Images, première série: Hommage à Rameau, L. 110 / CD 105

Claude Debussy (1,862–1,918)

First published: 1905
Key: G-sharp minor
Style: Modern, jazz and dance
Level: Licentiate
Roughly: RCM LRCM · ABRSM LRSM · Trinity LTCL · Henle 8
Lesson: L.8 Hear a slow dance through harmonic colour
Musicianship: L.8 Quartal colour
Focus: Sarabande character without rigidity; layered resonance and bass continuity; release timing through changing metre; architectural return and quiet coda.

What its lesson teaches

L.8 Hear a slow dance through harmonic colour

Learn Debussy’s complete Hommage à Rameau, Images Book I No. 2. Keep the slow dance character while separating the bass, chordal resonance and melodic line. Compare pitch collections and bass motion before imposing a conventional dominant label on a sonority. The C-major voicing warm-up trains balance in an easy key; then listen for the same balance in the G-sharp-minor score and its changing colour.

Ideas: Style periods
Impressionist techniques
Theory cards: Planing and colour
Testing a long pedal mark
Technique: G-sharp harmonic minor scale, hands together, 2 octaves
C major moving top voice above held chordal voices, hands together (faster: Licentiate tempo)

Edition and licence

Score: Paris: A. Durand & Fils, 1905, plate D. & F. 6615 (2).

Checked bar by bar against IMSLP #254387 (Durand, Paris, 1905, plate D. & F. 6615), 2026-10-28: every bar compared; 19 bars corrected.

Encoding source: https://musescore.com/user/4887176/scores/5715607 (MuseScore file by pental, user 4887176)

Digital licence: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ · CC0

Images, première série: Hommage à Rameau

Edition: Paris: A. Durand & Fils, 1905, plate D. & F. 6615 (2).

Published: 1905

Source: https://archive.org/details/imagesresriepou00librgoog

Paris: A. Durand & Fils, 1905, plate D. & F. 6615 (2).

Digital licence: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

CC0-1.0

Licence: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Adapted by Musalea: corrected from the print, converted to MusicXML and prepared for interactive practice.

The other lesson pieces of Licentiate

Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor, BWV 849 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor “Tempest”, Op. 31 No. 2: I. Largo – Allegro, Ludwig van Beethoven
Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23, Frédéric Chopin
Prelude and Fugue in E-flat minor / D-sharp minor, BWV 853 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Rondo in A minor, K. 511, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38, Frédéric Chopin
Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 869 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52, Frédéric Chopin
Rondo à la mazur in F major, Op. 5, Frédéric Chopin
Images, première série: Mouvement, L. 110 / CD 105, Claude Debussy
Étude in C-sharp minor, Op. 10 No. 4, Frédéric Chopin
Étude in D-flat major, Op. 25 No. 8, Frédéric Chopin
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11: I. Allegro maestoso, Frédéric Chopin

Practise all 157 lessons at your piano

In Musalea each lesson runs step by step, and after every run the app tells you what to fix: the bar, the hand and how to practise it.

14 practice days · everything unlocked · no card