DEBUSSY - A study in modern music.pdf

7/28/2019 DEBUSSY - A study in modern music.pdf

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DEBUSSY.


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Copyright A. Durand & Sun, PaiiiCLAUDE DEBUSSY.


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DEBUSSYA STUDY INnODERN riU5IC

WILLIAH H. DALY

HETHYEN SINPSON, LTD.83 PRINCES STREETEDINBURGH

1908.


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PRELIMINARYBIOGRAPHICAL-METHODS, AND THEIRAPPRECIATION THECOMPOSITIONS THECOMPOSER AS A CRITIC-CONCLUSION.

A LIST OF DEBUSSY'SCOMPOSITIONS.

M32039


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TOHENRY J. WOODTO WHOSE BROAD-MINDED ENTHUSIASMBRITISH APPRECIATION OF ALL THAT ISMOST PROGRESSIVE IN MUSICAL ART ISSO GREATLY INDEBTED.


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3DEBUSSY.

T is a truth to which the whole course ofits history has borne ample testimony,that in Music, as in the other arts, there

is nothing final. And there are few thingsin connection with Music which are morecurious, or, indeed, so curious, as thevigour with which this self-evident fact hasalways been contested. What the world atany time has known of Music has everseemed the limit beyond which nothingmore was possible. "^Only the exceptionalman has ever been able to surmise the ex-istence of a further horizon, and he hasalways been accounted a more or lessdangerous revolutionary. Monteverde,Rameau, Gluck, all came in for denuncia-tion as destroyers of the fair fabric of musi-cal art. The perfect Mozart, even, did notwholly escape reproach for what weredeemed unsatisfactory innovations. Semeof Beethoven's music earned for him theopinion that he ought to be in an asylum.

And in the same way has the wordystrife, always more vehement than discrim-inating, travelled on through the musicalhistory of the nineteenth century, with Wag-

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYner, Berlioz, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, likethe names of so many battle-fields on amap ; battle-fields where the needless belli-gerents have happily long since shakenhands. Yesterday the centre of discussionwas Richard Strauss. To-day it is ClaudeAchille Debussy.

It is convenient, even if it is an incom-plete definition of his altogether novelattitude towards music, to describe Debussyas an impressionist. He is somethingmore than an impressionist as the term iscommonly understood, although in his workthere is not a little which recalls themethods and the points of view of themasters of impressionist painting. Debussy,however, differs from, quite as much, if notmore, than he resembles the impressionistpainters, as regards his attitude towards thegeneral body of his art.

To examine all these points of differ-ence and agreement would involve aformidable digression. Let it sufficethat while, like the impressionist painters,he desires to see things as they really areen plein airwhich means, in his case,freed from the trammels of certain conven-tional ways of regarding certain things, hedoes not, like his impressionist brethren ofthe brush, affirm that the methods of his

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IN MODERN MUSICforerunners were essentially false, and inneed of complete reversal. On the con-trary, he has arrived at the methods whichsuit his peculiar needs, only by way of acomplete knowledge of the methods whichhave the sanction of tradition ; neither, asit would appear, has he ever laid claim tobe the apostle of a new faith, outside ofwhich there shall be no artistic salvation.

Debussy has been freely styled a revolu-tionary ; but his has been a revolution ofthat kind which a contemporary Frenchcritic has cleverly defined as "evolutionmade apparent." It has been laid to hischarge that his forms and harmonies arealike vague and incoherent. There is,however, a conceivable stage in the masteryof formit has been witnessed already inmusicwhich may be so complete thatform, in the sense of limit or restriction,disappears. Such, indeed, does the so-called "formlessness" of Debussy revealitself as one studies his music.

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYOF the outward life of Debussy there is,thus far, not much to relate. He

vv^as born in 1862, at St Germain-en-Lave. Sent to the Paris Conservatoire atan early age, he had a career there whichv/as perhaps less immediately brilliant thansolidly meritorious. A pupil of Marmontelfor piano, of Lavignac for harmony, and ofMassenet and Guiraud for counterpointand composition, he won prizes in all hisclasses. In 1877, he had a second prizefor piano playing ; a first prize for accomp-anying, in 1880; and in 1882, an accessoryprize for counterpoint and fugue. Twoyears later he rounded off his studentcareer with the coveted Prix de Rome,his diploma work being the cantataUE^ifant Prodigue, a work, fortunately forhis success in an academic competition,which has little suggestion of his laterstyle.

It is a condition of the tenure of thefamous scholarship which sends the pick ofFrench art students to residence and studyat the Villa Medici in Rome, that works inproof of their continued diligence shouldperiodically be sent home to Paris. These


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IN MODERN MUSICworks, in the nature of things, occupy, asone would imagine, a somewhat deUcateposition. They are not prescribed exerciseson given themes, for the student who haswon his place in the EcoU de Rome hassufficiently demonstrated his right to beliberated from the restrictions of directpupilage. But on the other hand, whilethese works are thus the outcome of a freeinitiative, they are subject to a strict andauthoritative official criticism, which mayor may not carry with it weighty conse-quences for the future of the artist.

In his experiences with this official critic-ism, voiced by the principal French compos-ers of the day, Debussy was scarcely fortun-ate. The first composition sent home by himwas his symphonic suite, Printcmps. Thisreceived unfavourable comment on accountof its want of defined form and design. Ayear later, Debussy forwarded his " lyricalpoem " for female voices and orchestra, LaDamoiselle Elite, a setting of a Frenchversion of Rossetti's "Blessed Damozel.''Again the critical tribunal of the BeauxArts fell foul of the composition for itsvas:ueness. This time their censure wasdirected principally at the libretto, theindefiniteness of the music being pardoned,to a certain extent, as the more or less

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYlogical sequence of a text which was itselfobscure. At the same time, however, theyoung composer was reminded that thisvagueness of expression to which he seemedaddicted had already been made matter ofobjection. Both works, it may be added,were refused the customary public perform-ance.

