Claude Debussy - Six Épigraphes Antiques, L131 - i. Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’été
Completed in July 1914, the piano duet Six Épigraphes Antiques L131 was the sole composition of Claude Debussy’s to be completed that year. The work is closely related to the incidental music written by Debussy in 1897 to accompany Pierre Louÿs’ Les Chansons de Bilitis (1894), a collection of poems set on themes of ancient Greece. It is thought that the suite was first intended for orchestra, however, illness prevented Debussy from continuing with an orchestral setting in mind. Consequently, a suite for four-hands was born, and Debussy later created a solo piano version. The first performance of Six Épigraphes Antiques was given by pianists Marie Panthès and Roger Steimetz on 17 March 1917, in Geneva. In 1939, Ernest Ansermet fulfilled Debussy’s initial wishes, by creating an orchestration of the suite. This work remains one of Debussy’s lesser known pieces for four-hands.
Six Épigraphes Antiques is an highly atmospheric suite, and each piece cleverly depicts each ‘epigraph’ featured in the work. Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’été (To invoke Pan, god of the summer wind), the first “epigraph”, links clearly into the theme of ancient Greece, with the solitary opening mimicking the flute of Pan, the Greek god of nature, as well as the breezy falling flourishes, depicting the cool summer wind.
Piano - Megan Martin and Nefeli Erma Maliali
Sound Engineer - Ben Weatherill
