Debussy: Syrinx

Description

Debussy's Syrinx, a quintessentially French work, was composed in 1913. Originally it was intended as incidental music to Psyche, a play which his friend, poet and dramatist Gabriel Mouray had written. Syrinx was only published in 1927.

This work for solo flute comes down to us in the first edition publication and a non-autograph manuscript copy formally used by Louis Fleury, the performer at the premiere in 1913. Unfortunately the manuscript used to engrave the first edition no longer exists and so we are left with two sources which differ in many details. Bärenreiter's edition of Syrinx relies primarily on the first edition score adding readings from the non-autograph source where they are musically justified.