The term of his Roman scholarshipelapsed, Debussy returned to Paris, betak-ing himself shortly afterwards, however, toRussia, where he occupied himself in givinglessons to some wealthy young Russians.In Rome he had studied the music of thecomposers of the Russian School, andmore particularly that of the extremistMoussorgski, a composer whom Debussyresembles, if in no other respect, at least inhis impatience of the restrictions of con-ventional musical methods. Moussorgski,and perhaps to an even greater extent theRussian folk - music which he now hadan opportunity of hearing, with so much inits texture which is alien to WesternEuropean musical ideas, may be reckonedas influences which had some share inre-inforcing Debussy's natural tendencies.Returning to Paris, Debussy busiedhimself with composition, although appar-ently without attracting much attention

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IN MODERN MUSICuntil 1893, when the Societe Nationale deMusique gave a performance of his censuredstudent-work La Damoiselle Elue. In thesame year the Ysaye Quartet played hisString Quartet, while about this time, also,the orchestral Prelude a Vapres-midi d'unFaune was launched upon the world. Thislast, which remains Debussy's perhaps mostgenerally known work, was produced by theSociete Nationale in Decem.ber, 1894, andrepeated at a Colonne concert in the follow-ing October.

Important as these events were forDebussy, they nevertheless earned for himat best but little beyond the honours of asucces d'estimc, nor can the triumphs ofhis other compositions appearing at or aboutthis period, works like the Suite Bergainasque^for piano ; the Nocturnes, for orchestra ; orsuch vocal works as the Proses Lyriques, orthe Chansons de Bilitis, be reasonablydescribed as at all considerable. For thegeneral public Debussy was a symphoniste ofa rather eccentric kind, and the path of thesymphoniste in Paris, which is not too easyeven under the present improved order ofthings, was more difficult in those days.The production of Pelleas et Meliscuide atthe Opera-Comique, in April, 1902, however,placed Debussy's claims upon public atten-

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYtion at once on a very different footing.Despite the modern cultivated taste forother forms of music, the Frenchman thinksinstinctively of music in terms of opera.His judgments may err, and cases are by nomeans wanting in which a Parisian audi-ence has heard the better and preferred theworse, but even the mistakes of a Parisianopera audience are based upon experienceand some sort of reasoned understanding ofthe principles of the art. Press and peoplealike settle down to the consideration of anew opera with a critical zest such as isreserved almost entirely for opera alone.^ In Pelleas et Melisande the Parisianpublic was confronted with something whichwas unusual to the point of audacit}'. Theconventions traditional in opera had all beenabandoned, while the methods of Wagnerwere equally ignored. Briefly, the dramaproceeds freely in an atmosphere of musicwhich really facilitates its action, intensify-ing the effect of every significant point,translating into sound the vague, curious,permeating sentiment of the play. Nothingis sacrificed to musical effect, and yet in noopera is there a more vital union betweendrama and music ; in no other opera is themusic more truly and essentially the ulti-mate and complete expression of thedramatic text. i6


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IN MODERN M U S I COf course there were protests, lay and

professional, on all sides. There wastoo much that was daringly unusual inthe opera that it should be reasonable toexpect anything at the outset but protests.By degrees, however, and even withrapidity, the merits and beauties of thework established themselves. It came to berecognised, and in no great space of time,that given Maeterlinck, Debussy was hislogical musical complement.

Apart from the obvious suitability ofthe play as a subject for musical treat-ment by Debussy, it is curious to reflecthow greatly the composer was indebtedto the libretto for his success. Meritas a libretto apart, Maeterlinck's play,although it had then been barelyten years before the public, was alreadyalmost a classic. Had Debussy, how-ever, written similar music to a kindredlibretto, no matter how good, which had yetto make its appeal to public favour, or which,after the fashion of the average libretto,possessed little, if any, qualification formaking such an appeal at all, Pellcas etMelisande would probably have failed with aswiftness and completeness which wouldhave left no opportunity for any demonstra-tion of the real merits of the music. As it

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYwas, the delicate, elusive musical fancy towhich the composer had given much of thethought and labour of some thirteen years,succeeded. Henceforth, for good or ill, asthe individual judgment might opine,Debussy was a musical personality such asall his previous works put together had notmade him.

The years which have elapsed sincethe production of Pelltas et Melisande haveseen the publication of the orchestral LaMer, and of a number of songs and pianopieces, of which something more anon. Forthe rest, it may perhaps suffice to say thatM. Debussy is content, and indeed prefers,to a degree which has not been commonamong composers, to live behind hiscompositions.


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IN MODERN MUSIC"/VVYUSICIANS will only listen to musicvjj'^ written by clever experts, they never

turn their attention to that which is inscribedin Nature. It would profit them more towatch a sunrise than to listen to a perform-ance of the Pastoral Symphony." Thequotation is from one of Debussy's criticalarticles, and it would be difficult to find amore complete crystallisation of what theworld takes to be his own creed as a com-poser than is supplied in the second sent-ence. It would profit them more to watch asunrise than to listen to a performance of thePastoral Symphony.

