Debussy Part II 2nd Presentation

CLAUDE DEBUSSY PART II

An Outline

Presented to

Dr. Soo Hong Kim

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

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In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for VOICL 4921

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by

Casey McCarthy

February 18, 2011

Song Analysis – La Flûte de Pan

• Part of the Song Cycle – Trois Chansons de Bilitis

◦ 1. La Flûte de Pan - “The pan flutes”

◦ 2. La Chevelure - “The hair”

◦ 3. le tombeau des Naiades - “The tomb of the Naiades”

• The poetry is by Pierre Louys

◦ There are a total of 155 poems with the Chanson,all of which discuss the

life of the female character, Bilitis.

◦ These three poems were set to music by Debussy between 1897-1898.

• Summary of plot – The three poems were chosen by Debussy to represent the

three stages of Bilitis' life: her experience of finding a first love, the second

displaying the love that has reached its height, and the third that speaks of

winter and a waning lover's affections.

• There are three main musical attributes that unite and give structure to La Flûte

de Pan: The use of the B-Lydian scale and the use of parallel fifths.

◦ The B-Lydian scale appears three times. The scale is used but only the first

seven notes are ever presented, and there is never the final, consonant

resolution of the scale to the octave as Debussy always ends the scale on

the seventh scale degree. (m. 1-4; m. 12; and m. 27.)

◦ Each time it appears at a different place in the plot of the poem.

◦ The parallel fifths move in fourths, thirds, and seconds.

▪ They appear many times in conjunction with the B-lydian scale and

help set the mood and character of the piece.

• The melody is declamatory

◦ Not a very wide range

◦ a lot of repeated notes, almost chant-like

◦ has a feeling of recitative – text driven.

• The form is through-composed

• The harmonies are modal through the use of the parallel fifths.

Text and Translation

La Flûte de Pan

Pour le jour des Hyacinthies,

il m'a donné une syrinx faite

de roseaux bien taillés,

unis avec la blanche cire

qui est douce à mes lèvres comme le miel.

Il m'apprend à jouer, assise sur ses genoux ;

mais je suis un peu tremblante.

il en joue après moi,

si doucement que je l'entends à peine.

Nous n'avons rien à nous dire,

tant nous sommes près l'un de l'autre;

mais nos chansons veulent se répondre,

et tour à tour nos bouches

s'unissent sur la flûte.

Il est tard,

voici le chant des grenouilles vertes

qui commence avec la nuit.

Ma mère ne croira jamais

que je suis restée si longtemps

à chercher ma ceinture perdue.

The pan-pipes

For the festival of Hyacinthus

he gave me a syrinx, a set of pipes made

from well-cut reeds joined

with the white wax

that is sweet to my lips like honey.

He is teaching me to play, as I sit on his knees;

but I tremble a little.

He plays it after me, so softly

that I can scarcely hear it.

We are so close that we have

nothing to say to one another;

but our songs want to converse,

and our mouths are joined

as they take turns on the pipes.

It is late:

here comes the chant of the green frogs,

which begins at dusk.

My mother will never believe

I spent so long

searching for my lost waistband.

-Trans. By Peter Low

Song Analysis – Chevaux de bois

• This is part of a Song Cycle with 6 songs entitled Ariettes oubliées

◦ 1. C'est l'Extase langoureuse

◦ 2. Il Pleure Dans Mon Coeur

◦ 3. L'Ombre des arbres

◦ 4. Chevaux de bois

◦ 5. Green

◦ 6. Spleen

• The poetry is by Paul Verlaine who influenced Debussy's writing greatly.

• Summary – The poem is about the wooden horses on a merry-go-round, so the

music, setting, and mood is more light hearted in nature, however, the poetry

and song take a somber turn of mood toward the end as the horses are turned

into a metaphor for life and asks the question, “Are we just going around in

meaningless circles, as the wooden horses do?”

• The opening mimics the sound of a merry-go-round starting up or perhaps

even the sound of galloping hooves

◦ The accompaniment is characterized by broken, arpeggiated chords with

fast rhythms.

◦ At the end of the piece the accompaniment begins to slow its rhythmical

pace until nothing is left except tied half notes sustaining across bar lines,

signifying the end of the carousel ride.

• The harmonies here are modal in nature as Debussy makes use of parallel fifths

set apart by thirds, fourths, and seconds.

• The melody is declamatory and text driven with lots of repeated pitches.

Debussy uses a greater range of pitches to add to the expressivity of the

melody.

Text and Translation

Chevaux de bois

Tournez, tournez, bon chevaux de bois,

Tournez cent tours, tounez mille tours.

Tournez souvent et tournez toujours,

Tournez, tournez au son des hautbois.

L'enfant tout rouge et la mère blanche,

Le gars en noir et la fille en rose.

L'une à la chose et l'autre à la pose,

Chacun se paie un sou de dimanche.

Tournez, tournez, chevaux de leur coeur,

Tandis qu'autour de tous vos tournois

Clignote l'oeil du filou sournois.

Tournez au son du piston vainqueur!

C'est étonnant comme ça vous soûle,

D'aller ainsi dans ce cirque bête,

Rien dans le ventre et mal dans la tête,

Du mal en masse et du bien en foule;

Tournez dadas, sans qu'il soit besoin

D'user jamais de nuls éperons

Pour commander à vos galops ronds.

Tournez, tournez, sans espoir de foin,

Et dépêchez, chevaux de leur âme,

Déjà voici que sonne à la soupe

La nuit qui tombe et chasse la troupe

De gais buveurs, que leur soif affame.

Tournez, tournez! Le ciel en velours

D'astres en or se vêt lentement,

L'Eglise tinte un glas tristement.

Tournez au son joyeux des tambours, tournez.

Wooden horses

Turn, turn, good horses of wood,

turn a hundred turns, turn a thousand turns,

turn often and turn always,

turn, turn to the sound of the oboes.

The red-faced child and pale mother,

the boy in black and the girl in pink,

the one pursuing and the other posing,

each getting a penny's worth of Sunday fun.

Turn, turn, horses of their hearts,

while all around your turning

squints the sly pickpocket's eye--

turn to the sound of the victorious cornet.

It is astonishing how it intoxicates you

to go around this way in a stupid circle,

nothing in your tummy and an ache in your

head,

very sick and having lots of fun.

Turn, wooden horses, with no need

ever to use spurs

to command you to gallop around,

turn, turn, with no hope for hay.

And hurry, horses of their souls--

hear the supper bell already,

the night that is falling and chasing the troop

of merry drinkers, famished by their thirst.

Turn, turn! The velvet sky

is slowly clothed with golden stars.

The church bell tolls sadly.

Turn, to the happy sound of drums.

-trans. By John Glenn Paton

Bibliography

Kimball, Carol. Song: A Guide to Style and Literature. Seattle: Pst… Inc., 1996

Stone, Ashley L. Claude Debussy's Trois Chansons de Bilitis: An Analysis

http://ecommons.txstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=honorprog

Accessed February 17, 2011

Chevaux de bois Translation from French to English copyright © 2000 byJohn Glenn Paton

http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=16241


Ariettes oubliées score from http://imslp.org/wiki/Ariettes_oubli%C3%A9es_(Debussy,_Claude)


Trois Chansons de Bilitis score and recording from

http://imslp.org/wiki/3_Chansons_de_Bilitis_(Debussy,_Claude)


Claude Debussy - Ariettes oubliées

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwk6xUwpBc&feature=fvwrel


Documents

Debussy Part II 2nd Presentation