Although it was only published in 1905, Debussy made it clear that this was an early work by writing the date of composition “1890” on the proofs. He had sold the manuscript, now lost, to the publisher Choudens in 1890 without it actually being published. Yet the delayed publication date shows that Debussy was still very convinced of the value of the work. The composition has four movements and became popular in particular on account of the slow movement Clair de lune (HN 391), which seems to evoke the atmosphere of a moonlit night with its particular aura. Countless transcriptions for various groups of instruments demonstrate the unbroken popularity of the piece, but also of the complete suite.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French