The sentiment is not new, for the manwho wrote the Pastoral Symphony enter-tained much the same feeling. Debussy's un-derstanding of it, however, differs from thatof Beethoven nearly as much as a Manetdiffers from a Morland, It was an inno-vation for Beethoven to project a series ofpoetical impressions of landscape in theform of a symphony, but his task was madeeasier, and certainly the general acceptanceof his symphony was rendered easier, by hisemployment of devices which had most ofthem already become fairly conventional,

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYand more or less commonly associated withthe sense in which Beethoven designedthat they should be understood. Thegenius lay in the extended use of thesedevices as the foundation of highly organ-ised movements, the absolute daring withwhich he trusted for his effect to their con-stant repetition, with that attendant lullingmonotony which is of the very essence ofNature.

Beethoven, when he wrote the PastoralSymphony, was more concerned with asunrise, or at any rate with the woodsand fields he loved, than with whatother composers had done before him, buthe arrived at his beautiful effects by way ofskilfully employed conventionalisms, trans-formed by the power of his genius, it istrue, but still conventionalisms, of subjectand device. Debussy, on the other hand,is not in the least conventional, either insubject or device, and to those who areaccustomed to look at things through thespectacles of conventionality, his choice ofsubjects, and above all, his novelty ofprocedure, are apt to be not a little bewil-dering.A good deal has been written about thenovelty of the tonality and harmony ofDebussy's music. These have been refer-

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I N M ODERN MUSICred to as an elaborate re-consideration ofthe existing tonal system, or denounced outof hand as the aberrations of a musicalAnarchist, as the writer has happened to besympathetic or the reverse. The truth, itis to be imagined, as commonly happenswith artistic disputes, does not restentirely with either party. The harmon-ies which look, and it must be admitted,often sound so strange at the outset,prove, on a closer examination, to benot nearly so anarchic as one mightsuppose. Similarly, it is at least doubt-ful if Debussy started upon his morecharacteristic compositions with any veryclearly-defined ideas as to the insufficiencyof existing musical resources. One is con-stantly slipping into comparisons withpainting, when treating of Debussy, al-though such comparisons are not nearly soexact, as they are convenient ; but itmay be said that Debussy has only thesame tones to deal with as are at thedisposal of the most hide-bound pedantwho ever wrote an anthem ; just asWhistler had only the same pigments aswere used by the most reactionary R. A. ofhis time. With both Whistler andDebussy, it is not the material, but its

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYutilization which is new, and the musician,like the painter, has come upon his novelmethods largely by intuition. " True com-posers," as Sir Hubert Parry, in his Art ofMusic, says of Wagner, " very rarely workup to a theory consciously, in the act ofproduction ; but they may afterwards try tojustify anything very much out of thecommon on some broad principles in whichthey believe."

But, premising that it is practicallycertain that Debussy has arrived at hisnovel methods largely by intuition, achiev-ing his effects first, and then, later on,possibly proceeding to the analysis of theircauses, these methods and effects cannevertheless be referred to the generalinfluence of certain factors. Of these thefirst may be described as a more thanusually developed sense of the harmonicconstitution of tone, with a correspondingdisposition to employ the natural harmonicseries of intervals more freely than hithertoin chord-building. As anyone with themost elementary acquaintance with thephenomena of sound is aware, all tones arecomposite in their nature, any given notebeing accompanied by a series of Over-tones, or Harmonics, as, for instance :

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IN MODERN MUSICHOin/ry^^ni-C* -*^ '^^\^ fS

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Without entering into an essentiallytechnical subject, it will be sufficient tosay that whereas it has taken centuries toreconcile the ear to intervals up to themajor and minor sevenths, it would appearto be the opinion of Debussy that the notesof the harmonic series, having a naturalrelationship amongst themselves, are pro-portionately to be freely employed incombination. Wagner has a happyphrase, somewhere, about the " illimit-able cultivability of the ear." The pro-cess of cultivation has been in progressfor centuries, and while Debussy's musicadmittedly represents a sudden and ex-tensive increase in what is required ofthe ear, it cannot fairly be said that thisadvance, a leap forward though it be, isother than in the line of the general trendof musical development. )Another, and intimately related factor inthe constitution of Debussy's music is thatthe swarm of vaguely defined and freely em-

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYployed harmonies to be found in his composi-tions obscure the sense of major and minor.The orthodox practice in musical composi-tion is, where a rather indeterminate, ormore or less dissonant combination oftones is in question, to proceed to it fromthe vantage point of a more certain andsure combinationone more completelysatisfying to the earand then to passonwards to another of a kindred stabilityand suavity to the first. Technically, thisis the preparation and resolution of a dis-c(5rd ; the transition from a point of rest toone of unrest, and thence to a new point ofrest, which is one of the great underlyingprmciples of musical art.

Concords, and discords, and the sys-tematisation of tones into scales, are allinextricably mixed up together, andDebussy's departure from what has hither-to been the ordered procedure in relationto chords has involved a proportionatedeparture, or nearly so, as regards scales.This, again, it is possible to con-sider as an addition to, rather than adestruction of the proved resources ofmusic. The universal employment of themajor and minor modes exclusively, wasborn of expedience. They made forelasticity and security ; but at the same

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I N M ODERN MUSICtime the door was thereby closed upon theold Church modes, and with them, upon arange of effects which belonged to theseold-world modes alone. Many of theseeffects Debussy has revived, but in thisonly treading more continuously in a pathwhich has been adventured upon byvarious composers, from Beethoven toWeingartner.

Not the construction of music, however,but its effect, is the main subject of con-sideration so far as the non-professionalpublic is concerned. In this connectionthere are a few points which it will be worthwhile to consider with some little attention,for upon this consideration will it dependvery much whether one takes a reasonableview, or the reverse, of Debussy's music.and the reverse, it should be mentioned,may equally well be laudatory or hostile ;adulation or detraction alike insufficiently in-formed.

