A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE HARMONIC IDIOM OF

SONGS OF CLAUDE DEBUSSY AND ITS INFLUENCE

ON COMPOSITIONS OF CHARLES LOEFFLER AND

JOHN ALDEN CARPENTER

THESI S

Presented to the Graduate Council of the North

Texas State Teachers College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

MASTER OF MUSIC

By 9O49i Patricia Connor, B. F. A. Wichita Falls, Texas

June, 1941 90495

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page LIST FILUSTRATONS ,,..... 9 . iv

Chapte r t 1

I A I HAND DESCRIPTIONS OF DEBUSSY, .9 4 III. T IINFLUENCE OF THEL IMPRESSIONISTS AD TH SYKBOLISTS - - - - ...... 20

IV. AN ANALYSIS OF DEBUSSY'S STYLE AND TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS...... 31 V. DEFINITION OF DEBUSSY'S POSITION AID EFFECT ON CARPENTER AND LOEFFLEA AND SUMMARY OrIVPRESSIONISTIC TECEIQhUESS. 54 Vi. BIOCRAPRY, DESCRIPTIONS, AND COMPOSITIONS CARES MARTIN OF LOEFFLER ...... 67 VII, BIOGRAPHY AND OMPOSITIONS F JOHN ALDEN 9 9. 9 -9 9 .9 .9 .. . CARPENTER . 34

94 BIBL-I ONPH * ...... -. . .. - - .96

iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

re Fiu Page 1.9k Chords Built on Open Qifths. . . . . 0 . . . 42 Unresolved 2. Seventh Chords. . . 42 Unresolved Seventh * *A 96 9p 9p 9p 9 Chords. , . . 42

p * p p p Shifting Tonalities, 4. , , , . 42

A d d S cono - , - . . . -t 42

Jaln Toti . . ------. -. 46

Chromatics , , , , - , , , . 46

7. Sustained 3. Tonalities . . . . .,.ma. .p .p .p b * 9 p p. p. p. 46

9. Moif I catWon of Main , i~ioti . . . .b .p .p 46

15.0 hythic Triation-, . - , , , , 48 IlL, Rhythmic Variation . . - - , 48 12. hromatic and Rhythmic Change, , 48

13.,is, Duple and Triple Rhythms . . . 48

Sus taned Tonalities , . - . - * * * p * 9 9 48

Mo a Usage. . . . - - - . . 48

hromatic 16. Turn . , . - , , ,* - 0 9 0 . . . 51

17. SeacodInterva .9 , -- -, + . . .e . . 51

18. aral Motion, Chords, Unrelated * 9, 9 9e0, 51

9 9 9 . 9 .9 19, Duple and Triple JRhythmvs.-. * 9s * 9A 51 on...... 9 7 ole-tone Scale Usage - - . 51 21. Unresolved Sevenths and Parallel Octaves . .". 51

22. Unaccompanied Voice , Part - * , . * . . 9 . 51

iv Fgure Page

23. Lydian Mode...... m . . t ft . ft 75

24. Unresolved II Chords ...... 75

25. Whole-tone Scale . . . . . 75

26. Unresolved Chords...... 75

27. Unresolved Sevenths. . . . . ft ft 4 ft f ft f 77 23. Dissonant Chords in Atonality. . t ft .t f . 77

29. Rhythmic Variations, ...... t .t . . 77

30. Harmonic \otif. Material or iain . t t ft ft f 77

3 hole-tone UTage *.+ . . .t ...... ft f f 77

c.. , . f. t ft 32. Pentatonic Scale ...... , t ft . ft f 77

33. Open Fifth Usage ...... t t ft ft f 79

34. Rhythm . . . . . , . . . . . t f ft ft f 79

. ". ". 0, ". ". . 35. Modulation and Sustained Tonaliti 79 e" ." ." ." ." ." ." 36. Parallel Motion.. . b . . * . . " 79 . ." ." ." ." ." ." 37. Second Intervals . . . . . 79 . ." ." ," ." ." ." 38. Unresolved Sevenths. . . 80 . ." ." .4 ." ." ." o9. Unaccompanied voice Part . . . 80 . ." ." ." ." .4 ." 40. Chord of the Added Sixth-. . . 80 41. 7hol e-tone and Chromatic Usages. ft ft ft ft 80 f ft 42. Whole-tone Chord Succession. . . t t . ft f .0 82

43, Duple and Triple Rhythms . . . . , ft f . ft 82 44. Ipr essicnist Rhythm and Harmony . t ft . ft f 82

45. Unresolved Seventh Chords. . . . .t .t ft ft ft ft ft 83

4o, Pedalpoint and Unresolved Seventh Chords 88

ft . ft.t. ft 47. Pain Motif . , , . . . ., . 88

V F7gyr4 Page t 48. Second In ervals ...... * . 9 .9 . . 88

49 Sustained Tonalities and "Escaped" Chords. . . 88 50. Cross-relationships. 90

e.eodic and Harmonic Material, Motif . . , . . 90

Mc.odification of Motif . * . . * .. * , , 90

53. Sustaining Toality and Modification . * . . . 90

:4. Parallel Motion and Pedalpoint ...... 90

55. Modlation in Parallel Motion. . , . . . . . , 90

vi CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

An acoustical phenomenon which interests both students of physics and philosophers in a sic aesthetics is the in creasing ability of the twentieth century man to hear tonal beauties that the fifth century man was incapable of hearing!

Whereas the primitives could only hear octaves and unisons, the present day sophisticate is hearing and enjoying inter vals of the seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth, with their corresponding chords. This is only a step in the lad der of progress, for before us lies a new vista, a feast of aural beauties. Music writing is in a constant state of change, always progressing forward. For progress there must always be a prophet, a leader hearing music we cannot hear, who will guide us and show the way. He may not be received well, may be ill-treated, but he will be courageous in his fight for improvement. His prophetic insight makes him aware that the obstacles in his way are merely hills, there is al ways the mountain ahead to be scaled.

At the turn of the century such a prophet arose in

France. This modest one who signed himself "Claude Debussy, French musician," opened the door to many of the dissonances we hear today. His was a broad step forward; he became a

1

_ 2

potent influence on most of the leading composers of this century. Debussy was intensely interesting; he lived in a fascinating city at a very vital period in its musical history. He knew almost every outstanding musician living on the continent. In spite of his knowledge of the past and present in composition, he was an innovator, a force felt by composers the world over.

Much has been written of "Claude of France." Some writers minimize his Influence; others give him too mach credit. There are literary poseurs who have written volumes of too wordy material concerning his music. Debussy loathed the endless discussions which went on during his lifetime concerning him and his compositions. But he has definitely become an influence in the composing field.

The main purpose of this study will be to analyze the i>pressionistic style and techniques of Debussy, how the idiom came to'be, and the influence of this particular idiom on two American composers. For thorough understanding, the poetic and artists backgrounds of impressionism must be brought out; the biography of t he man who originated the idiom, as well as his aesthetic theories, must be briefly covered. More objectively, from biographies and various other studies the techniqes peculiarly impressionistic will be listed, and analysis will be made of several of the Debussy songs from various periods of his composition.

Debussy's innovations had a broad effect on many 3

composers; for obvious reasons mention will be made of only the more important aspects of his influence, and specifically, of his influence on the two outstanding impressionist in

America. Charles martin Loeffler, "the first Impressionist in America,"1 and JohnAlden Carpenter, "the first American impressionst, are chosen for this study not only because their works are obviously influenced vitally by Debussy's style and technical innovations, but because the compositions of these two are extremely individual and interesting in their own right, representing American song writing at its best. A brief biography of each and analysis of some of their songs will be given. From the analysis of song ma terial belonging to these men, comparisons can be drawn.

That the reader can get his bearings and be prepared for future developments; that he can understand the label, "imn pressionism, " as used in this thesis, he must go back to the literary and poetic world of Paris from 1870 to 1890. In

Paris the technique of impressionism found its first recog n 2 zable beginnings,

Marion Bauer, Twentieth Century Music, p. 166. 2 lbid., p. 167. CHAPTER II

BIOGRAPHY ANr DESCRIPTIONS OF DEBUSSY

Cliude Achille Debussy, "native of Saint-Germain, half

ar hour from Paris,"i was born of riddle class folk of pure

French descent on August 22, 1862. He lived most of his life

as "Parisian from tip to toe, a typical gamin de Paris, very witty and an excellent mimic." 2 His parents were not partic

Ularly successful as business people or as parents; their

four other children besides Achille were given into the care

of their paternal aunt. Achille, shy and sensitive, was his

motherVfavorite. He did not go to school; his mother taught

him all she knew of reading and writing, neither of which

skills he used with much accuracy until he was well into his

thirties. His ambitions at this early period of his life were those of his father, who very much desired for his son

to become a sailor.

It was his aunt who arranged for his first piano lessons under an old Italian who was not impressed by young Debussy's ability. In 1871 Claude was fortunate in attracting the at tention of Madame Maute de Fleurville, who was a former pupil

1 Leon Vallas, Claude Debussy, His Life and Works, p. 215. 2 Oscar Thompson, Debussy Man and Artist, p. 47.

4

- . -- 5

of Chopin. She taught Debussy so well that in his eleventh year he was able to enter Paris Conservatoire in 1873. Here he "alternately toiled and slacked for eleven contention filled years. "3 It was during these years that he was em ployed for two summers as the household accompanist of the eccentric millionairess, Madame Von Meek, whose sponsorship of Tschaikovsky is a matter of musical history While in

Russia, Claude Debussy was undoubtedly influenced by Eastern musical culture, which was so entirely different from the Bayreuth craze that had Western Europe in its grip.

In 1884 came the reward for his labors at the conserva toire. He won the Prix de Rome for his setting of "LtEnfant

Prodigue," by Edouard Guinaud, Debussy was not much inspired by the Villa Medici, for three years his home in Rome as a winner of the Prix de Rome. He did not like his room or the food, thought his fellow artists stiff since they had won the "Prix," thought the Romans snobbish, and firmly stated that there was no music worth hearing in that part of the world.

He met there Boito, Verdi, and Liszt. Debussy at this period was formulating his personal musical ideals. In 1887, unable to bear the villa longer, a year earlier than requirements stipulated, he left Rome with little composition to his credit. He returned to Paris, the Paris of Symbolist poetry and impressionistic painting. There, at the house of Mallarme

3Ibid., p. 38. 6

the poet, he became influenced by the literary men and artists.

He witnessed the cult of Wagner, the excessiveness of which was eventually to disgust him and cause him to strike out in

an entirely different direction from Bayreuth and "Klingsor."

He went to the Exposition Universelle of 1889 and heard their

music from all over the world. The Russian gypsy music and

Javanese Samelon orchestras he heard there were later to in

fluence profoundly his usages of harmonic colourings and

whole-tone and exotic scales.

He became fast friends with Pierre Louys, a writer, who

influenced his literary culture. It was during this period

that in order to pay homage to the great master Wagner,

Debussy made two trips to Bayreuth. By the last trip the

eastern harmonic influences, his increasing interest in the

impressIonist revolt, and other musicians' excessive ad

miration of Wagner all had almost completely weaned him from

the Wagnerian influence. About this time he read through

Bori cdounov, by Moussorgsky, and found in the Russian a

kindred spirit of revolt from harmonic traditions; Moussorgsky's

daring harmonic license, genuineness, and his complete simplie

ity influenced Debussy strongly.

One evening in the year 1892 Debussy found the play

Pelleas and Melisande in a bookstall. He finally decided to

use it as a text for an opera; he obtained from the author, Maeterlinck,fuli right to change the text. For the next ten

years be worked on the monumental project; all the while he was composing smaller works. 7

His work caused little splashes of contention among the critics as each piece made its appearance. La Demoiselle Elue and the Std Quartet were performed in 1893. In 1894

Sebussy's now familiar Prelude al'presmidi dt nfaune ap peared. The year 1900 saw the introduction to the Paris

Public of Chansons de Bilitis and the Nocturnes. In 1902

:ame the climax of Debussy's lifetime of composition at the production of his absolutely unique music drama, Pelleas et

IeliSande. From thenceforth he was recognized as a figure in the music world. La Ler, La Martyre do Saint Sebastien, and several song cycles followed. He started two operas from works of Poe; many projects were started, left unfinished.

Debussy traveled in many countries as a conductor-com poser, and he was always preceded by his works, spreading his fame. In 1904 when-the sound of his wife Lily's voice caused strained relations between them, he met and was captivated by Madame Bardac, an amour of Faure. In June of that year he deserted Lily for Madame Bardac, who was an accomplished singer, a brilliant talker, and a woman of the world. He succeeded thereby in antagonizing most of his friends. The rest of his life he was involved in litigations over this move, the only source of joy being the birth to him and Madame

Bardac of a daughter, whom they nicknamed Chou-Chou. He adored the child and composed "The Children's Corner" piano suite for her. Debussy wrote critical articles for many years for leading newspapers and magazines. The best of these

wamai .8

were bound together in a volume entitled Monsieur Croche,

Dilettante-hater.

He entered the fatal year 1914, harried and perplexed

by money matters. He lived in grand style with Madame Bardac

Debussy, but he had too many obligations and too few sources

of income. He accepted conducting engagements in Italy and

Holland, As the war wore on he wrote feverishly, saying that

was the best thing he was capable of doing for his beleaguered

country. As time passed he had to undergo an operation; from

then on any writing was a terrible task, as he described it,

"like tapping a brain that sounds hollow."4 The ill man was

overweighted with both material worry and unhappiness over

the plight of his country. The last few days of life were

made more horrible by the German bombing of Paris. Debussy

died on Monday night, March 25, 1918, at ten o'clock. War

news in the paper kept anything but the barest mention of

his death from the public. There were a score or more of

his friends and relatives to accompany his body across the

war-torn city to burial. It took the world quite a while to

realize that 'Claude of France' was gone from them. There

is today in Paris a beautiful monument to this most French

of all French musicians.

