24 Préludes (Books I & II)


Claude Debussy - Canope, No.10 from Preludes, Book 2

Canope (Canopic jar) is a mysterious work whose title refers to an Egyptian burial urn. It is one of the most technically approachable piano pieces by Debussy, though it is musically elusive. Claudio Arrau held it to be one of the greatest Préludes, saying, "It’s miraculous that he created, from so few notes, this kind of depth."

In this video lesson, Fred Karpoff explores how sonority is affected not only by pedalling but also by the overtones of the harmonic series. In Canope, Debussy constructed chords that clearly exploit this effect, likely influenced by his experience of gamelan music in the years prior to the composition of the Book II Preludes.

Performance

Loading video...

Video lesson

Loading video...

Preview (please log-in or subscribe to see full video)

Resources & links

Click here to download Fred's marked score for this work or click here to view open domain editions.

Subscribe for full access!

Get full access to this content in addition to our growing library of over 1000 articles, videos and other resources for as little as £13.99 per month or £119.99 a year. Click here to sign-up or click here to find-out more (click here to sign-in to view this page if you are already a subscriber).