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Claude Debussy's Syrinx, or La Flûte de Pan, as it was originally titled, has become one of the most important solos in flute literature. The first unaccompanied flute solo written for the modern Böhm system flute, Syrinx is considered a landmark in music history, paving the way for other composers such as Ibert with Pièce and Varèse with Density 21.5. Debussy himself could not have imagined the impact of his La Flûte de Pan, which may be the most performed, recorded, analyzed, and debated flute piece ever written.
Since its publication by Jobert in 1927, musicians have debated the origins, performance practice, and analysis of Syrinx. Regarding its origin, much of the interest seems to have occurred because its historical details were not well documented, and still remain somewhat of a mystery. Debussy had been asked by Gabriel Mourey in either 1912 or 1913 to write incidental music for his play, Psychè, and this short piece was the only music completed.
Louis Fleury, a French flutist, performed La Flûte de Pan on November 1, 1913, at the Louis Mors theatre for the first performance of Psyché.1 It generally has been acknowledged that Fleury held onto the manuscript, and that it wasn't released for publication until after Fleury's death in 1926. When Jobert published it, the title was changed from La Flûte de Pan to Syrinx, to avoid confusion with another Debussy work with the same title.2
However, another version of the origin of Syrinx, often overlooked by historians, comes from the French flutist Marcel Moyse. In 1950, the editor of Woodwind Magazine interviewed Moyse and published this account:
Invited to a festive gathering at the home of a wealthy music patron, Debussy was asked to compose some music inspired by a statuette of a shepherd playing his pipe....Debussy strolled over to the piano adjacent to the statuette and rapidly wrote his little Syrinx. He handed the manuscript to Moyse to perform that evening. The composition lacked even a bar line or phrase marking. All markings on...