YUDKMC11_318-400hr2 18-01-2007 16:12 Page 327 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY I: THE CLASSICAL SCENE LISTENING GUIDE Claude Debussy (1862–1918) Date of composition: 1894 Complete CD VI, 1 Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Orchestration: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 harps, antique cymbals, strings Duration: 11:10 Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun is an evocation of natural scenes, sense- impressions, and moods. It suggests the thoughts and feelings of a mythical creature of the forest, who is half man and half goat (not to be confused with a “fawn”). He is half asleep in the hot sun and his mind is filled with sexual fantasies. He expresses his feelings by playing his panpipes. Debussy matches the mood of the poem with sensuous, dreamy music that often swells up with emotion. He uses a large orchestra, with two harps but no trumpets, trombones, or timpani. The only percussion instruments are antique cymbals—very small cymbals that resonate quietly near the end of the piece. Other special orchestral colors are created by harp glissandos and horn calls played with mutes to make them sound far away. Most of the time, the string players play very quietly, and sometimes they use special effects, such as playing with a mute or bowing over the fingerboard, which creates a hushed tone. In this context of a piece that is mostly quiet, the few passages of crescendo sound emotional and surging. The opening flute melody is sensuous, chromatic, and dreamy. This melody serves as the basis for much of the piece. It is shaped as a series of curves, gently rising and falling. Debussy deliberately modeled the shape of this melody on medieval plainchant, which he thought could serve as an inspi- ration for composers in the Modernist era. The composition falls into three sections in an ABA pattern, though each section merges imper- ceptibly with the next, and the return of the opening A section is modified. One of Debussy’s aims was to break down the clear formal outlines of traditional music. CD TIME LISTEN FOR A section [E major] (1) 0.00 Opening motive, (chromatic motion), dreamy and suggestive. Flute 3 etc. 0:24 Harp glissando, horns in dialogue. 0:57 Flute motive again, quietly accompanied by the orchestra. 327 YUDKMC11_318-400hr2 18-01-2007 16:12 Page 328 CHAPTER 11 1:15 Horns play quick little figures. Oboe elaborates flute motive. etc. etc. 1:38 Orchestral crescendo, repeated chordal figures. 1:57 Chordal figures reduce to clarinet. 2:05 Harp signals a return of the flute motive. (2) 2:22 Flute accompanied by rising harmonies. 2:46 Harp plays under flute; flowing movement in orchestra. Cadence. 3:27 Flute motive migrates to clarinet against ominous, slightly agitated orchestral accompaniment. 3:35 Chromatic flourishes; dialogue between flute and clarinet. 3:58 Oboe melody rides on top of the orchestra, beginning another orchestral crescendo. 4:07 Full, flowing music, decrescendo. 5:01 Clarinet floats above orchestral accompaniment, transition to new key and new section. B section [Db major] (3) 5:24 New motive (much slower and diatonic). etc. 5:50 Crescendo. 6:04 New motive becomes slow-moving melody for strings. 6:14 Crescendo, decrescendo; music is constantly moving and pulsating. 6:54 Horn melody in duet with solo violin, harp accompaniment. (4) 7:23 Flute introduces abbreviated, slower form of the opening motive, at a slightly higher pitch; harp accompaniment continues. etc. 3 3 328 YUDKMC11_318-400hr2 18-01-2007 16:12 Page 329 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY I: THE CLASSICAL SCENE 7:44 Oboe, faster motion with trill; lively conversation with other woodwinds. 8:00 Oboe plays slow version of motive. 8:22 English horn reiterates the oboe motive, with similar comments from the other woodwinds. A′ section [return to E major] (5) 8:40 Flute melody returns, along with E-major tonality. Diatonic accompaniment against chromatic solos of the woodwinds. 9:02 Antique cymbals. 9:54 Ending chords; oboe melody; mixed orchestral colors. 10:20 Single descending notes from harp. Brief nostalgic reminiscences of motive. 10:59 Pizzicato (low strings). PRIMITIVISM Primitivism is the name given to a movement in paint- ing at the beginning of the twentieth century. Artists were attracted by what they saw as the directness, instinctiveness, and exoticism of nonurban cultures. This was a time during which writers such as Sigmund Freud were exploring the power of instinct and the unconscious. Among the painters of Primitivism were Paul Gau- guin, Henri Rousseau, and Pablo Picasso. Again, the center of this artistic movement was Paris. Paul Gau- guin was fascinated by “primitive” cultures and eventu- ally went to the South Sea Islands to live and work among the islanders. His paintings are bold and bright, and they use symbols of cultural primitivism. Henri Rousseau’s paintings are deliberately naive but highly imaginative. Their vivid scenes are designed not as rep- resentations of nature but as evocations of a state of mind. Pablo Picasso was one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, and he changed his style many Paul Gauguin was fascinated by the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands. Is times during his lifetime. But in the early 1900s, he, it the artist himself staring at the young nudes? Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), Contes barbares. 1902. Oil on canvas, 130 × 89 cm. Essen, too, was interested in Primitivism, and his painting Museum Folkwang. Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin. 329 YUDKMC11_318-400hr2 18-01-2007 16:12 Page 331 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY I: THE CLASSICAL SCENE formance in Paris in 1913. The audience was pro- pounding rhythms and clashing dissonances from the foundly shocked by the violent and overtly sexual orchestra. Soon thereafter, the work was recognized as nature of the choreography on stage as well as by the a masterpiece. (See Listening Guide below.) LISTENING GUIDE Complete CD Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Date of composition: 1913 VI, 6 Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Orchestration: Piccolo, 3 flutes, alto flute, 4 oboes, Spring), Opening Section English horn, Eb clarinet, 3 clarinets, 2 bass clarinets, 4 bassoons, contrabassoon, 8 horns, D trumpet, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, 2 timpani, bass drum, side drum, triangle, antique cymbals, strings Duration: 8:50 Le Sacre du Printemps is the third of the group of ballets that Stravinsky wrote for the Ballets Russes in Paris; it was completed in 1913. It features the largest orchestra ever used by Stravinsky. Stravinsky conceived the ballet as a series of tribal rituals. The music and the choreog- raphy present bold, daring, and often alarming moments that shocked the first audiences. Le Sacre du Printemps is one of the musical masterpieces that were visually realized in Walt Disney’s ani- mated feature Fantasia as musical background to the creation of the world. As you listen, see how your own imagination compares with Disney’s or with Stravinsky’s. Even without pictures, the music is brilliantly imaginative, colorful, and striking. Maybe even more so! We will listen only to the first several minutes of the ballet. It begins with a solo bassoon, playing in its eerie highest register: CD TIME LISTEN FOR 3 (6) 0:00 3 etc. 0:10 Horn enters. 0:20 Descending woodwinds; clarinet. 0:44 English horn enters. More bassoon. 0:58 Woodwinds gather momentum. 331 YUDKMC11_318-400hr2 18-01-2007 16:12 Page 332 CHAPTER 11 1:12 Trills, fuller texture; small high clarinet. 1:32 Bubbling bass clarinet. 1:45 Section comes to a close, trills in violins. 1:55 Small clarinet, interplay with English horn. 2:16 Flute response. 2:24 Oboe. 2:29 Small clarinet in high register. 2:47 Muted trumpet. 2:51 Begin orchestral crescendo. 3:01 Stop! 3:02 Bassoon reappears, high-register solo. 3:10 Clarinet trill, pizzicato strings, chords. Monotonous two-note figure starts and continues through the following: (7) 3:34 Pounding, steady orchestral chords, irregular accents. etc. 3:44 Movement in woodwinds, arpeggios. 3:53 Trumpet, triplet figures, quick runs on winds. 4:13 Orchestral pounding returns. 4:22 Bass melody: bassoons interspersed with orchestra rhythms. 4:32 Trombone, orchestral flashes of color. (8) 4:53 Big brass chord; timpani; return of two-note figure; orchestral flashes. 5:17 Horn melody. 5:21 Flute response. 5:28 Dialogue between flute and muted trumpet. 5:36 Flutes enter, accompanied by other woodwinds; two-note figure continues. (9) 5:53 Brass chords, parallel motion up and down; much louder now. 6:09 Agitated strings; piccolo. 332 YUDKMC11_318-400hr2 18-01-2007 16:12 Page 333 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY I: THE CLASSICAL SCENE 6:17 Woodwind melody. 6:27 Orchestral crescendo, with short blasts. 6:53 Loud drum crashes, rhythmic activity increases over static accompaniment. (10) 7:03 Brass chords. 7:29 Triplet rhythms, horn calls, high flutes, dissonant wild trumpet calls, very fast strings punctuated by drum strokes. 8:17 Clarinets in octaves, melody over flute trills. 8:42 Pulse slows down to a low-pitched trudge. Stravinsky lived in Switzerland during the First the past as a means of renewing the present. He said: World War, and returned to Paris in 1920. His most “Pulcinella was my discovery of the past, the epiphany important compositions from this period in Switzer- through which the whole of my late work became land took a different direction entirely. Smaller and possible.” more transparent, they relied on small groups of varied Neo-Classical composers adopted ideas not only instruments and sometimes were influenced by the from the Classic period, but also from the Baroque era.