Background
The process of analyzing music pieces and works have for decades been a subject of interest to musicians and music professionals. Understanding a specific piece of music requires an individual to fully understand the piece’s formal structure, gestures, textures and performance cues such as rhythmic cues, (Palmer 1996, p. 446). There however exists a variation in the investigational techniques, methodologies and the sources used with music listening and documentaries being two critical sources consulted when preparing a given piece of work for either general presentation or performance. The sources serve to help in the preparation and the improvement of a given presentation, strengthening original conception and viewpoints and checking upon one another on concepts which have either been overstated or falsely stated. Selecting specific audio and documentary sources, we seek to analyze Debussy’s Clair de lune, considered the third and the most famous of the Suite bergamasque (Brown, 1996).
Musical and Documentary Sources
Documentary texts presents information that has been proven and documented hence they offer great amounts of primary information. Besides, documentary sources often offer a wide coverage, are comprehensive and substantive hence researches can find all information relating to the background of a given piece including the era in which it was written and the social conditions prompting its composure. However, although information about the style of a given piece can be found within a documentary source, its actual sound in practice cannot be known without listening to the actual piece. It is imperative to note that, in documentary sources, a music researcher is able to find information relating to the history of the piece. Carr (1967) gives a philosophical definition of history as a collection of a corpus of ascertained facts retrieved from variant sources such as documents and inscriptions. Jenkins (1995) further note that good history should be structural hence must be able to disclose and reconstruct conditions of action and consciousness with conditions being interpreted and understood as systems of social relations.
In addition to the documentary source, an audio source is preferred in the analysis of the musical piece Clair de lune. Audio source is critical since the researcher is enabled to actually hear the piece of music perfumed by the given performer although he or she may not be able to identify additional cues related to the piece such as whether the performance is correct and matching the era in which the piece was written. Besides in an audio source, each performer often tends to perform a similar piece different from other performers, a trend that may be confusing to the listener. Practically, a performer will perform based upon his character and his or her techniques and taste of music. However, a key advantage of an audio source is that one can listen to different editions, compare and decide on the one that better suits them furthermore, they can take positive elements from different performances of the same piece of music.
Clair de lune
In his book, Western Music Listening Today, Charles Hoffer analyzes multiple pieces of western music with Debussy’s Clair De Lune also discussed. Hoffer acknowledges that the piece is one of Debussy’s best known compositions originally presented as being a part of his Suite bergamasque although today, it is presented as a separate piece. The piece has also been transcribed for orchestra (Brown, 1996). Hoffer notes that the opening melody has several places in which the last one of one measure is tied together with the first note of the next measure. He explains that in music, a tie is represented by a curved line connecting two notes having the same pitch so that they sound as one long note. The tie serves to blur the meter of the music at those points. At other points within the piece, Debussy calls for two equal notes to the beat when the rest of the work uses three while at another place, the musician even specifies tempo rubato which is indicative of rhythmic flexibility (Hoffer 2008, p. 213).
Hoffer further notes that the skeleton of the melody meaning its basic notes is quite simple. It is a descending major scale to which the writer merely adds a few alternating notes. He criticizes the piece as relatively simple, noting that “….it certainly is not the solid kind of melody that Bach and Beethoven favored...” (Hoffer 2008, p. 213) In the music, Debussy is noted to add other effects such as the rolling out of the notes of some of the chords in a harp like manner rather than having them sounded together, an effect that tend to obscure the rhythm, (Berr 2010, p. 43). Still, within certain sections, he doubles the notes of the melody an octave higher, an effect which gives the music a more open effect.
