a “refined rigour.” The triple metre evokes a distant melody from the Renaissance. The strings carry the song and ensure the fluidity of the changing atmospheres. The suppleness of the phrasing leads the first dance almost to silence. Then, in the Danse profane, over a delicate waltz rhythm, emerges the tone of the marimba – at times nostalgic, at others erupting with virtuosity.
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