Première Arabesque (L. 66, No. 1)

Background

Claude Debussy wrote his two Arabesques in his late twenties, around 1888 to 1891, and they were published in Paris by Durand in 1891. They are among his earliest piano pieces and come from before the bold harmonies of Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune or the piano Préludes. Their style is gentler and closer to the French salon music of the time, yet the flowing lines and shimmering sound already point towards the later Debussy.

An arabesque is a decorative pattern of curving, interlacing lines, found in Islamic art and later in European ornament. Debussy was drawn to the idea of a musical line that winds and curls freely, and in later writings he praised that kind of decorative line in older music such as Bach's. In this first Arabesque, in E major, the decoration is a constant stream of triplets passed between the hands.

How to practise it

The piece opens with falling and rising figures of three notes per beat (triplets), shared between the hands: the left hand starts a figure, the right hand continues it, and so on, as if one hand were drawing a single long curve.

Begin by playing just these opening bars as one line. Go slowly and listen for the joins: the aim is that nobody can hear where one hand hands over to the other.

From bar 6 a different challenge appears. The right hand keeps playing triplets (three notes per beat) while the left hand plays ordinary eighth notes (two notes per beat). This is a cross-rhythm called "three against two".

To learn three against two:

1. Tap it on a table first: right hand three taps per beat, left hand two. Only the first tap of each beat comes together. The right hand's second tap comes just before the left hand's second.
2. Say a rhythm phrase that fits it, such as "nice cup of tea": both hands on "nice", right hand on "cup", left hand on "of", right hand on "tea".
3. Play one beat of bar 6 very slowly, then two beats, then the whole bar.
4. Go back and forth until neither hand pulls the other into its rhythm.

The middle section brings a broader, slower-moving tune with warmer chords. Let the melody sing out while the inner notes stay soft. Then the opening music returns, and the piece ends with the triplet figures climbing high up the keyboard before settling on E.

A tempo ladder: each hand alone at 60 beats a minute, hands together at 60, then 80, 92 and the full 104. Use the pedal lightly and change it often, because the triplets blur quickly. Keep it flowing, and shape the high point of each phrase gently rather than hitting it.

Counting divided beats is explained in the note lengths and rhythm guide.