Music: An Art and a Language Part 25

By following the poem the imaginative listener can readily appreciate the picturesque suggestiveness of the composer. The work opens with a mysterious intoning, by a muted horn, of the motif d'appel, and then follows a triple presentation of the march theme in F minor, scored for wood-wind and low strings--the melody sung at first by the violas and clarinets and later by the ba.s.s clarinet and 'cellos. This original scoring establishes just the appropriate atmosphere for an entrance to the abode of captivity.

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The first variation, in F major, employing all the tone-color of the full orchestra, is a gorgeous picture of the Oriental splendor of Istar. It is noteworthy that each variation contains a modulation to a key a semitone higher, thus affording a factor of unity amid the elaborate flowerings of the musical thought. The second variation, in E major scored for strings and wood-wind, is significant for the way in which the original theme is expanded into a flowing melody. The logical derivation of the fabric from the first intervals of the main theme is obvious, _e.g._

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The fourth variation, in F-sharp major, scored for pizzicato strings and staccato wood-wind, with light touches on horns, trumpets, cymbals, triangle and harps, introduces the scherzo mood into the work and with its persistent 5/4 rhythm is of fascinating effect.

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The loveliest variation for warmth and emotional appeal is the sixth, in A-flat major (at O in the orchestral score) for strings with the gradual addition of the wood-wind and harps. Its climax certainly does much to atone for any dryness found in d'Indy's other works.

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In the next variation, at P, the trend of the work becomes increasingly manifest for it is written in only two voices, scored for flute and violins and is a dramatic preparation for the announcement of the complete main theme which is now proclaimed in unison by the full orchestra. The work closes with a transformation of the opening march into F major, its majestic rhythm symbolizing the successful result of Istar's quest (See Supplement No. 62.)

Debussy, Claude Achille, (1862-1918) is certainly the embodiment, as a composer, of Pater's saying that "Romanticism[290] is the addition of strangeness to beauty"; for when we listen to his music we are conscious of material and of forms of treatment which we have never heard before. Debussy has listened to the promptings of his own subtle imagination and has evolved a style as novel as it is beautiful. As with all real originators, Debussy at the outset was fiercely challenged, and his music even to-day calls forth intolerant remarks on the part of those who are suspicious of all artistic progress and evolution. In this connection it is worthy of note that the French, notwithstanding their national doctrine of liberty, have been chary of applying this to composers who were departing from the beaten path.

Berlioz, whom now they acclaim as one of their greatest artists, was welcomed as he deserved only after his fame had been established among the Germans. Bizet was but slightly appreciated during his life.

Franck met with fierce opposition from the routine members of the profession; and Debussy, although the work by which he won the "Prix de Rome" in 1884 was acknowledged to be one of the most interesting which had been heard at the Inst.i.tute for years, was afterwards severely criticized for the setting made in Rome to Rossetti's _Blessed Damozel_ because, forsooth, he had strayed too far from established and revered tradition. We Americans may have a distinct feeling of pride in the knowledge that the music of Debussy, the strongest note of which is personal freedom--the inherent right of the artist to express in his own way the promptings of his imagination--was widely studied and appreciated in this land of the free before it had begun to have anything like a universal acceptance among the French themselves.

[Footnote 290: From this comparison we should not wish it to be understood that Debussy is merely an addition to the standard Romantic group of Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, etc.; his style, however, is surely Romantic in the broad sense of the term, _i.e._, highly imaginative and individual.]

But can any connection with the past be traced in the style of this remarkable[291] composer, and can we discover any sources, in the world of nature, from which he has derived the materials for his novel and fascinating harmonies? When we definitely a.n.a.lyze Debussy's harmonic scheme, we see that he looks both forward and back. Much of his original tone coloring is derived from the old church modes such as the Lydian, the Dorian and the Phrygian; for example, the mysterious opening chords of his opera, and the following pa.s.sage from _La Cathedrale engloutie_.

[Footnote 291: The _tres exceptionnel, tres curieux, tres solitaire Claude Debussy_ as he has been aptly characterized.]

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He is also extremely fond of a scale of whole tones, which had been somewhat antic.i.p.ated by Liszt and members of the Russian[292] school.

