Des pas sur la neige
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Des pas sur la neige is a musical composition by French composer Claude Debussy. It is the sixth piece in the composer's first book of Préludes, written between late 1909 and early 1910. The title is in French and translates to "Footprints in the Snow" The piece is 36 measures long and takes approximately three and a half to four and a half minutes to play. It is in the key of D minor. The prelude was, along with Danseuses de Delphes, one of the preludes Debussy believed should be played "entre quatre-z-yeux" (literally "between four eyes") meaning intimately, as if privately.
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The piece is one of four Debussy preludes in both books whose title origins are unknown.[1][2] David Schiff suggests that the inspiration for the title could have stemmed from a painting depicting a snowy landscape. This was an extremely popular backdrop among Impressionist artists like Claude Monet or Alfred Sisley; the latter painted Snow at Louveciennes.[3] Furthermore, Debussy's inspiration from Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky is evident in this piece through his utilization of a "block-like dissonant chord" just before the middle part of the piece.[4]
History
Debussy dated this prelude December 27, 1909, a day after he wrote Les collines d'Anacapri.[5] Critical music writer Victor Lederer states how the dates Debussy wrote at the top of some of his preludes are more likely the date he completed the pieces rather than the day he started writing them, given that some of them were quite long and musically complex.[6] The piece was first published in April 1910, along with the rest of his preludes from Book I. It premiered later that year at the Salle Érard in Paris, with Debussy himself performing the work.[7]
