Claude Debussy

Two Arabesques

The Two Arabesques (Deux arabesques), L. 66, is a pair of arabesques composed for piano by Claude Debussy when he was still in his twenties, between the years 1888 and 1891. The arabesques contain

The arabesques#

The two arabesques are given these tempo marks: # Andantino con moto # Allegretto scherzando

1. Andantino con moto#

This arabesque is in the key of E major. The piece begins with parallelism of triads in first inversion, a composition technique very much used by Debussy and other Impressionists which traces back to the tradition of fauxbourdon. It leads into a larger section which begins with a left hand arpeggio in E major and a descending right hand E major pentatonic progression. The second quieter B section is in A major, starting with a gesture (E–D–E–C), briefly passing through E major, returning to A major and ending with a bold pronouncement of the E–D–E–C gesture, but transposed to the key of C major and played forte. In the middle of the recapitulation of the A section, the music moves to a higher register and descends, followed by a large pentatonic scale ascending and descending, and resolving back to E major.

2. Allegretto scherzando#

The second arabesque in G major is noticeably quicker and more lively in tempo. It opens with left hand chords and right hand trills. The piece makes several transpositions and explores a lower register of the piano. Again notable is a hint of the pentatonic scale. It closes in a similar fashion to the first arabesque.

In other media#

The first piece was used as the theme to Star Gazers. It is also featured in the 2001 Japanese film All About Lily Chou-Chou along with other works from Debussy.