3-19

1Va. 2 33

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE HARMONIC EQUIPMENT

AND FORMAL FEATURES IN THE STRING QUARTETS

BY CLAUDE AND

THESIS

Presented to the Graduate Council of the

North Texas State Collese in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

MASTER OF

by 211824 Robert E. Jenkins, B. Mus.

Fort Worth, Texas

August, 1952 29.3.24

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I Page LIST OF TAILES ...... *. . .# iv

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ...... vi

Chapter I. INTRODUCTION: OBJECTIVES AND PROCEDURE . . 1

II. THE INFLUENCE OF PREDECESSORS AND CONTEMPORARIES ON THE WORKS OF DEBUSSY AND RAVEL ...... 4

The Rise of in Influence of Predecessors and Contemporaries on Debussy Influence of Predecessors and Contemporaries on Ravel Counter Influences of Debussy and Ravel

III. HARMONIC ANALYSIS AND COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE DEBUSSY AND RAVEL QUARTETS . . 31 Analysis of the Debussy

Harmonic equipment: structure and function Formal features

Analysis of the Ravel String Quartet

Harmonic equipment: structure and function Formal features

Summary and Comparison of the Debussy and Ravel Quartets

IV. CONCLUSIONS ...... 86

BIBLIOGRAPHY .,.$ ...... 88

iii LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. Harmonic Material in the Debussy juart . . . . 31

2. Seventh Chords ...... 32

3. Inversions of Seventh Chords ...... 33

. * .. * ...... 4* Triads # 35

5. Inversions of Triads ...... 35

6. Chords...... 38

7. Inversions of Dominant Ninth Chords . . . . . 38

8. Tonal Centers in First Movement of Debussy Quartet ...... 47 9. Tonal Centers in Second Movement of Debussy Quartet . .-...... 50

10. Tonal Centers in Third Movement of Debussy Quartet . . .a...... # . . . 53 11. Tonal Centers in Fourth Movement of Debussy uart#t ...... 57

12. Harmonic Material in Ravel Quartet ...... 57

13. Seventh Chords ...... *... 58

14, Inversions of Seventh Chords ...... 58

15. Triads ...... 60

16. Inversions of Triads ...... 61

17. Ninth Chords ...... 62

18. Inversions of Ninth Chords ...... * .... 62

19. EleventhChords ...... 63

iv Table Pale 20. Tonal Centers in First Movement of Ra e uarteo ...... * a . . . . 70 21. Tonal Centers in Second Movement of Ravel Sucartst . . . . ,...... a a a a . 74 22. Tonal Centers in Third Movement of RavelQuartet ...... a . a a .a 76 23.N Tonal Centers in Fourth Movement of Rav l Quartet#.#.!...... a a . a . 80

24. Comparative Interpretation and aa Indications ...... a ap a . 80

25. Comparative Tonal Centers and Formal Aspects . a 82

V LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure Page 1. Debussy, de Bilitis, p. 12, m. 8 9 2. ioussorgsky, "Elegy" from the Song Cycle Sunless ...... * . 17

3, Debussy, "Nuages" from the " . 17 4. Rimeky-Korsakof, Scheherazade, Violin Solo in Second Movement ...... 0 . 18

5. Debussy, 2'Aprs-midi un fauna . . . . .18

6. Borodin, Strin uatet No. 1 . .. 19

7. Chabrier, Trois Valsas Romantiques. . . ..22

8. Ravel, Valses nobles et sentimentales . . . . 23 9. Ravel, "" from the Tombeau de Couperin ...... 23

10. Chabrier, gBourre flaasqu . . . . . 24

11. Faur, quartet for , Violin, and Cello ...... 25

12. Debus y, Strin uare~t ...... 28

13. Ravel, 8rnguartet ...... 28

14. Debussy, "Pagodas" from . . . 29

15. Ravel, d'Eau ...... 30 16. Debussy, Strin Quartet,. p. II, mm. 7-8 34 17. Debussy, Strin Quartet,, p. 34, m.. 10 37

18. Debussy, Striom uartet, p. 33, mm. 15-19 39 19. Debussy, String quartet, p. 35, mm. 1-3 . 40

20. Debussy, Strin Quartet, p. 26, mm. 2-5 41

vi Figure Page

21. Debussy, Strin Quartet, p. 1, mm. 1-2 . . . 42

22. Debussy, String Suar... Lt, p. 1, M. 13; p. 2, m. I ...... 43

23. Debussy, Strip Quartet, p. 3, m. 15; p. 4, m* 1-3 ...... # 43

24. Debussy, Strin quartet, p. 4 , m. 12; p. 5. m. 1 ...... 9 ...... 44

25. Debussy, String Quartet, p. 5, mm, 10-11 . . . 44

26. Debussy, String Quartet, p. 5, mm. 12 -13 . . . 45 nl Quartet, 27. Debussy, S s p. 6, mm. 10 ~-11. .. 45

28. Debussy, String Quartet, p. 15,0 m.4 . . . . . 46

29. Debussy, str Quartet, p. 16, mm. 3-4 ... 47

30. Debussy,. String Suartet, p. 16, mm. 9-10 . . .. 48

31. Debussy, p. 18, mm. 16-19 48

32. Debussy, String Quartet, p. 20, mm. 11-12 49 33. Debussy, String Quartet, p. 22, mm. 1-3 49 Strin uarte , 34. Debussy,, p. 22, mm. 13-16 50

35. Debussy, String Suartt, p. 24, mm. 5-6 . . 50

36. Debussy,. St Quartet, p. 27, mm. 5-6 51

37. Debussy, p. 27, mm. 11-12 52

38. Debussy,, String Quartet, p.. 28,. mm. 11-14 52

39. Debussy, Stringquartet,.String Suartet, p. 29, mm. 11-14 52

40. Debussy, StromgQurtt,. p. 33, mm. 1-2 53 41. Debussy, p. 33, mm. 15-16 54

42.. Debussy, Strin Quartet, p. 35, mm. 4-5 54 43. Debussy, String Quartet,, p. 36, mm. 1-3 55

vii Figure Page n 44. Debussy, String quartet, p. 39, mm. 15-1 . . . 55

45. Debussy, Str Quartet, p. 40, mm. 10-a2 ." . . 55

46.. Debussy, Strin& Quartet,, p. 42, mm. 11-15 . . . 55

47. Debussy, String Quartet, p. 46, mm. 1-2 ." . . 56

48.. Ravel, String Quartet, p. 10, mm. 12-13 . . . 64

49. Ravel, String iartet, p. 1, mm., 1-4 ...... , 65

50. Ravelf stin juaftt, p. 2, mm. 7-9 . . . . . 66

51. Ravel, Strin Quartet, p. 4, mm. 9-11 .. . . . 67

52. Ravel, String Quartet, p. 4, mm. 17-18 . . . 67

53. Ravel, Str Quartet . 5, mm. 8-9 .. . . . 68

54, Ravel, Stri uart p. 6,. mm. 2-m8 . . . . 68

55. Ravel, String Quartet, p. 13, mm. 6-9 . . . . 69

56. Ravel, fljrin 3uarlt, p. 14, mm. 1-2 . . . . 71

57. Ravel, String Quartet, p. 14, , mm. 13-16 . . . 71

58. Ravel, stflna Suartet, p. 18, mm. 20-24 . . . 72

59. Ravel, Stin Qurt p. 21, mm. 1-2 . . . . 73

60. Ravel, Strin5 Ppartet.26, mm. 14-17 . . . 74

61. Ravel, Strom Qartet,. p. 27, mm. 9-12 .. . . 75

62. Ravel, String juart, p. 29, mm. 6-8 . , . ., 75

63. Ravel,. St Quartet,,p.. 34, mm. 1-2 . . . . . 77

64. Ravel, String Quartet, p. 36, mm. 2-3 ...... 77

65. Ravel, Str nQuartet, 36, mm. 12-14 . . . 77

66. Ravel, $tr 4ngQuartet, ps 37, mm. 18-21 . . . . 78

67. Ravel, Strn uartt, P_ 42 mm. 11-13 . . . 78

68. Ravel, String Quartet,. p.. 47, mm. 16-18 . . . . 79

vii CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION: OBJECTIVES AND PROCEDURE

The single flg Quartet by (1892-3) and the one t Quartet by Maurice Ravel (1902-4) did much toward shaping their composer's mature musical person- alities and prepared the way for their acceptance as French composers of the first order. Debussy's uartet marked the beginning of the most productive years of his creative activity, the years between 1892 and 1900. The Ravel Quartet designated the onset of his mature second period, and the composition stands among his most distinctive works.

This thesis proposes to determine the construction of

the two quartets and to reveal through the study of the

quartets the similarities and contrasts of the creative musical characteristics of Debussy and Ravel.

Biographical data concerning both composers are

excluded except in instances of direct relation to the music being discussed. In the same manner critical im-

pressions and opinions of the works of each composer by

various writers are not contained in this study except in

cases of particular importance.

Chapter II is a study of the important influences to

which Debussy and Ravel were subjected. Whenever possible

1 2

and necessary for the clarification of adiscussion con- cerning influences,, examples and references are cited in both the works of the composers being studied and the sources of the influences. Chapter III presents a study of the aesthetic and technical principles employed in the two quartets and analyses of the modes of presentation of these principles in terms of harmonic structure and function. In most cases the clarity and formal symmetry of both quartets make ex- tended note-for-note analyses unnecessary. However, it is here believed that detailed study, if not allowed to obscure the total effect of the work, will unravel passages which at first sight, or first hearing, may seem obscure. Representa- tive sections of the works are considered in most instances to illustrate adequately the item or style feature being discussed. In the analysis of harmonic equipment it is most logi- cal to study and present writing habits which appear in sufficient quantity to be recognized as the principal fear tures of that particular style. A survey of the vertical sonorities in the quartets is therefore presented in order of relative frequency.. In most cases the chords appear in actual vertical structure; however, since some of the music in both works is monodic,, the successive melodic tones which,, when grouped together,, comprise chords, are accorded harmonic identity. 3

Chapter IV is comprised of conclusions which are drawn directly from the materials presented in Chapter II and

Chapter III. It is shown that few additions to the melodic and harmonic. vocabulary of the preceding period in music were made by either Debussy or Ravel. But their importance is to be found in their manner of employing the compositional devices already in existence, It will also be found that their novelties of idiom are principally extensions, rather than contradictions, of the musical practices of the

Nineteenth Century. CHAPTER II

THE INFLUENCES OF PREDECESSORS AND CONTEMPORARIES

ON THE WORKS OF DEBUSSY AND RAVEL

The Rise of Impressionism in France

The word "Impressionism" was originally coined in 1863 as a term for "opprobrium in a derisive criticism" 1 of a painting exhibited in by Claude Monet,, called

"Sunrise; an Impression." The term was then applied to certain anti-academic and anti-romantic tendencies in late nineteenth century painting, advocated and carried into effect by Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir,

Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and a number of others who followed the example set by these leaders.2

The technique of impressionism in painting followed the theory that color, as a defined quantity, does not exist, but is only the result of the play of light upon form. Shadows are considered to be an altered form of light,, rather than the absence of it. By the exclusion from the palette of all but the actual colors contained in the spectrum,, and by the placing of alternating colors

1P. G. Konody, "Impressionism," Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. XII, 14th ed., p. 125. 2lbid.

