INCONSTANT TONALITY IN DEBUSSY‘S LA MER by DAVID JONATHAN MARCUS (Under the Direction of Adrian Childs) ABSTRACT: This study is an original harmonic and tonal analysis of Debussy‘s orchestral masterpiece La mer: trois esquisses symphoniques. Based on Debussy‘s praise of freedom and critique of ―overprecise forms,‖ the author undertakes to explain harmony and tonicity in the music afresh, thoroughly adjusting traditional concepts of tonality. He shows that Debussy‘s harmonic originality lies close to the musical surface, and analytical reductions, particularly to familiar tonal objects, tend to conceal its harmonic methods.These methods include the use of whole-step/half-step scales as harmonic regions, the use of maximally intersecting scales for smooth modulation, and the use of invariant pitch classes as organizing agents over long spans of musical time. The auther then replaces the old concept of harmonic function, conceived as a consistent hierarchy centered on tonic and dominant, with a constantly evolving presentation of tonicity. The final portion of the study considers the metaphorical fit of all these techniques for La mer‘s oceanic imagery. KEYWORDS: Debussy, La mer, scale theory, parsimony, post-tonal tonicity, pitch-class invariance INCONSTANT TONALITY IN DEBUSSY‘S LA MER by DAVID JONATHAN MARCUS B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1983 M.A., Georgetown University, 1991 M.M., Georgia State University, 1996 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2009 © 2009 David Jonathan Marcus All Rights Reserved INCONSTANT TONALITY IN DEBUSSY‘S LA MER by DAVID JONATHAN MARCUS Major Professor: Adrian Childs Committee: Leonard Ball Ronald Bogue David Haas David Schiller Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August, 2009 iv DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Alan and Lotte Marcus, who taught me to love beauty as well as learning, and to my beautiful wife, Barbara Hall, who has supported both of these passions for many years. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would never have reached completion without an extensive community of support and encouragement. My former Chair at Clark Atlanta University, Dr. Sharon Willis, arranged release time for me to work on this project. Dr. Jonathan Strum of Emory University tutored me in German and checked my translations. Dr. David Boyd Pomeroy of Arizona State University, brought me a hard copy of Jean Barraqué‘s pioneering analysis of La mer, and amazed me over dinner with his memory of specific details in La mer, ten years after completing his own dissertation on it. Thanks to Dr. Dmitri Tymoczko of Princeton, Dr. Daniel Harrison of Yale, and Dr. Alex Rehding of Harvard, who generously shared unpublished work with me and made themselves available to discuss and sharpen my ideas, both at conferences and by phone. At UGA, Dr. David Schiller went beyond the role of academic advisor, facilitating the completion of this degree, in both academic and personal ways. His optimism has been infectious. Dr. John Turci-Escobar, my initial thesis advisor, made La mer his own pet project during the year we worked on it. Finally, my thesis advisor, Dr. Adrian Childs, has been an ideal match for me: a great editor, judicious and precise, and very sensitive to the analytical dilemmas that personally vex me. I thank him for encouraging me to find my own approach to the disorder of Debussy‘s tonality. The challenge of writing this dissertation while also teaching, composing, and raising a family would have been insurmountable if not for the help and support of my community of Decatur, Georgia. Above all, my wife, Barbara Hall, has worked incredibly hard, with great patience, love, and support, during the five years I have spent at UGA. I acknowledge her sacrifice, and thank her from the bottom of my heart. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE: ―AS TUMULTUOUS AND VARIED AS…THE SEA!‖ .................................1 1.1 LISTENING TO LA MER .............................................................................................1 1.2 LA MER IN DEBUSSY‘S PARIS .................................................................................4 1.3 DEBUSSY ON ANALYSIS AND FREEDOM ............................................................8 1.4 THE ANALYSIS OF POST-ROMANTIC REPERTOIRE ........................................11 CHAPTER TWO: LA MER AND ITS INTERPRETERS............................................................19 2.1 ―BOTH FAMILIAR AND UNFAMILIAR‖: LA MER DESCRIBED ........................19 2.2 LA MER‘S INTERPRETERS ......................................................................................28 2.3 THEORIES OF HARMONY AND TONIC FUNCTION .........................................37 CHAPTER THREE: INTERPRETING STATIC HARMONY ....................................................54 3.1 SCALES IN STEPS .....................................................................................................54 3.2 THE HARMONIC AMBIGUITY OF THE SCALE-CHORD TEXTURE ................66 3.3 DETERMINING HARMONIC BACKGROUNDS....................................................74 3.4 CHROMATIC EMBELLISHMENT AND BLURRED CATEGORIES....................89 CHAPTER FOUR: HARMONIC CHANGE AND VOICE-LEADING ....................................103 4.1 VOICE LEADING PARSIMONY WITH CHORDS ...............................................103 4.2 SCALE-TO-SCALE PARSIMONY ..........................................................................112 4.3 HARMONIC HIERARCHY AND MODULATION ................................................131 vii CHAPTER FIVE: TONALITY BY COMMON TONES ...........................................................138 5.1 PREPARING THE DISSONANT TONIC OF JEUX DE VAGUES.........................142 5.2 DE L’AUBE‘S GENERATIVE TETRACHORD, {B, C F G } .........................145 5.3 G AS BINDING AGENT ACROSS LA MER .........................................................153 CHAPTER SIX: INCONSTANT TONALITY ...........................................................................158 6.1 FUNCTION IN CHROMATIC MUSIC ...................................................................158 6.2 A FUNCTIONAL SPECTRUM ................................................................................162 6.3 INCONSTANCY AS METAPHOR ..........................................................................168 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................170 SCORES ......................................................................................................................................176 APPENDIX A: SCALE THEORY ..............................................................................................177 A.1 GENERATING WHOLE-STEP/HALF-STEP SCALES .........................................177 A.2 MODES AND TRANSPOSITIONS ........................................................................179 APPENDIX B: NON-SCALAR TEXTURES .............................................................................184 viii LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 2.1: Overview of De l’aube à midi sur la mer ........................................................................20 Fig. 2.2: Overview of Jeux de vagues ............................................................................................20 Fig. 2.3: Alternate form for Jeux de vagues...................................................................................21 Fig. 2.4: Overview of Dialogue du vent et de la mer ....................................................................21 Fig. 2.5: La mer as a symphony .....................................................................................................22 Fig. 2.6: ―At once familiar and unfamiliar‖ : I/12 and I/35 compared ..........................................25 Fig. 2.7: Four motives that permeate La mer .................................................................................27 Fig. 2.8: Comparison of De l’aube‘s opening and closing themes ................................................28 Fig. 2.9: The challenge of harmonic reduction (II/28–35: B 7?) .................................................39 Fig. 2.10: Pomeroy‘s tonal derivation of II/1–35 ..........................................................................41 Fig. 2.11: De l’aube presents its initial tonic, I/29–34...................................................................45 Fig. 2.12: What is De l’aube‘s closing tonic? (I/139–141) ...........................................................48 Fig. 2.13: Conflicting functions at the end of De l’aube (I/122–141) ...........................................49 Fig. 3.1: Four scales, set-classes, and SIAs ...................................................................................59 Fig. 3.2: A scale-chord (I/73–74, E Acoustic) ...............................................................................67 Fig. 3.3: String Quartet in G minor (1894), 1st mvt., mm. 39–42 ..................................................69 Fig. 3.4: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894), mm. 68–69...................................................70