Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918). Autograph musical manuscript, Ma - Lot 49

Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918). Autograph musical manuscript, Mazurka, [ca. 1890-1891]; title and 3 folio pages (35 x 27 cm; fold marks). The only hitherto unknown manuscript of this Mazurka for piano. [L 75(67)] Debussy sold the Mazurka (with the Rêverie) to Choudens on March 14, 1891 for one hundred francs (see contract no. 53 below), then again, inadvertently, as both pieces remained unpublished, on August 30 of the same year to Julien Hamelle. The score of the Mazurka was published by Hamelle in 1903, in 290 copies, and reprinted in 1905. The edition was reprinted in 1908 by Eugène Fromont (to whom Choudens had transferred his rights through Georges Hartmann). On April 21, 1905, Debussy wrote to Mme Fromont that he no longer wished to hear the Mazurka, adding that he had no taste for this kind of piece. The Mazurka is in F sharp minor to 3/4, with a central interlude in D major. It is marked Scherzando at the top, and measures 138. It shows the dual influence of Chopin and the Intermezzo from Borodin's Petite Suite (1885); according to Harry Halbreich, it is one of his least personal pages, despite its undeniable charm. The manuscript, on a Litolff-marked 26-line bifeuillet, is notated in black ink, on 21 systems of 2 staves, with repeated measures numbered in red. Debussy has twice crossed out a first draft: 3 and then 2 bars. The title page, on which Debussy inscribed the title Mazurka in ink, bears the trace of a few pencil sketches, partly erased. The manuscript was used for the engraving of the edition by J. Hamelle; it bears in pencil the quotation number J.3341.H; the author's name Cl. A. Debussy has been added, along with the title, in pencil, at the head of the score. The publisher (or engraver) has marked in pencil some problems or difficulties in reading notes or alterations. The folds show that the manuscript was sent in an envelope, either by Debussy to the publisher, or after the engraver had corrected the proof. This is the only surviving manuscript of Debussy's early piano pieces, with the exception of Arabesques.