VlTYA VRONSKY and VICTOR BABIN
En blanc et noir (In Black and White)
Debussy I. Avec emportement; 2. Lent, Sombre; 3. Scherzando
These three 'caprices in black and white' for two pianos were composed in 1915, during the war. They differ in style, and each is independent of the other, but all are coloured with the emotion common in war-time. The first is prefaced with a short verse taken from Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, and seems here to bear some ironical allusion to non-combatants. The second piece bears the inscription of the envoi from Villon's Ballad against the Enemies of France', and is dedicated to a young officer killed in action. The third piece is dedicated to Igor Stravinsky. It is prefaced with a line from a poem by Charles d'Orleans, which, translated, reads ' Yver, you are nothing but a knave '.