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Feux d'artifice, from Préludes, Book II Claude Debussy Claude Debussy’s two books of Preludes, implying homage to both Chopin and Bach, revel in the composer’s innovative piano techniques. Among French music’s most avant-garde expressions, they also contain some of Debussy’s most atonal sorties. The second book was published in 1913. With a multitude of rhythms, melodies and abrupt surprises, Feux d'artifice displays the lavish “bouquet” that comes at the end of a fireworks show, so vividly reflected on the waters of the Seine during Bastille Day celebrations. La Marseillaise appears as an atomized aphorism. Tanya Gabrielian The first volume of the Préludes was composed within the remarkably short time of two months (between the beginning of December 1909 and the beginning of February 1910). Feux d'artifice, the tightrope act with which Debussy concludes his two volumes of Preludes, is remarkable not so much for its pyrotechnic innovations as for its anticipation of the composition styles of the future. Feux d'artifice ranks as a completely atonal composition, because its harmonic structure lacks any consistent point of reference. The impression of novelty is further enhanced by the extremely fragmented and amorphous nature of its form and thematic material. This is not to say, however, that the piece does not evoke specific images: The slumbering smoke of Bengal candles emitting single sparks, the crackling of rockets, the gradual parabolic descent of stars, the whirring of Catherine wheels, the blinding radiance of brightlycoloured bouquets, everything that sparkles and shines in the night, the entire magic of light is contained in this music Alfred Cortot