Debussy composed
The Little Nigar (giving the noun this spelling) in 1909 on a commission from
Théodore Lack, for his
piano method Méthode de Piano. The subtitle describes it as a
cakewalk. It is reminiscent of ''Golliwogg's Cakewalk
from his Children's Corner'', a piano suite that he had composed a year earlier. Debussy regularly
sought exotic influences. In
The Little Nigar, he alluded to
banjo chords and drums, influenced by American
minstrel shows. The piece, marked
allegro, begins with a first
theme presenting "jazzy"
syncopes in time, in the then popular
ragtime style. It is followed by a lyrical passage, marked
espressivo and
pianissimo (very softly), which leads to a return of the first section. The first theme leans towards
pentatonic and is accompanied by a
chromatic sequence of broken
minor thirds.
The Little Nigar was first published in 1909 by
Éditions Alphonse Leduc in Paris as part of Lack's piano method and again as a single piece in about 1934, now with an added repetition and entitled
The Little Negro, with subtitle
Le petit nègre. Debussy also used the piece's main theme in his 1913 ballet for children,
La boîte à joujoux, in which it characterises an English soldier. Numerous transcriptions have been made of the piece, including an arrangement for woodwinds that has been used for advertising
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