There was something feline about Debussy, catlike and

solitary, artistic and amorous. He was a !hedonist, a

4 Vallas, . cit., p. 264. 9

sybarite, a sensualist." 5 Masculine as he undoubtedly was, he looked upon music as feminine. He did not read much, he was not an athlete or sportsman. He always kept cats in his home, usually grey angoras. He collected porcelain cats,

Japanese prints, and tiny objects d' art all his life. He loved the color green and constantly surrounded himself with that color. He was a Bohemian who loved the night life of the Parisian cafes. He. usually wore a cowboy hat and a cape and was described by strangers who saw him as the 'grand noir.'

He was usually accompanied by one of the many women in his life, His wit, sardonic, biting, and sometimes self-conscious, was always appreciated. He smoked a pipe, could roll a cig arette with unequaled dexterity. He was child-like in his love of the circus. He loved to play bezique. Debussy was never out of difficulties; they were usually brought on by what could only be called adolescent impulsiveness. This little-boy quality remained with him until his death. He always needed money, sometimes borrowed, only to spend it for some art object.

Leroux givps us the following detailed portrait of his friend Claude Debussy:

Those who only knew him superficially might have thought him a fantastic, whimsical creature. But, on the contrary, he was very strong-willed, and he knew his own mind. He was capable of the most faithful and devoted friendships, was very sensitive and emotional, gay and full of verve. He was quite incapable of

5 Thompson, 2.cit., p. 3. 10

dissimulation; his face reflected all his feelings- his joys and his slightest sorrows. Nor could he keep his trouble to himself. It was absolutely necessary for him to have a friend to confide in. 6

Leroux went on to describe his sudden changes of mood, his refinement, his love of the exquisite and complex, his

love of the expression of intimate feelings.

When Debussy entered the Conservatoire de Paris he was

dressed shabbily in the middle class fashion, wearing a sailor

cap on his dark bang-cut hair. He was very sensitive and

the slights and insults he undoubtedly received left their mark. He became a trouble-maker, a breaker of laws and

traditions in this tradition-bound school. He gained a reputation for eccentricity, and many considered him a dangerous reactionary. This story is told concerning him:

One winter's day in 1883, when Professor Guiraud was late, as usual, Debussy seated himself at the piano and, in a series of noisy chromatic passages, gave an imitation of the buses rumbling down the Farbourg Poissoniere. He hurled taunts at his fellow pupils, who were dumbfounded at these weird strains.

What are you so shocked about? Can't you listen to chords w ithout wanting to know their status and their destination? Where do they come from? Whether are they going? What does it matter? Listen; that's enough. If you can't make head or tail of it, go and tell M. le Directeur that I am ruining your ears.7

6 Vallas, 2,. cit., p. 39. 7 Ibid., p. 18. 11

He preached always against the traditional harmonies taught in the theory classes. His was the doctrine that the only essential of music was that it please the ear.

The Bohemian Debussy who frequented the cafes was de scribed by Raymond Bonheur as he saw him at the Brasserie

Paussett:

His powerful, faun-like forehead, with its curious profile, projecting like the prow of a ship; his dark eyes, overshadowed by the frowning eyebrows, gazing fixedly, straight before him, at some far-distant imaginary point; whilst his forefinger with a characteristic ges ture, flicked the ash off his cigarette. As often hap pens with people who are not content with commonplace re marks, and who think for themselves, his speech was hesi tating, and he usually spoke with a slight lisp, in short, detached, unfinished phrases, or in monosyllables, searching impatiently until he found the right word to express the exact shade of an impression or point of view. With his dark hair, his sensual nose, and his pale face framed by a slight beard, Debussy in those days reminded one of the portraits of noblemen that Titian painted, and it was easy to picture him in the sumptuous setting of some Venetian palace. . . . Nothing gave him greater offence than to be taken for a profes sional musician . . . he could have become a popular composer . . . But his ambition soared higher . . There was no trace in him of that rather gross self conceit which is so common in artists, nor of that jolly good-fellowship which so often conceals questionable motives. 8 An interesting contrast to this lively portrait is a description given by Saures in March, 1917, when he had seen

Debussy at a concert. The cancer had undoubtedly left its mark on the great man:

'I was very much struck,' he wrote, 'not so much by his wasted, emaciated appearance, as by his absent minded, weary expression. His face was like wax and

8 Ibid., p. 55. 12

the colour of ashes. The flame of fever did not glit ter in his eyes, their light suggested the dull re flections from a pool. There was no bitterness in his gloomy smile, but rather the utter wearing of suffering, with now and again spasms of anguish, like quivering reeds on the quiet shores of a marsh, breaking the de ceptive calm of an autumn evening. His hand, which was rounded, soft, plump, episcopal, weighed down his arm, his arm dragged down his shoulder, his head pressed on his whole body; and on that head weighed life itself, unique, exquisite, and cruel. A few people affected to speak of him with confidence, and found him in better health than they had expected. Meanwhile, having seated himself, he looked at the audience with dull eyes from under flickering lids; like one who seeks to see without being seen, who steals a furtive glance at something his eyes hardly seem to light on. He was overwhelmed with confusion, as alone an artist can be who loathes and is almost ashamed of suffering. It was even said that he allowed his disease to develop through concealing it. The voluptuous are often more anxious than others to hide their bodies, especially if they are blemished, The mind partakes of this shy reserve, this voluptuous ness, this desire for perfection, that are inseparable from art. . . .9

The preceding sketches reveal interesting facets to the personality of man whose compositions revitalized French music. Indeed, he made French music an example and an orna ment, much as it had been to Europe in the Middle Ages. His ideas on music, some of which are given here, are just as interesting as his personality.

Debussy from his conservatoire days fought against harmonic tradition. He became increasingly bitter over the

Germanic influence of Wagner on French music. To him this influence was as terrible as a mixed race marriage, a black skin-white skin race. The only religion he ever had was this separation of the French music from alien cultures to foster

9 lbid., p. 268. 13

the beauty that was peculiarly French. In 1904 he said to

Paul Landormy:

French music is clearness, elegance, simple and natural declamation; French music wishes first of all to give pljsure. Couperin, Rameau; these are true Frenchmen.

He had ideals concerning composing in his own personal

idiom which he set down from time to time. Even while in

Rome he was formulating his personal ideals. Concerning the

writing of "Tuleima,'" a choral composition on a text from

Heine's Almanzor, he wrote:

These great silly verses, which are only great in their length, bore me, and my music would be stifled by them. Then there's another thing: I don't think I shall ever be able to put music into a strict mould. I'm not speaking of musical form; it's a literary ques tion. I shall always prefer a subject where, somehow action is sacrificed to feeling. It seems to me that music thus becles more human and refine upon a means of expression.

In another letter he stated, concerning Diane tOu Bois:

"I should like to keep the melodic line lyrical, and not al

low the orchestra to predominate."1 2

In working on the composition Printemp, he declared that he wanted it to be a very human work:

I should like to express the slow and miserable birth of beings and things in nature, their gradual blossoming and finally the joys of being born into some new life. All this is without a programm, for

1 0Edward Burlingame Hill, Modern French Music, p. 197.

1 1 Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy, p. 25. 12lbid., p. 27.

_ - -- - 14

I despise all music that has to follow some literary text that one happens to have got hold of.13

He changed his mind about literary texts--as is clear later. For he foretells of his choice of Maeterlinck's

Pelleas et Melisande by describing thus the poet of his choice:

I would seek a poet who would merely hint at things and would allow me to graft my thoughts on his; whose characters belong to no time or place and who wouj allow me here and there, to show more art than he.

About his effect on other people he declared:

Since I did my best to write music for its own sake and disinterestedly, it was logical that I should run the risk of displeasing people who are so devoted to one musical method that they remain faithfully blind to its wrinkles or cosmetics.

Debussy hated artistic restraint. He never wished to found a school of composing, only to follow his ideals. He heatedly asserted: "There is no school of Debussy. I have no disciples. I am I. . . ttl6 He cherished above all others the principle that musicians should be unbound by any unjusti fiable scholastic rules, that absolute independence was es sential to the artist, and that the artist should personally adapt the musical material that suited the character of his

13Ibid,,pp. 31-32.

14Ibid.,p. 44

1 5 Claude Debussy, Monsieur Croche, The Dilettante-Hater, p. 20.

16VallUa , ..it", P. 215. 15

artistic creation. Debussyism as a school would be diametri cally opposed to these principles by imposing upon its fol lowers an aesthetic ideal not in keeping with all its followers' artistic purposes. Debussy often said that he wished that he could go to a far distant land where he could compose in peace without being bothered by quarrels and "schools" or followers.

He constantly desired and continually attempted to renew him self. Vallas says, "His aim was not so much to find new processes to replace those which his imitators borrowed from him so unceremoniously, but rather to achieve a style that would remain entirely his own." 1 7

Of the Debussyists who hounded him with their fettering devotion, demands, and quarrels, he declared one day: "They are killing me !"1 8 Debussy's ideas on music in general are very interesting. He often put these words into the mouth of Monsieur Croche, as here:

Music is a sum total of scattered forces. You make an abstract ballad of them ! I prefer the simple notes of an Egyptian sheperd's pipe; for he collaborates with landscapes and hears harmonies unknown to your treatises. Musicians listen only to the music written by cunning hands, never to that which is in nature's script. To see the sunrise is more profitable than to hear the Pastoral S hon. What is the use of your almost in comprehensibleart? Ought you not to suppress all the parasitical complexities which make music as ingenious as the lock of a strong boy. You paw the ground because you only know music and submit to strange and barbarous

17 mIid., p. 177.

18Ibid., p. 200. 16

laws. . . . You are merely cunning I Something between a monkey and a lackery. . . . To be unique, faultless X3

Debussy believed the important thing was "performance of a great deal of music and not bowing to the willful in difference of the public." The opera he criticized because

"there they thriek unintelligible words at the top of their voices and if any vows are exchanged it is with approval of the trombones." 2 0 Symphony, according to Debussy, belonged to the past because of "its studied elegance, its formal elaboration, and the philosophical and artificial attitude of its audience." 2 1 In conclusion, as he has Monsieur Croche put it, "I try to forget music because it obscures my per ception of what I do not know or shall only know tomorrow.

Why cling to something one knows too well?"2 2

Many of Debussy's most interesting theories came out in his critical writings. The frame of mind in which he wrote can only be appreciated if we realize that this former pupil of the Conservatoire de Paris, Prix de Rome, was a favourite with writers, painters, and some few musicians, but he was ignored by the general public and detested by reactionary artists who condemned, anathematized, and excommunicated him.

We must also allow for his spirit of contradiction, his love, of mockery, his attitude of boyish impertinence towards all

1 9 Debussy, M. cit.,pp. 9-10 2 0Ibid., pp. 62-63. 2 1 Iid., p. 32

2 2 Ibid., p. 6. 17

established reputations, and all those personal elements which prompted him to exaggerate his opinions. Regarding criticism, Debussy says:

I am more interested in sincere and honestly felt impressions than in criticism, which often enough re sembles brilliant variations on the theories, 'since you don't agree with me, you are mistaken. . . .' In all compositions I endeavor to fathom the diverse impulses inspiring them and their inner life. Is not this much more interesting than the game of pulling them to pieces, like curious watches? 2 3

Criticism and analysis spoiled for him the peculiar magic, which is music's. To an author who had painstakingly

classified Debussy's compositions according to a classical

basis, an academic explanation, Debussy once wrote: It is all quite correct, and almost mercilessly logical. . . . Whether you so intended it or not your essay is a severe censure of modern harmony. There is something almost savage about your quotations of pas sages which, being necessarily separated from their context, can no longer justify their curiousnesss." Think of all the inexpert hands that will utilize your study without discrimination, for the sole purpose of annihilating those charming butterflies which are al ready somewhat crumpled by your analysis. . .

Sometimes Debussy was rather merciless, in his criticisms

of his musical contemporaries and predecessors. He considered

Orlando de Lassus and Palestrina the masters of church music.

Lassus to him was more decorative and human than Palestrina;

the effects Lassus achieved from his great knowledge of

counterpoint were amazing. Wagner, he considered "a beautiful

23 Ibid., p. 7.

24Vallas, o. cit., p. 216. 18

sunset that was mistaken for a dawn." 2 5 He believed Wagner's art could never completely die. To him, it would suffer that

"inevitable decay, the cruel brand of time on all beautiful things. . . . our grandchildren will brood over the past splendour of this man who, had he been a little more human, would have been altogether great!"26

Beethoven's sonatas were merely orchestral transcriptions and went badly on the piano, Debussy firmly stated; they lacked a third hand. He believed that "we ought in the Choral

S phony to look for nothing more than a magnificent gesture of musical pride. . . . Schiller's lines can only have been used for their appeal to the ear. . . . It is the most tri umphant example of the moulding of an idea to the preconceived form." 2 7 In speaking of Saint-Saens, he said, "I hate senti mentality!"2 8 Saint Saen's opera, Les Barberes had for

Debussy "a painful seeking for effect. . . a libretto con taining tags for the suburbs and situations which make the music absurd." 2 9

Of Moussorgsky, Debussy said:

He is unique, and will remain so, because his art is spontaneous and free from arid formulas. Never has

25 Lockspeiser, o. cit., p. 2 5. 2 6 Debussy, ,,. cit., p. 110.

2 7 Ibid., pp. 29-50.

2 8 Ibid., p. 20. 19

a more refined sensibility been conveyed by such simple means. . . . Nor is there ever a question of any partis.. uJ.r form; at all events the form is so varied that by no possibility whatsoever can it be related to any established, one might say official, form, since it de pends on and is made up of successive minute touches mysteriously 6nked together by means of an instinctive clairvoyance.