In this the normal perfect 4th and 5th and the major 6th become augmented, thus producing a very peculiar but alluring harmonic basis.

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[Footnote 292: The first authentic use being probably by Dargomijsky in his opera the _Stone Guest_.]

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[Music: _Reflets dans l'eau_]

Modern composers have been feeling for some time that harmonic scope was needlessly limited by clinging too closely to the major and minor diatonic scales; and Brahms, Tchaikowsky and Franck have all introduced the old modes for special contrasts of color. But no one has used them so subtly as Debussy. In his music they often take the place of our customary scales with their deep-rooted harmonic tendencies and perpetual suggestion of traditional cadences. This return to the greater flexibility and variety of the old modes is a significant feature in modern music and Debussy's example in this respect has been highly beneficial. As to his alleged use of new material, an astute French critic has observed that "a revolution is merely an evolution rendered apparent." By no means all of music can be found in nature, but the basis is there, and it remains for the artistic imagination to select and to amplify. Already many years ago the scientist Helmholtz said, "Our system of scales and of harmonic tissues does not rest upon unalterable natural laws, but is partly at least the result of aesthetic principles of selection, which have already changed, and will change still further with the progressive development of humanity."[293] In other words the limits of receptivity of the human ear cannot be foreseen nor can the workings of the artistic imagination be prescribed. The so-called Chord of Nature,[294] consisting of the overtones struck off by any sounding body, and re-enforced on the pianoforte with its large sounding board, contains in epitome this basic material of music; and the several octaves represent in a striking manner the harmonic combinations used at different periods of development. Thus during the early centuries nothing but triads were in use; only gradually were 7th chords--those of four factors--introduced. Wagner was the first to realize the possibilities of chords of the 9th, 11th, and 13th. In Debussy these combinations are used as freely as triads, _e.g._

[Music: _Pelleas et Melisande_]

[Music: _La fille aux cheveux de lin_]

[Music: _Reflets dans l'eau_]

