Debussy Paper and Score

8/20/2019 Debussy Paper and Score

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Debussy, an importantfgure in symbolic and

exotic aesthetics: Estampes

a synthesis o Debussy’sexotic language.

Manuela Osorno Chave

!eminar in "eyboard#iterature

$roessor Dr. %ibbons.



&ntroduction

Debussy has been seen by scholars and artist as an important

fgure o music in the 20th century. His style o composition is one othe best known representatives o impressionism (connected toimpressionist painting) although he did not like this designation. His

music embodies a language much broader than this more oten! inhis works we can related his style to the e"oticism and symbolism. #

would dare to say that all his music has this symbolic content whichhe uses in several works to evoke certain regions such as $aster%pain &rance 'orther $uropean and sian countries as well asother historical periods.

*his paper will address Debussy+s e"otic and symbolic languageby analy,ing o one o his works or piano solo Estampes. *hisparticular piece is a synthesis o various tools he used to representother regions. #n this work there are three di-erent regions

represented! hina %pain and &rance. *he analysis that ollows willclariy which tools he used to represent these countries and what

sounds he uses to evoke these associations.

*he primary goal o the analysis is to fnd how the e"oticism works

in this particular piece. ould we say this work synthesi,es a broadrange o Debussy+s e"otic language/ How ar does the e"otic role othis piece go/ #s the &rench style o Debussy lost or the sake orepresenting other regions/

*o give a better understanding o the piece this paper will give abackground on Debussy+s style including inuential fgures andevents that led him to develop his own language in both e"oticaspects and &rench style. *his background will give the reader otherDebussy+s works o reerence to conte"tuali,e. ter giving this

broad background the particular background and detail analysis oEstampes will be e"plained. *he relation showed among thebackground o the style other representative works and the specifcanalysis o this piece will answer the 1uestions stated above.

'ac(ground and Debussyism

laude Debussy was born in aris in 342 and died in 53 periodin which &rance passed through several wars and events that

produced various artistic and political movements. *he third republicin &rance was established ater the collapse o the second republic



around 360 although these frst years o the republic remainedinuenced by the &ranco7russian war. During his last years o lieDebussy witnessed 88#.

mong the several artistic lines that developed in &rance during

Debussy+s lie some originated rom a re9ection o 8agnerian and:erman music and others 9ust as orm o protest against :ermanswho took power over &rance during the wars. ll these reasons

reinorced the nationalistic eeling in &rance and the need ornational music in other words a &renches sound or &rench %tyle.

;y the time Debussy started being known or his music and hisinnovations other &rench composers had already developed a new&rench style generated by the nationalistic eelings o the period.

*hese orerunners o Debussy+s <&rench style= rom the beginning o the 5th century started stepping away rom the:erman>symphonic>dramatic style. %aint7%aens &aur? esar &ranck

habrier among others were important fgures in this processes.Debussy and @avel made such big successes and were highlighted

above others by the critics rom scholars o the time and actuals. *hese two are seen as the most important fgures o the &rench lateromantic period and beginning o the 20th centuries and they areoten related to impressionistic style. $ven though they were

important fgures and scholars and composer pointed them asinnovators their music and style actually derivated rom theinuence o important fgures beore them including the composersnamed above and e"periences (&or e"ample the aris e"hibition).;oth o them wrote impressionistic works such as Debussy+sImages and several o his preludes and @avel+s Jeux d’eau butneither Debussy nor @avel were devoted entirely to impressionismAboth had di-erent styles o compositions and roles in the history.

. Debussy+s work varies rom his early works to his late ones

specifcally in his early and middle works we can see the inuence o his predecessor composers. %aint7%aens &aur? &ranck and habrierall wrote organ music and play the organA all o them used the longpedal notes creating colors and long pedal harmonies (organ likemusic). Debussy+s prelude o the sunk cathedral shows these pedalsand parallel motions o chords specifcally as symbols o organ likemusic. %everal works o Debussy+s music have long pedal notes ordi-erent symbolic purposes.