In the first place it is to be bornein mind that Debussy's music over-rides a good many established theories,or rather the limitations within whichthe operation of these theories hashitherto been confined. For the general ;ear this will have its most obvious and im- :mediate effect in a certain strangeness, '

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYsomething inconclusive, at times seeminglydissonant. These will be the points of dis-agreement, easily outweighed, however, bybeauty requiring no comment. But to re-turn to the points of disagreement, or ofless ready comprehension. In regard to noart is there such a seemingly infallible senseof right and wrong as in music. The eyetolerates a figure badly drawn to the pointof absurdity, but the ear shrinks, as byinstinct, from what it esteems a discord, orrather, remains in a state of suspense pend-ing the resolution into a concordsome-thing satisfying and conclusive, the cravingfor which seems no less ingrained in ournature.

All this, however, is no more than amatter of deep-seated habit. Sounds aredissonant or the reverse merely because wehave been brought up to consider them such.In Nature there are no discords, and theodd thing is that the ear, which is so sen-sitive to an infraction of a purely artificialarrangement of tones, is quite alive to thisabsence of discord among sounds whichcannot in any way be brought within thescope of the organised scale. Naturalsounds, the noises of Nature, the sound ofthe wind, of the sea, of the rustling of thetrees, the voices of birds, sheep, cattle, even

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IN MODERN MUSICthe noises of machinery, when heard singly,or in any kind of combination, are only inthe very rarest cases otherwise than in somesort of agreement, which may not be har-mony in the accepted sense, but is certainlyharmonious.

Debussy has sought to introduce thisnatural freedom of tone into his methodsof composition, just as he has frequentlydevoted himself to the portrayal of thosenatural phenomena which are most immedi- yately musical in their suggestion. Thewind among trees, or rain falling on thevaried leaf surfaces of a garden, produce adistinctly musical effect, but it would beonly the baldest conventionalism whichwould assign to it any definite tonality.Debussy, in his reproduction of some suchsubject, deliberately aims at an ambiguoustonality which shall come as near toNature as possible. Again, what the un-accustomed ear may regard as a dissonance,has been employed by Debussy, not fromany perverse love of the ugly, for heprobably loves the ugly as little as anyoneelse, but because he has learned to regardthis seeming dissonance as a scintillatingmass of tone, to be used because it fits intohis scheme, just as some blot of vivid colourmay be the accent, the something which

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYgives to a picture its vitality and point.Debussy's music thus requires for its rightappreciation a cathohcity of sentimentsufficient for the recognition of the fact that,because a thing is strange, it does notnecessarily follow that it is false.

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IN MODERN MUSICflTNEBUvSSY'S music does not lend itself^5/ -^vell to any process of analysis. It

has little regularity of form, and themusician who looks for the accustomedclues and guide-posts of more or lessformal composition will be grievouslydisappointed. Neither is it programmemusic in the sense of being the vaguereflection of some clearly-defined non-musical idea, as in the Symphonic Poemsof Liszt, for example. On the contrary,Debussy's programme indications, wheresuch exist at all, are, if anything, rathermore vague than the music which theyaccompany. This, indeed, is much as itshould be. In art there is no such thingas an even approximatel}' exact duplicationof agencies. Sculpture, painting, poetry,and music, are all incapable of any realinterchange of their respective utilities.The mission of an art is to express justthat particular idea, sentiment, or feelingwhich it would be impossible for any otherart to express. It is in doing this that anart justifies its existence. It may be quiteinteresting to hear how a composer willreproduce in tones the sentiment, or the

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYoutstanding characteristics of a "pro-gramme." as in, say, Liszt's Les Preludes.The inspiring motive here is the followingquotation from Lamartine's MeditationsPoetiques

"Is this life of ours anything- but a series ofpreludes to that unknown song of which deathintones the first note ? Love forms the aurora ofall existence ; but what life is there in which thefirst transports of happiness are not interrupted bysome storm whose deadly breath dispels the mostbeautiful illusions, whose thunderbolt consumesthe altar ; and what soul is there which, emergingcruelly wounded from one of these tempests,does not seek to soften the recollections of it inthe sweet calm of a life in the fields. Neverthe-less, man scarcely resigns himself for long to thebeneficent influence which at first charms hiswhole nature, and when " the trumpet sounds thecall to arms," he flies to the perilous post assignedto him in war, whatever it be, in order to findagain in the conflict his own full consciousness,and the entire possession of his forces."As has been said, it is interesting to

hear how a composer will reproduce thecharacteristics of his chosen "programme,"and the result, as in Les Preludes, may bebeautiful. But the thing has beenexpressed already. Even in an Englishtranslation, Lamartine's lines convey notonly his meaning, such as it is, but also,and quite sufficiently, that vague, elusivesuggestion, that "atmosphere," which

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IN MODERN MUSICbelongs to that no-man's land where is themeeting place of the boundaries of Musicand of all the other arts. Liszt's music,after all, does no more than repeat whathas been said already.