and he has gone far beyond anything known before in a subtle use of the extreme dissonant elements, his sensitive imagination evidently hearing sounds. .h.i.therto unrealized. This surmise is corroborated by Debussy's own statement that, while serving as a young man on garrison duty, he took great delight in listening to the overtones of bugles and of the bells from a nearby convent. This chromatic style had been antic.i.p.ated by Chopin whose use of the harmonic series in those prismatic, spray-like groups of superadded tones is such a striking feature in his pianoforte works. There is, therefore, nothing outre or bizarre in Debussy's idiom; it is but a logical continuation of former tendencies. His works show great variety and comprise pianoforte pieces, many songs, a remarkable string quartet, some daringly original tone-poems for full orchestra, several cantatas, and--most unique of all--his opera of _Pelleas et Melisande_, based on the well-known play by Maeterlinck. A few comments may profitably be made on each of these types. With few exceptions all his pianoforte pieces have suggestive t.i.tles, _e.g._, _Reflets dans l'eau_, _Jardins sous la pluie_, _La soiree dans Grenade_, _Poissons d'or_, _Voiles_, _Le vent dans la plaine_, _Bruyeres_. They are mood-pictures in which the composer has tried to imprison certain elusive states of mind--or the impressions made on his susceptible imagination by the phenomena of Nature: the subtly blended hues of a sunset, the changing rhythm of drifting clouds, the indefinite murmur of the sea, the dripping of rain. For Debussy, like Beethoven before him, is a pa.s.sionate lover of Nature. To quote his own words, he finds his great object lessons of artistic liberty in "the unfolding of the leaves in Spring, in the wavering winds and changing clouds." Again, "It benefits me more to watch a sunrise than to listen to a symphony. Go not to others for advice, but take counsel from the pa.s.sing breezes, which relate the history of the world to those who listen." Thus we see that Debussy submits himself to the spells of Nature and tries to trans.m.u.te them into sound. The only a.n.a.logies to use in a verbal description of his music must be drawn from nature, for in each are the same shadowy pictures, the same melting outlines.[295] Debussy has a close affinity with that school of painters known as impressionists or symbolists--Manet, Monet, Degas, Whistler--and is doing with novel combinations of sound, with delicate effects of light and shade, what they have done for modern freedom in color. His music has been called a "sonorous impressionism." It might equally well be phrased "rhythmic sound." To those conservatives who find it difficult to think in terms of musical color, and wish _their_ imagination rather than that of genius to be the standard, the retort of the artist Whistler is applicable: To a lady who viewing one of his sunsets remarked, "But, Mr. Whistler, I have never seen a sunset like that" came the reply "Yes, Madam, but don't you wish you had?" In his songs Debussy has been most fastidious as to choice of texts, his favorite poets being Verlaine, Baudelaire and Mallarme, called "symbolists," since the aim of their art is to resemble music and to leave for the reader a wide margin for symbolic interpretation. His songs throughout are imaginative and fanciful in the highest degree, and the instrumental part a beautiful background of color. Of Debussy's compositions for orchestra the one to win--and possibly to deserve--the most lasting popularity is _L'apres-midi d'un Faune_, which is an extraordinary translation into music of the veiled visions and the shadowy beings of an eclogue of Mallarme in which, as Edmund Gosse says, "Words are used in harmonious combinations merely to suggest moods or conditions, never to state them definitely."[296] By perfect rhythmic freedom, and by delicately-colored waves of sound Debussy has expressed in a manner most felicitous just the atmosphere of remoteness, and of primeval simplicity. By many this work is considered the most hypnotic composition in existence, and the writer trusts that his readers have heard a poetic interpretation of it by a fine orchestra. The salient features of Debussy's style are found in _Pelleas et Melisande_--by far the most important operatic work since Wagner. Maeterlinck's play deals with legendary, mysterious, symbolic beings, and the entire subject-matter was admirably suited to Debussy's genius. As Maeterlinck says, "The theatre should be the reflex of life, not this external life of outward show, but the true inner life which is entirely one of contemplation." This opera is quite different from any previously written, in that the characters sing throughout in _recitative_ now calm, now impa.s.sioned, but never in set, periodic arias. In fact, here we have at last a true musical _speech_, which is indeed another thing from music set to words. Debussy has defended this peculiar style in the following words: "Melody is, if I may say so, almost anti-lyric, and powerless to express the constant change of emotion or life. Melody is suitable only for the song (_chanson_), which confirms a fixed sentiment. I have never been willing that my music should hinder, through technical exigencies, the changes of sentiment and pa.s.sion felt by my characters. It is effaced as soon as it is necessary that these should have perfect liberty in their gestures as in their cries, in their joy as in their sorrow."

[Footnote 293: For an enlightening amplification of this point see the first chapter of Wallace's _The Threshold of Music_.]

[Footnote 294: See page 193.]

[Footnote 295: For further suggestive comments on Debussy's style consult the _Essay on Pelleas et Melisande_ by Lawrence Gilman (G.

Schirmer, New York) and in particular an article by the same author in the Century Magazine for August, 1918.]

[Footnote 296: Gosse also calls it a _famous miracle of intelligibility_.]

Now that we may look forward to no more compositions from Debussy[297]--he died in March, 1918--it is certainly fitting to attempt a forecast as to the permanent worth of his achievements and his influence upon future development. Like all music his compositions may be judged from several points of view: the worth of the content, the perfection or inadequacy of style and the manner in which the media of presentation are used. To begin with the last characteristic--there is no doubt that Debussy has enlarged the resources of our two chief modern instruments, the pianoforte and the orchestra. By him the pianoforte is always treated according to its true nature, _i.e._, as an intimate, coloristic instrument and, in amplifying all its resources of tone-color, flexible rhythm and descriptive power he is the worthy successor of Chopin. In his orchestral compositions such as the _Nocturnes_ (_Clouds_, _Festivals_ and _Sirens_), the _Sea Pieces_ and _Images_, of which the _Rondes de Printemps_ and _Iberia_ are the most significant, there is a union of warmth and delicacy as individual as it is rare. _Iberia_, in fact, for vitality of imagination and flawless workmanship may be considered the acme of Debussy's orchestral style. The great resources of the modern orchestra are often abused. Compositions are rich and gorgeous but at the same time inflated, turgid and bombastic. Certain works of Richard Strauss and Mahler are examples in point. Debussy's treatment, however, of the varied modern orchestra is remarkable for its economy.