3 Ibid., p. 35. CHAPTER III

THE INFLJErE OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS AND

THE SYMBOLISTS

When Debussy returned from the Villa Medici in the year

1887, he found in Paris a new trend in artistic thinking which was to influence vitally his own music and the French poetry, painting, and sculpturing for the next several gen erations. The Franco-Prussian War was recently over and, as later in the World War, had vitally affected the artist's philosophy as well as that of the musical layman. These artists desired to get away from mere cold, calculating, scientific approaches to the world, The new idealism called for a poet rather than a scientist. The new art was typified by senuous, hedonistic characteristics. This younger group of artists aimed at expressing in their works a freer con ception of life; they did not merely reproduce, as in a photo graph, the object itself, but rather their retrospective re flections--the impression the memory of this object created in them. Their ideal, as taken from Wagner whom they wor shipped, was to combine all the arts and by bringing out the Mysterious relationship between them, to create universal new beauty.

Painter, poets, and musicians were drawn alike to this

20 21

introspective life of reflection, "sensitive, suggestive, in tuitional, remote, unsubstantial--mists, fogs, dreams, clouds, shadows, water, fountains, gardens in the rain, bells through the leaves, perfumes, all the haunting spells of nature's way ward beauties."1 These artists banished literary imagination, both of the classic and romantic variety. Tradition was for gotten; only the sensuous side of art was considered. The subject or main theme was subordinated to the interests of the execution, and isolated, momentary sensations were inter preted, never "thoughts, incidents, or complete concrete things. se2

All the artists, painters, poets, and sculptors made careful analyses of the matter. They separated each element of their art, as a chemist analyzes chamicals, and then re mixed them to suit their fancy. Their common purpose was to make their words, or sounds, or colours, or lines express new shades and degrees of feeling. The newer school of artists was attacked indiscriminately by very hide-bound critics, and this common attack served to unite all these artists. Poets and painters studied music and went to con certs; musicians studied the new trends in poetry and art.

Paul Dukas, the musician, writes of this period:

Verlain, Malarme, and Laforgue used to provide us with new sounds and sonorities. They cast a light on

Eaglefield Hull, Music, Classical, Romantic and Modern, p. 253. 2Ibid., p. 255.

49mk" 22

words such as had never been seen before; they used methods that were unknown to the poets that had preceded them; they made their verbal material yield subtle and powerful effects hitherto undreamt of. Above all, they conceived their poetry or prose like musicians and like musicians, too, they sought to express their ideas in corresponding sound values. It was the writers, not the musicians, who exercised the strongest influence on Debussy.3

Paul Valery, a poet, writing of his contemporaries in the eighties, declared: "poetry felt itself insufficient be fore the power and resources of the orchestra."t that has been called Symbolism (he explained) can be quite simply resumed in the desire common to several families of poets. . . . to take back from music what they had given to it. The secret of this movement is nothing other than this. . . . We were fed on music and our literary minds only dreamt of extracting from language almost the same effect that music caused on our nervous beings. . . . Certain people who had preserved the traditional forms of French verse endeavoured to eliminate descriptions, judgements. . . purged their poetry of. . intellectual elements which are outside the sphere of music. Others gave to all objects infinite meanings. mean of expression delightfully ambiguous. . . . For some, coloured hearing and the art of alliteration ap peared to have no secrets. They deliberately transposed orchestral timbres into their verse. . . . Others clev erly sought out the naivity and spontaneous grace of old verse. . . . It was a time of theories and inquiries, of interpretations and excited explanations. 4

These poets of symbolism aimed at word music rather than

the expression of ideas; they desired to evoke images through

the sound of their words rather than through their meaning.

Words were used to symbolize a very fine degree of sensualism

or, at the other extreme in emotions, could be used in sa

o outbursts. Debussy, of course, was a sensualist; the

3Leon Vallas, Claude Debussy, His Life and Works, p. 52. 4Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy, pp. 35-36. 23

poets he preferred had as their cult the production of sug gestive, enchanting sounds. The style of these poets is the superlative in refinement; that is, passionate outbursts were never used. The impressionistic poetry aimed at broad

rhythmic effects; this poetry had its own harmonic system with

vowles and consonants taking the place of notes in a chord,

and musical cadences and resolutions. The poetry was filled with isolated words, much like setting jewels in a mount; these words are meant to suggest images through association of ideas,

This poetry was greatly influenced by Baudelaire's

translations of Edgar Allen Poe's sensuous, musical poetry.

This American hedonist enjoyed great vogue in France, and

Debussy for many years worked to make operas of two of Poe's

literary masterpieces. Mallarme, the leader and most

characteristic of Symbolism's spokesman, long advised his

fellow poets to "seek their salvation in music and to take

back from music what they had given to it.r"5 His conception

of Symbolism was 'To cloak in a deliberate shadow the un

mentioned object by allusive words.' 6 He was as deeply con

cerned about musical rhythm and, like Poe, the euphonic in

terrelation of words as with their actual meaning. Thus,

these poets, by rhythmic usages and abstruse but musical wording, could, as do composers, appeal to the imagination

scar Thompson, Debussy, anand Artist, p. 97. 61b d., p. 97. 24

and leave a broad, suggestive field for the imagination to work on and define. The poet's ideas, when cloaked in the

symbolistic idiom, were given the freedom, fluidity of move ment, color, and feeling tones which might well be comparable

to rich ninth chord progressions in Debussy's music. The

ideas of this group of artists were fairly well discussed and illuminated on Tuesday evenings at Mallarme's home in

Paris. There Debussy went frequently after his return from

Rome, and there he heard his host describe music as poetry

in the latent state. There Debussy met Verlaine and most of the other symbolists.

Debussy was always annoyed by the name 'Impressionism'

as applied to his music. The original expression was applied

tauntingly to a group of painters by the critics. Claude

Monet, who was their leader, had exhibited a picture which

he called "Impression: Soleil levant." This picture was a

study in effect of light and atmosphere on color. The artist

wished to fix the "fugitive changes of nature, " or the im

pressions aroused in him by this vision of the sun rising.

From this study and other subsequent experiments the school

of impressionism arose with such names as Monet, Manet,

Fantin Latour, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, and Whistler. Their art has been said to be "a series of presentations of the in

finite modifications of color given to objects at different

7 Marion Bauer, Twentieth Century Music, p. 133.

- - 25

times and seasons by the action of light on their surface. 8

Just as these painters decomposed a ray of light, so the musicians of this period concerned themselves with dividing up the fundamental tones into the varied sonorous overtones

and component parts. The painters' preoccupation with light

effects caused their peculiar brushwork, the laying on of unmixed colors, side by side, much as Debussy placed unre

lated chords one after another. Debussy, like these painters,

paints in the purest of colors. Whistler, the painter, is

compared to Debussy by Leon Vallas in speaking of their

Nocturnes.

In the work of both these artists the lines seem to resolve themselves into an atmosphere, luminous or sonorous, coloured or harmonic, that seems more es sential to the composition than either the subject or the landscape. 9

Lambert said:

Roughly speaking, impressionist music provides a parallel to impressionist painting in its emphasis on atmosphere and colors, and its comparative neglect of construction and formal balance. . . technically. . methods of the pointillist painters have something in common with the use of the orchestra as displayed in Debussy's works. . . painters and composers display. nordic vagueness.10

Lambert has stated that Debussy's "abandonment of linear

continuity and symmetrical design"1 1 links him with the im

8Mrs. Franz Liebich, Claude-Achille Debussy, p. 25. 9 Vallas, o cit., p. 112.

l 0 Constant Lambert, Music Ho pp. 25-26.

llIbid., p. 26. 26

impressionistic painters and his use of chords as such, and

"not as a unit in a form of emotional and musical argumentsr 2 is comparable with Symbolist poets' use of old words in new ways. The musicians, the painters, the poets were all trying to avoid realities, to suggest rather than to depict, trying by either intangible tones, colors, or words to suggest the emotions or abstract mental images induced by objects about them. Debussy was lucky in finding so easily among these poets and painters the counterpart; in literature and paint ing of what he was trying to create in music. He was an im pressionist temperamentally from the start. He, being an innovator, was alienated from his fellow musicians. His felings were expressed admirably by Moussorgsky's kindred attitude written in a letter from Moussorgsky to Stassov:

Tell me (he said why, when I listen to the con versation of young artists, painters, or sculptors, I can follow their thoughts and understand their opinions and aims, and I seldom hear them mention technique, save in cases of absolute necessity? On the other hand, when I find myself among musicians I rarely hear them utter a living idea; one would think they were still at school; they know nothing of anything but technique and shoptalk. Is the art of music young that it has to be studied in this puerile way? So it was from this Parisian group of cultured poets and artists that Debussy drew many of his best ideas. Their ex cessive worship of Wagner eventually led him to a complete revolt from the Bayreuth master. Many of their artistic

12_dd.p. 26.

1 3 Lockspeiser, 22. cit., p. 151.

b_ 27

philosophies allowed him to declare his own musical declara

tion of independence. From many of the poet group he got his

texts; from the artist, inspiration. He used painter's labels

for his compositions, calling them sketches, pictures, engrav

ings, and arabesques. The social contact he had with artists

and poets attained for him a high degree of culture. He fore

saw through them, the fruitful results of a fusion of all the arts. "His mental horizon expanded, whilst most of his com

rades cramped their art by confining themselves within the

limits of the little world of music. "l4

Debussy, great as he was, never hesitated to borrow

ideas from other composers or from the music of other coun

tries. He was keenly sensitive to the most varied types of

music, appreciating always originality and daring. Through

out his life his music constantly refreshed itself by outside

impetus and influence. But, make no mistake, the composer's

music could never be imitative completely. It always bore

the stamp of his original and peculiar genius. Through close

analysis we can discover traces of the borrowed harmonic, rhythmic, and general musical ideas. However, they are con

tained in the body of Debussy's original syntax. Many musicol

ogists, trying to analyse Debussy, have discovered what they

consider direct sources of all his harmonic ideas.

One of his first piano teachers was a former pupil of Chopin and taught young Achille an admiration for the master's

8., p. 53. 1 4 Valla s, . 28

harmonic freedom. Chopin and Schumann show passing reflections in his piano music style just after his return from Rome.

Faure, the great French song writer, had already shown Debussy the way by his subtly concealed harmonic daring. Faure's ambiguousness and modal flexibility as revealed in his songs are definitely path-finders for many of Debussy's lovely art songs. Massenet's influence on Debussy can be felt rather strongly. Many of Debussy's melodies have been pointed out as almost imitation of the inventive style of Massanet.

These melodies in the earlier Debussy compositions were similar to those of Massenet in their line and general emotional feeling. Cesar Franck was Debussy's teacher at the conservatoire, and, although Debussy did not aestheti cally approve of the constant modulations in which the or ganist indulged, he was probably influenced by some of his harmonic usage and daring sequence.

While Debussy was in Rome, he frequently visited the great cathedrals. He was highly enthusiastic over the

"divine arabesques" as he termed it of Palestrina, di

Lassus, and Vittoria. From these masters and the frequent use of Gregorian chant he heard here, he gained many of his evolutionary ideas, It was during this period of his life that Debussy went to Russia. Here in the cafes which he frequented he heard the wild Russian gypsy music. He learned much concerning free improvisation, harmonic daring,

- , , 11- 'ANAM , , I , , , - and rhythmic variety from these natural musicians. After his return to Paris from Rome he had another contact with foreign folk music. At the International Exposition he heard Spanish,

Chinese, Javanese, and other orchestras from all over the world. Here he heard the original Javanese whole tone scale, the Chinese pentatonic, chromatic, and quarter-tone music.

The supple diversity of forms, rhythms, chords, and scales in the music of the people was a far cry from the stereotyped music of the conservatoire, and vitally strengthened him in his musical declaration of independence.

During this period when Debussy was frequenting

Mallarme's receptions he was deeply under the Wagnerian in fluence. Being a very patriotic Frenchman, he soon revolted against the excesses of the Germanic influence and its death hold on French music. This revolt was to cause him, as

Deems Taylor put it, "to plumb the furthest depths of his genius"15 in order to escape this romantic tidal wave which had engulfed the music of this period. He could not prevent using some of Wagner's harmonic innovations ; but he carried out far better than Wagner himself the Bayreuth master's idea of subordinating music to the poetry-drama and combining the arts in perfection.

In his reaction from Wagner he suggested going back to the early Fxench musters such as Rameau and Couperin. He

1 5 Deems Taylor, Of ien and Music, p. 17. 30

loved their simplicity and grace; his frequent usage of the vibrant second in common chords has been traced to Rameau.

The Russian influence on Debussy dates from his trip to

Russia in 1880. Then in 1889 he heard the music of Glinka,

Cui, B alakiref, Rimsky-Korsakov, and many others at concerts connected with the exposition. From this music he gained knowledge of possible vivid orchestral colours, strange folk scales, and Oriental splendor. Moussorgsky through the years had a tremendous influence in the de-Wagnerization of

Debussy. This genius of all the Russians taught him much of dramatic simplicity and directnss, complete harmonic freedom, and use of modes. He learned from Moussorgsky, the musical trick of having the leading vocal melody almost parallel to the outline of ordinary speech, by having short intervals and relatively rapid utterance.

Many others are said to have influenced Debussy more or less vitally. But all this musical material and background while passing through his brain received a refinement and a polish and came out in the original idiom of which Debussy was the innovator and master.

A-40%mmw6m CHAPTER IV

AN ANALYSIS OF

DEBUSY' S STYLE AND TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS

As the percussive piano developed, composers for the instrument became increasingly outstanding. Schumann and

Chopin were the very first experimenters with the new harmonic effects produced by this instrument. Debussy came along with more talent and originality for this method of harmonic writ ing than any pianistic composer since Chopin and Schumann.