Now, Mendelssohn said, and verypertinently, a great many years ago :"It is exactly at that moment whenlanguage is unable to voice the ex-pression of the soul that the vocation ofmusic opens to us ; if all that passes in uswere capable of expression in words Ishould write no more music.'' Mendels-sohn would probably have held up hishands in horror at Debussy's music ;which, however, proves nothing, save thatit is very easy for musicians to misunder-stand one another. But as regards the oft-debated "meaning" of music, at least,Debussy and the admirable precisian whowrote St Paid are in agreement. Debussyseeks only to express in music what cannotbe expressed otherwise. He deals in non-musical motives and suggestions just asfreely as any writer of programme-music,but with a difference. So far as one canclassify Debussy's use of a " programme "at all, it is necessary to return to thecomparison with painting, and style itimpressionism. "Suggestion," perhaps,

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYwould be a better word. There is nolaboured building-up of a combination ofdetails, suggestive, and even imitative.Instead, there is something swift, vague,and elusive, but strangely vivid and satisfy-ing. The effect is attained, as one feels,by a kind of intuition, which goes straightto the point, by way of recognisedmethods, or, more frequently, in spite ofthem. But the broad, impressionisticmethods are not taken to avoid difficultiesof definition. They are adopted becausedefinite methods are known intimately,have been judged, and, for the full accom-plishment of the purpose immediately inhand, found wanting. Any reasonablycompetent draughtsman can fill a drawing,to the point of intricacy, with exactlycorrect detail. To carr}^ out the reverseprocess of omission, to a like extent, takessomething of a genms.

It is in the works of larger dimensions,naturally, PelUas et Melisande, and theorchestral compositions, that any form ofanalysis is most at a loss. In Pelleas etMelisande, the only possible clue to themusic is in the cext, and without the sup-port of the text, the music collapseslovely,shimmering, and insubstantial, like somegossamer tissue. It has been said, quite

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IN MODERN MUSICI

truly, that there is no melody in Pelleas etMclisande, and, just as truly, that it is allmelody together. Nothing could well beless akin to melody in the conventionalsense of the term than this :

r f ^r 7. u J 7 ^

but what more poignantly beautiful ex-pression of the personality of Melisande,and of the particular situation, could beimagined? The phrase, if phrase it can becalled, so childish and helpless in itssuggestion, is simplicity itself, but it is thesimplicity which belongs to inspiration.

In the orchestral works one finds whata shadowy, evanescent thing a " pro-gramme " is, as Debussy understands it.Take the Nocturnes, published in 1890.There are three of them, with the titlesNnagcs, Fetes, Sirenes. How they aremeant to impress people, or how theyimpress the composer, it is rather difficultto know which, Debussy himself hasindicated in the following notes :

" Nnages.The unchang-ing aspect of the sky,and the slow, solemn movement of the clouds dis-solving in grey tints lightly touched with white."

^' Fetes.The restless dancing rhythm of theatmosphere interspersed with sudden flashes oflight. There is also an incidental procession (a

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYdazzling' imaginary vision) passing through andmingling with the aerial revelry ; but the back-ground of uninterrupted festival is persistentwith its blending of music, and luminous dustparticipating in the universal rhythm of allthings."

" Sirenes.The sea and its perpetual rhythm,and then amid waves silvered by moonbeams isheard the laughter and mysterious song of passingsirens."

It is possible to detach themes from thesemovements, but of themselves they conveylittle. It is the work as a whole, the subtle,elusive presentation, or rather suggestionof themes, the filmy, iridescent instrumenta-tion ; it is only from the general impressionof these things in combination that thesense of the music becomes clear. Nuagesand Sirenes are sufficiently direct andobvious pictures ; Fetes is not quite so easyof explanation. Despite its splendour ofmassed colour, and its processional effect,one imagines it to belong to the sameinsubstantial regions as its companionpieces. It may be that it has as its basisof suggestion, the splendour of sunset.

Of a like nature to the foregoing is theinspiring motive of Debussy's best-knownorchestral work the Prelude a I'apres-midid'un Faune. Based upon Stephane Mal-larme's strange poem, Debussy's musical

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IN MODERN MUSICfancy does little more than flit about thetext, with its gorgeous imagery and colour,and it would be impossible to say wherqthe composer's concern with the day-|dreams of Mallarme's Faun, drowsing in agrove, in the afternoon heat, ends, and hisown personal imaginings begin. As in theNocturnes, design, in the sense of outlineand definition, is replaced by masses ofcolour, exquisite in tint and proportion, butabsolutely evading any fragmentary sug-gestion of their charm. The three move-ments for orchestra, grouped under thetitle La Mer, are just as incapable of beingmade to render up the secret of theircharm. In the sub-titles De Vaube a midiSUV la mer ; Jeiix de vagues ; Dialogue du ventet de la mer, there is the same sketchinessof indication, followed by an even greaterfreedom in the musical treatment thanbefore.

The songs and piano pieces, naturally,give one a closer view of Debussy's art.The orchestral music, the Quartet, orPelleas et Melisande can scarcely, any ofthem, be heard otherwise than infrequently,and even then under conditions more orless of distraction. But a piano piece, forinstance, can be studied at leisure ; itsharmonies readily examined ; the relation-

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYship between the theme and the movementas a whole more or less readily detected.And another fact which will probably bediscovered early is this : that even whenconfined within the most convenientdimensions, the mystery of Debussy's artstill remains largely unexplored.