The melodic lines stand out clearly, there is always a rich supporting background and we are convinced that everything sounds just as the composer meant. As to the structure and style of his music, these are more subtle matters to estimate. We may acknowledge at once that Debussy's style is free and individual, for he has written his music his own way, with slight regard for academic models. But a thorough examination of his works shows no evidence of carelessness or uncertainty of aim. There is, to be sure, nothing of that routine development of musical material which we a.s.sociate with cla.s.sic practice--instead a free, imaginative growth. But there is always a definite structural foundation to support the freedom of expression.

This coherence is sometimes gained by a single dominating note about which everything is grouped, as, in the _Soiree dans Grenade_, the C-sharp and in the _Reflets dans l'eau_, an F. Most of Debussy's compositions imply the principles, albeit freely used, of Two- and Three-part form and the fundamental laws of key-relationship and of artistic contrast.

[Footnote 297: The best books yet written on Debussy and his style are those by Mrs. Liebich and Louis Laloy. Consult also the comprehensive essay by E.B. Hill in Vol. III of the _Art of Music_.]

In considering the value of Debussy's message, _i.e._, the content of his music, the animus and predilection of the hearer have to be taken into account. For his music is so intensely subjective and intimate that you like it or not, as the case may be. Many persons, however, become very fond of it, when they have accustomed themselves to its peculiar idiom. The charge that there is in Debussy no melody of a purely musical nature, as some critics have a.s.serted,[298] seems to the writer too sweeping and not supported by the inner evidence. It may be granted that Debussy's melodic line is very fluid and elastic, like Wagner's "continuous melody," not definitely sectionalized by balanced phrases or set cadences. But it surely has its own right to existence--music being pre-eminently the art of freedom--and let us remember that Nature herself has melting outlines, shadowy vistas and subtle rhythms. Debussy, in fact, is the poet of the "indefinite" and the "suggestive" and his music has had a great influence in freeing expression from scholastic bonds. Even from the standpoint of the popular conception of "tune" it is difficult to see what objection can be made to the following melodies:

[Music: _L'isle joyeuse_]

[Music: _Poissons d'or_]

[Music: _Cortege_]

[Footnote 298: See the 2d volume of _Great Composers_ by D.G. Mason and also the essay on Debussy in _Contemporary Composers_ by the same author.]

It cannot be denied that such an individual style as Debussy's is liable to manneristic treatment, though whether he should be called "the prince of mannerists"[299] is decidedly open to debate. Some critics feel that he has over-used the whole-tone scale and it must be confessed, he has a rather affected fondness for a formula of block-like chords, _e.g._

[Music: _Danse sacree_]

[Footnote 299: According to Ernest Newman in a well-known article in the Musical Times (London).]

But these, after all, are but "spots on the sun." To sum up our conclusions: the following merits in Debussy's music, it seems to me, cannot be gainsaid. He has widened incalculably the vocabulary of music and has expressed in poetic and convincing fashion moods which never before had been attempted. In his work are new revelations of the power of the imagination. As Lawrence Gilman keenly remarks, "He has known how to find music (in _Pelleas et Melisande_) for the sublime reflection of Arkel, 'If I were G.o.d, I should pity the hearts of men.'" Debussy was also gifted with rare critical ability and many of his observations are worthy of deep consideration. For example--"Music should be cleared of all scientific apparatus. Music should seek humbly to give pleasure; great beauty is possible between these limits. Extreme complexity is the opposite of art. Beauty should be perceptible; it should impose itself on us, or insinuate itself, without any effort on our part to grasp it. Look at Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart! These are great artists."

No account of modern French music would be satisfactory which omitted to mention several composers who, though of somewhat lesser importance than d'Indy and Debussy, have nevertheless achieved works of distinction and charm. These are Chabrier, Faure, Duparc, Chausson and Ravel. Chabrier (1841-1894) is noted for a bold exuberance and vividness of expression, for a sense of humor and for a power of orchestral color and brilliance which have not been duplicated. His style is entirely his own and he is a veritable incarnation of "vis Gallica." Born in the South of France, the hot blood of that magic land seems to throb in his music. We have from him several pianoforte compositions of marked originality, in particular the _Bourree Fantasque_, some inimitable songs, _e.g._, _Les Cigales_ and _La Villanelle des pet.i.ts Canards_ and, most famous of all, his Rhapsody for orchestra ent.i.tled _Espana_, based on Spanish themes. This work has proved to be a landmark in descriptive power and shares with Rimsky-Korsakoff's _Scheherazade_ the claim of being the most brilliant piece of orchestral writing in modern times. Some of Chabrier's best work is in his opera of _Gwendoline_, especially the Prelude to the second act which is often played by itself.