*he thematic ideas o &ranck+s style o composition where heused a motivic idea and created the entire piece with that (cyclic



orms) has some inuence in Debussy+s music. Debussy usesmelodic or rhythmic themes that goes throughout the work. Refectsdans l’eau uses a melodic idea that varies with the variousaccompaniments around it another e"ample are some o the

preludes).%ome preludes like Voiles defne the orms by themes separating

the di-erent parts o the piece in sections and also adding di-erent

scales or each section like whole tone scales pentatonic scalesand octatonic among others. Bne o Debussy+s characteristics is the

use o pitch collections to defne sections o pieces. #n his style heuses the mosaic7 like orm in some o his works bringing completelydi-erent sections into coherence without an apparent ormstructure. #n the analysis o Estampes, we will see some o these

techni1ues applied in the piece.

nother event in &rance that inuenced art was the aris 8orld+s

&air in 335 commonly known as the aris $"hibition. During the si"months o e"hibition there were 4622 e"hibitors and crats brought

rom diverse places rom ;olivia to hina. *he e"hibition was alsodesigned to celebrate the &rench @evolution o 635. ;y 335 thethird republic was collapsing and fnally &rance was stabili,ing itspolitical and social issues. *here were di-erent sounds rom all over

the world at the $"hibition those o the caes bars and daily lieand those rom the perormances and ceremonial music or event(@omanian and Cavanese) *he e"position to these music during thatlong period o e"hibition was an inescapable thing that stronglyinuenced composers+ compositional techni1ues (&auser 200).

Eusic in the air was mostly perormed in a conte"t o national

signature so @ussian music was perormed by @ussians &rench by&rench people merican by mericans and so on. *he sounds romover the world became the acoustic sign o the perormer+s ethnic

descent like Cava Eorocco and @omania. *his developed a newconcept o authenticity in terms o genuine sounds which drove thedevelopment o the <e"otic= sounds. *his authenticity ande"oticness terms in music were related to representations o earlymusic and olk music o a determinate region.

$"otic Eusic in the $"hibitionn was located in two areas. Bne o the areas had pavilions eaturing ;olivia hina Eorocco @omania

and %pain. *he other one had pavilions with &rench colonies andsome other e"otic nations like Cava. Eusic rom other regions tookover aris and the sound never heard beore by most o the



$uropeans rom Cavanese gamelan and the Fietnamese theaterwere soundtracks or di-erent types o entertainment in thee"hibition.

*hese two types o e"otic music Cavanese gamelan and

Fietnamese theater were reerred to by Debussy in his writings inwhich he said these were the most impacting o the e"otic music. *his inuenced the young composer in such a way that would be

seen in his music and works much later and throughout his career(&auser 200). %ince the most e"otic sound came rom the Cava

e"hibition by the dancers orchestras o gamelans soundscomposers start representing the <&ar east= with representations o these specifc sounds. Eany times Debussy or @avel were evoking *he &ar $ast with sound that emulated music o gamelan even

though they were not trying to symboli,e Cava or #ndonesiaspecifcally but 9ust $astern cultures.

s &auser says in his book Musical Encounters at the 1889 World’sair, in his chapter on Debussy and gamelan he e"plains how

scholars have ocus on Debussy+s compositions or piano andorchestra to show the inuence o the $"hibition. <#n particular8orks such as the 350 antasie or piano and orchestra and the50G !agodes " &rom Estampes# became prime candidates or

e"amining the impact o the gamelan on his music= (&auser 20055). #n several letters to ouys talks about his obsession withcreate drama and images o di-erent parts with music also asinuence rom the Fietnamese theater which capture this idea. #nother words the inuence o the &rench composers that had beingworking in this &rench style and the encounters o Debussy to newsounds o di-erent regions o the world create the known harmonicand rhythm innovations o Debussy.

)stampes a synthesis o a ne* language

$stampes was written in 50G when Debussy was G years old.;y this time Debussy had develop enough o the techni1uesdescribed above or his style. He had already incorporate $"oticismand &rench style into his music. *his particular work has threemovements which are like character pieces each one o these isrepresenting a certain region. *he title o the work means stampsrom di-erent regionsA in this particular case those are! *he &ar $ast%pain and &rance.



