The Sounds and Fragrances Swirl Through the Evening Air (Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir) by Claude Debussy (Préludes Book I, no.4) written between 1910 and 1913.
Claude Debussy’s two volumes of Preludes represent some of the finest repertoire written for piano during the early 20th century. The Preludes are comprised of two books; each volume containing 12 pieces with a total of 24 for the entire set. J. S. Bach was the first to incorporate this pattern for his two set volumes of Preludes and Fugues in the early 1700s. Unlike Bach, Debussy chose to give each piece a title that evoked a particular mood or setting. And here’s a little “twist” Debussy incorporated in his Preludes: he gave each small work a title inscribed at the END of each piece, rather than at the beginning. Debussy wanted the listener to imagine what THEY heard in the music rather than what the COMPOSER heard. Here are some examples: …The wind on the plain, …Footsteps in the snow, …The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, …The Sunken Cathedral.
Unlike many of the other titles Debussy used, The Sounds and Fragrances was attributed to the French poet, Charles Baudelaire.
As you listen to this lush romantic piece, you might imagine a warm summer night… perhaps in Paris? I love the expression markings Debussy chose for this luscious work. Here are a few of them: . m. 1 (0:01), "harmonious and supple"
m. 9. (0:32) "a little more animated"
m. 18 (0:52) "even and sweet"
m. 21 (0:58) "push ahead a little"
m. 35 (1:58) "bring out the bass line"
m. 40 (2:13) "slow down a little".
m. 49 (3:00) "like the distant sounds of horns"
m. 52-53 (3:17) "again, more distant and much slower"
The title of this prelude comes from a verse in Baudelaire from "Harmonie du Soir:"
"Now is the time when, vibrating on its stem,
each flower exhales in vapor like incense from a censer;
Sounds and scents mingle in the evening air;
Melancholy waltz and languorous vertigo!"
"Voici venir le temps
ou vibrant sur sa tige
chaque fleur s'èvapore
ainsi qu un encenseoir
les sons et les parfums
tournent dal l'air du soir
valse melanconique
et langoureux vertige"
Dr. Hulbert received his BA and MM from The Juilliard School of Music and his DMA from The Manhattan School of Music. Hulbert received the Gold Medal at the 1980 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and also won prizes in the 1981 Leeds Competition and 1985 Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition. He has performed as a soloist with symphonies across the United States and has given recitals at Merkin Hall in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Benaroya Hall in Seattle. In 2002, his recording of the piano works of late-romantic Russian composer Alexander Glazunov was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Solo Instrumental Recording. David Hurwitz of ClassicsToday.com called the CD “a production that makes the best possible case for this really excellent but sadly neglected repertoire.” Dr. Hulbert taught at the university level for over thirty years.
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