In no form of modern musical art hasthere been such high achievement as in theSong. Those who have a fancy to do so,may call the modern Art-Song strainedand over - elaborated. Perhaps it is.Certainly it has only occasionally thespontaneous, lyric outburst of Schubert,but the incalculable element of geniusapart, the Song has shown a greater andmore independent advance in mastership,in recent years, than can be laid to thecredit of any other musical form. Insupport of this one need only mentionRichard Strauss, Max Reger, and HugoWolf. These German writers, however,have their peers in France, and high amongthe French song-writers stands Debussy.To treat in detail of every song Debussyhas written would be a somewhat lengthytask, although an interesting one by reasonof their unflagging freshness of device.Instead, it will suffice to describe, andnot too elaborately, a few representative

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IN MODERN MUSICexamples. The three Chansons de Bilitiswhich were pubhshed in 1895, ^.re settingsof verses taken from a volume of lyrics ofthe same name, by Pierre Louys. Bilitisis an imaginary poetess whom her creatorrepresents to have been a contemporary ofSappho. The first of Debussy's Bilitissongs, La Flute de Pan, is a true pastoral, towhich an added sylvan effect has been givenby the use of the Lydian scale, a tonalsuccession which may be most convenientlyunderstood by imagining the scale of Fmajor with the B natural instead of flat.In Debussy's song the effect is arrived atthus :

In a different vein is the next song. LaChevelure, the narration of a dream. It isless melody than declamation, but a declam-ation which is instinct with the ordinarilyunnoticed music of unfettered speech.Nothing could be further away from conven-tional recitative than this :

It is speech, which begins calmly, rises37


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D EBUSSY: A STUDYfreely and suddenly into a passionate out-burst, and then falls once more into calm.The third song, Le Tombemi des Naiades,worthily completes the book. It is a littlemasterpiece of suggestion. There is thepeculiar emptiness of a snow-swept land-scape ; the numbing cold ; and:

Les safyres sont morts.Les safyres et les nymphes aussi.

Pitiless winter has driven the gay sylvanfolk before it, with the blossoms and theleaves.

Far removed in time, place, and senti-ment, from the songs of the classic Bilitis,who is described as having lived inthe mountains west of Pamphylia, are thetwo rondels of Charles, Duke of Orleans,included in the Trois Chansons de France.In the first of these, Le temps a laissieson inanteau, one is carried at a breath intoa far-distant century, the piano has becomeharp-like in its effect, and the song moveswith a quaint, stiff gracefulness. Throughthe very art of the composer, it is no longerDebussy who speaks, but the fifteenth-century French prince, to whom RobertLouis Stevenson devoted one of his" Familiar Studies." Of a like graceful,penetrating realization of the very essenceof the text are the songs grouped as

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IN MODERN MUSICFetes Galantes, and the popular Mandoline:^:' h ' .. '' ' '*. - I - .. In >, ^Not a detail has escaped observation, anddue record subordinated with the utmostart to the general scheme.

What has been said of the songs holdsnot less true of the piano pieces. Likenearly everything which Debussy haswritten, they strike upon the ear with anunfamiliar accent. But even a slight studyreveals how their governing motive, first andlast, is a passionate desire for truth ; fortruth to the subject, truth to the manner ofimpression to which it gives rise in theimagination of the observing composer.The truth, for the artist, be his mediumwhat it may, lies in the sincere impressionwhich anything produces upon him, tested,of course, by a process of competent andfearless self-criticism. For this rigid truth,however, there is too commonly substitutedwhatever is supposed to be the conventionalway of regarding any given circumstance.For all immediate purposes, it does just aswell as the truth, it is much more readilydealt with, and as a marketable commodityits superiority is unquestionable. Thus anovelist gives his book a happy ending,

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYnot because he feels that it is the logicalconclusion, but because he understands thathappy endings are approved by the averagereader, and that they help the sale of abook.

There is none of this in Debussy'smusic. The subjects he chooses arebeautiful, but what he strives for, andstrives for with a certain remorselessness, isthe essential truth of their beauty. A con-ventional approximation to the truth is notsufficient, and in order to get at the realthing, no sacrifice of the conventional isaccounted too great. It is this sentimentwhich has led Debussy to the writing ofmusic which at a first hearing sounds sostrange, but which on a further studybecomes fascinating, and then convincing.There is a wonderful freshness, and direct-ness of touch in the piano pieces. Manyof the more professedly pictorial pieceshave the effect of sketches still wet from thebrush. In all there is a masterly elan anddistinction.

It would be difficult to imagine any-thing more boldly happy in effect, forinstance, than the series of pieces entitledEstampes. The first of the series, Pagodes,as it begins, strikes upon the ear as al-most ugly, then the ear gets caught with

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IN MODERN MUSICa certain bizarre charm, and the finaleffect is one of an odd stimulation. Moreimmediately attractive, perhaps, is thebrilliant elaboration of a Habanera in LaSoiree dans Grenade ; while another littletour de force is Jardins sous la Pluie, rainpattering and dripping steadily in a leafygarden, translated into music with asurprising truth.Of a like nature are the pieces entitled

collectively Imagesthe poetic Cloches atravers les feuilles, and Et la lune descendsiir la temple qui fnt. Poissons d^or, inthe same series, one is tempted to regardas a joke. It is goldfish in a bowl, tothe life, the ceaseless, flickering motionof tails and fins, the tireless evolutions,the quick, prismatic flash, as scaly sidescatch the light. Mastery of description hasled the composer, here, as in the glitteringReflets dans I'eau, to setting himself almostimpossible tasks for the sheer pride of theiraccomplishment. These, and their likemay be classified as Debussy's more con-tentious pianoforte compositions. He has,however, written others which have pro-voked less argument, as the charming SuiteBergamasque, and the Arabesques, while theHommage a Rameau is but one of severalcompositions which would appear to

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYindicate an affection for the music of thepast, a tenderness for the charm oftradition on the part of one who has, moreresolutely than most, ignored its pretensionsto a cramping and restraining authority.