4 5

upon the canvas, instead of mixing the colors, the impres-

sionist painters "invested their works with a degree of

vibrant quality suggestive of atmospheric vibration that

had not previously been obtained by any other method."3

As applied to sculpture, impressionism refers to model-

ling forms by planes of light and shade with

bosses and hollows, which do not describe form with anatomical accuracy or reveal the essential structure of form, but which reflect light inpuch a way as to create the illusion of natural form. Impressionism in sculpture developed later than impression-

ism in painting and was influenced greatly by the movement

in painting. Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) is the chief repre-

sentative of impressionistic sculpture, but the sculpture

of Degas and some of the modelled works of Carpeaux, Barye,

Epstein, George G. Barnard, and Gutzon Borglum,, are also to

be considered impressionistic. 5

As has been previously stated, the term impressionism

was initially and generally applied to painting, but,, as is usually the case,. music,, poetry,. and the thinking and acting of the entire period reveal similar tendencies. Impression- ism, or (as it is more accurately termed in poetry),

follows a philosophical pattern similar to that of the

k1b., p. 126.

L. D. Longman,, "Impressionism," 4nylopedia of the Ars, (1946), p. 256. 5 lbid. 6

painters. The expression of "a free conception of life"6 was the principle adhered to by the symbolist poets. They endeavored to render the reflection of their subject, rather

than the actual position and structure of it. Their careful of consonants and vowels were intended to con- tain the same general effect as the contemporary impression- istic techniques in music and painting. Symbolism in poetry is treated in greater length in the next section of this chapter, "The Influence of Predecessors and Contemporaries on Debussy and Ravel."

Impressionism,. as most new movements, was rooted in antagonism. In music, the dramatic dynamism of Beethoven, the heated atmosphere and exhibitionism of Wagner, and the introspective emotionalism of the Romantic composers in general was replaced by a new type of music (eminently French in character) which seems to hint rather than to state; in which success- sion of colors take the place of dynamic development, and "atmospheric" sensations supersede heroic pathos.

This new "style, evolved from the disintegrating national and postromantic schools, drafted certain style features found in the music of Wagner, Bizet, Franck, Grieg, Borodin, and Moussorgsky, and reacted sympathetically to influences emanating from contemporary poetry and painting. The crystallization of these new theories in the Impression- istic movement led to the

abandonment of such typically "German" achievements as sonata, symphony, thematic material, development

6 Leon Vallas,, Claude Debussy (1933), p. 51. 7 Willi Apel, "Impressionism, " Harvard Dictionary of Music (1947), p. 350. 7

technique, and resulted in the introduction of various novel devices which are antithetic to the principal features of classical and romantic .

Musical impressionism shares many traits, even technical ones, with literary and pictorial impres- sionism. It exhibits the same disinclination toward a logical compositional grouping of ideas, the same pictorial-planar preference for the juxtaposition of different colors and sonorities which are not held together by definite lines. The unifying effect is no longer achieved through grouping and building but through the similarity of the sections, their char- acter and mood. Thus it is not the order but the mood of the particular sections which achieves "form," for it calls not on memory, but only on a faculty of sen- sory impressionability. The chief component of this music is a programmatic atmosphere; amystic, opaline quality, dreaminess, mood-impressions, instead of causal continuity or logical relationship of ideas. Now music becomes illustration, the illustration of a mood announced in the title. It no longer counts on form in the conventional sense; it is held together by the suggestive mood announced by the poetic--that is, extramusical--title, Still, this is not , nor is it descriptive music it is, rather, poetry translated into music, the landscape poetry" of French literature and painting.9

"Claude Debussy identified himself with the impression- ist movement in French art and produced a.highly original style." 1 0 Debussy's so-called innovations (later termed "Debussyism") became the commonplace tools of impressionist technique. is characterized by the following general devices and elements (a more detailed treatment of the impressionistic methods in music will be

8

9 Paul Henry Lang, Musicnin Western Civilization (1941), p. 1018. 10Hugh Milton Miller, An Outline History af Music (1947), p. 184. 8

made in Chapter III and Chapter IV): the use of open fifths, usually in parallel motion; the employment of neomodality;

extensive parallelism; chord progressions not in accordance with those of the preceding period; extensive use of seventh and ninth chords without preparation or resolution; internal harmonization; the whole tone scale; less prominence of bar- line regularity; long, flowing melodic lines and general vagueness of form; the employment of pseudo-Oriental and

Spanish color effects; use of short appoggiaturas on the strong part of the measure; and, in piano works, simulta- neous usage of the extreme registers of the instrument. 1 1

Maurice Ravel,, the second great exponent of the impres- sionist movement in music, is less atmospheric than Debussy.

His style consists of all of the general impressionistic devices employed by Debussy with the following considera- tions:. sparing use of the whole-tone scale; wider use of the eleventh chord than Debussy; greater clearness of style and less complex in form than Debussy; predilection for baroque forms and styles influenced largely by the works of Couperin and Rameau; and wide usage of Spanish rhythms and harmony. 1 2

The extensive employment of parallel progressions throughout the works of both Debussy and Ravel are the most prominent aspect of their impressionistic techniques.

- i zi "amIbido 1 2 bid., p. 185. 9

Consecutive fifths,, fourths,, and major thirds proceeding by whole tones and by semi-tones, are widely used in the works of Debussy and Ravel. Successions of seconds, sevenths, and in parallel movement are also found in the works of both composers, but they are not used so frequently and extensively as. the consecutive fifths, fourths, and thirds. The following quotation from Debussy's Chansons de

Bilitis (.897) is an example of compact and extensive employ- ment of parallelism:

Fig. 1--Debussy, Chansons de Bilitis, p.. 12, m. 8 major thirds,, fifths, sevenths, ninths, and the whole-tone scale are all present in this passage.

Influence of Predecessors and Contemporaries on Debussy

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) entered the Paris Conserva- toire in 1873 at the age of eleven,, remaining there until he was twenty-two. He went through the established curriculum, enrolling first in Albert Lavignac!'s solfege class,. for which the school was famous.. At the same time he studied the piano 10

with Marmontel and entered the harmony class of Emile Durand.

In 1876 Debussy won first prize in solfbge and second prize

in piano at the annual Conservatoire competitions. The

first prize for score-reading in. 1880 enabled him to enter

the competition class of Ernest Guiraud.

Debussy studied organ and improvisation. for a short

time in 1880 under 0sar Franok.. He abhorred Franck' s

"harmonic vagueness due to his mania for modulating," and

later termed him a "modulating machine."13 However, the influence of Franck's employment and expansion of "cyclical"

form (i.e., the appearance of a defined theme in several movements, with rhythmic,. melodic, and harmonic transforma-

tions, but with the theme always recognizable as to its

relation to the initial source) may be found in Debussy' s

Fantasie for P4an d . (1889) and in the String juaj four years later..

Predilection for harmonic freedom caused Debussy to

appreciate Chopin from the earliest years at the Conserva- toire.

Long before the Russians, and perhaps in an equal measure, the Polish master played an important part in revealing to him the rich possibilities of the Oriental scales, an. the melodic and harmonic vari- ety they afforded. 1 4 Debussy admired Grieg for much the same qualities as

1 3 Leon Vallas,, Claude Debussy (1933), p.. 11.

14Ibid. , p. ,62. 11

attracted him to Chopin. Grieg's unorthodox successions of chords with unresolved sevenths and ninths,, and his alter- nating of major and minor modes in accompaniments to his songs particularly impressed Debussy.

Under the careful guidance of Guiraud, Debussy gained the second Prix, de Rome in 1883 with his cantata Le

Gladiateur,. to the text by Emile Moreau. Paul Vidal won the first prize,, having "evolved the smoother and more skilled composition, technically," however, "Debussy was recognized as having the more personal,. temperamental, and individual talent." 1 5

Between Le Gladiateur and his cantata for the Prix de

Rome competitions the following year came an interval of diverse influences which proved invaluable to Debussy' s development: frequent conferences with his teacher, Ernest

Guiraud, an experienced master of instrumentation; -long discussions with Gounod every week after the meetings of the Concordia Society; intense study of the works of Edouard

Lalo, whom Debussy admired throughout his life; thorough analyses of the works of certain classical and romantic com- posers recommended to him by his professors; and detailed study of the instrumentation of Weber's masterpieces. Debussy was awarded the Grand in 1884 with his setting of the prescribed cantata L' Enfant prodigue,

1 5 Oscar Thompson, Debussy, an and Artist (1937), p. 64. 12

from the poem by Edouard Guinand. Among the twenty-two out of the twenty-eight judges who gave Debussy their vote, the principal voice was that of Gounod.A 6

Several years later Debussy wrote the following con- cerning his impressions upon. learning that he had won the

Grand Prix de Rome:

I was on the Pont des Arts. awaiting the result of the competition and watching with. delight the scurrying of the little Seine steamers.. I was quite calm, having forgotten all emotion due to anything Roman, so seductive was the charm of the gay sunshine playing on the ripples,, a charm which keeps those delightful idlers, who are the envy of Europe, hour after hour on the bridges. Suddenly someone tapped me on the shoulder and said breathlessly: "You've won the prize!" Believe me or not,, I can assure you that all my pleasure vanished I saw in a flash the bore- dom, the inevitably incident to the slight- est official recognition. Besides, I felt I was no longer free. 1 7 With such a pre-conceived attitude, it is understand- able that Debussy's residence in Rome was a period of dis- satisfaction to himself. Visits to Liszt, Bolto, Leon- cavallo, and Verdi partly relieved his boredom, but as to his task of composing an annual work to show his progress,,

Debussy has written to Smile Baron: "The work I have to send to Paris is giving me a lot of trouble and causes me to lead a life compared to which convicts have a leisurely

16 Vallas, Claude Debussy, p. 27. 1 7 Edward Lookspeiser, PDebusy (1936), p. 22. 13

time." 18 Debussy left Rome and returned to Paris before his three-year tenure at the Villa Medici was completed.

Literary influences.--Concerning the literary influ- ences on Debussy, Oscar Thompson has written:

More than the Conservatoire, more than of Rome, more than of Moussorgsk , more than the Gamelang, the rising composer DebussyJ with whom we now have to deal was the product, spiritually and aesthetically, of the literary movement called Symbolism. . . .19

On his return to Paris from Rome (and during the yearaw

1887-1892) Debussy was attracted to the limited circles of the artists and poets of the impressionist and symbolist movements. He was among those attending the Tuesday evenings at Ste'phane Mallarm 4's literary in the back room of the Literairie de l'Art Independant. These symbolist poets were never unified to the degree of being considered school.

