FastNotes

• Although Debussy wrote several pieces for piano four hands, and arranged a number of his orchestral pieces for piano four hands or piano duo, he wrote only two works originally for two pianos.
• The first, Lindaraja, was his first deliberately “Spanish” piece, and a very important step for a number of later Iberian works, particularly La soirée dans Grenade, which shares its Granada connections (Lindaraja refers to a garden courtyard in the Alhambra) and habanera rhythm.

Although Debussy wrote several pieces for piano four hands, and arranged a number of his orchestral pieces for piano four hands or piano duo (such as the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune), he wrote only two works originally for two pianos. The first, Lindaraja, was something of an artistic orphan. The manuscript was discovered after Debussy’s death, and has been thought by some musicians to be a sketch for an orchestral work.

As his first deliberately “Spanish” piece, however, it was a very important step for a number of later Iberian works, particularly La soirée dans Grenade two years later, which shares its Granada connections (Lindaraja refers to a garden courtyard in the Alhambra) and habanera rhythm. —John Henken