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IN MODERN MUSIC^^OME of the bestand worstmusical5^ criticism has been written by com-posers. Its intrinsic merit apart, however,such criticism has always a value as somuch self-revelation. It is more helpfultowards an understanding of a composer asa creative artist, to know what he thinksabout other people's music, than to knowwhat he thinks about his own. As a rulea composer has little to say that issatisfactory, or even particularly intelligible,about his own music. All his ideas are inthe music ; they are there because it wasimpossible for them to becom.e properlyembodied elsewhere, and when thecomposer strives to express them anew inwords, he stumbles and halts, oppressed bythe angularity and insufficiency of speech.When he takes to the path of criticism,however, good, bad, or indifferent, hispronouncements become at once illum-inative. Schumann, for instance, wrotecriticism of all three kinds, but even hisvery mistakes, and he committed somerather astonishing critical lapses, help usto understand the kind of man he was, andhow he looked upon music. Again, there

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYis something informing in Tschaikowsky'slove of Mozart above all other composers,coupled with his admiration of ItalianOpera. One seems to have hit upon a clueto much both in his character and in hismusic.

Debussy, also, has in his time playedthe critic. Like that of Tschaikowsky, hisjournalistic career appears to have beenbrief, but his articles in the Gil Bias andthe Revue Blanche contain much which isnot only characteristic, but also intrinsicallyvaluable. '* Bach exercises a sovereigninfluence on music, and in his goodnessand might he has willed that we shouldever gain fresh knowledge from the noblelessons he has left us, and thus his disinter-ested love is perpetuated." Having regardto the popular conception of the composer ofthe Prelude a Vapres midi d'un Fatme, this isnot just exactly the kind of sentence onewould have expected from him. It can,however, be paralleled by another quota-tion quite as remarkable. Speaking of whathe conveniently styles the "arabesques"in John Sebastian Bach's compositions, hesays: "The primitifs were mindful of thisdivine 'arabesque.' They found its originin the Gregorian chant, and they supportedits slender convolutions by means of strong

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IN MODE R N MUSICresisting counterpoint. When Bach re-turned to the use of the 'arabesque' heendowed it with greater elasticity andfluidity, and notwithstanding the severediscipUne imposed on beauty by this greatmaster, he gave it that free fantasy ofreproductive movement which is still thewonder of our age."

With Wagner, and more particularlywith his apparatus of leit-motiv, Debussyshows himself frankly bored. Speaking ofthe Nibelung Cycle, he says : " It is difficultfor anyone who has not had the same experi-ence to picture to themselves the conditionof a man's mind, even the most normal,after attending the Tetralogy for four con-secutive evenings. . . How insufferablethese people in helmets and wild-beast skinsbecome by the time the fourth eveningcomes round."

His Wagner criticisms are not alldetraction, however: "There are longmoments of ennui when one does notreally know which is most at fault ; themusic or the drama? Then suddenly themost supremely lovely music, irresistible asthe sea, surges into one's ears and criticismflies to the winds." To some of his remarkson Beethoven's music, it seems impossibleto avoid attaching a significance beyond

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DEBUSSY: A STUDYmerely an opinion. More especially is thisthe case where he speaks of the NinthSymphony, with the glory of its finale, andthe ** overflowing humanity, which pouredacross the traditional limits of thesymphony." When he treats of the laterphases of Beethoven's music, it seemspossible to get near to Debussy's ownartistic creed, and a prime article of thatcreed seems to be, that whatever else musicis, it is not merely rhetoric.

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IN MODERN MUSICM^O in music there is nothing final nor^f absolute. There, as elsewhere, thelaw of change holds good, and new ideasare not only possible, but inevitable.Standards of taste are set up, but they aremerely expedient, not infallible. Theyapply only to their own times, and neitherdisprove the past, nor lay commands uponthe future. Thus Debussy is to be judged,not by his departure from laws which weredevised to explain the works of those whomhe has never tried to resemble ; but byhimself, and by his works, and theirmeasure of truth to Nature ; for in thesense peculiar to his art, the musician is noless bound by this essential Truth than anyother artist. For the benefit of those towhom familiarity is an important credentialof truth, and who are therefore disposed tocall in question the truth of Debussy'sart, simply because that art happensto be new to them, an anecdote,of which Turner may, or may nothave been, but possibly was, the hero, maybe recalled. A visitor to Turner's studio ob-jected that he had never seen a sunset suchas just then liamed from the easel. Towhich the painter all-sufhcingly replied" Don't you wish you could!"

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A LISTOF THE Works of

CLAUDE DEBUSSY.


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PIANO DUET.

Arabesques, I. II. TranscriptionsCortege et Air de Danse. {L'Enfant Prodigue.)Transcription - . . -

Danses. TranscriptionHoM-MAGE A Ramead. {Images. No. 2) Tran-

scription - - . - -La Symphonic Sketches.

Transcription

Mer : ThreeTranscription

Marche EcossaisePagodes. {Estampes, No.PELLEAS ET MELISANDE

TranscriptionsDuo d la FontaineALes Cheveux. [La Mort de Pelleas]

En Bateau.Cortege.Menuet.Ballet. }

Prelude. {L'Enfant Prodigue.) Transcription -Printemps. Symphonic Suite. TranscriptionQuartet for Strings. Transcription -Soiree dans Grenade. {Estampes. No. 2.)

Transcription . . - -Le Roi Lear. Incidental Music. Transcription

Petite Suite.

(Durand)

(Durand)(Durand)

(Durand)

(Durand)(Fromont)(Durand)

(Durand)

(Durand)

(Durand)(Durand)(Durand)(Durand)(Durand)

-II-

TWO PIANOS (Four Hands).

Danses. Transcription . . - - (Durand)Images

Gigue triste.\Iberia. \ - - - (Durand)Ronde ]Prelude a L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune. Tran-

scription ----- (Fromont)Printemps. Symphonic Suite. Transcription (Durand)Petite Suite (transcribed from Petite Suite forPiano Duet) - - - (Durand)


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VIOLIN AND PIANO.

