![\"frederike\"](\"https:\/\/maurograziani.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/fred.jpg\")
The Danses sacree et profane were composed by Claude Debussy (1862\u20131918) at the request of the firm of Pleyel, manufacturers of musical instruments. In 1894 Gustave Lyon had invented a new mechanism for the harp, which provided the full chromatic scale by the use of twelve strings to the octave, crossing each other at an angle so that the diatonic and chromatic notes were clearly distinguished, yet both accessible to the player\u2019s hands. A rough analogy is the arrangement in which a piano has the black keys raised above the white. The previous design of the harp had had only seven strings to the octave, with a series of pedals supplied to provide chromatic notes.\nSome time later, a class in the new instrument was established at the Brussels Conservatoire. As a test piece, and also, probably, to promote the use of this instrument, Pleyel and the Conservatoire commissioned a work from Debussy. The Danses were first performed in 1904. As a publicity exercise for the chromatic harp they seem to have been a complete failure; performers and composers continued to employ the standard harp with the pedal mechanism (watch our soloist\u2019s feet today!)
\nHowever they were much more successful from the artistic point of view, and the Danses sacree et profane have become an important part of the harp repertoire.
\nThe Danse sacree is a piece of restrained and gentle harmonies, its \u201csacred\u201d character suggested by the unison line of the opening and the parallel chords first heard at the entry of the harp. A middle section features more complex harmonies, with brief solos from violin and viola; the opening harp theme returns, and subsides onto a bass line picked out by the soloist\u2019s left hand. This leads without a break into the Danse profane.
\nThe \u201cprofanity\u201d of the second dance is not a matter of vulgarity (can anyone imagine Debussy writing vulgar music?) but simply proclaims it, in contrast to the first, as \u201csecular\u201d or \u201cworldly\u201d. It begins, in fact, as a valse lente: there is a suggestion of Erik Satie\u2019s Gymnopedies for piano, which Debussy had orchestrated in 1896. In a middle section the tempo drops by half, the strings fall silent, and the harpist provides her own accompaniment with six\u2013against\u2013four, five\u2013against\u2013three and even more complex rhythmic patterns. The valse returns, and builds up to a glowing climax of string chords and harp glissandi.<\/p>\n