*he three movements are! !agodes, $e %oir&e dans 'ranade, Jardins sous la !luie( *he frst movement+s title reers to anarchitectural structure in various places o $ast especially romhina. *his architectural structure is a tall tower with several layers

one on top o the other usually built or ;uddhist worship. *hesecond movement is reerring to the sunshine in :renada %pain. *he last movement is a representation o *he :ardens in &ranceduring rain storm.

$agodes

#n 35G Debussy wrote a letter to his riend ouys saying!;ut my poor riendI Do you remember the Cavanese music able to

e"press every shade o meaning even unmentionable shades . . .which make our tonic and dominant seem like ghosts or use bynaughty little children/ (orrespondence de laude Debussy etierre ouJs (35G750K) ed. Henri ;orgeaud Laris! ibrairie Coseorti 5KM p. K 1uoted in Hugh p. 2)

(Hugh 556)

!agodes is an allusion to the &ar $ast rather than a literaryallusion to the architectural structure o a pagoda although there



are symbolic material related to the building. #llustration o &ar $astare made by Debussy and other composers like @avel by imitatingthe Cavanese music and the :amelan sounds. Debussy+s techni1ueso composition or this movement are completely related to the

representation o gamelan+s e"otic sounds. *he analysis o the movement is based in our main

characteristics! @hythm <harmonies= or pitch collection timber>

te"ture and the three dimensional structure created by thecounterpoint. ll o these compositional devices o !agodas were

thought by Debussy to evoke $aster sounds. Debussy achieved thethree dimensional e-ect by the di-erent voices or <layers= he usedthroughout the entire movement.

Cavanese music oten use more than one :amelan at the sametime. *he ;ali orchestras had percussive instruments di-erent tunegongs bron,e kettles metallophones bamboo "ylophones among

other instruments. *his little orchestra generates di-erent layers o sound and create interesting harmonies and timbers. Eelodic lines

are interlace by the di-erent instruments. *he rhythms are notplanned or written as in western musicA instead repetitive patternso rhythm and melodies shits between the instruments producingdi-erent e-ects. %ome o those e-ects are hemiolas and variety in

timbers that accompany a repetitive melodic theme. mong all o the wester instruments piano is the one that better produces thosemetallic timbers and percussive sounds o the gamelan+s orchestras. *he various instruments timbers rhythms and registers use or thismusic creates this three7dimensional sonority.(Eontort s..)

!agodes presents three di-erent layers symboli,ing the structure

o a pagoda and recreating the music rom gamelan+s orchestrathree7dimensional sounds. &rom measure one Debussy shows thethree layers each one in a long distance range rom the other one.

*he frst one support the structure o the piece with the structuralpitches o the diatonic collection (; or several measures then DNleading to :N). *he second one is placed in the middle range o thepiano giving color with a ; ma9or chord in frst inversion7 most o the time with the melodic line7. *he last one in the top range o thepiano has more rhythmic movement than the other two. *his lastlayer adds more timber to the piece with the high upper range o thepiano eaturing pentatonic runs as well (si"teen notes). $ach layerrom the bottom to the top respectively increase in rhythmic

motion.



*he three layers create interesting eatures in the rhythm andharmonies. $ach one can be analy,e by separate although thee-ects are created by the combination o the three 7the ambiguitybetween the two main pentatonic scales used through the

movement the hemiolas and the timber in each register.ll the opening rom mm. to 0 has an embracing sonority

created by all the overtones o the frst layer. *his is produced by the

perect fth between ; and &N (sustained by the piano pedal) whichsymboli,e the gongs o the Cavanese music. *he long harmonic

rhythm sustains the other two layers throughout the frst 0measures. *his is a symbol o the frst layer o pagoda which is thelarger layer and sustains the rest o the tower. *he middle and theupper layer produces the color o the diatonic collection while the

frst one is the root or the central pitch. *he middle voice doeschords o ; (in upbeat ostinato) and the upper voice eatures ;pentatonic scales while getting to the higher register. *he start o the middle and upper voices in mm. three is up beat by an 3 th rest.%ince this upbeat becomes an ostinato it creates a continuoushemiola throughout the piece. #n mm. seven the G against 2 is alsoadded to the rhythmic material with the melody line in the middlevoice eaturing :N pentatonic. (ppendi")