Arabesques, I. II. -TranscriptionsTranscription

HARP,(Durand)(Durand)

(Durand)(Durand)

Arabesques, I. II. - - TranscriptionDanses (Piano or Harp) With Accompanimentfor String Orchestra -

SONGS.Ariettes OublieesPoems by Paul Verlaine

C'est I'Extase.II pleurc dafis mon ctsur.L'Ombre des arbres dans la riviere.Paysages beiges.Chevaux de bois.Aquarelles. /, Greeti. 2, Spleen.

Beau SoirPoem by Paul BourgetChansons de BilitisPoems by Pierre LouysLa Fliite de Pan.La Chevelure.

Le Tombeau des Naiades.Cinq Poemes de BaudelaireLe Balcon.

Harmotiie du Soir.Le Jet d'Eau.Rectteillement

.

La Mori des Amants.Les Cloches - . - .Fetes GalantesPoems by Paul VerlaineEn Sotcrdine.

Fantaches.Clair de Lune.

Fetes Galantes (2nd Series)Poems by Paul VerlaineLes Ingenus. "jLe Faune.

J-- - (Durand)

Collogue sentimental. JFleur des Bles ----- (Girod)La Belle au Bois Dormant - - (Editions musicales)La Mer est plus belle - - - -L'Echelonnement des HaiesPoem by Paul

Verlaine - . - . -

Les Angelus . - - . -Le Son du cor s'afflige Poem by Paul Ver-laine -----Mandoline------

Nuit d'Etoiles - . - . .Paysage Sentimental

(Fromont)

(Fromont)

(Fromont)

(Durand)

(Durand)

(Fromont)

(Hamelle)(Fromont)(Hamelle)(Fromont)(Durand)

(Coutarel)(Editions musicales)


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Proses LvriqdesText by Debdsgy-De Rcve, \De Grcve.De Flews.De Sow.Romance ......Trois Chansons de France

, Rondel, |La Grotte. 1- -Rondel. )Trois Chansons de Charles d'Orleans. Un-accompanied Choruses for 4 voices.Voici QUE le Printemps - - - (EditionsPELLEAS ET MELISANDERecit de Genevieve. \Duo a la Fontaijie. IRccil de Pelleas.

|Recit d'Arkeld Melisande. )LA DAMOISELLE ELUE. Lyric Poem forFemale Voices (Soli and Chorus) andOrchestra-----L'ENFANT PRODIGUE. CantataPELLEAS ET MELISANDE. Lyric Dramain 5 Acts and 12 Tableaux.

//

(Fromont)

(Durand)

(Durand)

(Durand)musicales)

(Durand)

(Durand)(Durand)

CHAMBER AND ORCHESTRAL MUSIC.Almanzor. Symphonic Poem ... (MS.)String Quartet ----- (Durand)Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra - - (MS.)Cortege et Air de Danse. [L'Enfant Prodigue) (Durand)Danses. For Piano or Chromatic Harp, withAccompaniment for String Orchestra.*La Mer. Three Symphonic Sketches for Orchestra

1. De I'auhe a tnidi sur la mer.2. Jeux de Vagties. (Durand)3. Dialogue du Vent et de la Mer.ImagesGigue triste.

jIberia. [ - - - (Durand)Ronde. )Le Roi Lear. Incidental Music

-

Marche EcossaisePetite Suite. Transcribed for Orchestra'Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un Faune -Printemps. Symphonic SuiteTrois Nocturnes

Nnages.|Fetes. r " (Fromont)Sirines. )

* First performance in this country, by Mr Henry J. Woodand the Queen's Hall Orchestra.4

(Durand)(Fromont)(Durand)

(Fromont)(Durand)


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TRANSCRIPTIONS.Transcription de A la Fontaine, Schumann Op. 85 (Durand)Transcription pour piano a quatre mains du Caprice

sur les airs de Ballet de I'A Iceste de Gluck,par Saint-Saens - - - - (Durand)Transcription pour deux pianos de 1' Introduction et

Rondo Capricioso. Saint-Saens - - (Durand)Reductions pour deux pianos. Airs de Ballet d'

Etienne Marcel. Saint-Saens - - (Durand)2^ Symphonic en la mineur. Saint-Saens - (Durand)Guverture du Vaisseau-Fantome. Wagner - (Durand)

//

LITERARY WORKS.(From a Debussy Programme of the Cercle de I'Art Moderne.Le Havre).

Critique Musicale. REVUE BLANCHE.Concerts Col-onne ; Concerts Lamoreux ; Societe Nationale (i^f Avril,1901).

La Chambre d'Enfants de Moussorgsky ; une Sonate pourpiano de Paul Dukas ; Concerts Symphoniques duVaudeville (15 Avril, 1901).

Vendredi Saint, ia Neuvienne Symphonie (i^r Mai, 1901).- Operas; le Roi de Paris ; I'Ouragan (15 Mai, 1901).

Concerts Nikisch ; la Musique en plein air ; A ceux qui nepeuvent pas tout entendre (i^"^ Juin, 1901).

Entretien avec M. Croche (i*"^ Juillet, 1901).De quelques superstitions et d'un op6ra (15 Novembre,

1901).D'Eve a Griselidis (i'^^' Decembre, 1901).Critique Musicale au journal le Gil Bias en 1903.Un article sur Gounod (Musica 1907).

The portrait of M. Debussy has been reproduced by kind permissionof Messrs A. Durand & Son, 4 Place de la Madeleine, Paris.


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