The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
(La fille aux cheveux de lin)
by Claude Debussy – arranged for wind orchestra by Robert Lennon
Debussy took his title from a poem by Leconte de Lisle, picturing a young shepherdess singing under a summer sky. True to that image, this is one of the gentlest and most immediately lyrical of the Préludes: a single warm melody unfolds over spare, uncomplicated harmony, with none of the harmonic ambiguity found elsewhere in the set. It is, by some distance, the most straightforwardly beautiful of the three pieces in this group.
This arrangement keeps that simplicity at the centre, giving the melody room to breathe rather than adding weight or colour it doesn’t need. The result is a piece that asks less of an ensemble technically than the other two, but just as much musically — real tone, legato control, and a good singing line matter more here than speed or precision.
A useful piece for developing lyrical playing and phrasing — skills that are often harder to teach than fast passagework. It gives solo flute and clarinet players opportunities to stand out, and works well as a change of pace against more technically demanding or rhythmically driven repertoire on a programme.
Unlike the other two pieces in this set, this one doesn’t need much explaining — it is warm, melodic, and immediately approachable. Placed well in a programme, it gives an audience a moment of straightforward lyrical pleasure, and a clear contrast to whatever comes before or after it.
Listen and follow the score on YouTube;
Performance Details
Duration: 2 mins. approx.
Difficulty: Moderate
Instrumentation
Flutes 1 & 2
Oboes 1 & 2
Clarinets 1, 2 & 3 in B♭
Bass Clarinet in B♭
Bassoons 1 & 2
Alto Saxophones 1 & 2
Tenor Saxophones 1 & 2
4 Horns in F
3 Trumpets in B♭
2 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Euphoniums
Tubas
Vibraphone
Full score & set of parts $40
(Downloadable PDF format – 1 full score, A3 size plus set of 24 parts, A4)
Want to have a closer look first?
If you’re considering this for a programme and want to talk it through, get in touch — happy to discuss.