Impressionism And The Work Of Debussy

Impressionism And The Work Of DebussyDebussy was a tonal trailblazer a practice of medicineal pi aneer who revolutionised not only French euphony at a time when it was s get behindnating and receding from the world stage, but the entire horse opera unisonal tradition as substantially. Almost all subsequent styles which followed were all directly or indirectly affected by his originality, for example jazz, atonalism and minimalism. After Debussys signifi usher outt contribution to the repertoire nothing, to iterate a clich, was incessantly the same again in musical comedy statuss. Nevertheless, it is precisely his striking institution which has rendered Debussy so difficult to categorise. Musicologists encounter no trouble in sound outling Mozart a Classical composer or Liszt a Romantic, yet how to catalogue Debussys oeuvres has presented critics with a mystery for many decades and is one, as yet, without a universally accepted solution. The most widely-utilised term in re ference to the composers compositions is without doubt Impressionism, and is widely accepted by those who do not study music, and also by some who do, as a sole definition of his works. But can this label really deal a compositional career that spans so many different styles and innovations? This seek will endeavour to answer this question, and to prove that Impressionism alone is not a fair assessment of Debussys music that he is, despite there organism characteristics from a number of aesthetic headings found in his works, almost unsurmountable to classify.Debussys second base envoi de Rome precipitated the rootage ever appearance of the tag Impressionism regarding his works. In a criticism of his orchestral and vocal piece Printemps (1887), the secretarial assistant to the Acadmie des Beaux-Arts opinedOne has the feeling of musical colour exaggerated to the render where it causes the composer to forget the importance of precise construction and play. It is to be strongly hoped that he will guard against this vague impressionism, which is one of the most dangerous enemies of right in works of art.This was a gross misunderstanding and misreading of Debussys intentions, and one which has stuck tenaciously and erroneously ever since. Before the reasons wherefore this is such a misnomer is discussed, it must(prenominal) be acknowledged that it is possible to describe some of Debussys music as Impressionistic.Impressionism was first applied to painting as a label as a consequence of Claude Monets painting Impression, soleil levant (1872). Impressionism was a adjuvant of the wider notion of Realism. Stefan Jarocinski encapsulates the act impeccably, explaining that Impressionists were concerned with seizing the image of a cosmos which had not yet been deformed by the intervention of the intelligence and treasured to create a pure impression that is, unblemished by the field of view of intellect. The Impressionists, in short, were purveyors of sens uality.It must be understood that labelling Debussy in such price is not only if invalid. Although he was composing largely later on the charge of the Impressionist painters (the 1860s, 70s and 80s), some of his compositions (namely La mer 1903-05 and Images 1904-08) do display qualities and tendencies associated with this driveway. Debussy himself wrote to the editor of the La revue musicale, Emile Vuillermoz, in 1916, saying You do me a great notice by echoing me a pupil of Claude Monet. It is true to say that a number of the composers artistic principles correspond to those uttered or implied by the Impressionists. For instance, during a rehearsal for the premiere of La mer (1903-05), in answer to conductor Chevillard who had expressed confusion at Debussys specified tempo differing from that of the previous day, the composer replied but I dont feel music the same way every day. On a wider take, this statement can be interpreted as existence harmonious with the commonp lace Impressionist practice of painting the same scene at different times of the day (for example, Monets Water Lilies or Haystacks).Several painters of the movement in question were inspired by similar stimuli as Debussy. A prime example of this is their admiration of Japanese artist Hokusai, whose celebrated woodblock grade appeared on the cover page of La mer (1903-5), as stipulated by Debussy. similar the Impressionist painters, again, he made frequent use of water as an inspiration for his compositions. See below a juxtaposition of Sisleys Watermill at the distich of Moret in Winter (Ex. 1, 1893) and an extract from Debussys Reflets dans leau from the first volume of Images (Ex. 2, 1905). Note how the uprise and falling semi bank bill figure is an evocation of the ebbing and flowing movement of the water.Ex. 1 Ex. 2In summary, Stefan Jarocinski, despite disagreeing with the application of the term in reference to Debussy, hails Impressionism as the supremacy of musical colo ur over form and design, an assertion that could certainly describe his musical convictions of other elements subservience to tone colour and the rejection of accepted traditional forms and harmonic principles. Even his biographer, Louis Laloy, claims that Debussys music is a purely auditory music, just as Impressionist painting is entirely optical.However, even Debussys so-called Impressionist pieces cannot be described as alone affiliated with this movement. For instance La mer (1903-05), although its depiction of the sea is obvious in its music as well as its title, cannot merely be interpreted as an entirely visual sensory experience, without connotation. As pianist capital of Minnesota Roberts writes, the sea has often been used to represent themes of love and femininity. The time at which it was written was one of emotional upheaval for Debussy, as he leftover his wife Lilly Texier for another, Emma Bardac. Equipped with this knowledge, it seems that La mer occupied a full- bodieder, psychologically psychotherapeutic purpose that lies beyond the intentions of the Impressionist painters.The Acadmies comments on Debussys Printemps, and by extension, his other works, is an inaccurate, far-right and narrow evaluation based on musical conservatism. The label, as argued by E. Robert Schmitz, has been detrimental to status of the composers works ever since. He laments that it has resulted in interminable flawed and misguided performances with use of excessive pedal. His compositions are in feature anything but vague they are precise and fastidious. In addition, conversely to the common misconception that his piano pieces are indistinct and laden with pedal use, he very utilises the piano in a masterly way which shows a deep understanding of the instrument and its parameters. In contradiction