Although Faure (1845-still living) is more versatile and prolific than Chabrier, his fame rests upon his achievements in two fields--the song and pianoforte composition. Some of his pianoforte pieces are, to be sure, of a light, _salon_ type; yet in many we find a true, poetic sentiment and they are all written in a thoroughly pianistic idiom. In fact, prior to Debussy Faure was the only Frenchman worthy to compare in mastery of pianoforte style with Chopin, Schumann and Liszt. As a song composer Faure ranks with the highest in modern times. The exotic charm and finesse of workmanship in such songs as _Clair de Lune_, _Les Roses d'Ispahan_ cannot be denied and the instrumental part is always worthy of the composer's genius for pianoforte style, _e.g._, the accompaniment to _Nell_ being a model in its free polyphony and richness of effect. Faure has been fastidious in his selection of texts and he is fortunate to have been able to avail himself of the genius of such lyric poets as Leconte de Lisle, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Sully-Prudhomme and others. Indeed as a song-composer Faure may fairly be grouped with the great German masters. His songs are not German songs, but they are just as subtle in expressing all that is fine in French spirit as those of Schumann and Brahms in their Teutonic sentiment. For this reason alone Faure is a commanding figure in modern French music. He is also the author of a violin sonata which has enjoyed a popularity second only to that of Franck and a Quintet for pianoforte and strings of distinct originality.

Duparc (1848-still living) one of the earliest of Cesar Franck's pupils--though working in practically but a single field and though by reason of ill health he has written nothing since 1885--will always hold high rank for the beauty and breadth of his songs, especially _L'invitation au Voyage_, _Extase_ and _Phydile_. This last is considered by the writer the most exquisite song in modern literature; its melody, its modulations, its accompaniment alike are flawless.[300]

[Footnote 300: An excellent collection of modern French songs may be found in the two volumes published by the Oliver Ditson Co. in the Musicians Library.]

Chausson (1855-1899) the most gifted of Franck's pupils, though without d'Indy's strength of character, was killed by an unfortunate accident[301] just as he was ready for an adequate self-expression. He had a sensitive imagination, an individual harmonic style; and in those works which he has left--notably several songs, a Quartet for pianoforte and strings and the Symphony in B-flat major, op. 20--there is found a spirit of genuine romantic inspiration.

[Footnote 301: While he was riding a bicycle.]

Although Ravel (1875-still living) cannot claim to be a pioneer like Debussy--since in his music there are frequent traces of the exuberance of Chabrier, the suavity of Faure, the atmosphere and impressionistic tendencies of Debussy and the exoticism of the Neo-Russians--yet he is indeed no empty reflection of these men, for he has his own bold, fantastic style and has been a daring experimenter in freedom of harmony and structure. One finds a power of ironic brilliance and of unexpected harmonic transformations certainly new in modern literature. Ravel[302] is one of the most versatile and prolific of all the younger Frenchmen having composed significant works in at least four fields: songs, particularly the set ent.i.tled _Histoires Naturelles_, which reveal an unusual instinct for delicate description; and pianoforte pieces of which _Miroirs_, the dazzling tour de force _Jeux d'eau_, the _Valses n.o.bles et sentimentales_, the _Sonatine_, the _Pavane_ and, above all, the Poems, _Gaspard de la Nuit_ (_Ondine_, _Le Gibbet_[303] and _Scarbo_) are conspicuous examples of his style. Furthermore in the field of chamber music are found a String Quartet, remarkable for inspiration and for certainty of workmanship, and a Trio (for pianoforte, violin and 'cello) which is one of the most brilliant modern works, of convincing originality in its freedom of rhythm, _e.g._, the opening measures of the first movement.

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