*he opening page use several e"otic element the hemiola createdby the use o several percussive instruments the di-erent rangesand the gong sound with the opening fths. nother allusion he usesis the pentatonic scales not only to hinese pentatonic scales butalso the scales used by the :amelans. *hese instruments use twocommon scales called slendro and pelog, which used 6 notesAalthough perormers usually used only fve o them. *he westerallusion to these particular scales are whole tone scales and

pentatonic scales emulating the timber and the number o notesused by the Cavanese+s music.

%ome scholars like Hugh agree that the use o simultaneouselements creates a better e"otic e"perience. Bthers works byDebussy incorporate modes whole tone scales various voices butdo not create this particular sound. %ome o the elements are!@hythms ostinato techni1ues throughout the piece pitch collectiontimber among others. (Hugh 556)

&orm wise *he opening structure appears in the piece two timesmm7Kmm. G74K allowed by a small bridge without the longpedal notes in the base mm.73 4743. #n both section the music



start to move orward in speed and dynamics ater thebridge.Debussy indicated this with anime) un peu "mm(19#, tou*oursanim& "mm(+# increasing the dynamics up to the clima" as well ( inmm. 6G and K). #n those two climatic points the gong sonority is

really important and the layers uniy doing parallel motion betweenthe chords that draw a pentatonic scale with the top notes o thechords.

Bther representative spot in the movement is measures G7G6where a new melodic material appear. *he melody is in ; ydian but

only uses fve notes o the collection illustrating the gamelan scales. *his melodic material appears again in measure K to 2 varied bythe addition o the other layers that added the rhythmic hemiola o mm.G. #n mm 0 other timbers are produced with thrills in the right

hand in ascending in fth motion.

Debussy uses the pentatonic scale in di-erent ways melodically

and vertically. &or instance in mm. 572G the base line does gN7e7d7e7b while the other two voices are shiting the melody line and

ascending by fths. t the same time the triplets 7 an ostinatoduring the entire piece7 are played by both the middle and upperlayers at the same time creating this ama,ing architectural building.

&inally at mm.63 the oda starts with the principal melody o the

opening page in mm.30. *he base line is sustaining long pedal notesin ; while the upper line has pentatonic runs and the melody in themiddle voice. #n measure 3G is or the frst time played by thebase and then moves to $ and then to DN giving a more <tonal=

cadence sensation (around :N as central pitch). ter returns to ;as central pitch in the las page. *he last system adds DN to the

chord in the let hand giving the ; ma9or chord at the end. *he codafnish the air o eastern sound with a more &rench7western styleproducing a recall to the origin o the composer.

*here are other compositional tools related to the instrument thatcreate a similar timber to the gamelans. *he use o long pedalsmarkings in the score the pp dynamic and the pentatonic scales or

several measures creates a huge amount o overtones increasingthe dreamy like atmosphere o sound. Debussy recreates the calm

and meditative atmosphere rom a worship temple. He usesarticulation like staccato measures G7. #n this specifc scenario

that articulation makes that specifc note to shine more than others. *he staccato does not sound as it normally would because the pedalo the piano has prolonged the original note values and maintained



the overtones. He is very cautious with the slur markingsA he slursthe melody in between the layers like in mm. 5722 and his slurs inseveral parts match the fve notes o the pentatonic scale. nothereature o the piano is the sordina pedal which Debussy specifcally

marked. *he composer marks the second pedal (sordina) in placesthat are not melodic but atmosphere7like smoothening the soundand mi"ing even more the sounds between the di-erent layers.

!oir+e dans %ranade.

*he e"otic elements Debussy uses in this <%panish= movementare those sounds that were associated with %panish music in8estern culture. omposers o the period like @avel who was rom;as1ue Eanuel de &alla $nri1ue :ranados among others werestrong inuences in Debussy+s works. However since he never wentto %pain his knowledge about this type o music was ac1uired in thearis+s e"hibition and the interaction with other composers o theperiod (most o them traveled to aris in their lives.) $"oticism wasdefnitely a big deal in the period ater the e"hibition and lots o composers started adding the e"otic component especially with$aster and %panish sounds however most o them would use olksongs or popular song rom the country especially rom %pain.

