Danse – Debussy

Debussy’s early piano piece Tarentelle styrienne was published by Choudens in 1891. In 1903 the composer had it reissued under the new title Danse, with a few small revisions, by Fromont, with whom he worked a great deal at the time. He probably did not like the original title for this showpiece. Although Styriennes (Styrian dances) were fashionable in salon music, one tends to think of dances such as the Ländler, rather than the tarantella of southern Italy. Following Debussy’s death in 1918, Maurice Ravel was asked to develop the Danse into a version for orchestra, and it was first performed in 1923.