The polyphonic style, which for centuries had predominated musical compositions, had to be given up for the most part in pianistic composing. With his new method of chord treatment,

Debussy taught the world to think vertically instead of hori

zontally. According to Lockspeiser, in his biography on

Debussy, the composer stood, first of all, for the collapse

of the tonal system. He was the first, according to this

author, who "formulated what amounts to a conscious revolt."Il

Although foreshadowed by Liszt, Dargomizhsky, Moussorgsky,

Dvorak, Grieg, and even by Beethoven, Debussy was a master

in that he made use of all the resources already acquired by

musical art. He used the whole-tone scale, which, according

to 1 Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy, p. 226.

31 32

to Hill,2 was used earliest by Heinrich Schultz in the eleventh century, by Liszt in the Faust Amphoy, and was suggested in the compositions of Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin. But "Debussy has fostered an instinct for its use. . . for more searching than that of his predecessors. He employs this scale to a better and more sensitive artistic purpose.3 Eaglefield Hull paints to what he terms "germs of musical impressionism. . . in the madrigals of Luca Marenzio, in harpsichord works of

Galieppio and Domenico Scarlatti. . . similar tendencies in

Beethoven's sonatas, Liszt's The Fountains at the Villa d'

Este is pure Impressionism; the 'Scene at the fountain in

Moussorgsky's Boris Godounov. . . and certain songs easily might be mistaken for music by an Impressionist composer." 4

Debussy uses the vibrant "second" as Moussorgsky did before him. . ." sometimes alone, sometimes in common chords as did

Ramieau and Scarlatti. . . but Debussy's method was entirely harmonic. . . he exercises the strictest economy in notes."5 Debussy had "the discernment to recognize that to his musical thought. . . he used the impressionistic method to accentuate the essence of his music and transfigure it." 6

2 Edward Burlingame Hill, Modern French Music, p. 201.

3 Ibid., p. 202.

4 Eaglefield Hull, Music, Classical, Romantic and 'odern, p. 253. 5Ibid., p. 261.

6Hill, op_. cit., pp. 238-239. When he was a dangerous and eccentric student in Ernest

Guiraud's Conservatoire harmony classes and after his return from Rome, Debussy's revolutionary ideas were being formulated and carried out in his compositions. He regarded the scale as being divided into twenty-four equal semitones; each of these tones was used as the basis of a key on which he liked to "construct ambiguous chords which may belong (as he put iti simultaneously to as many keys as one likes. "7

Debussy was a painter of mood pictures to which he ap plied interesting literary descriptive titles, such as

"Garden in the Rain," and "Reflections in the Water." Hull describes him as a "mystical visionary" 8 and aptly describes his attitude toward nature as a priest "of beauty who dis closes their (the beauties of nature immortal substance." 9

Debussy transferred into his music the sensations effected in him by nature. He worshipped nature itself rather than adoring it,like Beethoven had done, as the handiwork of God.

This love of nature is why Lockspeiser could say: ". . . his is music not of sentiments but of sensations."10 Concerning

Debussy's musical effect on one's nerves, Franck stated: "It is music on needle points."11

7 Claude Debussy, Monsieur Croche Dilettante Hater, p. 9. 8 Eaglefield Hull, p. cit., p. 258.

9 Ibid., p. 258.

1 0 Lockspeiser, _. cit., p. 134. 1 I~b., p. 160.

4WAROMMOM 34

Debussy certainly did not reason rhetorically or emo

tionally in his music. Landormy describes Debussy by saying

that the composer with his music "lives in a dream. . . drifts

to the capricious current of his sensations. . . responds to

things inanimate which have the motion of life. . . illusive, psychic sensibility."1 2 His music is like the wind and watery

fluid, fleeting. Landormy says that inversely enough, Debussy was "in human nature fond of all spontaneity, involutary move

ment. . . His music described beautifully Melisande's

child soul. Debussy vividly portrayed in some of his piano

music the capriciousness of childhood with its joys and sor

rows. He had a "discreet intuitive sympathy for the little

ones." 1 4 Debussy loved "all that rocks" 1 5 and with this in

mind he once wrote a piece for a baby elephant. One cannot

help feeling the strong sense of intimacy in Debussy's music.

It seems as though he and the listener were joining in some

very secret communication of ideas and sensations.

Debussy did not limit his art by imitation of reality,

or precise expression, or attempting to define the unknowable;

but instead, he wished to convey to us a fleeting sensation

of "the light, the vague, the unreal. " 1 6 He caught up mystic

1 2Paul Landormy, A History of Music, pp. 343-344.

1 3Ibid., p. 344. 14I bid.,p. 344.

15Hull, o_. cit., p. 262.

1 'Lan do rmy, a~p. cm., p. 340 . 35

thoughts and dreams, and amplified them in his music.

The most typical feature of Debussy's music can be found in his harmonic style which is very flexible and varied so as to fit his expressive purpose. The use of, modes and sometimes the whole-tone scale gives his music the quality of fluidity.

Debussy's melodies wind in and out; now they can be heard, now they are hidden in the harmony. Sometimes the melody takes form and sometimes it disappears like smoke.

Debussy's use of modes and old Gregorian chant material makes his melodies very flexible. The melody is never limited to tonic, dominant, and subdominant harmony; it is often dis concertingly perfectly free in its movement up and down the scale, soaring above chord clusters and successions. His technical genius made the varied melodies hold together.

Concerning Debussy's melody, Franco says: "The only definite musical particle which repeats itself through the whole of

Debussy's works is the major and minor second moving upwards or downwards." 1 7 Debussy's melodies, more often than not, seem to resemble the inflections of the human voice. Often the voice part is heard above the rich accompanying harmonies, seemingly detached from the accompaniment. Gross relationships between the harmony and voice parts are used daringly.

Debussy used long, sustained rhythms, and short staccatto rhythms in every conceivable time combination. He never used

1 7 Johan Franco, "Debussy as a Melodist," Musical America, (November 25, 1940), p. 5. the usual patterns, his accents change continually, constantly non-conforming to strict measure. The American jazz influence can be felt by some of his usage of syncopation. The synco pated rhythm often becomes a figure or theme upon which he builds a composition. Through the use of rest marks at dramatic or tense moments in his music, Debussy became indeed a master of silences.

His harmony had limitless variations. The chords might be made up of thirds stacked limitlessly to form rich ninths, elevenths, or thirteenths. Or the harmony might have a clear transparency because of the wide spacing of voices in the chord, open intervals of fourths and fifths, gossamer arpeg gios embroidered from many unusual scales, and "well-calculated grace notes." The dissonance in his harmony is often the re suit of his peculiar usage of the second interval in his closely knit chords. Familiar to lovers of Debussy's music are the blocks of chords of ninths, or sevenths,.built in fourths or fifths, moving in consecutive series of chords; or a sustained tonality or a pedalpoint over which the con secutive chords seem to 'escape' into new tonalities. The chords built on a tall structure of thirds arranged in end less swaying, parallel lines, series of doubled or common chords result in a type of rich sonority which was unique to

Debussy. Debussy's supersensitive ear heard many overtones which resulted in his ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chord usages. He treated a chord as a rich musical unity and not 37

step in a succession of chords in a musical argument. He often dwelled over and brought out one sonorous chord either by not resolving it, or repeating it under every note in the phrase, or by suspending it alone in space. Debussy always seemed to be trying to delight the ear with sensuous musical beauty. To achieve variety harmonically the composer made frequent use of the little-used subordinate chords, II, IlI, and VI. The chord of the added sixth was a favorite device of his, resulting in the familiar second interval. Common chord progressions, sometimes along the whole-tone scale, give a feeling of vagueness in tonality which is typically

Debussyan. Eaglefield Hull makes this comparison: "'Cesar Franck and Wagner modulate with every bar; Debussy modulates with every chord. 1l8 His modulations are most frequently to the least likely and fartherest removed keys. The most fre quent key relationships are those of major third or major or minor second intervals; that is, the modulation is from one key to a key a major or minor second or third removed. Debussy delighted in cross-relations for dissonance. Dorian and Mixolydian modes, constant shifting between major and minor keys, use of enharmonic chords, skillful usages of scales of many countries, particularly the whole-tone scale, were the materials Debussy used in achieving his unparalleled ambiguous blend of tonalities. Debussy's compositions seem

1 8 Hull, 2. cit., p. 261. 38

cadenceless, because, by aiming at sensuous charm, he utilized not definite musical statement, but "collocations of suggestive words. "19 He was always deliberate in this weakening of cadence, because he was always true to certain personal aesthetic ideals. Debussy preferred "innuendo, implication, and under-statement"2 0 to the gross exaggerations of the

German school of composing, and so he chose the loose, mo bile type of harmonic structure which the impressionistic idiom afforded. Although he was warned not to pursue this

"vague impressionism,"2 1 in his conservatoire days, he con tinued his experiments setting forever a high mark in musical refinement, and voicing for succeeding generations his pro test against musical vulgarity.

"His orchestration ideals contained a discreet, fluid instrumentation that would give the singers a chance of making themselves heard without effort."2 2 He seldom used all the instruments in the orchestra; he divided the sections and used frequent solo instruments. He almost always divided the violins into small groups and used the instruments in their high tessatura. He orchestrated deftly with light, de tached touches throughout his scores. His orchestral colour ing and timbre were unique, unlike any preceding treatments.

1 Daniel Gregory Mason, Contemporary composers, p. 136. 20bid., p. 150.

2 1 Vallas, ap. c it., p. 47. 22Ibd. , p. 89. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, decades before, wrote that one day a French musician would achieve the recitative appro priate to the simplicity and clariety of the French language.

He believed:

This work should proceed by very small intervals, The voice should neither rise nor descend very much. There should be few sustained notes; no suddent bursts and still less shrieking, nothing that resembles song; and little inequality in the duration or the value of the notes.2 3

How beautifully would Rousseau have realized his musical

ideals and prophecies in Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande:

Made up as Debussy's art is, of "fine shading, discreet

allusions, vague evocations, subtle impressions, faint out

lines and touches, 124 his meticulous choice of poetry for

his songs is another revalation of his artistic genius. The

strongest influence aesthetically was that of the Symbolist

poets. Their art was much nearer Debussy's revolutionary

aesthetic ideals than the music contemporary to his time

could ever be. To many, Debussy's songs represent the high

spot in all French song-writing. He seemed to read a poem,

get the whole essence of what the writer was trying to say

in regard to mood and rhythm, and then with deft, subtle

touches, Debussy gave the poem more life and meaning than

was originally there. Through rich harmonies and sinuous melodies interspersed with sudden silences, ,Debussy's music

23Lockspeiser, o. cit., p. 301.

2 4 Vallas, g, cit., p. 61. 40

seems to "take hold of Eloquence and wring her neck, ,,25 just as Verlaine had suggested. According to one writer,

Debussy outclassed Faure as a song writer in "the searching

individuality of his (Debussy's) insight into the sentiments

of the poets whose lyrics they both set to music,"26 This

fact is understandable when one realizes that the poets whose

lyrics Debussy treated such as Verlaine "merely wished to give verbal suggestions of a mood, a passionate attitude, a vague

concern, fleeting and unseizable." 2 7 This aesthetic is almost

identical with that of Debussy's idiom. Debussy was at his

best when mirroring the conceptions of Verlaine and his fel

low Sybolists. Lockspeiser states: "Debussy is above all

the poet's musician." 2 8 Hill believes: "Debussy conquered

the realms of poetic vision." 2 9

The two main objectives in the following analyses of

song material are a translation of the essence and mood of the impressionistic texts and extraction of technical processes

typically impressionistic. These analyses will serve later

as a basis for comparison with the two other composers in

cluded in this study. If the technical innovations first

2 5 Lockspeiser, 2. _cit., p. 209.

2 6 Edward Burlingame Hill, Modern French Music,pp. 229 230.

27Carl Engel, Ala Breve: From Bach to Debussy, p. 276.

2 8 Lockspeiser, . cit., p. 111. 2 9 Hill, M. cit., p. 228. 41

used by Debussy are brought out, his effect on the other two can be seen objectively.

Debussyl earliest songs are more representative of what his harmonic idiom was later to be than the orchestral and piano compositions written contemporaneously. Therefore the songs are excellent laboratories in which to study the elements of this idiom. He was more self-assured in song composition because he had started earlier in this medium of composing. Mandoline was written between 1880 and 1883 from a poem by Paul Verlaine and was dedicated to Madame Vasnier.

The setting is ironic commentary on a picture of gallant

serenaders and their ladies dallying under singing branches, exchanging graceful compliments.

The composition opens with an octave appogiatura, as if the singer had plucked his instrument to try its strings before beginning his charmingly satirical tale; then follows a tinkling, mandoline-like accompaniment of VII chords built in open fourths and fifths (see Figure 1). These chords are found throughout; they modulate constantly to lend freshness of feeling and mood just as the text thought changes and progresses. The unfamiliar chords II, VI, and VII are used

throughout with many successions of unresolved seventh chords and chords of the added sixth. There are many sustained

chords and pedal points in one tonality, while typical

Debussy arpeggios and broken chords play about the one 42

Fig. 1--Chords built on open fifths.

- r ved seventh c-ors.

------

Ap

A- OEM *Aip If -M JL 1

EIM - - - s - -

-- p -

seconds. 43

tonality, giving vague, constantly-changing effects. (See

Figure 2).

The rhythms are interesting, built of rapid, uniform, non-symetric groups of notes in threes and also of studies in two against three, following what seems the natural rhythm of the words. The key change is from C major to E major, a third away; this is a typical Debussy change. Al though the composition is early Debussy, it contains artistry in mood-painting and technical innovations which later devel oped into the smooth style made famous by Debussy.

