Première Rhapsodie

Of this Rhapsody for clarinet, Claude Debussy said: "This piece is certainly one of the most pleasant I have ever written."

This masterpiece is dedicated to Prosper Mimart (1859-1928), at the time a professor at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris.
I consulted the two manuscripts of the Rhapsody at the National Library:
– one for clarinet and piano MS 1002 written between December 1909 and the beginning of January 1910 for the Paris Conservatoire prize competition – Year 1910;
– the other for clarinet and orchestra MS 1003A, published by Durand in 1911.
Obviously the two manuscripts are different and all suppositions remain possible:
– consultation between the composer and Prosper Mimart for problems of instrumental technique;
– modifications wanted by Claude Debussy? (But there are, in certain places, corrections that are difficult to explain.)
This edition should allow the performing artist to have a new light on the most successful work and the
most attractive of the French clarinet repertoire.