Among them were adherents of widely varying personal aims and beliefs.. At MallarmC's salonDebussy met and was brought into contact with such well-known symbolists as Gustave Kahn, Jules Laforgue,. Jean Mordas, Remy de Gourmont, and Henri de Regnier..

. .:..the poets who assembled there Jat Mallarm6 ' s salons endeavored to banish from poetic inspiration subject, development, and composition.. They wanted to break with the inherited forms, to save the purity of sentiment in its literary expression, to condense in it the elusive mobility of life. To achieve this aim the school did away not only with the rules of

18Ibig., p. 31.

1 9 Thompson,, Debussy, M and Ar t, p. 97. 14

traditional prosody,, but also neglected the require- ments of syntax and disregarded the habitual usage of the language itself. They did not seek in their language the intellectual and objective function. of words; they sought their sensuous, musical,, and plastic functions.. Debussy transplanted into music the aes- thetics of this new poetry. 2 0

Paul Dukas, who met Debussy in the autumn of 1885, has written:

Verlaine, Mallarme,, and Laforgue used to provide us with new sounds and sonorities. They cast a light on words such as had never been seen before; they used methods that were unknown to the poets that had pre- ceded them; they made their verbal material yield subtle and powerful effects hitherto undreamt of. Above all,. they conceived their poetry or prose like musicians,, they tended it with the care of 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.2 1

Bayreuth Festivals.--Debussy made two visits. to Bayreuth to attend the Wagner festivals of 1888 and 1889. He heard

larsifal and Die Meistersinger at the 1888 festival, and when he returned the following summer.

Debussy told Guiraud that music should "express the other- wise inexpressible," and that he "did not feel tempted to

imitate what he admired in Wagner. The very; boldness and bigness of Wagnerian utterance" was

antithetical to Debussy's own reticence and his. craving for subtlety in the expression of the

20Lang, Musicin Western Civilization, p. 1023.

2 1 Vallas,. Claude Debussy, p. 52. 15

emotions.. Debussy responded to Wagner's sensuousness, the while he built up a feeling that the French needed a different order of lyrical clarity.2 2

Exposition niverselle..--In the company of Paul Dukas and Robert Godet, Debussy visited the Exposition Universelle of 1889-1890 in Paris. In booths, tents, and in the open air along the Champs de Mars and the Esplanade des Invalides of Paris, native Far Eastern musicians performed their music.

Debussy was reportedly fascinated by the Annamite and Javanese , and he was particularly attracted by the Gamelang, an instrumental group which accompanied the undulatory dancing of the Bedayas. Except for a two-stringed instrument similar in appearance to the viola, this small orchestra consisted entirely of percussion instruments clappers,, rattlers, a variety of bells and , and tuned drums. The Oriental was the scale basically used by the Gamelang, and successions of ninths in long were played on the tuned percussion instruments,2 3 Debussy also attended two concerts of Russian music during the Exposition Universelle at the Trocadero. These two programs,. under the direction of Rimsky-Korsakoff, in- cluded Cesar Cui's Marche Solennelle; Borodin's "Polovtsian.

Dances" from Prince Ior, and his symphonic sketch On he

Steppes of Central Asia; Balakiref' s Overture on Russian

2 2Thompson,, Debussy, Man and Artist,, p. 89.

23Ibid., p. 92. 16

Theme; Moussorgsky' s Night on Bare Mountain; Glazounof' s tnka zin; works by Glibka and Dargomijsky; and Eimsky-

Korsakof' s Antar mphony and Caprice &sanl.

It is not possible to cite accurate examples of the influence of the Exposition Universelle,. the Gamelang, and the Russian concerts on Debussy's works. But it is unques- tionable that they did much toward hastening the revision of

Debussy' s musical aesthetics and opening new vistas for him in terms of rhythm,, , and harmony.

Russian influences.--Saint-Sagns brought the piano edi- tion of Moussorgsky's Boris odounoff back to Paris from a concert tour in Russia in 1874. Being uninterested in the work, Saint-Sagns passed it on to Jules de Brayer, manager of the Lamoureaux concerts. Debussy acquired Boris from de Brayer in 1889, but he is recorded to have taken little interest in the work (the text being in Russian) until 1893, the year in which he read the score through completely in the home of Ernest Chausson at Lusancy.2 4

Moussorgsky's fBoris Godounoff served as a model or formula in the construction of Pelldas et Mlisande, which

Debussy worked on between 1892 and 1902.. The influence of Moussorgsky's "Elegy" from the song cycle Sunless (1869):

2 4 Vallas,, Claude Debussy, p. 60.. 17

A ida4t io eo ro 3

r w gal

' ~ ~~ ~ MOM-

341-a 'low AZ

r r

Fig, 2--oussorgsky, "Elegy" from the son cycle Sunless,

is seen in the first measures of "Nuages, " from Debussy's orchestral Nocturnes (1899):

P? se r e .r:3 2 ~~-~~V

.L ._. i

P-1 b'z - @m " 1

1~e+ dpiw

wo

Fig. 3--Debussy, "Nuages" from the Nocturnes

Moussorsky influenced Debussy' s use of the church modes and. extensive harmonic freedom.. Debussy has written concerning 18

the freedom of Moussorgsky' s art: "His art is free from arid formulas. . *.a . It is like the art of an inquiring savage dis- covering music step by step through his emotions.«" 2 5

Rimsky-Korsakof exerted a profound influence on Debussy in terms of and instrumental contour. One of the best examples of this influence is shown by comparing the violin solo in the first bar of the second movement of Rimsky- Korsakof' s Schehera~ade (1888):

Fig. 4--Rimsky-Korsakof, Scheherazade, violin solo in the second movement. with the following quotation of woodwinds in (page 17, mm. 3,4) from Debussy's L'Apr;s-midi faune (1892):

Fig. 5--Debussy, L pres-midi d' faune

25Thompson, Debussy, Man and. Artist, p. 195. 19

The strength of Borodin' s influence on the music of both Debussy and Ravel is clearly revealed through comparing the opening measures from the slow movement of Borodin's String Quartet No. (1884):

1. H;

!-I r L u'

i

Fig. 6--Borodin, String rI with the third movement of the Debussy Quartet (p. 27, mm. 5-

10), and the slow movement of the Ravel Quartet (p. 26, mm.

14-18). The references cited from the Debussy and Ravel

Quartets are similar to the above example from Bor&din as

to their dreamy, meditative moods and softness .of texture.

The following quotation from J. G. Prod'Homme is prob- ably the best summary of the general influences on Debussy and the original character of his music:

Debussy's music breaks with accepted traditions, like every new and liberating movement, with classic tradition,. as goes without saying; then, aa little less, with romantic tradition, for it bears traces of the 20

influence of Chopin and Liszt, and finally with the Wagnerian system which it claims to repudiate, although Pelleas is not wholly free of lgitmotiv. It takes its authority from the influence of the Russians: Moussorg- sky, Borodine, and, to a less degree, Balakireff. Debussy had found in Moussorgsky,. not mode, but a= formula which evidently was to conform to his tempera- ment. "All the system of Pelleas existed already in Boris Godounoff a quarter of a century earlier," 1. Aarnold has written,, "and with this system a-new lyricism freed from forms and formulas; this lyricism expressed through similar sensibility, came to flower in the work of the later Frenchman in a natural harmony which is marvellously original,"26

The Influence of Predecessors and Contemporaries on the Works of Ravel

Roland-Manuel,. Jean-Aubry. Andre Suars, and Emile Vuillermoz have emphasized in their writings the extent to which Spanish influence has pervaded Ravel' s music.2 7 Ravel' s birthplace was the village of , in the department of the Basses-Pyrendes close to the Spanish border and the Basque

Coast. The early "Habanera" for two , later included in the Rapsodie Esaole for orchestra, the pour une infante defunte, "" from the , the Espagnole, the L'HeureEsainiole, and his song cycle Don jpichotte flQcine all illustrate the per-

sistence of Spanish influence on Ravel.

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was not less characteristically French because of his southern descent, since upon this Spanish

2 6J. G. Prod'Homme, "Debussy," Musical Quarterly, IV (October, 1918), p. 559. 27Hommage h Maurice Ravel," La Revue Musicale (December, 1938). 21

foundation was constructed his education at the Paris

Conservatoire, supplemented by contact with French music, art, and literature..

Ravel's father,, an engineer and an amateur musician, encouraged Maurice to take lessons in piano and harmony. He began to study the piano at the age of seven with Henri Ghis, and later he studied harmony under Charles-Rend, who recog- nized the individual musical qualities of his student.

Following this period of preliminary musical training, Ravel entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1889, at the age of four- teen, remaining there for fifteen years. He was first ad- mitted to Anthiome's preparatory piano class and two years later graduated into Charles de B4 riot's class. He also studied harmony under mile Pessard, . and,, from 1897,, counter- point and under Andrd Gedalge and composition under

Gabriel Faur6. 2 8

The chief factors in the formation of Ravel's creative personality, aside from the regional stimulus of his native

Ciboure, have been the influences of Debussy and Faur6, to- gether with Chabrier and Satie, upon Ravel's general com- positional method. However, at the age of twenty Ravel al- ready possessed a highly personal and harmonically independent style.. This assumption is clearly illustrated in the Minuet Antique (1895) for piano,, followed by the Sites Auriculaires

28 Oscar Thompson,, "Maurice Ravel," The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1939), p.a 1500. 22

(1895-1896) for two pianos, containing the "Habanera" which was later incorporated into the Rgpdie Espan.tle,. he

Paie pour une Lfante defunte (1889), and J dEau (1901). While Ravel was a young student at the Paris Conserva- toire, he made the acquaintance of . Ravel was affected by Satie's spirit of non-conformity and harmonic exploration. Gedalge has reported that Ravel was an out- standing student of , but that he showed an incli- nation for unorthodox harmonic combinations and delighted in playing the unconventional works of Chabrier and Satie. Ravel shocked his fellow-students in Pessard's harmony class by playing Satie's "" and "Gymnopedies" when their teacher was tardy. 2 9

In 1892 Ravel and Ricardo Vines, one of Ravel' s fellow- students and life-long friend, visited to play Chabrier's (1883) for two pianos.

The following phrase appears at the beginning of this work:

Fig. 7--Chabrier, Try QVags Romantiques

29Madeleine Goss, : The Life of Maurice Ravel (1940), p. 42. 23

In Ravel's Valses nobles Q entimentales (1911), written on the model of Schubert's waltzes, this similar phrase is found (p. 21, mm. 7,8):

s

U 1 90 It 11

Fig. 8--.Ravel, Valses nobles et sentimentales

It is quite evident (in comparing the examples quoted above) that besides the example of Schubert, Ravel also had Chabrier in mind.