The Ariettes Oubliees cycle is an interesting collection of songs written in 1888, but revised and published in 1903.

The style is much smoother than that of Mandoline. The songs cover a wide range of mood but always have the soft tints of water-color painting. The texts are those of Verlaine. There is no other poet excepting allarme that Debussy interprets

so well. He seems to catch the words from the poet's lips and give to them life, movement, and new coloring. This cycle was dedicated to Mary Garden. Three of the cycle of

six are analyzed here.

All the impressions which the beauties of nature evoke in the poet are reflected in the senserous beauty of "C' est

L8 exstase Laugoureuse." Here is "langorous ecstacy, fatigue of love." The murmuring.of leaves in the breezes, the cool fresh purling of streams, combine to resemble a gentle cry from sighing petals, according to the poet. "One could say

uplvuw-WwArm-=And k - - I 44

that the spirit which laments with such drowsy complaint is

ours, is yours and mine," while lowly petitions gently rise

in the lovely evening. The musical setting expresses well

Debussy's hedonist side; one feels he is trying to feast the

ear deliberately with rich delights.

Set forth in the first three measures is the harmonic idea or material of the entire composition (see Figure 3). These chords are a series of unresolved sevenths, built by

clever harmonic devices from a chord of the ninth. This one

chord really serves as the harmonic bases for the first ten

measures. The same idea is continued throughout, but is

never repeated note for note.

The song contains a familiar shift between two tonalities

a major third apart (see Figure 4). His climax is built by

changing to new tonalities and then shifting slowly back to

the original tonality as the dynamic panel dirrnishes. There

are a few pedal points to sustain tonalities. Debussy's

favorite device, the added second interval, is used through

out in the rich harmonies of Chords of the added sixth and

diminished sevenths. (See Figure 5) The rhythm contains

fine examples of syncopation (see Figure 4).

"II Pleure Dans Mon Coeur," the second song in the cycle,

is one of the finest of Debussy's songs. With a light, deft

artistry Debussy hypnotized his listener through his mood and phrase building. The music expresses the inexpressible

by establishing for the singer and his listener the mood of

r 45

ennui felt by the poet. This French word, ennui, has no exact synonym in English. Only a Frenchman could convey the idea the poetry would express; Debussy has succeeded admirably in this task. One can see the poet as he watches the rain, feels an inexplicable ennui in his heart which is all the more pain ful because it is without reason. The "water music," which became a favorite subject for impressionistic writers, music concerning clouds, rain, waterfalls, the sea, and brooks, here shows its adaptability to the impressionist technique of fluid harmonies and subtle harmonies.

The mood is set in the opening measures by repetition of a minor third figure in sixteenth notes against which beats a regular quarter note motif. Here is most of the harmonic material contained in the composition (see Figure 6).

The voice part mainly is either in chanting style on a static pitch or moving downward depressingly. The treatment of the voice part is new; frequently the bass moves parallel to the voice part, giving an unusual effect. These two parts some times move contrapuntally.

Chromatic shifts in tonality give the fluidity desired

(see Figure 7). There is much sustaining of tonality, pedal points in the bass figures while the upper voices escape into other tonalities. This is a characteristic impressionistic treatment (see Figure 8). The key change is dramatic, from

B major to C major, as the text developed. As the original mood returns in the text, there is a reversion to the original -- : a-n -no'if.

p

i .B--usiineel tonnlit' s.

-Oc location of rna in -1o t if 47

sustaining figure of Figure 6, at the end subtly changing its face (see Figure 9).

"Chevaux de Bois" paints with gay colors the scene on a fairground, a wooden horse being the center of attraction.

This subtly programmatic composition shows the listener the red-faced child, the mother in white, the boy in black, and

the girl in pink, a thief in the crowds. The impressions and effect of this noise and color on the poet are revealed,

as the horses turn constantly. Night falls and the crowd

disperses to the wine cellars. The sky fills with stars, the church bells toll sadly as the wooden horses whirl gaily

on. This composition reveals the mimetic side of impression

ism; the music describes the shifting scene and the climactic mood changes.

The rapid, rhythmic figures throughout convey the idea

of a merry-goround to the listener (see Figures 10 and 11).

The impressionistic rhythm of rapid, non-symetric, uniform

groups coming in groups of three and seven are shown in Figures 10, 11, and 12. Sometimes three against four and

two againist three is used (see Figure 13).

Often unresolved sevenths appear. Frequent changes of

tonality and key are evident (see Figure 12). The key

changes are in the familiar third relationship from E major to C major to E major, and from B major to G major. Figures

sustaining tonality are constantly exemplified (see Figure 14).

Debussy's use of modes is evident in this composition; he 48

f ;-FM

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2'?)' R.(L. -n S

I, J

s fL

- -- 31 s t a ne t O .C 1 e 49

used the Mixolydias mode here (see Figure 15). It is interest

ing to note how Debussy took the slight material of Figures 10,

11, and 12, and, by enlarging on it, adding notes, changing

harmonies and rhythms, he reuses and repeats this material an

endless number of ways without ever seeming to use a theme or

obviously repeat.

"Ballade Des Femmes Des Paris" is from a cycle entitled

Trois Ballades De Villon written in 1910. This cycle reflects

Debussy's later style when Medieval art had taken hold of him. He searched among the early French poets for his texts.

Villon is perhaps the best of his choices; this early poet

had all the fire and boldness that Debussy's other poetic

choices lacked. Debussy's music reflects the style change

by longer phrase lines, harder lines, and increased direct

ness. The passion of the poet is reflected in glowing colors

in the music. "Ballade des femmes de Paris" is a racy, rollicking

ballad which by means of piano and voice conveys to the

listener the chattering of the gay Parisian ladies. The

poet compares them, to their advantage, to all other nation

alities. Briton, Swiss, Gascons, Toulous, or what have you,

and advises the Prince to give the Parisians the prize for unquestioned superiority in chattering ability.

The accompaniment romps up and down the keyboard, em ploying a chatter of successive unisons and repeated chords.

There are quick chromatic key changes and modal usages. 50

This use of the mode is quite in keeping with the Medieval poetry. There is an unusual turn in the composition employ ing four-voiced chords:(see Figure 16). For the most part the chords are the familiar Debussy seventh chords, with oc casional foreign notes added in intervals of a second (see

Figure 17). The closing bars of this entertaining composi tion contain an example of unrelated chords built a fourth and fifth intervals, moving in parallel motion (see Figure 18).

Due mainly to the use of a mode, the modulations are quick, with no warning or preparation, breathtakingly daring for

Debussy's time. The precipitate key changes are no less interesting changing to unexpected keys of the third re lationship, as from E major to G major, from C major to E major and back. The rhythmic figures change many times, the familiar duple measure against triple measure (see Figure 19).

The complete chromatic scale is run in a glissando at end as the poetry and music with a light gesture come to an end.

The Blessed Damozel for chorus with alto and soprano solos is a very artistic setting of some beautiful lines of

Dante Gabriel Rosetti. It reflects a passing pre-Raphailite tendency in Debussy's artistic development. Some critics have criticized the poem because of its too-effete lines, and general lack of backbone in story content. However, the

jewel-like words make beautiful music and their musical set ting only adds to the sparkle. If the listener desires sensuous charm, surely it is here; the whole piece is that of consu mate delicate artistry. 51

p0 A

rig. 16-- CLromatic turn. iig. 17--Second nt-rvalj .

-.

f;i . 1-- ral

Motion, unrelatc i Ci--san chord(. tri lorh ,tis

EL * "

.g. --. ole-ton scale usage.

:*

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Fi g. 11---uiresolved sevenths t . -un.ccoian2-ied. voice parallel octaves. part. 52

This cantata represents an effort on the part of Debussy to hold to some of the conventions of the French school of

composition. However, the critics of the day leaped on the work, crying out at this revolutionary who had dared to write

so daring a composition. Debussy's unique idiom subtly colors

even the most conventional harmonies, and he makes frequent

departures into new harmonies, rhythms, and melodic bits which were later to be labeled Impressionism.

The story tells of a lovely maiden who, having died,

still leaned from the golden bar of heaven earthward looking

for her love. She longed for him and dreamed of what she

would do if God but granted her prayers to bring him. To

gether they would explore the delights of the heavenly king

dom. As time passed and she was still alone, "she cast her

arms along the golden barriers and wept."

The whole-tone scale appears subtly in the introduction

(see Figure 20) and is found again throughout the composition.

The rhythm changes throughout; the whole piece can be charac terized by duple rhythms against triple rhythm. Debussy's

metre changes involve 12/8, 6/4, 6/8, 4/4, 9/8, 9/4, and 3/4. Often he used syncopation.

His modulations which became a mannerism involved

changes to keys a minor or major second or a third away, as

from C major to B major in the introduction, or C major to

A major. The key changes actually notated as such are from

C major to E major, C major to B major, B major to A major, 53

to C major, and E major to D major, to a major, B major to

A major, to A major.

The familiar chords of the added sixth or foreign tones on a major second interval appear. The succesions are in parallel octaves and sometimes in a series of unresolved sevenths (see Figure 21). Frequently sustained notes appear over which misty tonalities shift.

Debussy here demonstrated his knowledge of how to achieve dramatic effects in music. He occasionally had

short rests to heighten intensity of feeling, as if the story were pausing dramatically before drifting on. These

silences are later used most eloquently in Pelleas et

zelisande. Often a solo voice or instrument part is used, wedding the parts together with a filmy connecting tissue. (see Figure 22) . His climaxes s are built with rapid modula tions; he used the sustaining roll to heighten the dramatic effect. CHAPTER V

DEFINITION OF DEBUSSY'S POSITION AND EFFECT ON

CARPENTER AND LOEFFLER AND SUMMARY

OF IMPRESSIONISTIC TECHNIQUES

Debussy's genius and liberating influence "gave wings to music and sent it soaring up to heights to which . .

(agile pedestrian) it could not have risen otherwise." 1

Of the innovations and contributions to music by this man much has been written. As the years pass this position in music field is becoming much more secure and easier to de fine. His music was revolutionary and offered an avenue of escape to those who did not wish to be bound in their aesthetic. He had one unbreakable principle: "that ab solute independence was essential to the artist, that he should personally adapt the musical means to suit the char acter of his artistic creation. " 2 He, like Rousseau, might say, "I may be no better, but I am at least different."3 Debussy encouraged composers to explore their own possibili ties and talent and showed them that the musical past might

lCarl Engel, Alla Breve: From Bach to Debussy, p. 270.

2 Leon Vallas, Claude bus: His Life and Works, p. 148. 3 dward Lockspeiser, Deb ssy, p. 232.

54 55

be a valuable storehouse, not a heavy band of tradition and rules. Edward Burlingame Hill says:

Wit hout exaggeration one may assert that since the time of Berlioz, the greatest genius of French music was Claude Debussy. . . . There comes a moment in the evolution of musical art, or indeed in any other, when one acute personality cuts the Gordian knot of technical preoccupation with a blow at once critical and construe tive, without attempting aesthetic compromise. He recog nizes the defective details which have hindered his con temporaries and goes straight to his goal. . . . He saw the futility of compromise with the Academic. He was able to assimilate the styles, both technical and ex pressive, toward healthy progress made by his contempora ries, and expand these into a logical and serviceable idiom of his own. . . as is usually t he case with in novative geniuses, their style is evolved gradually from recognizable sources of absorption; ad Debussy was no exception to this all embracing rule.

Of his technical contributions, Hill says:

His chord progression released composers from theoretical bondage, and greatly broadened an essential medium of emotional expansiveness. . . reacted directly upon his compatriots and successors throughout a con siderable portion of the civilized world.

Vallas has listed what he considers Debussy's most striking innovations along this line:

Strings of fifths and octaves in parallel series, sevenths not resolved at all, chords of the ninths built up on all the degrees of the scale, Chords of the eleventh and thirteenth, and aven aggregations of all the notes of the diatonic scales.

Roman Rolland has this to say of Debussy, the innovator:

It is not an account of the peculiarities of Debussy's style, of which one may find isolated examples

Edward Burlingame Hill, Modern French Jusic, pp. 188-189. 5Ibid.,pp. 188-189.

6 Vallas, g. cit., p. 190. 56

in great composers before him--in Chopin, Liszt, Chabrier, and Richard Strauss, but because with Debussy these peculiarities are an expression of his personality and because ?elleas et Melisande, 'the land of ninths,' has a poetic atmosphere which is like no other musical drama ever written. 7

Rosenfield believed that Debussy "brought new refine ment, new etherealness and delicacy into musical speech." 8

The characteristics of this innovator, "sinuous melodies,

jewel-like instrumentation a series of consecutive ninths-

show their faces in many ultra modern works to testify to

Claude Debussy's having passed through musical art."9

Landormy has carefully listed what he considered Debussy's main innovations-:10

1. Different scales-lowered or raised fifths, five-note

scales, whole-tone scales.

