Abstract:
This creative project analyzed seven recordings of Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l'aprèsmidi
d'un faune for their tempo interpretations and offered possible reasons for vastly different
tempo interpretations. Analysis of the recordings shows a wide range in performance length,
spanning from as short as eight and a half minutes to as long as eleven minutes. Tempi were
clocked for their metronome markings and compared to Debussy’s printed tempo markings, of
which none provide specific metronome markings; relationships between tempi were analyzed
for their resemblance to Debussy’s notations. Relationships between the analyzed recordings
were also discussed, as three pairs of recordings share identical performance lengths. Possible
reasons for varying tempo interpretations discussed include a relationship to French symbolist
poetry and its unusual structure and cadence.