There is also an obvious connection between the hard, dry staccato in Ravel' "Toccata" in the Tombeau _de pCoupein (1917): I I-j______t______I_ t:T

Fig. 9 -Ravel, "Toccata" from the Tombeau de ouperin.t and the beginning of Chabrier' s Bouree fantasque (1891): 24

{ nowI 4 4

Fig.. 10--Chabrier, Bour e fantasque

Chabrier's influence is also found in several earlier works by Ravel. Sernade grotescue, written in 1893 (the same year that Debussy completed his String Quartet), reveals a strong resemblance to Chabrier's harmonic style. Ravel stated that "Chabrier's music had had a definite effect on the Pavane une Infante defunte and was one of the most important factors of his early development.'30

It was to Gabriel Faure that Ravel owed the most posi- tive influence of a permanent nature that he underwent at the Paris Conservatoire. Faure' s influence was particularly exerted in his classes, in which were found,, besides Ravel, such students as , Roger Ducasse, Koechlin,

Aubert, and Voillermoz. Without the influence of Faure, Ravel would have had more difficulty in freeing himself from being overly influenced by Debussy, not because he con- sciously followed Debussy' s work, but because both Debussy

30oss, Bolero: _The Life of Maurice Ravel, p. 39. 25

and Ravel were affected by common influences (together with their revolt against the Wagnerian and Post-Romantic Schools in preference for a truly French art) and reacted in much the same way to these similar factors. 3 1

The influence of Faurg' s works on Ravel is most clearly revealed in the following isolated,, yet representative,, ex- ample from Faur' quartet (1897) for piano,, violin, viola, and cello (p. 4 , mm. 2-4):

-... .. cr. ." .f.s * J." Im~l

P ,- ,.b,"-.P

Fig. ll-.Faure Quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello.

Close similarities to this quotation from Faure are found in the first movement of Ravel's String uartet (i.e., similar rhythmic and harmonic treatment, melodic contour, and formal structure).

The composers who had the greatest indirect influence on

Ravel's musical aesthetics were Mozart, Schumann, Schubert,

3 1 Frank Onnen, Maurice Ravel, p. 20, 26

Liszt, Chopin, Weber, Saint-Satns, Borodin, and Rimsky-

Korsakof. But they proved to be less important than the composers previously discussed.

Throughout his career, Ravel claimed that he was an

artistic descendent of Couperin.- A large portion of Ravel's

works concern the dance and bear out Ravel's affinity with

the past.. From the early Minuet anrique (1895) Ravel has

occupied himself with the pavane,, tamborin, forlane, gigue,

ronde, rigaudon, waltz, tango, habanera, and malaguena. In

addition to the "gracious and touching compliment paid to

his 'ancestor' in Le Tombeau de Co erin," a list of Ravel's

works "would represent a veritable anthology of choreographic

forms. . . 3

The poets Mallarme, Verlaine, and Baudelaire "entranced

Ravel by their deep sensitivity to music." In literature as well as in music Ravel was

more interested in how things were constructed than in the finished product. He preferred depth to breadth,, and small details to large horizons. Poe's Phisphy of Composition and Poetic Principle attracted Ravel because of their analytic character.33

The extent to which Ravel was subjected to various in-

fluences and his resulting beliefs concerning music is stated

in the following testimony by Ravel as it was recorded by David Ewen:

2 3 Eugene Hill,. "Maurice Ravel: 1875-1937," Modern Music, XV (March-April, 1938), p..141.

3 3 Goss, Bolero: The Life of Maurice Ravel, p., 46.. 27

I am not a "modern composer" in the strictest sense of the term, because my music far from being "revolution," is rather "evolution.A Although I have always been open-minded to new ideas in music (one of my violin sonatas contains a "Blues" movement) I have never attempted in it to overthrow the accepted rules of harmony and composition. On the contrary, j I have always drawn liberally from the masters for my inspi- ration (I have never ceased studying Mozart), and my music, for the most part, is built upon the traditions of the past and is an outgrowth of it. I am not a "modern composer" with a flair for writing radical and disjointed counterpoint because I have never been a slave to any one style of composition. Nor have I ever allied myself with any particular school of music. I have always felt that a composer should put on paper what he feels and how he feels it-- irrespective of what the current style of composition may be.. Great music, I have always felt,, must always come from the heart. Any music created by technique and rains alone is not worth the paper it is written on.3*

Counter Influences of Debussy and Ravel

Debussy' s influence on Ravel is definitely perceptible in many of Ravel' s works, too numerous and extensive to in- clude in this short discussion. These influences are not, however, disturbingly derivitive and do not detract from

Ravel' s individuality or his importance as a composer. One of the best manifestations of this influence is revealed through comparing the following statement from the final movement of Debussy's String qartet (p.. 48, mm. 10-13):

3 4 David Ewen, "Maurice Ravel," Modern Composers, p. 89. 28

~%LIJAS ______LAW - Am n

3 5 Fig. 12--Debussy,, rwa r uartet

with the first movement of Ravel' sString ouartetf ten years later (p. 6, mm. 9-10):

...

.. -r IT b=6. b .. - I

-.

.. :.

..

..

, I I 11

Fig. 13o--Ravel, String Quartet36

35 Claude Debussy, ier a u pour 2 Violons, Alto et Violonoelle, Paris, Durand & Oie, Editeurs, 1929.

3 6 Maurice Ravel, 1 e Quatuor pour 2 Violons, Alto et Violonoelle, Paris, Durand& , Editeurs, 1910. 29

The counter-influences of Ravel on several of Debussy's. works after 1900 is clearly discernible. Debussy's Lindaraja

(1901), a composition for two pianos, is a habanera which contains a C-sharp pedal tone surrounded by the novel harmonic

effects (i.e., unresolved seventh chords in similar motion, parallel movement of fifths and fourths, and the use of the pentatonic scale) which Ravel had employed in 1895 in the

"Habanera" from the Sites Auriculaires. The same harmonic idiom of Ravel's "Habanera" ist again displayed throughout Debussy's "Soiree dans Grenade" from Estampes (1903) for piano. In 1907 Ravel composed his Rhapsodie Espapnole for orchestra, into which he inserted the "Habahera," placing beside that section of the score the date 1895, in order to claim paternal rights to the early work.

A striking incident of the counter-influence of Ravel's piano music on that of Debussy is found in "Pagodes" from Debussy's Etap (1903), p. 7, m. 4:

Svq te"9'' "S. . .

-L. 4 11n 4

Fi.4-Dbss," Pagodes,11 from .q yeQs

3 7 Joseph Gerald. Brennan, "Maurice Ravel,," The Catholic World (May, 1938), P. 199. 30

The above example is quite similar to the following quotation from the concluding measures of Ravel's Jeux d'Eau, published in 1902:

4""a4- mw sow .-

OU moi AliO"Ma- 4 a.4o

UI

A'

Fig. 15--Ravel, Jeux d'Eau

Ravel was no more of the school of Debussy than Bach was of the school of Handel, or Schumann of the school of

Mendelssohn. It often happens that a combination of time, place, and circumstance produces similar trains of thought in two outstanding composers at approximately the same time.

The history of music is full of these pairs of names; for example: Palestrina and Lassus, Handel and Bach,, Mozart and

Haydn. So, in the same way, Debussy and Ravel were the two great representatives in the unfolding of this particular period of musical thought in France. CHAPTER III

HARMONIC ANALYSIS AND COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE

DEBUSSY AND RAVEL STRING QUARTETS

Analysis of the Debu String uartet

Harmonic Equipment: Structure and Function

TABLE 1

HARMONIC MATERIAL IN THE DEBUSSY QUARTET

Movement Triads 7th Chords 9th Chords 11th Chords

First 313 414 76 4 Second 129 181 49 .f Third 71 134 5 6 Fourth 248 329 119 11

Total 761 1058 249 21

*Percentage 37 50 12 1

*Percentage in all tables is calculated within 1 per cent.

Seventh chords.--Approximately one half of the harmonic equipment in Debussy's Quartet is constructed of seventh chords (as shown in Table 1). The bulk of the seventh chords, employed are of three major types: minor-minor seventh1 chords, major-minor seventh chords, and diminished-minor seventh chords.

m - minor; M - major; dim.. - diminished; Aug. - aug- mented; Fr. - French Seventh Chord (i.e., C-E-Gb-Bb; the 31 32

TABLE 2

SEVENTH CHORDS

Movement mm Im dim.m YIM dim Fr. mM Aug44

First 111 99 95 31 31 29 15 3 Second 27 60 37 46 6 4 1 ,, Third 54 28 16 13 15 3 2 3 Fourth 96 67 72 2 111

Total 288 254 220 125 97 38 19 17

Percentage 27 24 21 12 8 4 2 2

These three principal types of seventh chords are found: in root position more than in the three inversions combined (see

Table 3). ..The uninverted sonority is generally maintained throughout the composition, inversions being used principally for passing material and in transitory sections. The next most common seventh chords are the diminished- minor seventh and the major-major seventh.. Both chords are sufficiently common to give them definite value as a part of the harmonic style of the quartet. These chords occur most often in root position, but also in the other three inversions, term French seventh chord is here used in preference to the designation French because the chord is found predominantly in root position); the first symbol refers to the triad, the second to the interval of the seventh. 33

TABLE 3 INVERSIONS OF SEVENTH CHORDS

Minor-Minor Seventh Chords

I 0-0~ Movement Root First Second Third Position Inversion Inversion Inversion

First 51 14 16 30 Second 7 8 6 6 Third 30 12 1 11 Fourth 8 12

Total 151 47 31 59

Percentage 52 16 11 21

Major-Minor Seventh Chords

First 38 5 38 18 Second 31 2 14 9 Third 18 1 1 8 Fourth _4. 6 Total 132 11 66 41

Percentage 52 4 26 18

Diminished-Minor Seventh Chords

First 47 23 20 5 Second 32 5... Third 11 1 1 3 Fourth 22

Total 113 46 43 21

Percentage 51 21 20 8 34

The chord structure C-E-Gb~b, derived from the whole-

tone scale (i.e., C-*D- E-F# wA-A '),is jG#r f ound

most frequently in root position, but it is also used in the first inversion.. Since the note is usually the funda-

mental of the chord,. it appears that Debussy treated it as

a seventh chord (for convenience this chord is termed the

French seventh chord, as in Table 2). In the first movement

(p. 11, mm. 7-8) the chord is seen with the

spelling 0-EF

T W MOWflowmo fo- l flfl duo* 4- MOW 40010 MOW-~~______

IL.doom 41W 1 wLow MOW dD D U 5 P "TLTOWT tow -

Fig. 16--Debussy, StrinR Quartet, p. 1i, mm. 7-8

Triads,-Triads form the chordal structure next in im-

portance to the seventh chords. They consist mainly of the

f our common types (i.e., major,. minor, augmented, and

diminished) . 35

TABLE 4

TRIADS

Movement Major Minor Augmented Diminished

First 120 137 31 25 Second 80 25 21 3 Third 25 28 11 7 Fourth i '241 10 Total 350 262 104 45

Percentage 45 34 14 7

The major triad is the most frequently employed sonority in

the entire quartet. It is usually found in fundamental posi-

tion; the first inversion is next frequent, and it is used

occasionally in the second inversion as a passing chord.

