Mazurka

Although Debussy’s admiration for the genius of Frédéric Chopin was never called into question, the presence of a Mazurka in his catalogue is unexpected. Rarely performed, its date of composition and the circumstances surrounding it are vague. Since it was not a commission, like the Marche écossaise, or a reworked piece of juvenilia, there is no reason to query the generally attributed year of 1890. Its modal harmony and melodic structure are similar to those in the Petite Suite (1889) or the Tarentelle styrienne (1891). The jury is still out about Erik Satie’s possible influence, since it is hard to know how decisive it actually was. The “gothic” cadences bring Satie to mind, although no more so than Chabrier. The Mazurka was published in 1903, somewhat anachronistically following the premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande, but by the same publisher (Fromont), so the stir caused by the opera probably counted for something. The ABA’ form is simple and effective. Each section is shorter than the one before: A (aa bb cc’) B (dd’ ee’) A’ (a a’). Applied to various cells, the principle of repetition/variation/transposition provides unity and fluent continuity. The gambit of beginning on an open fifth conveys the folkdance character of the piece (except that it introduces Bminor instead of F# minor!). The distinctive dotted rhythm only appears in bar 11, as if it were a typical fiddlers’ idiosyncrasy. The introductory tempo marking of Scherzando (playful) invites the performer to dispel the melancholy feel of the minor mode, while the repeated Rubato notation encourages hand independence.