2. All of his chords were consonant; for Debussy there were no resolutions needed, or no incorrect combinations,

3. To Debussy he ascribes the conception of verticalism.

Perhaps the best summary of Debussy's position in music

history was written in 1909 by Filson Young for the Saturday Review. Here is a portion of the article:

It is most important that those who care for music as a living art should come to their critical bearings about Debussy. He is a discoverer; he has wandered into

7 Romain Rolland, Musicians Toda, p. 242,

3 Paul Rosenfield, Modern Tendencies in Music, pp. 30-31.

9Ibid., p. 31,

1 Paul Landormy, A Historyf Music, pp. 341-342. 57

a new world of tonality and what for want of a better term we must call musical colour. . . [his music) is remote from intellectual speculations. . . it is founded on primitive matter, primitive sensation; it is an harmonic resultant or over-tone of these. One may extend the metaphor andsay that all his music is written in harmonics, on the stopped and touched strings of emotion; hardly ever are the natural, open notes heard, and though the harmonies are very high and ethereal, the sensual, the material, the fundamental aspects of human nature are the pools from which these misty clouds are drawn, to float away and melt. . . . For good or ill, he has deflected the composers of the younger school of naviga tors in the musical art, and his influence is bound to be great--greater, no doubt, than his individual achieve ment; and others will carry the possibilities of this new tonality farther than he will carry them, and so reap where he has sown. (His music) will help us to discriminate between what was and what was not inspired in the works of the great, instead of accepting everything as pure gospel which bears the name of Mozart, Beethoven, Rameau, Bach, Palestrina. It will do this because, whatever its faults and failures, it appeals boldly on the single ground of beauty, and not of erudition, imitation, or conservatism. It claims every licence, and stands or falls by its justification of that licence. . . 1;

Debussy stands alone. He never wished to found a school and was far more bitter with the dilletante "Debussyists4

than with his severest critics. He opened a door to the

music of the future by extending the dimensions of tonality,

liberating melody; in freeing harmony from the laws of ex

tension he threw overboard the impedimenta of musical develop

ment. Form became no longer a hardened mold but "the pulsa

tions by which ideas run. .12

Debussy's harmonic innovations have influenced many out

standing composers. Lockspeiser in a very enlightening

1 1 Lockspeiser, _p. cit., pp. 233-234.

1 2 Oscar Thompson, Claude Debussy, Mean and Artist,pp. 233 234. 58

discussion points how well Debussy served in weaning

Stravinsky from his master, Rimsky-Korsakov. He calls this 1 3 Debuss y's "most important influence. " Debussy gave the

Italian school a new field of purely Latin idiom in which to compose and "counted for much in the formation of

Pizzetti, Malipiero, Casella, Respighi, and Busone." He taught the Spanish Composers "how to make the best of their folk-music." 1 5 Albeniz and Manuel de Falla were especially influenced. Lockspeiser points out how impossible Schonberg's

atonality would have been without Debussy's liberating in

fluence. Bauer- 6 reviews his influence in Austria, Russia,

Hungary, and Poland. The English composers were disposed to

favor this French composer's idiom because of their love for

the French Symbolistic literature which was often translated

into English. Debussy offered the English something new and

different, and a poetic way of saying it; Lockspeiser states:

"the one prominent English composer of that period who owes

nothing to Debussy is Elgar."17 Cyril Scott, called the

English Debussy, felt Debussy' s influence strongly, and

Debussy's mark is on Goossens, Delius, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Bliss, and many others.

13 Lockspeiser, M. cit., p. 17. Ibid. ,p. 232. 1 5 Ibid. ,pp. 230-231.

1 6 Marion Bauer, Twentieth Century Music, pp. 166-168. 1 7 Lockspeiser, op. cit., p. 232.

RAN". 59

The younger American school has felt Debussy's influence vitally. In the earlier part of the century great attention was always paid to musical art in France. The most outstand ing composers noticeably influenced by this unusual idiom are

Gruenberg, Charles Griffes, and Carpenter, all native Ameri

cans, and Ernest Bloch and Loeffler, who are imported Ameri

cans,

Of this group, Charles Martin Loeffler and John Alden

Carpenter have been chosen for study. Both are truly Ameri

can in their outlook and are far too vital as composers to be mere imitators of a musical phase. Loeffler was educated abroad but composed every note in America; he was cosmopolitan and wrote with a smooth style. Gilman, writing of Debussy and Loeffler, uses practically identical terms to describe the compositions of each and states: "he is of a kind with

Debussy."ttla Loeffler considered Debussy his favorite modern

composer and was considered essentially the disciple of im pressionism in America. David Ewen writes of his music, "Though the music might never have existed had Claude Debussy never composed his series of tone-pictures, it very definitely possesses a quality uniquely its own, in which the personality of the composer is clearly recognizable. "l9 Ewen believes that Loeffler continued where Debussy left off in Impressionism

1 8 Lawrence Gilman, Phases of Modern Music, p. 69.

1 9 David Ewen, Twentieth Century Composers, p. 158.

alzgidgw= 60

and brought the impressionistic idiom to its inevitable destination. Of Loeffler, Ewen says: "one of the most passionately inviolate of contemporary American composers, he embodied the highest ideals. of his art." 2 0 Deems Taylor puts Loeffler in the first rank of composers; he is bitters because "many people who pride themselves on their interest in American music know little or nothing about his

(Loeffler'sJ work and can talk at length about American com posers without -mentioning his name." 2 1

Loeffler's music is extremely interesting to study.

Perhaps he has had an even greater effect on the American

school than is at present realized. His music has a peculiar,

lovely flavor all its own; it is difficult to execute, but it can give an aesthetic satisfaction, a sensual enjoyment that

the impressionistic idiom affords to music lovers. Lockspeiser 2 2 makes the point that Bloch and Loeffler are practically the

only followers of Debussy who actually used his process of harmonization to advantage; the others, he believes, merely

took certain phases of it and inducted it into their personal

idi om.

Loeffler has undoubtedly been more or less neglected by

his fellow Americans. Certainly Taylor is right in his belief

2 0 1bid., p. 149.

2 1 Deems Taylor, Of Men and Music, p. 139.

2 2 Lockspeiser, . cm., p. 228. 61

that more musicians, both conductors and individual per formers, should use his work, listen to it, and introduce it to erican audiences. As Deems Taylor says, 'we might

find we have--have long had--an American composer who be

longs not alone to us, but to the world. 2 3 Carpenter, the second American impressionist to be

discussed, is even more contemporary than Loeffler; he is writing today of scenes that are peculiarly erican. Carpenter watches the jazz, the speed, the sky-scrapers,

the breezy American attitude and very subtly records the

impression that this environment of his leaves. He is im

bued with the French idiom of Debussy and writes with the

same deft, light touches, but he is definitely an individual

composer, and, as Upton says: "he [Carpenter) has something

definite to say, "24 in the American manner. Although

Carpenterss style is French-derived and especially impression

istic in song treatment, when listening to the peculiarly

American humor and freedom in composition, one must agree with Walter Damrosch, who states: "John Alden Carpenter is

one of the most American of our composers."2 His individual

treatment of the French-derived idiom cannot help but be in

triguing to an American audience.

23Taylor, p. cit., p. 141.

24-William Treat Upton, Art Song in America, p. 197.

25J. T. Howard, Our American Music, p. 479. 62

A summary of impressionistic music in general is desirable at this time. Impressionistic music is characterized generally by the high value it gives to "delicate reactions of the mind and spirit, to subtle and often shifting moods, to poetic and contemplative states that are subjectively poignant--insident search for fresh musical means of expressing what is experi enced or imagined. 26 Sometimes, however, the musical art of th.s school has become too precious, and trying these new means of expression originated by Debussy, they have seemed to lack sincerity and genuine emotion and have become "more curious than convincing." 2 7 That is the greatest danger in the use of the impressionistic idiom. This impressionistic school has carefully cultivated these traits of "finesse, a passion for the recondite, a scrupulous avoidance of the too definite, too facile patterns, an exquisite mastery of harmonic and orchestral colors 2a after the example of Debussy. His followers are not imitators but have aesthetic ideals in conmon with Debussy.

Myer has pointed out that impressionism can be either subjective or objective. It is more likely to be subjective, as the composers are intent on creating atmosphere, instead of realistically portraying the thing itself. But it is in

2 'aldo Seldon Pratt, The History of Music, p. 649.

2 7 Ibid., p. 649.

2 3 Lawrence Gilman, Phases of Modern Music, p. 69. interesting to know that material subjects may be given in impressionistic treatment. It is usually the "musicians' subjective commentary upon program matter or a poem that is itself objective." 2 9

Impressionism is therefore capable of different methods of treatment, varying with the composer and his mood. It 0 can be what Hull calls a "technical reaction.13 In this

treatment pure sensuous delight is sought through musical art. Literary ideas are forgotten, tradition thrown aside for the joys of executing musical sensations. Musical im pressionism can also be very gay; it can be the musicians'

treatment of what the impressionist painters' created as

symphonies of blending, vibrating light. It can be extremely

graphic, with clear cut lines and rhythms. Impressionism has

a mimetic side which is Moussorgskyan in its simplicity of

treatment. All unnecessary details are eliminated. This

treatment can best be characterized by calling such a com

position a Japanese print set to music. The impressionists

often treat simple children's subjects in their music.

Impressionistic music deals with tints and tinges,

hinting and suggesting in its use of tonal expression. The Music has the poetic spirit, depending as it does on in

spiration from the external world; it is according to

29William McNaught, Modern Music and Msicians, p. 95.

30Eaglefield Hull, Music, Classical, Romantic and Modern, pp. 245-246. Slonimsky, "geographic, exotic; and programatiA"3 1 in this respect. Impressionnsm, he believes, "integrates fragments of musical phrases, suggestions of instrumental color, in ferred tonalities, into a musical poem with a programnatic or pi torial title tt32

Sloniskye3 has made a thorough study o:' the toG:cal apparatus of the impressionistic technique. Supplemeneted by Bauer and others, an outline of this individual technique can be made from the Slonimsky study. In melody, impression ism employs an (1) affectation of Greek modes, especially the ecclesiastical Dorian and Lydian. These modes are inextri cably interwoven into the compositions in many places; their use has given this music greater fluidity, freer rhythm, re flInement, richness, and variety all its own, has helped the impressionists in breaking away from set tonalities. (2) Im pressionism uses whole-tone scale constructions in melodies.

It is this whole-tone usage which gives impressionistic music the effect of vagueness and haziness so peculiarly its own,

Percy Scholes 3 4 points out that in Debussy's Island ot Joy, in a usage of the whole-tone scale (or arpeggio) bilt over a sustained pedal note, is the first example in a thousand

31 Nicolas Slonimsky, usic Snce 1900, p. xvii. 32 Ibid., p. xviii,

33Ibid., pp. xviii-xix.

34 Percy Scholes, Oxford Qomanion to Music, p. 404. 65

years of music activity which gets clean away from the di atonic scale and the triad as a basis for composition. (3) I pressionism.uses pentatonic scales in constructing melodies and harmonies. This gives the music a highly colored effect which the impressionists dote upon.

In the harmony itself, the impressionistic technique makes use of (1) chords of piled-up thirds used in bloc as indivisible entities, consecutive fifths and octaves, paral lel voice parts, consecutive triads, ninths, elevenths, and chords with added sixths. (2) Impressionistic harmony con tains root progressions by equal division scales, scales produced by the division of the octave into two equal parts which results in a tritone, or three equal parts,which re sults in augmented triad harmonies, or four equal parts, which results in diminished seventh harmonies. Whole-tone and chromatic scales are often the bases for harmonization.

Use of the added second or foreign tone written as part of the chord was an enherited Debussyism. Sometimes he not only used added single notes but added whole chords; this eventually would lead to polytonality. Bauer illustrates lucidly impressionistic "gliding chords,,35 that is, the repetition of a chord formation on different fundamentals in thirteenths and broken chords. "Escaped chords," a similar technique, can be compared with the traditional

'Bauer, L. .cit., p. 145.

M-- 66

pedal point, except that the new idea often Involved sus ta4 ned chords instead of a single sustained note. The established tonality in the bass is here topped by a dis sonant chord or chord progression that seems to have escaped from the bass tonality. Harmonic impressionism also uses

(3) intetonal harmonization with no three successive chords belonging; to any given tonality. Here the harmonization is in major triads only, and the melody moves in contrary motion to the bass.

Impressionistic rhythms are characterized by (1) short apoggiatura-like ictus on strong part of the measure much as the impressionist paintings contain daubes of color, and

(2) rapid uniform non-smetric groups of notes mostly in prime numbers 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 in strict time. Orchestra tion, impressionistically, provides for (1) progressive in dividualization of instrumental colors; thanks to Debussy, the groups in the orchestra as such are practically abandoned and (2) impression explores the extreme registers. Debussy also explored the extreme registers on the piano finding new, unusual beauty. The impressionists sought (3) larger use of percussive instruments, even using exotic, foreign made instruments and (4) using the piano as a percussive in strument. Other percussives such as the xylophone are also used.

GOA CHAPTER I

BIOGRAPHY, DESCRIPTIONS, AND C0"POSITIONS 0FCHARLES MARTIN LOEFFLER

Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler was born in Miilhausen in Alsace on January 30, 1861. His father specialized in chemistry, agriculture, and horsebreeding, and was inter ested in music. This combination might explain Loeffler's keen sensitivity to things of nature, his great fancy for horses and dogs, and his first interests in music. From his mother he got his love of poetry. While Charles as still very young his parents moved to Russia to the province of Kiev, Smjela. There the

Russian folk and church music made a deep impression on the boy; he, like Debussy, responded to the pathos of their melodies, the rich, lush, harmonic colors.

On his eighth birthday Charles received as a present a viIln. His extreme talent showed itself at once in his

experiments with the instrument, so his parents obtained as a teacher a German violinist from the Imperial Orchestra of

St. Petersburg who sumered in Smjela. Through years of subsequent study and practice the boy achieved an extra

ordinary technique on this Instrument and achieved a.practical

application; he became outstanding in having mastered

disc-pline of his left hand. 67 68

The family moved again to Debreezin, Hungary, where

Loeffler came in contact with the folk music of the Hungarian

gypsies. For a time this was the only music he heard. When

he was fifteen, Loeffler had made his decision to become a

professional musician. With little money in his pocket, he

journeyed to Berlin. There he studied violin with Eduard

Rappoldi as preparation to study later with Joseph Joachim;

he studied harmony under Friedrich Kiel. Dissatisfied, he

left Berlin for paris, where he studied violin under Massart

and Hubert Leonard, who developed his bow arm. He studied

harmony with Ernest Guiraud, who was a teacher of Debussy.

