Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune is a symphonic poem of about ten minutes by Claude Debussy, a free musical response to Stéphane Mallarmé's poem in which a faun, playing his pipes alone in the woods, pursues nymphs in vain and sinks into a dream-filled sleep. It was first performed in Paris on 22 December 1894 at a concert of the Société nationale de musique conducted by Gustave Doret, with Georges Barrère playing the famous opening flute solo; Mallarmé, at first unhappy to see his poem set to music, wrote to Debussy after the premiere that he was deeply moved. Its fluid harmony, whole-tone writing and delicate orchestration made it a turning point in Western music, Pierre Boulez saw in it the beginning of modern music, and it later became the basis of Vaslav Nijinsky's ballet. Note on sources: Wikipedia dates the composition to 1894, while IMSLP gives 1891–94.