Notes on the Piece
Claude Debussy derived his greatest inspiration from French Symbolist
literature, an esoteric manner of writing that privileges mystery rather than
specificity. The Symbolists were interested in provoking their readers,
stimulating their imaginations by forcing them to fill in the blanks to find
meaning in randomness. Those Symbolists with a mystical mindset sought through
their writing to suggest other worlds.
In his efforts to do the same in
music, Debussy eschewed the logic of cause-and-effect, avoided standard forms,
and shied away from conventional harmonies. He worked with special scales that
abandoned the strict hierarchies and firm grounding of tonality to create a
feeling of timelessness. He also privileged unusual textures, scattering the
pitches of a melody among the instruments of the orchestra.
Echo effects and bell-like sounds are among his favorites. But Debussy sought
to express not the peals of one bell in one time and place; instead, he hoped to
capture the sum of all bell sounds—the essence of the phenomena to which we give
the name bells. Many of his compositions bear suggestive titles—which
he often placed at the end—of a work, as if to startle the performer or
listener, forcing a retrospective interpretation. He ultimately rejected the
idea that his music should be about anything at all, and certainly not any one
thing.
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune is arguably Debussy's most
influential score. It was composed to precede a stage reading of a poem titled
"The Afternoon of a Faun" by his Symbolist colleague Stéphane Mallarmé. The poem
recounts the dream or a memory-it's not clear which—of a satyr, a mythical
creature. Half man, half goat, the faun marries the sexual desire and animal
instinct of the body below to the rational thought or intelligence in the mind
above. He spends his days in lustful pursuit of nymphs in the forest. On this
particular afternoon, the faun lies exhausted from his escapades, resting on
moist ground in the midday heat. He imagines future conquests while blowing
through a reed pipe.
The following passage suggests the vague chain of relationships that Debussy
recreates in his musical setting. Drops of water become musical pitches that
then represent the breeze and the faun's breath:
No murmur of water in the woodland scene,
Bathed only in the sounds of my flute.
And the only breeze, except for my
two pipes,
Blows itself empty long before
It can scatter the sound in an
arid rain.
On a horizon unmoved by a ripple
This sound, visible and
serene,
Mounts to the heavens, an inspired wisp.
Drawing inspiration from the poem, Debussy emphasizes wind instruments. The
flute dominates, along with the clarinet, oboe, and harp. The famous opening
flute passage recurs seven times in the piece, in accord with the seven
sections-seven symbolic layers-of the poem. The number of measures in the score,
moreover, is equal to the number of lines in the poem.
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