Tour de France Musicale

There is a painting by Victor Boucher in the National Gallery in London, which represents a young faun, half hidden away in the reeds, watching some nymphos at play: and it was seeing this painting which led the French poet Stéphane Mallarmé to write his poem L'aprés- midi d'un faune. Ten years later, in 1892, his poem inspired Claude Debussy to wrtie a composition originally entitled Prélude, interlude et paraphrase finale pour l'aprés-midi d'un faune.  This title suggests that Debussy had intended the work as incidental music, perhaps even as an accompaniment to the recital of the poem.  However, following the suggestion made by his colleague Pau Dukas, he combined the three separate parts and the ensuing work, Prélude á l'aprés-midi d'un faune, was given its première in December 1894. Debussy - Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune Fauré - Pelléas et Mélisande Ravel - Boléro Ravel - Daphnis et Chloé Ravel - La Vallée des Cloches