While in Paris he played in Pasdeloup's orchestra, and the

private orchestra of Baron Paul von Derwies. In 1881 at the

age of twenty Loeffler, with letters of introduction from

Joachim to Leopold Damrosch and Theodore Thomas, came to

America to become during his fifty-four years in this country a dean of American composers.

He played a season in Damrosch's orchestra. Then in

1882 he was engaged by Henry Lee Higginson to play assistant

first chair with Franz Kneisel in the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

His first composing took place in Boston and was per

formed by the Symphony with great success. Les Veillees

de 1' Ukraine was this first orchestra piece; followed six years later by La Mort de TintIles, and still later by the

String uartet, In 1901 began to appear compositions 69

reflecting the impressionistic idiom which later was to be come his mature style. There was a Poem for orchestra, La

Villanelle du Diable. In 1907 one of his masterpieces, A

Pad Poem, was played by the Boston Symphony. In 1903

Loeffler retired from his violin chair in the Symphony to a farm in Medfield, Massachusetts, to devote himself to com position. He was fanatical in his avoidance of the spot light, removing himself from his farm only long enough to make occasional trips to Boston and to marry Elise Burnett

Fay in 1910. She understood his desire for seclusion and helped preserve the simple life he desired. Here he kept dogs and horses, groomed the horses himself, worked in his garden, walked daily over his domain. From this quiet en vironment he produced Hora stica, for Yen's Chorus and orchestra, ,in 1916, Memories of a Childhood in 1924, and

Evocation.

In 1931 in Boston, Cleveland, and New York there were celebrations via press and concerts of the composer's seventieth birthday. It was for the Cleveland celebration that Evocation, for chorus and orchestra, was written.

Loeffler died in 1935 of a cardiac condition.

The man himself was very simple in his living habits and unaffected from his fame. He was intolerant of pretense, admired genuine accomplishment. He had a mystic veneration of the things of nature. His violinist's ear was keen to the sounds of nature. In this love for the outdoors and

_. 70

sounds he and Debussy were twin souls. Loeffler was a deep

student of Medieval culture and thought; he was an authority

on Gregorian plainsong and church modes of the Middle Ages. During the last years of his life he trained a boys' choir

in Medfield in Gregorian chant. He worshipped Bach, loved

early contrapuntal music, and was a great admirer of

Beethoven. Faure and Debussy were his favorite moderns.

He enjoyed the better jazz, respecting highly George Gershwin

and Duke Ellington.

Describing his appearance, Ewen has given a good

study:

In appearance, he suggested a scholar. He was tall, well-built and erect, even in old age. He ex eeded an air of professional dignity. His head was almost like an inverted triangle extending from his broad bald scalp and converging into a short pointed beard. His nose was aquiline, descending from a high brow; his face was long and lean. 1

Carl Engel, visiting Loeffler a year before his death,

describes him thus:

He bore the marks of physical suffering. But his razor-blade mind still showed occasionally its flashing edge. His mood was genial, reminiscent. The good things of the table still appealed to him. His wonderful eyes would still twinkle as he unraveled some favorite story, not less amusing for being not altogether new. His precarious cardiac condition did not prevent him from asking the waiter to bring me particularly rich cigars. He acknowledged eagerly how charmed he had been with the person of Arnold Schoenberg. His thoughts roamed the length of contemporary music. On hearing the hotel musicians

1 David Ewen, Twentieth Century Composers, pp. 155-156.

Wm 71

play a certain composition, he made a face and con fessed that for him the appeal of Karl Maria von Weber had long ago ceased. From one thing to another the talk swayed along its circuitons course, not as fast as formerly, but just as absorbing. 2 His writing style is smooth, beautiful. His background was cosmopolitan, and this element reflected itself in his music. His theories regarding the violin reflected them selves also in his music. His violin phrasing was based on the breathing voice, the breath being controlled by the emotional content of the phrase.

According to Engel, "exquisitely refined and rarified though it is, this music has a very definite muscle and sinew, a perceptible spine, a solidity and depth. 3 His pieces are all carefully polished like gems. Although he often uses material, for instance, the whole-tone scale, with les ssubtlety and finesse than Debussy, yet there is always artistry and great technical ability apparent. Engel believes that hearing Debussy too much has a cloying effect because t music is too precious, too much perfumed sound, whereas loefiler's music, although fragile, is not "merely a sensuous experience of very emotional poet."4 To him

Loeffler carried on where Debussy left off and brought this idiom to its final high destination.

2Tarl Engel, "Charles Martin Loeffler," Musical quarterly, (October, 1935), p. 368.

Ewen, 2. cit., p. 158. 4 Ibid., p. 157. 72

Lawrence Gilman has written concerning Loeffler that he is a 'tonal Verlaine. . . he seeks after realities of shadowy and dim illusions, an artist in grays, and greens, and subtle. golds."5 The emotion that his music expresses is the "emotion of remembered rapture, the beauty of gathered

dreams. "" His music has "a certain veiled and continent in

tensity, an interior passion; a conviction implied rather

than declared. 7 The effect of Debussy is obvious in two respects, in

the matter of style and from the technical aspects, that is,

how he handles his material. From Debussy's style Loeffler

learned best how to avoid deeply passionate utterance. It

is conceivable that Ernest Guiraud, who knew best what made some of up the technique of the inimitable Claude, taught

this technique to Loeffler. Loeffler's composing did not

begin actually until several years later, after a great bulk of Debussy's work had become famous. Loeffler showed an

affinity for poetry that Debussy might have picked in his t setting of Maeterlinck' sLa iort de Tin ariles, of Verlaine' s

L Bonne Chanson, and other settings inspired by Symbolist

poets.

It is the manner in which he sets these impressionist

subjects, a manner clearly influenced by Debussy's earlier

5Lawrence Gilman, Phases of Modern Music, p. 61.

6Ibid., p. 63

7 Ibid., p. 64. 73

settings, chronologically speaking, that shows Loeffler's

French predilictions. His works have a cosmopolitan flavor

to them, showing many influences, but as his style became

set, the main influence of impressionism was obvious. As

David Ewen puts it, "Loeffler was essentially the disciple

of Impressionism--one of the few distinguished devotees in America of the Debussy period.' Loeffler treats his voice part in a manner which was

first inspired by Debussy. Often the voice half-chants the

words, or half- speaks them with no instrumental accompani

ment. This treatment was the unique contribution made by

Debussy in his opera, Pelleas et Melisande. Loeffler some

ties allowed his voice part to take the sevenths or foreign

tones to the underlying harmony; this independent treatment

of voice parts was device often used by Debussy. Loeffler

used the whole-tone scale in the voice part and, much as

Debussy had done, as a basis for instrumental harmonization.

His model usages are as skillful, sometimes more obvious,

than those of Debussy. His chordal treatments and added

second usages reveal how much he owes to Claude Debussy's harmonic ideas. This is made apparent in the subsequent comparative analysis of song material. Loeffler went even

further than Debussy in rhythmic variations, and use of

8Ewen, 22. cit., p. 157.

-. -... ,, . ,.M., . .. .. _.....__.,_..s,. . ,._n__, ...... , .. - 74

harsher dissonances; his modulations are more abrupt, and he ventured further into atonality than Debussy.

In Les Paons, Loeffler has set to music the highly sy bolistic poetry of Gustave Kahn. By means of symbolistic words Kahn has played with delicate colors and sweet perfumes upon the sensations. He describes a picture of proud pea cocks, white dahlias, soft swaying branches in a clear night designed to waft his lady to languid slumber, as "the vague desires that stories and incense recall" creep to her.

The exotic, other-world atmosphere of this impression istic piece is inspired in the first measure by use of the

Lydian mode in a rippling arpeggio of strange intervals in supple rhythms. (See Figure 23) Strange, non-uniform, unsymetric rhythmic groups are employed throughout; synco pation, especially of the voice part, is employed as thematic r ythmic material. An unresolved II chord in the second measure is the standard for the strange subsequent harmonies

(see Figure 24). Triplets and sextuplet s are frequent, and

duple measure against triple measure is often used.

Sthe fourth arpeggio the whole-tone scale is employed,

followed by whole-tone harmonies, just as modal harmonies had followed the modal arpeggios in the passages before (see Figure 25). There is an especially nice bit of impression

istic harmony contained in the second section of the song

(see Figure 26). A feeling of unresolution, a peculiarity

of impressionism, predominates. The composition contains 75

pd

aLL.

Fig. 23-- rdianl Tmo2

'j. .24--- nreolc_-_- ci ord.

Fig. ---- >o1c-tcne scale 'JK4.

. - Vs

ii. 26 -- ;, ,s lvl' S l CoI0X5s. 76

many arpeggiated chords moving in parallel motion and uses unresolved sevenths for beauty's sake alone (see Figure 27).

Tie Host of the Air is a setting of an impressionistic piece by William Butler Yeats. It is an Irish tale filled with mysticism and superstitious lore, telling the adventures of O'Driscoll with the Host of the Air. The music is often mimetic, illustrating a sensation inspired by the text--as in the "drifting smoke" passage (see Figure 28) or the piping of the legendarypiper (see Figure 29).

Duch of the material which the composer used in this unusual composition is set forth in the first two measures.

(see Figure 30). The succeeding harmonies are built from the material contained in this example; these chords, however, modulate abruptly to many new keys.

This piece contains almost every element of the im pre ssiJontic technique. Revealing an amazing mastery of this delicate technique, Loeffler took steps forward In dis sonances and chordal relationships. In this piece he went even further than Debussy into atonality (see Figure 2). The Irish character of the poetry is skillfully reflected in the musical setting by Loeffler's subtle usage of the pentatonic scale, and by his rhythmic manipulations. The whole-tone scale is also used for harmonization and contra puntal work (see Figure 31). Near the close the entire penta tonic scale is used (see Figure 32). The rhythm is kaleide scopic, employing almost every familiar pattern. It makes 77 -Ft i -

Fig. 27 -,11resolveJ sevejlb S.

jUt if, I N *1 -~ A..-

-f--I 7~w~;vz# $v~, ~I79

C~ 9------I If

i.28-)ISal.LL cho LW in Caton«1cr.it.

~ ~ if j _ '1 J-"- -j

ig. 29 -- t . a t ns.ri

p

z3~ - __ Z4 ~~1~

'~~~~~~1

r9ft4w~AE~zz27~7~L> ~i~-

_i 1730 -- ar i------n------

'; . *i an extremely interesting rhythic study(see Figures 29,

331, 31, and 34). These rhythms change constantly with no warning.

The piece has notable usages of pedal point over which in parallel motion chords drift through startling modulations.

Some of these modulations are from B major to C major and from 3 major to D major (see Figures 35 and 36). Loeffler used chords of the added sixth very often. The most notable example in this composition of his use of the second inter val is in the sustaining roll of the climax (see Figure 37).

As he built this climax, he changed tonality in the Debussy manner with almost every measure. To achieve a peculiar sustained effect, at one time he used a sustained open fifth (see Figure 33). Very Debussyish are some of Loeffler's un resolved seventh chord successions (see Figure 38). The succeeding arpeggios to the example given are impression istic in treatment. For dramatic effect Loeffler sometimes had the voice part half-speak the words, unaccompanied (see

Figure 39). This technique is directly from Debussy.

The composition To Helen is from a poem by Poe. As

Upton9 has pointed out, it is peculiarly difficult to set

Poe's poetry to music because his poetry is music itself,

But the setting is skillful here, very artistically done, giving the words an unusual flavor,

9William Treat Upton, ArtS inAmerica, p. 142. 70

1. i: _

------.-- - - 1,,1 Y

rP ''-.-

ma-- jtn - *

-i;K -<--

o~ -f

* . . ... C) u 'L i r 34-- t . c;')n'-

1E~7Z. int- -1 * 7--- 1cn

-4. 56--- &rc1 80

I

--

g&u

.0 - nrcsolved r cvent

I -~

______~~~ a a - - i

it ,' -

q f

- ~ ~ o-r r' r''r~

FiY4. 4~ &~-?~ zfrT+~zH~

Ik -. ------~ six1-7 14

.1 .

-ed

i nJ Fid . 40-- For ir . 41 -- 2 trno env CL ro.atc

C"J ded sixt). usv 'es. im This artistically conceived song opens with an pressionistic example of an added sixth chord arpegglated.

(see Figure 40). Due to Loeffler's use of chromaticism and whole-tonism, the swift modulations often give the listener

a feeling of dis-orientation (see Figure 41). Perhaps the

most beautiful and unusual effect in the complete composition

s is use of both whole-tone arpeggios in a simultaneous

chord succession near the close (see Figure 42). Often the

voice part has a whole-tone melody.

Loeffler's rhythms are extremely flexible, varied with

duple rhythm against triple rhythm throughout (see Figure 43),

The impressionistic technique applied to both rhythm and harmony can be found in Figure 44. The usages of the unre

solved seventh reminds one of Debussy (see Figure 45). In keeping with the best traditions of the impressionists are the usages of arpeggios of unresolved sevenths contained in the composition. Much as did Debussy, Loeffler built his

climax with swift dissonant modulations. To take away from

the harmonic daring with which he started the composition, Loeffler resolved his dissonances in the last measures in a traditional manner, 86,

w U 73 __ P -I0;a

'r I 1

w izr - rw

wt go. Id 11 is -

Fd. fdfl

Fig. 42 --Whole-tone chord succesion.

OrTM

P .

i'ig. 43 -- Duple and triple rhythms.

I *

93 a %.01 - A-

)~IL, II, / '4 ~

I I IL ______I

Fig. 44 -- Impressionist rhythm and harmony. I _

I K- _ ------

rFig 45--;-nrosolver3 severt" chords. CHAPTER VII

BIOGRAPHY AND COMPOSITIONS OF

JOHN ALDEN CARPENTER

John Alden Carpenter, the most American of the Impres

londists, was born on February 28, 1876, in Chicago, Illinois.