TABLE 5

INVERSIONS OF TRIADS

Major Triads

Movement Root First Second Position Inversion Inversion

First 70 32 18 Second 77 .. 3 Third 24 1 .. Fourth 86 21 18 Total 257 54 39

Percentage 74 15 11 36

TABLE 5--continued

Minor Triads

Movement Root First Second Position Inversion Inversion

First 79 45 13 Second 25... Third 23 3 2 Fourth _5.2_10 Total 186 58 18

Percentage 71 22 7

Augmented Triads

First 17 5 9 Second 7 7 7 Third 7 4 Fourth 10 6

Total 56 22 26

Percentage 54 21 25

Diminished Triads

First 12 11 2 Second 2 .1 Third 3 2 2 Fourth _6|| g4

Total 23 13 9

Percentage 49 31 20

The augmented triad is moderately common, occurring most frequently in fundamental position, but it is also 37

found in both inversions.: The augmented triad has two func- tions in this quartet: the dominant effect, and as an inde- pendent entity in parallel treatment (as in the following example):

"U

*L *

Fig. l1h.-Debussy, Stin quartet, p. 34, m. 10

The above example contains three augmented triads constructed on B, A, and G~, respectively. The cycle of harmonic chance is completed six times (indicated by vertical dotted lines) within the one-.and-a-half measures. Ninth chords.--Approximately two-thirds of the ninth chords in the quartet are the major-minor-inajor type, con- monly referred to as the dominant ninth chord (i. e., as= the dominant ninth chord in 0 ma jor: G-.B-D-F-A ). 38

TABLE 5

NINTH CHORDS

Movement MmM* Mmm mMM MMM imm dim.nu mMm

First 50 8 6 4 2 3 3 Second 30 7 2 3 3 2 2 Third 2 2. .. 1 2... Fourth _8 8 _6 _54 .2, Total 166 25 16 14 12 9 7

Percentage 67 10 7 6 5 3 2

*The third symbol refers to the interval of the ninth of the chord, the first and second symbols referring to the triad and seventh substructure.

The dominant ninth chord (i.e., major-minor-major) is f found most consistently in root position and occasionally in second or third inversions:

TABLE 6

INVERSIONS OF THE DOMINANT NINTH CHORDS

Movement Root First Second Third Position Inversion Inversion Inversion

First 32 5 7 6 Second 18 1 10 4 Third 1 .. .. Fourth 37 4 20 21

Total 88 10 37 31

Percentage 53 6 22 19 39

Eleventh chords.--The eleventh chord is not present in sufficient quantity in the Debussy Quartet to be considered an important feature of harmonic style. The two principal types that are found differ only in the seventh-chord sub- structure, one containing the major-minor seventh chord, the other based upon the minor-minor seventh chord. The ninth is major and the eleventh is perfect in both chord-types.

Incomplete nrities.--There is considerable use of monodic writing in which Debussy uses various combinations of unison and doubling in the parts. All four instru- ments in unison or in octave doublings are employed in the closing section of the first movement (p. 15, mm. 4-12). The solo instrument is used in the quartet to introduce new sec- tions (as in the following example):

I I I] fi

OOOMN~bf y '4

-. qqk r

AT- b% L V IF

IL Iff I IV--

10

IF qw I*- I in log M L_ I T.3 a, I

k- _U _MW

Fig. 18--Debussy,. tr Quartet, p. 33, mm., 15-19 40

In the above example the passage begins with the 'cello pre- senting fragments of diminished seventh chords constructed on B, B3, and A, respectively; and then outlining the complete diminished seventh chord on B. The identical harmonic scheme is presented two measures afterward in a 'cello-viola duet, the last part of the measure containing the B diminished seventh chord arpeggiated in contrary motion. Two measures later the complete quartet presents the series of diminished seventh chords, beginning on the F# diminished seventh chord, with the chord being arpeggiated in the last part of the measure.

Incomplete sonorities are also used to "taper" away from a full-sounding passage. The procedure employed in the previous example is here reversed, with augmented triads filtering down to one note (as seen in the following example):

U I

Fig. 19--Debussy,, Strin quartet, p. 35, mm. 1-3 41

Pedal effects.--In the first movement (beginning on page 10, measure 1) the 'cello sounds an Ab-D pedal figure, with sparing chromatic alteration of the Ab to A and Bb, and lasting fifteen measures. A thirty-five measure G- pedal- point is found in the final movement (beginning on page 42, measure 11). These two pedals function alternately as har- monic and non-harmonic material to the upper parts. Most of the pedal effects in the work, however, are brief and har- monic in function, occurring under changing harmonies of which the pedal is usually a chord member. There are also examples of inner pedal points (viola part on p. 39, mm, 15-

21, and the viola part on p. 42, mm. 11-18), and figures as, for example, the following 'cello part found in the first movement (see following example):

Fig. 20--Debussy, Strin Quartet p. 26, mm. 2-5

Formal Features

First movement.--The first movement of the Debussy Strin quartet is in modified sonata-allegro form. The exposition presents two themes with each theme containing a second part.

The generating theme (or first theme part 1) forms the melodic and rhythmic basis for the thematic material of the first, 42

second., and fourth movements of the quartet. The first theme

part 2 appears only once in the entire movement. A third

theme is introduced in the development section and is devel-

oped together with the generating theme. The recapitulation

is curtailed by the omission of all themes except the first

part of the first theme.

The generating theme is first stated by the first violin

in the opening two measures of the quartet:

I& D I

LOIL44 4- . 1 ow

IL LAL I I 1 I I IfL I

Fig. 21--Debussy, Strip quartet,p. 1, mm. 1-2 (first statement of the generating theme).

The flattened second degree (Ab), recognizing G as being the

tonal center2 of the first section, imparts the flavor of the

Phrygian mode, which is retained throughout much of the first

2 The tonal center is that tone in a theme around which other tones seem to gravitate; a major or minor key feeling is not necessarily inferred. 43

movement and, to alesser degree, in the second and fourth movements.

The transition leading to a repetition of the first part of the first theme is simply a rhythmic arpeggiation of the

G minor triad. This repetition of the initial theme is fol- lowed by descending sequential patterns derived from the first theme, preparing the way for the entrance of the second part of the first theme:

eCx v$fr wf d fo"+etnu

Fig. 22--Debussy, String Quartet, p. 1, m. 13; p. 2, m, 1 (first theme, part 2).

The first theme3 returns (p. 3, m. 2) and is extended by ascending sequential patterns derived again from the gener- ating theme.

The second theme part 1 appears with Bb as the tonal center, again employing the Phrygian mode:

Fig. 23--Debussy, String Quartet, p. 3, m. 15; p. 4, mm. 1-3 (second theme, part 1).

3 Further reference to the first theme concerns the first theme part 1,, as the first theme part 2 is not used again. 44

The first part of the second theme is repeated with no altera-& tions and moves on to the second theme part 2:

e 'avwAg e t + peuu peu

Fig. 24--Debussy, strin. quartet, p. 4, m, 12; p. 5, M. 1 (second theme, part 2).

Ascending sequential treatment and octave doublings, together with an increase in volume from piano to fortissimo, are used in building a climax for the entrance of the development section of the first movement:

J 1W,

Fig. 25--Debussy, Str quartet, p. 5, mm. 10-11 (state- ment of the initial theme in the development section).

The first theme is stated by the 'cello with F# the tonal cen- ter, accompanied by sustained tones in the upper voices. In the next measure a third theme is presented for the first time by the first violin: 45

7-T J., rT "I lion A bt I 1 0 di ILI Owl I T

I T e4.4 xpvgerr

Fig. 26-.Debussy, $4n Quartet, p. 5, mm. 12-13 (first statement of the third theme).

This theme is extended with syncopated rhythmic treatment and

then repeated one-half step higher (with Bb the tonal center).

Following further extension of the third theme, culminating

in arpeggiated triplets in all four instruments, the initial

theme is stated with double stopping in all four parts (with

Bb the tonal center) :

(I

i.: i ir n

TI I tit !' > >'

'.5L ______

11I ______7 J

I I 1UP,

r i i' S

Fig.. 27--Debussy, Strin Quartet, p. 6, mm. 10-1l

The first theme continues in the first violin and undergoes

considerable development. The third theme appears (beginning

on p. 7, m., 11) with G the tonal center and is developed 46

even more extensively than the first theme proper. After a stormy statement with all instruments sounding arpeggiated triplets (fortissimo) the generating theme appears in a con- trastingly quiet section played by the viola above a D-Ab pedal in the 'cello. The section closes with triplet figures in all parts, establishing a climax for the beginning of the recapitulation.

The recapitulation appears in the original mode (begin- ning on p. 11, m. 9) and is shortened by the exclusion of the second theme. The first theme receives further development, and the first movement ends in a brilliant coda with all four instruments in unison, except for the concluding G minor chords (with double stopping in all four instruments).

Fig. 28-Debussy, Strin Quartet,. 15, m. 4 47

TABLE 8

TONAL CENTERS IN THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE DEBUSSY STRING QUARTET

Exposition

First Theme Second Theme

Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2

G Bb Bb c

Development Recapitulation

FG G GQ D,,: Bb

Second movement,--The second movement of the Debussy

Comet (Assez vif et bien rytme; 112) is a scherzo in . The principal thematic material in this move- ment is derived from the generating theme of the first move- ment. The opening theme of the second movement is introduced in the low register of the viola after four pizzicati G major chords:

N _ r 1 r I i I

Jol

Ift Amoms T 0 - e1- L.A .--- .

Fig. 29--Debussy, Strinp Quartet, 2nd movement, p. 16, mm. 3-4 (first theme of the second movement). 48

The theme is here again cast in the Phrygian mode, with the flattened second degree (Ab). The accompanying pizzicati form contrasting rhythmic background,, as in the following example:

-p U - +3

PP I610 I1 Awl~ I I'ON 'Vww P zt , 1 V

Fig. 30--Debussy, String quartet, 2nd movement, p. 16, mm. 9-0.K.

The middle section (appearing in the first violin begin- ning on p. 18, m. 16) is constructed by the transformation of the generating theme by augmentation. The intervals of this statement of the theme are identical with those of the opening theme of the second movement :

401#Wd ___ 100 a - 0 Ll AIft Auk. Lie

I P etcprerJ~f

Fig. 31--Debussy, Stri Quartet,. 2nd movement, p. 18, mm. 16-19 (first transformation of the generating theme). 49

After six measures of transitory material, constructed largely of arpeggiation of the Eb major chord, the theme quoted above is repeated identically as it appeared in the previous example (Figure 31).

Following eight measures of transition,, the theme appears in the viola in the form in which it was employed at the be- ginning of the second movement (with the exception of being an octave higher in the present statement). In this statement the theme is accompanied by a counter melody in the "Cello,

Fig. 32--Debussy, 3trin Quartet, 2nd movement, p. 20, mm. 11-12 (restatement of the opening theme).

In its next appearance the theme is stated in an orna- mented transformation with Gb as the tonal center (see Figure

33), and is presented four measures later at the relative. dominant (Db).

