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In the upcoming concert of miniatures, if Schumann’s “Carnaval” describes a night on the town with a group of friends, each of Debussy’s Preludes transports the listener to a different magical realm with titles such as “The Wind in the Plain,” “Footprints in the Snow,” and “The Sunken Cathedral.” At the heart of the preludes is one of Debussy’s most popular and enduring works, “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair.”

Inspired by the eponymous poem by Leconte de Lisle (1818 – 1894), the music, marked “very calm and sweetly expressive,” conveys the impression of an innocent young woman….

…but the dedicatee was perhaps less than innocent. Debussy dedicated it to Marie-Blanche Vasnier, a thirty-year-old married amateur soprano with whom the 18-year-old Debussy was conducting an affair. (He was her accompanist.) In addition to introducing the young man to the pleasures of the senses, she familiarized him with the classics of literature and art and overhauled his wardrobe. Debussy’s dedication reads “To Madame Vasnier, these melodies, conceived in a way by your memory, can only belong to you, as the author belongs to you.”

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She supported him financially until he earned enough to be independent by winning the Rome Prize in 1884. While working in Italy at the Villa Medici, he wrote a friend “I cannot bear to be separated from Mrs. Vasnier.” Once there, however, he received a “Dear John” letter which read “it would be very imprudent to see each other again.”

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If you have two minutes and twenty-nine seconds in a busy day, put this on, lean back, allow the sound to wash over you and let any troubles wash away. See you this weekend!

‍David Yang, Artistic Director

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