20th century
Baroque
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20th century
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Solo repertoire
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Alto flute
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Debussy Claude
Aitken, Robert
Arnold, Malcolm
Barber, Samuel
Bartók, Béla Viktor János
Beaser, Robert
Bennet, Richard Rodney
Berio, Luciano
Bernstein, Leonard
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Bolling, Claude
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Debussy, Claude
Del Tredici, David
Denisov, Edison
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Guarnieri, Mozart Camargo
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Yun, Isang
Syrinx for flute solo
C. Debussy: Syrinx for solo flute was written in 1913 and is considered as the first solo flute piece composed for Böhm’s system flute since it’s development in 1847. Originally titled “La Flute de Pan” the piece was intended as incidental music for Gabriel Mourey’s play Psyche. The composition was dedicated to Louis Fleury who premiered it on November 1, 1913, at the Louis Mors theatre for the first performance of Psyche. Fleury kept playing the piece from the manuscript which lacked even a bar line or phrase marking and kept it that way till his death. When finally, the piece was published in 1926 the title was changed to Syrinx to avoid confusion with another composition of Debussy with the same title.
However, the most contemporary version of Syrinx was edited by Marcel Moyse who made all the markings now widely accepted and played. The name of Syrinx comes from the nymph Syrinx which, to avoid amorous pursuit of Pan, the god of the wild and shepherds, turns herself into a water reed to hide. Having lost his desired nymph, Pan decides to cut the reeds and make pan pipes to express his sadness.
Live performance from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) 2016 Season Concert "International Woodwinds".
Syrinx
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer, often regarded as the first impressionist composer, even though he rejected that association with impressionism. Debussy studied piano at the Conservatoire de Paris and composition with Ernest Guiraud, gradually developing his own style of composition which matured when he was nearly 40 years old and gained international success with his only opera Pelléas et Mélisande. At the age of 18, he started working as a pianist and tutor in the wealthy Russian household of Nadezhda von Meck, the longtime patroness of P.I.Tchaikovsky. Four years later he won Prix de Rome scholarship and spent two years at Villa Medici in Rome. Even though he was impressed by Wagner’s harmonies he was more influenced by Rimsky-Korsakov’s music which he was exposed upon returning to Paris.
Gradually his compositions gained recognition among his fellow composers. In 1983 Ysaÿe string quartet premiered his String Quartet, and the following year he started to compose Pelléas et Mélisande. In 1984 he gained some recognition with his symphonic poem Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, but his musical efforts were perpetually swept away with his controversial affairs in private life, turning supporters into enemies. Nevertheless, the success of his opera and the following compositions (e.g. La mer; Images) gained wider public recognition abroad than in France. Among his last works: Trio for flute, viola and harp (2015) was written when Debussy was suffering from his fatal illness.