Following a leisurely walk through Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia about 30 years ago, I sat down at a keyboard in my studio apartment, hoping to recapture the hazy, haunting music that had flitted around the periphery of my consciousness. I smiled with relief and satisfaction, when I knew I had finally gotten it down. I was proud of myself to have created something so beautiful! It was only later that I realized it was “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair.”

Claude Debussy, always stealing my thunder. Happy birthday, mon vieux!

Here it is, performed by flaxen-haired twins in a field full of wild flowers.