- -.I am al ii ii II I I -

Fig. 33--Debussy, String Quartet, I,2nd movement,, p. 22, mm. 1-3 (second transformation of the generating theme). 50

The next transformation of the theme is found with the following alterations of the generating theme (with the tonal center F#)

Fig. 34--Debussy, String Quartet, 2nd movement, p. 22, mm. 13-16 (third transformation of the generating theme).

The theme (in the exact form in which it appears in the above example,, Figure 34) is repeated after four measures of tran- sition.

The final section (with the tonal center G throughout

this passage to the end of the movement) employs the genera- ting theme in extensive pizzicati treatment:

Fig. 35--Debussy, Strip quartet, 2nd movement,. p. 24, mm. 5-6 (fourth transformation of the generating theme).

TABLE 9

TONAL CENTERS IN THE SECOND MOVEMENT OF THE DEBUSSY QUARTET

1st Theme 1st Tr.* Return 2nd Tr. 3rd Tr. 4th Tr.

G Eb C IGG__ *Tr. refers to the various transformations of the theme. 51

Third movement. -This movement (Andantino, doucement expressif: 80) is not thematically related to the other movements of the quartet (with the possible exception of the first violin part of the first consequent phrase; see

Figure 37). The third movement is constructed of three themes presented in the following order: first theme, second theme, third theme, second theme, first theme.

The first theme (see Figure 36) is purely lyrical in character and is widely contrasting to the thematic material in the other three movements of the quartet.

me' V41 -AlT

~ I I.

FIg,-36-Deus y, r. r Ire,oeenp 7

Fig. 5&--Debussy, 5tri.n Qaret 3rd movement, p. 27, mm. 5-6 (first theme of the third movement).

This theme (in Db) receives a two measure complement and is immediately repeated in the same form as it originally ap- peared. The consequent phrase which follows resembles the generating theme in the first group of three notes of the 52

first measure and in the first and second groups of three notes of the second measure

c-ve -I

Fig. 37--Debussy,, String quartet, 3rd movement, p. 27, mm. 11-12 (first consequent theme).

The second theme is derived from the second measure of the first theme of the third movement (compare the first measure of Fig. 38 with the second measure of Fig. 36).

Fig. 38--Debussy, String quartet, 3rd movement, p. 28, mm. 11-14 (second theme).

The second theme is extended in the viola through two subse- quent phrases, later receiving contrapuntal treatment in the first and second violins (p.. 29, mm. 4-10).

The third theme is introduced by the viola:

ev wcd e H or e s ____

Fig..39--Debussy, String Quartet, 3rd movement, p. 29, mm. 11-14 (third theme). 53

This theme is answered by the 'cello (p. 29, m. 18) at the fifth below (E), the 'cello line continuing (at the close of the answer) with a restatement of the theme (as it appeared in Figure 39), doubled an octave higher by the second violin (p. 30, m.4).

After considerable extension and development of the third theme, the second theme returns (p. 31, m. 20, with E the tonal center, as it was originally introduced).

The first theme reappears (p. 32, m..7) in the original key of Db.

TABLE 10

TONAL CENTERS IN THE THIRD MOVEMENT OF THE DEBUSSY QUARTET

1st Theme 2nd Theme 3rd Theme 2nd Theme let Theme

Db E B E B E Db

Fourth movement.--The fourteen measure introduction to the fourth movement, beginning with the solo line in the 'cello

(see Figure 40), is constructed of materials from the genera- ting theme of the first movement.

Fig. 40--Debussy, Strin quartet, 4th movement, p. 33, mm. 1-2. 54

The first theme of the fourth movement (see Figure 41) is strongly reminiscent of the first theme of the second move- ment and (as was the first theme of the second movement) is also derived from the generating theme.

Fig. 41--Debussy, String Quartet, 4th movement, p. 33, mm. 15-16.

This theme,. as quoted in the above example (Figure 41), is taken up by the viola (p.. 33, m. 17) and by the first and second violins (p.34, m.. 2). The first section ends with a descending sequence of the first theme, the texture contract- ing to a single tone .(Ab). The second theme (see Figure 42) is constructed of new thematic material and has little affinity with the generating theme.

Fig. 42--Debussy, trying Quartet, 4th movement, p. 35, mm. 4-5.

The second measure of the second theme is used in the construction of the third theme: 55

oo /" , I

... . lot

- 1 "* ' . I

Fig. 43--Debussy, String _Quartet, 4th movement, p. 36, mm. 1-3.

The generating theme appears in free augmentation:

%Wool dou, 4 excpre.rr

Fig. 44--Debussy, String quartet, 4th movement, p. 39, mm. 15-19. and later in syncopated augmentation:

I o .ba % I AM A4l U I U I e ...

I I ' -I

Fig. 45--Debussy, Strin uartet, 4th movement, p. 40, mm. 10-12.

In the first violin part (see Figure 46) the generating

theme is found in , again treated in free augmentation.

mom

ff aec p:asbov e t+vex sou+etv Fig. 46--Debussy, String Quartet, 4th movement, p. 42, mm. 11-15. 56

The second theme of the fourth movement returns (begin- ning on p. 44, m. 8) and receives considerable development.

The closing section of the final movement begins with the following statement of the generating theme, stated in the original key of G and retaining the flavor of the

Phrygian mode (with the flattened second, Ab).

1~ dr. --. d - I I 0

12

20 p

n n > > >

TT I

sow Moto' arm, too,

Fig., 47-.-.Debussy, String quartet, 4th movement, p. 46, mm. 1-2.

The first theme reappears at the beginning of the coda

(p. 49, m. 12) and the movement ends with a swift ascending scale and a fortissimo G major chord. 57

TABLE 11

TONAL CENTERS IN THE FOURTH MOVEMENT OF THE DEBUSSY QUARTET

Intro. 1st Th. 2nd Th. 3rd. Th. Gen.a Th. 2nd Th. Cl. Sec.b

Db Ab G G E G Generating theme. Closing section.

Analysis of the Ravel String Juartet

Harmonic Equipment: Structure and Function

TABLE 12

HARMONIC MATERIAL IN THE RAVEL QUARTET

Movement riads 7th Chords 9th Chords 11th Chords 13th Chords

First 89 169 109 46 Second 128 96 58 28 2 Third 37 57 34 36 Fourth 123 88 104 227 Total 377 410 305 142 9

Percentage 30 33 25 11 1

Seventh chords.--Approximately one third of the vertical sonorities in the Ravel Quartet are constructed of seventh chords (see Table 12). The majority of the seventh chords employed are comprised of four major types. (see Table 13): major-major seventh chords,. minor-minor seventh chords, dimin- ished-minor seventh chords, and major-minor seventh chords. 58

TABLE 13 SEVENTH CHORDS

Movement MM mm dam Mm mM dd Fr. Abm A md. dM

First 53 44 40 24 .. 3 .. . 2 3 Second 44 3 21 22 .. 1 3 1 .. .. 1 Third 2 13 7 32 .. 1 2 ...... Fourth 14 33 19 8 8 ... 4 2 Total 113 93 87 86 8 5 5 5 4 3 1

Percentage 28 23 21 21 2 1 1 1 1 .. ad Rdi i dv A -U m" LJ..n AI s * 4% 'J.WW* .wCV

Approximately sixty per cent of these four principal types of seventh chords appear in root position in the Ravel Quartet,

(compare Table 14 with Table 3 of the Debussy Quartet).

TABLE 14

INVERSIONS OF SEVENTH CHORDS

Major-Major Seventh Chords

Movement Root First Second Third Position Inversion Inversion Inversion

First 23 16 2 12 Second 33 4 4 3 Third 2 ...... Fourth 9 3 2 .. Total 67 23 8 15

Percentage 59 21 7 13 59

TABLE 14--continued

Minor-Minor Seventh Chords

Movement Root First Second Third Position Inversion Inversion Inversion

First 26 11 2 5 Second 1 1 1 Third 9 .. .. 4 Fourth 22 3 3 5 Total 57 15 6 15

Percentage 61 16 7 16

Diminished-Minor Seventh Chords

First 30 5 1 4 Second 12 3 5 1 Third 4 2 1 Fourth 11 5 1 2 Total 53 17 9 8

Percentage 61 20 10 9

Major-Minor Seventh Chords

First 12 4 8 Second 18 3 1 Third 26 .. 4 2 Fourth 3 4 1

Total 59 15 12

Percentage 69 18 13 60

Triads.--The chordal structure second in importance

(by a margin of three per cent; see Table 12) to the seventh chord is the triad. The major and minor triad is frequently employed in the Ravel uat, the diminished triad is in- frequent, and the augmented triad is rarely used.

TABLE 15

TRIADS

Movement Major Minor Diminished Augmented

First 46 32 9 2 Second 86 40 .. 2 Third 25 9 3 .. Fourth 74 34 10 5

Total 231 115 22 9

Percentage 61 31 6 2

The major triad is the most frequently used sonority in the Ravel Quartet (231 major triads),, the minor triad is

second (115 minor triads, as seen in Table 15), and the major- major seventh chord is third in importance (113 major-major

seventh chords, as shown in Table 14).

Approximately sixty per cent of the triads in the Ravel quartet are found in root position, with the second inversion next frequent (see Table 5). 61

TABLE 16

INVERSIONS OF TRIADS

Major Triads

Movement Root First Second Position Inversion Inversion

First 40 3 3 Second 61 .. 25 Third 24 1 .. Fourth 66 5 3 Total 191 9 31

Percentage 83 4 13

Minor Triads

First 25 3 4 Second 25 8 7 Third 7 1 1 Fourth 25 8 1

Total 82 20 13

Percentage 71 17 12

Ninth cham .-- Approximately one half of the ninth chords in the Ravel quartet are of the following two types: major- minor-major (dominant ninth chord) and major-minor-minor. 62

TABLE 17

NINTH CHORDS

Movement MmM Mmm mm inM 1M Mm dm, dinM Mdi AMm AMM

First 11 32 16 9 5 12 7 6 4 4 3 Second 15 19 8 3 .. 4 .. 1 2 .. 2 Third 5 5 4 14 2 2 ...... 1 1 Fourth 41 12 6 5 16 2 7 5 6 6 2

Total 72 68 34 31 23 20 14 12 12 11 8

Percentage 24 22 11 10 8 7 5 4 4 3 2

The two principal ninth chords (major-minor-major and major-minor-minor) appear consistently in root position, as shown in the following table:

TABLE 18

INVERSIONS OF NINTH CHORDS

Major-Minor-Major Ninth

Movement Root First Second Third Fourth. Position Inversion Inversion Inversion Inversion

First 8 ,. .. .. 3 Second 13 .. .. 2 .. Third 4 1 .. .. . Fourth 27 7 .. 7

Total 52 1 7 2 10

Percentage 72 1 10 2 15 63

Major-Minor-Minor Ninth Chords

First 18 5 3 5 1 Second 14 .. 1 3 1 Third 5"..". .. .. Fourth 6 3 1 .. 2 Total 43 8 5 8 4

Percentage 64 12 7 12 5

Eleventh cam .--The eleventh chord is employed next in importance to the ninth chord in the Ravel quartet (see Table

12). No single type of eleventh chord, however, is employed frequently enough to be termed the principal type used in the quartet.

