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Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)
Nocturnes, L. 91
I. Nuages
I. Fetes
Debussy is perhaps the most refined
and subtle revolutionary in the history of music. His
interest was more in the other arts than music, being
an enthusiast for the symbolist poetry of Mallarme and
the impressionist paintings of Turner and Manet. His few
other musical interests included Mussorgsky (whose harmonic
ideas anticipate Debussy's own) and Gamelan music from
Java. He was the first composer for whom a chord became
a musical & emotional experience in itself, when divorced
from its musical context. His impact has been as great,
maybe even greater, than the more obvious musical revolutionary
of the 20th century, Schoenberg.
His first big achievement was the Prelude a l'Aprés-midi
d'un Faune, refined and delicate, yet despite being baffling
to many listeners it was an immediate success with the
public. His next major orchestral work was the Three Nocturnes.
This work was originally planned to be for violin and
orchestra, and was intended for his friend the Belgian
violinist Eugene Ysaye. But the final composition is very
different - only the title is the same. The third Nocturne
"Sirenes" includes an eight-part women's chorus;
because of the practical difficulty this presents in performance
the first two movements are often played alone.
"Nuages renders the unchanging aspect of the sky
and the slow, solemn motion of the clouds, fading away
in grey tones lightly tinged with white". The music
is suspended and motionless, moving in parallel lines
with little sense of tonality. A cor anglais motif is
the only focus. A pentatonic theme appears a little faster,
first on flute and harp, then on solo strings. The clouds
thin and dissipate into silence.
Fetes is a complete contrast, boisterous and noisy. It
opens with a whirling dance in tarantella rhythm; about
half way through there is a sudden lull and a distant
procession becomes audible. This swells to a climax and
the dance returns, mixing with the procession. At the
end the vision gradually fades to nothing. Debussy called
it "a blending of music and luminous dust participating
in the cosmic rhythm". |