Eanuel de &alla stated in the Re-ue Musicale that! < .he po/er o0 e-ocation integrated in the 0e/ pages o0 the E-ening in 'ranadaorders on the miracle /hen one reali)es that this music /as

composed 2 a 0oreigner guided 2 the 0oresight o0 genius( .here isnot e-en one ar o0 this music orro/ed 0rom the %panish 0ol3lore,and 2et the entire composition in its most minute details, con-e2s,admiral2 %pain.O (Puoted in (%chmit, 200K)

*his movement assess three important aspects about %pain. %omeare rom :renade but it also have other inuences like ndalusia. *he pitch collection in some melodies makes reerence to theEoorish inuence in %pain the rhythm o Habanera 7the uniy actor

in the whole movement7 and the mosaic like orm that does anallusion to the varied scenarios o entertainment in :ranade in the

night. *here are other minor things that are symbolicrepresentations o %pain such as the broken arpeggios that comerom tradition o guitar writing. *his broken arpeggios are clearlyshowed in the last page and some o the climatic points. *he way inwhich Debussy develop these eatures has been seen as one o his



specialties and points o remark especially since his barley visit%pain.

*he specifcations done by Debussy or the movement are the hinto how important the rhythm in the movement is. <Eouvement de

Habanera! 4ommencer lentement dans un r2thme nonchalamment gracieux = meaning that the tempo should be o the habanera but itmust start slowly (like a slow habanera) and no too graceul. s the

piece develops he marks changes in the tempo leading the rhythmto a <normal= habanera rhythm. n e"ample o this is mm. 6

.empo giusto, mm. G3 starts augmenting (also in dynamic whichfnally gets to ) mm. 46 *empo a-ec plus d’aandon, and so on. *his changes o tempos are typically rom %panish music. &olk musicrom %pain has a basic rhythm (in this case habanera) is always the

same and melodic lines eatures several rubatos and languidsensations contrasting those in which the rhythm is very static andincisive (or e"ample when Debussy marks tempo giusto). *he use o the dotted rhythms7 characteristically o the habanera7 is eaturewith profciency (more than a lot o %paniards composers) with theaccents in the last 3th note anticipating the down beat and the 4 th

note beore the second beat. $"amples o that are in mm. 6 and3. *he changes o tempo also ft di-erent key areas.

*he habanera was born rom mi"ed rhythms rom rica and uba.#n uba the known ontradan,a had the same rhythm. 8hen therhythm started being popular in merica in %pain was calledHabanera. *his rhythms was already an e"otic rhythm rom atincultures like uba and was rapidly added to the music in &rance.omposers like ;i,et used this rhythms and spread it in his music. *he habanera rhythm was one o the rhythms that people rom&rance would identiy as %panish. #n actual times people associate

the habanera with %pain rather than with uba as well as in the 20 th

century.

*he orm o this piece is done with di-erent motivic spots or cellssome bigger than others which start developing throughout thepiece. *hese di-erent parts o the <pu,,le= also have di-erentcentral pitches as <tonal= areas. *he main melodic and importantthemes that create a type o structure are ! 674 ; G3740 46766;+! 53704 +! 22726. *hose also ft important changes in thetempo marking as you can see in the score in the appendi". 'o lessimportant are the shorter motivic materials or e"ample mm.6720

2G723 or GG7 G4. which are important part o the mosaic like orm.#nside all o those thematic areas and units the main central pitches



are N rom the beginning o the movement the change to & N inmm.25 and very important because o the tempo mark the usuallyhabanera rhythm and change o mood in mm.G3 in which the tonalarea goes to and so on. (Eorgan 552) *hese type o orms are a

symbolic representation o the diverse scenes e"periences in:ranade in the nights or in other %pain cities in which themovement o the night is very varied. *his is one o DebussyspecialtiesA being able to put little pieces o apparently di-erentthings in the same oeuvre and still sound unifed. *his particularaspect is the combination o Debussy own language and his e"otics.'ormal habaneras do not use the kaleidoscopic orm like it usually

eatures simple song orm with the characteri,ed rhythm andmelody.

