Ernst-Günter Heinemann (Editor)

Hans-Martin Theopold (Fingering Piano)

This piece, presumably composed around 1890, belongs to a whole series of Debussy’s early works that are indeed still far removed from the seminal piano compositions of his mature period, but, for all their simplicity of part-writing and harmony, set their own accents that foreshadow Debussy’s later musical language. The fact that in 1905 Debussy objected to a new edition of the piece, which was first published in 1895, describing it as “a meaningless thing, quickly written down, in a word: bad,” seems incomprehensible today. After all, this is refined salon music in the best sense of the word, with melodic charm and elegant piano writing that can also be mastered by amateurs.
Today, Rêverie is one of the most popular piano pieces from Debussy’s early work – reason enough to offer it as a Henle Urtext single edition!