He still lives in this city and is engaged in business there.

C.rpenter studied music from his earliest years under the in

str etion of his mother. When he was twelve, he began to

study piano with Amy Fay, a former pupil of Liszt and Tausig. He experimented with and studied theory of music untutored until he was sixteen, at which time he became a pupil of

.eureck.

In 1893 Carpenter went to Harvard. For four years he was student in John Knowles Paine' 0 music course. When he graduated in 1897, he entered his father's mill, rail way ano shipping supplies concern in Chicago. After his

father's death in 1909 he became vice-president of this con

cern, which position he still holds. In 1906 while he was visiting Europe Carpenter studied

for several months in Rome under Sir Edward Elgar. In America the following winter he started the study of theory under

Bernard Ziehn, a distinguished teacher of Chicago. He con tinued studying until Zieon's death in 1912 and always

84 85

considered this latter his .most valuable instructor. In

1921 Carpenter was decorated with the Cross of the French

Legion of Honour. He received in 1922 the master of arts degree from Harvard.

The first work of any significance published was the Carpenter song cycle, Iproving Sons for Anxious Children. became even better known in 1914 after his cycle Gitan jale was published. The humoristic orchestral suite, Adventures Or in a Perambulator, was first performed by the Chicago chestra on March 19, 1915, and in June, 1921, in London at

the British Musicians Society Congress. Krazy Kat, a jazz

pantomime b llet, has become quite familiar to the American

public. His Water Color Sketches are in almost every singer's repertoire.

Carpenter shows consumate skill and variety in the way

he bandies his orchestra. He has the same deft, light touch

that characterized Debussy's orchestration. In his music is

apparent a whimsical fancy, much delicate, even poetic,

humor. Often a very tender sentiment is felt, but never

obviously so. There is in his style a great fluency and

grace. Upon says of the man: "Carpenter has the medita

tive spirit, a great love expressing the genies of nature,

out-of-doors--its quieter aspects and influence upon human

experience." l Of his style Upton says the French element

lilliam Treat Upton, Art Song in America, p. 213. 86

of "perfection of finish and elegant style, sometimes over

sophisticated"2 is there. Carpenter, he believed, was as meticulous as Debussy in his choice of texts. Upton 3 in his

study of Carpenter'smusic has pointed out these elements:

first, Carpenter's keen harmonic sense which was extremely

plastic and capable of being molded with great freedom;

second, the charming bits of melody which he employed, with

refinement of line and content; and third, Carpenter in

variably united the text with the embodying music. Outside

of Debussy there was probably no impressionist who did a

better job of fitting the tone to the word.

Howard4 believes that it is in his songs that Carpenter

has shown his French impressionist tendencies. Certainly

Carpenter's settings are skillful, subjective comment on

the texts; he paints in light, soft colors, builds short

phrase lines, and is deft in his manipulations of harmony.

Carpenter does not modulate as often as Debussy, but when he

does, it is just as surprizing, even more revolutionary.

He treats his voice part as a separate entity from the ac

companiment, just as Debussy and Loeffler had done before him.

Carpenter is clever at taking small devices, harmonic or

rhythmic, and by supplementing them, changing them, and

2lbid., p. 213.

3 Tmbid., p. 198.

4J. T. Howard, O0ur American Music, p. 480. 87

modulating, he can build a complete composition from these devices without ever seeming to repeat himself. This treat ment was one at which Debussy was most adept. To Debussy's harmonic treatment Carpenter owes much; the relative free

dom of movement, the vertical harmonizations all would have

been impossible had not Debussy lent his liberating influence

to harmonic history. WYhole-tonism and chromaticism are part

of the inheritance which Carpenter has received and uses very skillfully.

11 Pleure Dans Mon Coeur is a treatment of the same poem

by Verlaine that Debussy had previously set. The Carpenter

setting seems more programrmatic and perhaps a little less artistically conceived than the Debussy piece. Carpenter

employs an American brevity, a to-the-point attitude.

Debussy's setting fills out and enhances the words and mood

of the poetry, lending new beauty to the poem in the short

musical interludes between the voice parts. Carpenter brings

the idea of monotony to the setting, while Debussy has caught

the French meaning of the word, ennui, from the poem. Debussy

does this by longer melodic lines and subtle phrasing, and

by harmonies which enhance the words. Carpenter phrases

abruptly in syncopated rhythms.

Carpenter employs a continuous pedal point on 'd' to

convey the idea of dripping rain with accompanying monotony

(see Figure 46). The rhythm is a subtle usage of syncopa

tion. The chord progressions around the pedal point are 8

r) 2 t cn 0

-*LLL r G

II 'D ~~q- a-

11jg. 46.-oc point and unresolved seventh cbor( s.

IA 0.-

Fig. 47 - e4 . intif

Fl. . 4R- - -econd inter v .l^. n

______p 0* o / Ida c.e ___

Pei. 0eU c-sttonalte an- escaped" crhords. 89

successive sevenths and ninths, and triads. There are chromatic usages but no revolutionary changes of chromatics.

The chords with dissonant seconds, dear to impressionism, can be heard throughout.

"To a Young Gentlemen" is from the Water Color Sketches cycle. The story of this artistic setting of a frivolous

Chinese poem is one of a coquettish young Chinese lady. The lady in question greatly desires her lover to come into her orchard and spoil her willow, mulberry, or sandalwood trees, but she is afraid of what her parents, her brothers, or the world might say. The setting, as Upton states, is "whimsi cally human,"t

Here again one finds the impressionist taking a little material and by clever devising, building an entire com position from this material. In the introduction of this composition is set forth most of the hannonic, melodic, and rhythmic material used. (See Figure 47). Carpenter gets an authentic Chinese effect by skillful use of the pentatonic and chromatic scales and by using the second interval in a

"chopsticks" manner (see Figures 47 and 4$). Pedal points and sustaining of tonality is used with the impressionistic technique (see Figure 49). The cross relationships in augurated by Debussy are employed skillfully in this com position by Carpenter (see Figure 50). Of this composition

Iptow, .cit., p. 211. 7r . 3 ii I i I V (',IL k 4-

I I V 0 ")

p

. red. , 5--:.elod c and harmo Ii1g. 50--Cross-relationsh; . 51ic material smTot;f .

I * r /I

K3 - stainin tonality ur; 1 "iCat- Lon.

fe4 iig. 52- 1o1 ~ot ii.

I C3

1 , n para 1g pedl loint . . 5--- o llel Tnot ion. Howard has said: "it is in tints rather than solid colors.

(Carpenter) suggests a Chinese lute in the accompaniment, he 6 subtly brings out the drollery of the verses."'

The Gitanjali cycle is one of Carpenter's most bits of work. It is rightly considered so because of the skillful way in which Carpenter has wedded the music to the text, Howard says: "He seems to catch the spirit of

Rabindranath Tagore more faithfully than any other composer.

He draws from these poems Oriental warmth of colour, sen sitiveness."7

The first composition in the cycle, "When I Bring to

You Colored Toys," has a very beautiful Oriental text. It

is conceived most delicately, as such a song to a child

should be. The text brings in two elements, color and

sounds of nature, and a play upon the senses which the im

pressionists found indispensable. This composItion has in it many elements comparable to

Debussy' s "Ii Pleure Dans Mon Coeur" setting. There is here

the same broken chord treatment in a sustained tonality in

the accompaniment, and the same independent voice treatment-

the voice and bass parts in contrapuntal motion. Carpenter

has taken an idea, as seen in Figure 51, and subtly repeated

it, making melodic and harmonic material of the idea

ie., p. 432.

7 Ibid., p.482. 92

throughout the composition (see Figure 52). There is also here the impressionistic use of sustained tonality while the other parts modulate; in this case the sustaining is done, in octaves (see Figure 53). Carpenter uses this device much less subtly than the innovator Debussy had done. In build ing his climaxes, Carpenter, like Debussy, modulated rapidly to the peak. The cli ax of this song gives a fine example of this treatment. To give the light, deft touch demanded by the poetry Carpenter has used arpeggiated chords through out. "Light, 1y Light," the last in this cycle of songs, is

a paean in praise of light and love. Upton says the com position is "painted in oils and broad brush work"S in con

trast to the delicate coloring of "When I Bring to You

Colored Toys." Here indeed is climactic evidence that it

pressionis1 had contributed to setting harmonic writing free for all time. The solid chords of "Light, My Light" follow

no rules of succession as they play over the keyboard above

typically impressionistic pedal points (see Figure 54). These chords are often the little-used II, III, and VI chords,

progressing by parallel motion into strange tonalities.

Carpenter progresses amazingly from C major to C sharp major above the pedal point (see Figure 55). Later the progression

is from C sharp ma jor to D major. The modulations are always

8Upton, 2 .ct., p. 211. 93

exciting, usuaTll to a key a major or minor second away.

In the second section of the song is a very interesting

prcgresion of consecutive seventh chords, linked together

very effectively in broken chords. In this piece Carpenter

has used outstanding one tonality while the chords above

"escape" into new tonalities through parallel motion.

- - CHAPTER VIJI

LOOKING FORWARD

Debussy, the innovator, has finished writing; so has the pen of Loeffler ceased to function. About all the words the impressionists had to utter have been uttered. What

Carl Engel has said of Debussy might be said of the idiom itself:

Debussy is already a classicist. Music art is a perpetually unfolding growing thing which finds itself assailed anew. Debussy would not have wanted it other wise. He said: 'Is it not our duty to find the symphonic formulae which fits our time, one which progress, daring and modern invention demand? The century of aeroplanes has a right to its own music,.t

Before is death in 1935, Loeffler went farther than

Debussy and experimented in new techniques. Carpenter is still writing, keeps well abreast of the moderns and has ventured further than the other two. So progress is made . But undoubtedly impressionism has had deep influence on the music of today and contributed its share of beauty to the music of the century.

eussy first opened doors to harmonic daring. His music Is refined, elegant, showing finesse to the extreme ; he has shown more artistic subtlety than any otter writer

94 95

in the impressionistic idiom. Loeffler was more obvious in a employment of Me te ique; he dared further but showed

similar finesse and elegance in style. Carpenter has cx perented, perhaps not s deftly, but just as daringly. He uses the impressionistic technique more programmatically than the other two,

The three iake an interesting picture. Debussy spoke

the impressionist language with a thoroughly French accent;

Loeffler was ropolitan, showing many influences. tech Carpenter has the American viewpoint entirely. The

rque was altered in each case to fit the personality of its user. Had Debussy and Loeffler lived, they would prob

ably o s Carpenter is doing; they would alter the imprcsr

to 'st ic technique or even discard many of its usages for

proress' sake, But as long as music is written there will b brief passages, perhaps only a note or so, that will re flect back to the idiom, the technique and style that Debussy first originated and that Loeffler and Carpenter have so artistically developed. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Aubry, Georges Jean, French Music of Today, London, :. Paul, Trench, Trubner &7 Co., tJ fl26.

Bauer, Marion, Twentieth Cetra Music, New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1934.

Calvocoressi, Michel D., Musician's Gallery, London, Faber & Faber, Ltd., 1933.

Debussy, Claude, monsieur Croche, The Dilettante Hater, London, N. Douglas,f197

Engel, Carl, ALla Breve: From Bach to Debussy, New York, George Schirmer, 921.

Ewen, David, Twentieth Cen tury Composers, New York, Thos. Y. Crowell Co., 1937.

Gilman, Lawrence, Music of Tomorrow, London, John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd 17.

Gilman, Lawrence, Phases o Modern Muic, London, John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd., 105.

Hill, Edward Burlingame, Modern French Music, New York, Houghton 3ivflin Company, 1924.

Howard, James T., Our American Music, New York, Thos Y. Crowell Co., 9.

lull, Eaglefield, Music, Classical, Romantic and Modern, Lordon, J. 1.WnttandeSon td. 9

Lambert, Constant, Music Ho ! New York, Charles Scribners, 1034

Landormy, Paul, A History of lusic, New York, Scribner's Sons, 1931. Leichtentritt, Hugo, Music, Historr and Ideas, Harvard University Press, Cambrge, Massr, 1938.

96 97

Lie ch, rs. Franz, Claude-Achie Debussy, London, John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd., 1925.

Lockspelser, Edward, Debussy, London, J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1936.

Mason, Daniel Gregory, Contemporary Composers, New York, H. '. Gray Co., 1921. Mc aught, William, Modern Music and Musicians, London, Novello and Co., 1937. Pratt, Waldo Seldon, TeeHistory of Music, New York, Schirmer's, 1935.

Holland, Romain, Musicians of Today, New York, Henry Holt and Co., 1928.

Rosenfield, Paul, An Hour With American Music, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincot7.,=T7~9.

Sloni sky, Nicolas, Music Since 1900, New York, W. W. Norton and Co., Inc., 1937.

Taylor, Deems, Of Men and Music, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1937.

Thompson, Oscar, Debussy, Man and Artist, New York, Dodd, Mead and Co., 1937.

Upton, William Treat, Art Song in America, New York, Oliver Ditson Co., New York, 3.

Vall.s, Leon, Claude Debussy, His Life and Works, London, Humphrey Milford, Ox ord University Press, 1933.

Reference Books Scholas, Percy, editor, Oxford Companion to Music, London, Oxford University Press, 1938, Thompson, Oscar, editor, The International Cyclopedia of Msic_ and Musicians, IewYrodd, Mead.ando., 1939.

Articles

Engel, Carl, "Charles Martin Loef fler," Musical Quarterly, Oct., 1935, p. 368. 98

Franco, Johan, "Debussy as a elodist," Musical America, Nov. 25, 1940, p. 5.