to the common misconception as draw by Schmitz, his music is often percussive rather than vague, for example the hypothesis bars of La srnade interrompue (Ex. 3, f rom Prludes, Book 1, 1909-10), which imitates a Spanish guitar, emphatically staccato. Further analyses of his works reveal the use of well-disposed Sections, displaying a precision and mathematical element to his compositions that is quite extraordinary.Ex. 3It must also be noted that Debussy himself rejected the unfortunate label appoint to him, as expressed in a letter to his publishers in 1908 I am hard to do something different in a way, realities what the imbeciles call impressionism, a term which is as poorly used as possible, peculiarly by art critics. Regarding this, it could be interpreted that the composer disagreed with the label itself rather than the aesthetic, as reality is precisely what the Impressionists hoped to convey. However, one must concede that if the composer wasnt himself happy with the term, and if his music rarely displays qualities which are characteristic of the movement, then it is accurate to say that delimitate Debussy as an Impressionist is not a valid categorisation.Almost as commonly circulated a term in reference to Debussy is Symbolism. This is a very much fairer assessment of his music. The movement, which has its origins in the writings of Charles Baudelaire, grew quickly in Paris during the latter(prenominal) half of the nineteenth century. In brief, Symbolism was a reaction against Realism, and can be seen as almost the antithesis of Impressionism. Its followers were concerned with externalising, through the way of art, the internal, and often infernal, world of the mind, dreams and the supernatural. There is unimpeachable order to align Claude Debussy with Symbolism. To puzzle with, it was a movement rooted in literary origins. Debussy, despite being largely uneducated in any discipline but music, was conditioned and had a passion for literature that permeated through to his compositions. His strongest influences were address and authors rather than the visual arts (although Symbolism wasnt exclusively a literary movement it existed in art too).Debussy gravitated towards Symbolist beliefs, and forged close friendships with notable figures associated with the movement, such as Paul Bourget and Stphane Mallarm, whose literary salon he was a regular auditor of. Much of his music was overtly Symbolist in character. Prlude laprs-midi chivvy faune (1892-94), the orchestral tone poem that took his recognition to a new level entirely, is based on a poem by Mallarm. Its whimsical flute opening (Ex. 4) is tonally and rhythmically ambiguous, portraying the indistinct dreams of the eponymous faun a exchange theme in Symbolist philosophy.Ex. 4There is plenty of non-musical evidence to support Debussys affiliation with the Symbolist movement. In 1901 he began to write for a Symbolist periodical, La Revue blanche, and his Chansons de Bilitis (1897-8), as well as their words being written by Debussys close friend and Symbolist capital of South Dakota Lous, was published by Librairie de lart indpendant, a Symbolist publisher.Mediaevalism, or to be to a greater extent accurate, pseudo-Mediaevalism, a core Symbolist credence, is prevalent in many works. The false of monastic organum music (Ex. 5) in the opening bars of La cathdrale engloutie (From Prludes, Book 1, 1909-10) is a prime example, as is the fact that Pellas et Mlisande (1893-5), is set in Allemonde (literally Other World), an imagined Mediaeval setting.Ex. 5Pellas et Mlisande (1893-5), Debussys only opera, based on a play by writer Maurice Maeterlinck, heralds the zenith of his association with the Symbolist movement. It makes frequent use of symbolism (for example blur to depict eroticism light and shade to provide conceptual symbols of fated love). Parallels can be drawn with Wagner, whom Symbolists admired ardently, and who influenced Debussy greatly in the earliest years of his compositional career. Both Wagners Tristan and Isolde (1875-9) and Pellas are tragedies, use leitmotivs and ready common them es of love and death. Debussy was as enthusiastic a supporter of his predecessor as any Symbolist, having visited Bayreuth in 1888 and 1889. However, his Wagnerism and Symbolism waned soon after the first performance of Pellas. Furthermore, in 1893 he declared his intention to write an condition entitled The Futility of Wagnerism which, although it never materialised, suggests a marked shift in his values. This is why it is as invalid to describe Debussys music exclusively in toll of Symbolism as it is Impressionism. Both labels represent only a particle of his artistic output and fail to acknowledge that between Pellas and La mer, a change occurred in his music that was reliant on neither poets nor artists, which could suggest that his own unique voice was finally established after years of musical exploration.In 1889 Debussy had an experience which was to significantly alter the genius of his compositions. During a visit to the Universal Exposition he encountered the sound of the Javan gamelan for the first time. The pentatonic tonality he heard was to be incorporated into some of his most celebrated compositions, for instance in Pagodes from the piano triptych Estampes (1903), whose unconsolable and gold cover evoking Japan, as well as music exemplifies the exotism that the composer incorporated into so many of his pieces. Debussys love of Spain filters through in the second movement, Soire dans Grenade, in which a habanera rhythm underpins the piece (Ex. 6). As well as Exoticism, it can be interpreted that Debussys music contains elements of the Pre-Raphaelite movement (La damoiselle lue, 1887-8, the text of which was written by Dante Gabriel Rossetti) and even the Romantics (there are sometimes common themes between their beliefs and ideas expressed in Debussys compositions, for example escaping by means of travel and antiquity).Ex. 6Debussy himself christened all labels useful terms of abuse, recognising the arbitrary personality of inflicting an y sort of category upon his works. As Paul Dukas wrote in 1901 his music is unclassifiable. Debussy was a radical who defies classification because he is so different to his predecessors and encompasses so many different styles and movements, which is why musicologist encounter such difficultly in trying to pigeonhole him. Beethoven is often described as being some(prenominal) Classical and Romantic. Debussy was also a giant amongst composers in this sense, constructing a yoke between tradition and modernity and liberating harmonic convention. He instigated a musical transition pre-empted the future. His legacy is far too great to describe in such narrow a term as Impressionism.