Sonate pour Flute, Alto et Harpe - Claude Debussy

Standard: Advanced     Harp Type: Pedal Harp

Original Manuscript Edition Researched and Prepared by Carl Swanson (Published by Carl Fischer Publications)

Supplied as score and parts

Almost 100 years after the first publication of Debussy’s Sonate pour Flûte, Alto, et Harpe by Durand et Cie, this seminal work in the chamber music literature has been meticulously compared, contrasted, and corrected against Debussy’s handwritten autograph manuscript. Using photographs provided by the National Library of France, harpist Carl Swanson has documented and corrected nearly 300 discrepancies between the composer’s intent and the Durand 1916 edition.


The corrections made in this edition consist of musical indications that were omitted, misplaced, or incorrect: dynamic markings that are in the manuscript but not the printed version have been added, wrong and misaligned notes, discrepancies between the full score and the individual parts, and intended durations of dynamic and tempo changes have all been corrected.


Debussy was one of the first composers to make extensive use of musical indications and was extremely meticulous in his scores. To read a score of his with missing, misplaced, or wrong directions is as significant as reading a score with missing or incorrect notes. Now, for the first time in history, Debussy’s Sonate pour Flûte, Alto, et Harpe has been printed exactly as the composer intended.