itch collection wise Debussy structures di-erent toolsA althoughhe is not using tonal harmony he use the relationship between Nand &N continuously throughout the piece. He shits between partswith the relation between certain central pitches. lthough in themelodic lines he recall the Eoorish tradition in %pain by using therabic scale! N7D7$N7&N7:N77;N7N. #n mm. he use this scale inthe melody creating the whole te"ture and atmosphere o the soundrom <ar away= the pedal producing lots o overtones and thehabanera rhythm in slow motion.

Conclusions

ll the symbolic elements that conorm Estampes are all ocusedin the representation o a determinate region or which the symbolicgoal is e"oticism. articularly the symbolism in this piece is allnarrowed to represent e"otic sounds or images o ar regions rom&rance such as %pain and hina ($ster). *he role o this work inDebussy+s carrier and works is undamental. #n this piece his e"otic

language can be appreciated in a much bigger scale than in otherworks.

Debussy music and style o composition derivate rom the &renchlanguage that had been created by other &rench composers at ariswho were the most inuential fgures or him. Debussy+s early worksshow more these inuences much more in pieces like thearabes1ues some preludes and others. ;ecause o the historicalconte"t Debussy point o turn and innovation starts in the arise"hibition. #n contrast to other composers he did not travel as muchand got most o his inuences rom the composers that did travel.

lthough the works ater the e"hibition start presenting the newelements o e"oticism. s the time passes he deeply incorporated



these elements in his style and became part o his natural languageas a composer.

*he e"oticism in Debussy then became his own personallanguage. %everal works like #mages the two books o preludes the

orchestral works elleas et Eelisande and much others present thee"oticism in tiny parts which are not ocused in representing aregion but 9ust creating an atmosphere or sensation o something.&or e"ample dream like atmospheres representations o mythsreminiscence o regions and so on.

#n the other hand the goal o this piece is really specifc or whichthe e"otic elements that are used in other pieces are reunited orthis purpose in this work. *he piece was written ten years ater thearis e"hibition when he had already incorporate those elements

into his style. *he piece is a clear synthesis o e"otic symbolismamong Debussy+s works and carrierA this 3thn minutes piece o music shows Debussy in his well7known innovative and creativestyle.

Debussy uses the e"otic element and combine it as othercomposers with wester conceptions o e"oticism. &or e"ample theemulation o the scales o the gamelan is not the e"act pitchcollections gamelans used but he uses the western representationo it with pentatonic scales.

*he third movement represent gardens under a rain storm in&rance. *he third movement contrast the other two in a &rench style.$ven though it also use certain types o pitch collection and te"turessimilar to !agodes (the use o sordina with portatos in the let handwhile an ostinato triplet is done in the right hand) is not similar to it.Eoreover the importance o this work is an overall<regional>language= o Debussy in music. $ven though this piece donot show all o Debussy language it does represent his symbolismand e"oticism in a broad way.

;ibliography&ranQois esure and @oy Howat. RDebussy laude.R 'ro-e Music

5nline. 5x0ord Music 5nline. B"ord Sniversity ress. 8eb. 6 'ov. 20.Thttp!>>www.o"ordmusiconline.com.e,pro"y.tcu.edu>subscriber>article>grove>music>06GGU.

&auser nnegret. 200. Musical Encounters at the 1889 !ris World6s air( newyork! Sniversity o @ochester ress.

Hugh ;rent. 556. R;renthugh.com.R may 6.http!>>brenthugh.com>debnotes>debussy7gamelan.pd.



Eontort matthew. n.d. Rncient7 &uture Eusic.R https!>>www.ancient7uture.com>bali.html.

Eorgan @obert . 552. RSD$ D$;S%%V (342.53) $stampes ...R #n 7ntholog2 o0 ./entieth4entur2 Music 73. 'ew Vork! 8.8.'B@*B' WBE'V.

%chmit, $. @obert. 200K. .he piano /or3s o0 4laude euss2( couriercorporation.





























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