In 1910, the Société International de Musique commissioned several composers (Debussy, Dukas, Hahn, d'Indy, Ravel, Widor) to write pieces to commemorate the centenary of Haydn's death. Dukas' contribution was the Prélude élégiaque, a five-minute work that - like Ravel's - uses as its theme the transliteration of "Haydn" into the German names of the notes - where the "Y" and the "N" have been, as usual in these cases, assigned by extension to "D" and "G" respectively. Marked "Lent et recueilli", the piece is an impressionistic meditation that opens with the theme suffused in Debussyan harmonies. The central section is more animated and intense, but soon the mood turns pensive again and the notes seem to blur into the distance. n

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