TABLE 19 ELEVENTH CHORDS

Movement Mm mmmM mMm MMmm Mmmx Mm MMmM dxmmMM0

First 15 9 5 1 6 4 .. 3 4 . Second .. 7 3 2 5 4 1 3 1 2 Third .. 2 8 3 4 4 9 2 .. 4 Fourth 8 2 3 10 1 2 4 .. 2 1

Total 23 20 19 16 16 14 14 8 7 7

Percentage 17 14 13 11 11 9 9 6 5 5

The eleventh chord is found most frequently in root position, but it is used occasionally in the first and second inversions, rarely in the fourth and fifth inversions. 64

Thirteenth chords.--The thirteenth chord is not used in sufficient quantity in the Ravel QAtet to be considered an important feature of harmonic style. The principal type of thirteenth chord is the major-minor-major-minor-major (i.e.,

Whole-tone scale.--In the first movement a whole-tone pedal is used,. descending from Bb to E (p. 5, mm. 5-19); and again, in the same treatment, a pedal descending from C to Eb (p. 13, mm. 3-14). The following example shows the first theme played by the first violin over two whole-tone chords

(i.e., C-Db-Eb-F, and Gb-Ab-Bb.Cb), the same two chords being repeated in the second measure:

, 1 r1 I I I

01

Fig. 48--Ravel, 5trin Quartet, p. 10, mm. 12-13 (whole- tone passage). 65

Formal Features

First movement.- -The first movement of the Ravel quartet is in strict sonata-allegro form (except for the introduction of a new theme in the development section). The exposition consists of two themes, the first of which appears in two parts.

The thematic material presented in the exposition recurs in the same order in the recapitulation. The coda is constructed with the material from the first theme and, to a lesser degree, the second theme.

Part one of the first theme is introduced by the first violin and comprises the initial four measures of the quartet:

r

-A-* Af

Fig.. 49-..Ravel, S n u , 1st movement, p. 1,, mm. 1-4

After six measures of transition constructed of material derived from the opening theme, part one of the first theme is 66

repeated. The second part of the first theme is again taken

from the initial theme and takes the following shape:

1'? es.r.

Fig. 50--Ravel, Strin Quartet,1st movement,. p. 2, Ipp 7-9.

The first four notes (A-G-A-E) are the same as the first four notes of the opening theme. Although barred in three measures of 4/4, the first theme, part two,, takes the form of two meas- ures of 3/2 (as ind iated by the vertical dotted lines in Figure 50).

In the ensuing section, part one of the first theme is treated in fragmentary form, usually with only the first measure being stated (as pg 2, m., 14) or with the statement of the first two measures (as p. 3,, mm. 3-4).

The second theme is rhythmically contrasting to the first theme in its use of the triplet figure (see Figure 51).

However, the second measure of the second theme employ s the same rhythmic- figure as that of the initial theme. 67

~Ii~l~ 0-to"* am- 4 sa - vziz I ii I

"^ .e.r.... t- r3~Q.Qp P

I Iz

W--V Li PP 3 17L;J i3

III 1111 ' -t- L1I.ll

Fig. 51--Ravel, String Quartet, 1st movement, p. 4, mm. 9-11.

The second theme is later taken up by the second violin with the following counter-melody in the first violin

L -Alt

y:*covae :

Fig. 52--Ravel, Str , 1st movement, p. 4, mm. 17-18.

The development section is introduced by material derived

from the third measure of the second subject (compare m. 1

of Figure 51 with the first two measures of the development

section, p. 5, mm. 5-6). The statement of the first part of 68

the first subject is deferred until the fourth measure of the development section, introduced in the second violin:

eNdekovdeIda '

- doom

so

Fig. 53.--Ravel, Strin ar , 1st movement, p. 5, mm. 8-9.

A third theme, appearing for the first time in the development section, is stated by the viola:

7p pp ,a oooow

Fig. 54-Ravel, S r '4uQart t, 1st movement,p., mm. 2-8.

third theme The i heard for the second and final time (p. 6, mm. 9-14) a the interval of the minor third above (Eb) in the first violin,, doubled two octaves lower b the ' cello.

Only fragmentsof the second theme are heard inthe development section (as p. 7, ,a1t-et1).The first theme, part one, is again heard (beginning on p. 8, m. 2) and is 69

used in building the climax of the first movement. The

climax is achieved by ascending melodic lines (in tremolos,

accelerando poco a poco) and rising intensity levels from piano to fortississimo (fff).

The recapitulation (beginning on p. 9, m. 1) employs

the same thematic material as the exposition in identical

sequence (first theme part one, first theme part two, frag-

mentary return of first theme part one, third theme). The

same number of measures is devoted to each theme, and each

theme is stated in the same key as it appeared in the exposi-

tion, with the exception of the fragmentary return of part

one of the first theme (in A in the exposition; in C in the recapitulation).

In the coda the initial theme begins one half step higher (A#) than it appeared at the beginning of the move- ment.

Fig. 55--Ravel, rin; art t, 1st movement,. p. 13, mm. 6-9.

Fragments of the second theme are heard in the coda and the movement ends in the original key of F. 70

TABLE 20

TONAL CENTERS IN THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE RAVEL QIJARTET

Expos ition

First Theme Return Second Theme

Part Part 2

F A A D

Development Recapitulation

D F# F A C D F

Second movement,-_-The second movement is a scherzo con-

sisting of three basic themes, the third theme forming a broadly contrasting middle section. The 6/8 and 3/4 begin- nine results in cross accents (as seen in Figure 56).

The scherzo has a pizzicato opening with the first theme appearing in the first violin: 71

pt".

7wSo PfvJ, ,

"IV

Fig. 56--Ravel,, Strin Qartet, 2nd movement, p. 14, mm. 1-2.

The second theme is stated (with the tonal center 0#)

following only twelve measures of the first theme (see Fig- ure 57). The second theme is then repeated in the viola

(p. 14, m. 17 through p. 15, m. 3) at two octaves below the first statement.

ww%'or o CAM 4om

.. T " r TI

I 'UJ

w

I PP i~hcl~

Fig. 57-.Ravel, Str uartet, 2nd movement, p.. 14, mm. 13-16.

The first theme is restated (p. 16, mm. 4-16),, retaining the same length and tonal center (A) in which it first appeared. At the close of this restatement of the first theme, the second 72

theme recurs,,maintaining the original form (i.e., stated in

the first violin, p.. 16, mm. 16-18, and repeated two octaves

lower in the viola, p. 17, mm. 2-4). In this statement, howe

ever, the tonal center is lowered one half step (from the C# in the first statement to C in the second).

The middle section of the movement is cast in 3/4 and

is to be played very slowly (Lent: 46). The third theme,

appearing at the beginning of the middle section (see Fig- ure 58) is found in the 'cello.

+'es QxprErI*

Fig. 58--Ravel, Strin utet, 2nd movement, p. 18, mm. 20-24.

The 'cello part (Figure 58) is higher than the second violin

and viola accompaniment (the viola being above the second

violin). The third theme is then taken up by the viola (begin- ning on p. 19, m. 2).

The next section of the movement employs fragmentary

treatment of the second theme (p. 19, mm. 11-18, and p. 20, mm. 1-3) and the first theme (p. 20, mm. 4-8).

In the closing part of the middle section the third

theme reappears in the first violin with the first theme in the second violin: 73

W L

re

Fig. 59--Ravel, String Quartet,, 2nd, movement, p. 21, mm. 1-2.

The recapitulation (beginning on p. 23, m. 7) presents

the first theme and the second theme in their original forms

(retaining the initial tonal centers of the two themes, A

and #, respectively). The second theme is extended into

the codetta (p. 25, mm..15-21), which also employs material

from the first theme, and the scherzo ends in G (the original key of the movement). 74

TABLE 21

TONAL CENTERS IN THE SECOND MOVEMENT OF THE RAVEL QUARTET

l t Th.. 2nd Ph. 1st Th. 2nd Th. 3rd Th.j let Th. 2nd Th

A _ _A [ I) F A

Third movement.--The third movement is rhapsodic in char-

acter, with six quotations of the first two measures from the

first theme in the first movement. Three new themes appear

in this movement (in the order: first theme, second theme,

first theme, third theme, first theme); however, most of the

melodic material is derived from the first theme of the first movement.

The first theme appears (tree lent: 44) following an

introduction melodically constructed from the first three

notes of the first theme of the first movement (see the viola

part,, p. 26, mm. 1-2). The first theme is presented in the

viola with a counter-melody in the second violin:

to ' I- _____

vIlI a I A-id n II _____ I14WP w

+vQS epvQssr+-

Fig. 60--Ravel, Strinp quartet, 3rd movement, p. 26, mm. 14-17. 75

The first theme is followed by a statement of the first two measures of the first theme in the first movement.

Following a five-measure transition and another two- measure quotation of the first theme of the first movement

(p. 27, mm. 6-7), the second theme is again found in the viola, with a counter-melody once more in the second violin:

Fig. 61--Ravel,,,trin Q,uartet, 3rd movement, p. 27, mm.. 9-12.

The first theme returns (p. 28, mm. 2-5) and is immedi- ately followed by another statement of the opening two meas- ures of the first theme from the first movement (p. 28, mm.

6-7). The ensuing section (p. 28, mm. 9-20,: and p. 29, mm.

1-5) is constructed of the materials from the introduction to the third movement. The third theme is introduced in the second violin:

0 4 - I bf Ow- %MWOOO' 4460 %,.,,r

Fig. 62--Ravel, trip Qfuartet, 3rd movement,} p. 29, mm. 6-8. 76

The answer to the third theme is found in the first violin

(p. 30, mm.. 1-3) at the fifth above (G). The third theme

receives considerable extension and development (p. 30,

mm. 4-5, and p. 31, mm. 1-6), and the two-measure quotation

of the initial theme from the first movement recurs (p. 31, mm. 7-8).

After six measures of transition, the second theme

returns (in Gb, as it originally appeared), again in the viola. Finally the first theme (appearing on p. 33, m. 2)

is stated in the viola (with the tonal center Eb), and the

movement ends with the recurrence of the first two measures

of the first theme of the first movement (with the tonal center Gb).

TABLE 22

TONAL CENTERS IN THE THIRD MOVEMENT OF THE RAVEL QUARTET

Intro. 1st Th.. 2nd Th. 1st Th.. 3rd. Th.. lst Th.. End

A Gb Ab Eb A Eb Gb

Fourth movement.--The first theme of the fourth move-

ment (Vif et agite: 84) begins with all four parts in unison, the three upper parts in the same register and the 'cello an octave lower: 77

Fig. 63--Ravel, Strin quartet, 4th movement, p. 34, mm. 1-2.

The second theme (cast in 5/4) takes the following shape:

O

Fig. 64..-Ravel, Stro quartet, 4th movement,. p. 36, mm. 2-3.

This theme is repeated an octave lower by the 'cello in the next measure. After six measures of transition, constructed of the material from the first three notes of the second theme

(see Figure 64), the second theme is presented in the follow- ing form:

Fig. 65--Ravel, string quartet, 4th movement,, p. 36, mm. 12-14.

The second theme of the first movement is used in the construction of the third theme of the fourth movement 78

(compare Figure 66 with Figure 51, the second theme of the first movement):

Fig. 66--Ravel, Strin quartet, 4th movement, p. 37, mm. 18-21.

The first theme returns in the second violin (beginning

on p.. 38, m. 11), taken up by the first violin (p. 38, m. 15) and treated in descending sequence.

The second theme reappears in the viola (beginning on p. 39, m. 15) and is developed extensively in the ensuing

section.

A restatement of the first theme (beginning on p. 41, m..16) employs the tonal center of and is again seen in descending sequential figures.

The third theme is altered rhythmically in the next

statement (compare Figure 67 with Figure 66, the first state- ment of the third theme).

fa wcbver "Si

Fig. 67--Ravel, Strin ua 4th movement, p. 42, mm. 11-13. 79

In the above example (Figure 67) the leap of the fifth is used instead of the leap of the fourth in the initial state- ment (Figure 66), and the half note in the first statement of the third theme becomes a quarter note in the above statement.

The second theme is then found in the first violin (be- ginning on p.. 43, m. 11) with A the tonal center.

After considerable extension of the second theme, the first theme is sounded at the beginning of the closing section (p. 45, m. 10).

The coda (beginning on p. 47, m. 1) employs the first, second, and fourth tones of the first theme of the first move" ment with the first theme of the fourth movement in the 'cello.

The quartet ends with an ascending series of major triads on a root progression of minor thirds:

41r1

Fig. 68--Ravel, fStriQuartet, 4th movement, p. 47, mm. 16-18. 80

TABLE 23

TONAL CENTERS IN THE FOURTH MOVEMENT OF THE RAVEL QUARTET

1st Th. 2nd Th. 3rd Th. 1st Th. 2nd Th.

A A FFF#

1st Th. 3rd Th. 2nd Th. 1st Th. End

G A A F F

Summary and Comparison of the Debussy and Ravel Quartets

TABLE 24

COMPARATIVE INTERPRETATION AND TEMPO INDICATIONS

Debussy String Quartet Ravel String Quaet

First Movement First Movement

Ar.imeet tr s dtcidt ...... Allegro modk.--Tr'es doux (d= 63) 4/4; 200 mm...... (4 = 120) 4/4; 213 mm. Second Movement Second Movement

Assez vif et bien rytm . . . . . Assez vif--Tres rythm6 (J.=112) 6/8 (15/8); 182 mm. . . (Y.-92) 6/8 3/4 (4/4) 198 mm. Third Movement Third Movement A dantino, doucement expressif . Tres lent (J= 80) 6/8 (3/8) ; 123 mm.:. . ... (4=44) 4/4 (3/4 5/4) ; 119 mm. Fourth Movement Fourth Movement

En animant peu a peu ...... Viffet a ite (J=108) 12/8 (2/2); 395 mm. . . (44.=.84) 5/8 (5/4 3/4); a282mm. 81

The above table illustrates the following comparisons between the two quartets: similar interpretative markings in the second and fourth movements; similar tempi indications in all four movements; metric indications (i.e.,. time signa- tures) in the first and second movements; approximate agree- ment in length (number of measures) of all four movements.

The seventh chord, including all types, is the most fre- quently employed sonority in both quartets, but it is used to a greater extent in the Debussy quartet (compare Table 1 with Table 12). Among the seventh chords found in the two quartets, the following comprise those most frequently em- ployed (listed in the order of frequency): in the Debussy

Quartet,, the minor-minor seventh chord, major-minor seventh chord, diminished-minor seventh chord (see Table 2); and in the Ravel, the major-major seventh chord, minor-minor seventh chord, diminished-minor seventh chord,. and the major-minor seventh chord (see Table 13).

Triads in all their forms, appear less frequently than seventh chords; however, the major triad is found more fre- quently than any other type of sonority in the two quartets

(see Table 4 and Table 15).. The augmented and diminished triads are found in greater quantity in the Debussy Quartet than in the quartet by Ravel (compare Table 4 to Table 15), while the ninth chord is used twice as often in the Ravel work as in the Debussy quartet. 82

The chord of the eleventh is an important feature of harmonic style in the Ravel quartet, comprising eleven per cent of the harmonic material (see Table 12). In Debussy' s

uartet the eleventh chord is comparatively insignificant, comprising only one per cent of the harmonic material (see Table 1).

TABLE 25

COMPARATIVE TONAL CENTERS AND FORMAL ASPECTS

Debussy quartet Ravel quartet

First Movement

Exposition Exposition

1st Th. 2nd Th. 1st Th. Ret.a 2nd Th.

Pt* b 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 1 Pt. 2

G G Bb Bb C F A A D

Development Development

F Bb G G Bb D F

Recapitulation Recapitulation

G D B G F A C D F

':t .- return o the f ir t theme. LP*. - part. 83

TABLE 25O-Continued

Second Movement let Th. lt Tr.C Return lt Th. 2nd. h. lt Th.

G Eb C G A j ( A

2nd Tr. 3rd. Pr. 4th Tr. 2nd Th. 3rd Ph. lt Th. 2nd. Th.

Gb FGC D F A C#

Third Movement lit Th. 2nd Th. 3rd Th. Intro. let Th. 2nd Th. 1st Th.

Db E B E B A Gb Ab Eb

2nd Th. let Th. 3rd Th. let Th. End

EB A Eb.b

Fourth Movement

Intro. 1st Th. 2nd Th. 1st Th. 2nd. Ph. 3rd. Th.

Dbj Ab A A F

3rd. Th. Gen. Th. 1st Th. 2nd Th. 1st Th.

G E F# F#G#

2nd Th. Cl. Ph. 3rd Th.. 2nd Th. 1st Ph.

+ A A F

Tr. - transformation. 84

The intervals of the third and the second are used more frequently than the interval of the fifth in the tonal re- lationships of both quartets (see Table 25). The first move- ment of each quartet is in sonata-allegro form: the Debussy

Quartet is considered to be modified sonata-allegro in that the second theme of the exposition is omitted in the develop- ment section and the recapitulation; the Ravel lartet is in strict sonata-allegro form, except for the introduction of a third theme in the development section.

The third movements of the two quartets differ in every respect.., The third movement of the Debussy work is themati- cally and structurally contrasting to the other movements, cast in Db, the most distant key relationship (i.e., the diminished fifth) from the tonal center 0 of the first and last movements. The third movement of the Ravel work is rhapsodic in character and employs frequent quotations from the opening theme of the first movement.

Little analogy is found between the thematic material of

Debussy' s Quartet and that of Ravel. However, the influence of Debussy is clearly seen through comparing the passage from the final movement (p. 48, mm. 10-13; see Figure 12) of the

Debussy Quartet to the third theme in the first movement of the Ravel Quartet (p. 6, mm. 9-10; see Figure 13). Both melodic lines, appearing in the first violin and 'cello in each work, have the same contour,, and the accompanying inner 85

parts (the second violin and viola) are treated similarly in tremolos. CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSIONS

The seventh chord, in its various types, is the princi- pal sonority in the quartets by Debussy and Ravel. The triad is next in order of relative frequency to the seventh chord, the major triad being the most frequently employed sonority in both works. The ninth chord is used more exten- sively in the Ravel Quartet than in the quartet by Debussy.

The eleventh chord is an important feature of harmonic style in the work by Ravel but rarely appears in Debussy's work.

Ravel' s harmonic materials are more complex than those of Debussy with more frequent use of ninth and eleventh chords.

The thirteenth chord in Ravel's Quartet is found to be em- ployed as frequently as the eleventh chord in the quartet by Debussy.

The interval of the second and the interval of the third are used more frequently than the interval of the fifth in tonal center relationships in both quartets, re- sulting in greater harmonic freedom, Debussy employs the principle of the generating theme, with the resulting formal treatment an outgrowth of the

1 All of the sonorities which comprise the harmonic equipment in the two quartets are found predominantly in root position.

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generating theme. The various transformations of the genera- ting theme appear in the first, second, and fourth movements

(a modification of cyclic form), whereas, cyclical treatment in Ravel's work takes the form of reminiscences of the ini- tial theme without transformation. Ravel's thematic treat- ment is along classical lines, the thematic materials being constructed in compliance with formal patterns. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Ewen,. David, "Maurice Ravel," Modern Compgers, New York, A. A. Knopf, 1942. Goss, Madeleine, Bolero: The Life of Maurice Ravel, New York, H.,Holt and dEJ1940.

Lang, Paul Henry, Music in Western Civilization, New York, W. Norton andTo., 1941.

Lockspeiser, Edward, Debussy, New York, E. P. Dutton and Co., 1936.

Miller, Hugh Milton, An Outline History , New York, Barnes and Noble, l947T

Onnen, Frank, Maurice Ravel, London, Novello and Co., 1941.

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

Vallas Leon, Claude Debussy, translated by Maire and Grace OBrien, London, , 1933.

Articles

Apel, Willi,. "Impressionism," Harvard Dictionary of Music, Cambridge,, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1947.

Brennan, Joseph Gerald, "Maurice Ravel," The Catholic World (May, 1938).

Hill, Eugene, "Maurice Ravel: 1875-1937," Modern Music, Vol. XV (March-April,, 1938).

Konody, P. G..,, "Impressionism," Encycilopedia Britannica, 14th ed., Vol. XII.

Longman, L. D., "Impressionlism," Encyclopedia or the Arta; New York,, Philosophical Library, 1946.

88 $9

Prod'Homme, J. G.,, "Debussy," Musical quarterly, Vol. IV (October, 1918)..

La Revue Musicale (December, 1938). Article, "Hommage a Maurice Ravel."

Thompson,. Oscar, "Maurice Ravel," The International Encyclo- pedia off Music and Musicians,, New York, Dodd,, Mead and E.1939.

Scores

Borodin, Alexander, String uartet o.1 , Leipzig/Wein, Ernst Eulenberg tn, d.).

Debussy, Claude, L'Apresmidi u aune, New York,, E. F. Kalmus, 1932. "Nuages, Nocturnes, Scarsdale, New York,, E. F. Kalmus, (n.d.).

ler uatuor, Paris,- Durand and Cie, Editeurs, 1929.

Trois Chansons BerLIt, Paris, Jean Jobert (n.d.). Faure, Gabriel, Quartet, New York,. International Music Co., 1945.

Moussorgsky, Modeste, "Elegy," unl ,, English translation by A. Eaglefield-Hull, London, Augener,, Ltd.,, (n..d.)

Ravel,, Maurice, jr Quaor, Paris,, Durand and Cie, Editeurs, 1910..

Le Tombeau de Couperin, Paris, Durand and 0 i, Editeurs, 1918. Rimsky-Korsakof, Nikolas, Scheherazade, Leipzig/Wein, Ernst Eulenberg (n.d..