Listening to an audio version of the piece as a resource produced a varying real time experience. I listened to Debussy’s Claire de Lune original version which was 5 minutes 1 second long and was of the ABBA form with the opening section (A) beginning softly with a gradually descending melody between times 0.00 and 0.35. At 0.35, the melody is repeated and at 1.25, the music becomes somewhat louder and increasingly animated (Debussy 1890). At 2.02, the contrasting section (B) section begins softly while at 2.25 and 2.44, B melody is repeated an octave higher as the music grows intense and the B melody repeated quietly respectively. At 3.13, the piece returns to the (A) section with the opening melody playing very softly. At 3.50, phases of a melody are repeated several times for a period of 1.14 minutes before the music gradually fades as chords are played in a harp like manner (Debussy 1890). Finally at 5.00 minutes, Claire de lune concludes very softly. Generally, the piece is scored in 72 bars in 9/8 time
Analysis
Experts agree that Debussy’s Clair De Lune is a standard piano repertoire that presents great challenges to musicians in within both aspects of rhythm. Hoffer (2008) contend that there are many silent downbeats that are tied or have rests within the piece besides there are periods in which there are longer groups of fast melodic notes. Within certain sections of the piece, the harmonies are not in root positions. Background check indicates that Debussy made two settings of Clair de lune with the first being presented at around 1882 while the second in 1892. Although the latter piece was supposed to be a revision of the first, it however became a completely new song having new interpretation of the original poem. To date, Debussy’s Clair de lune remains one of the most transcribed and studied pieces of harp literature.
The composition generally exhibits an optimistic and luminous atmosphere created by its cascading triads and a predominant major mode of the piano accompaniment. Furthermore, although there is a small descent within certain sections such as “le mode mineur” in measures 31-34, it has soaring climaxes, (Hoffer 2008, p.214). Multiple corresponding scales are present within the piece with the point of correspondence among the accompanimental scales in the minor triad occurring repeatedly in the vocal line, (Juslin and Laukka, 2003). Although the piece is noted as being harmoniously complex, it contains only a few technical difficulties owing to its ABBA structure which is easy to grasp, (Chaffin, 2007).
Clair de lune symbolism
The piece is also greatly symbolic, taking its title from a poem written by Verlaine. Debussy was not the only composer to base a song on Verlaine’s poems, Gabriel Faure, another notable composer had used six poems of the same poet to compose music. Debussy’s ability to set a poem to music enabled him to create an independent work of art which bore a complex and ultimately irresolvable relationship with the original poem (Chaffin, 2007). The piece is therefore, highly symbolic as it serves to illuminate some of the various facets of the original poem thereby increasing people understands since a musical setting heightens certain elements of the poem’s images, connections and structural relationships. Chaffin (2007) further agree that, the composer Debussy managed to create a highly symbolic piece, creating a glorious piece of music while having only the most general comprehension of the original poem.
Both the audio and the documentary sources presented an analysis of the piece’s original version both agreeing that the section of Suite Bergamasque is diatonic and displays a conservative harmonic vocabulary with the key being D-flat major (Hoffer 2008 and Debussy 1890). The two versions also agree on to when the piece was written and presented besides giving similar information on the poetic background of the poem. Both affirm that there is a relationship between the piece and Paul Verlaine’s eponymous poem as the two describe a vision of long-dead dancers participating in the moonlight (Hoffer 2008 and Debussy 1890). The two sources however do not agree on the clarity of the source, since although the documentary source affirms that the piece is endowed with transparent and real qualities, the audio source contend that the piece is full of impalpable qualities and lacks clarity.
Conclusion
As aptly stated by Schmitz (2010), Clair de lune is a great piece of music with a precious blend of innovation and tradition. This is evident in its harmonies, its style and ornamentation, its refined and elegant melodies, its keyboard aptness, its precision and contours, its baroque art of chiaroscuro and above all, in its clarity of form. The composer, Debussy also comes out as a gifted individual with the capacity of retaining the original character of an introductory, improvisatory and brilliant first movement while at the same time endowing the piece with the completeness of sonata form. The composer’s highly individual style is also evident in the piece’s tonal texture which is clear in all its melodic, rhythmic and harmonic elements. Conclusively, the piece remains one of the most loved from his piano repertoire owing to its ability to evoke feelings of mystery, tranquility and pathos.
References
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Companion, 2(2), 42-45
Brown, J. (1996). Claude Debussy: An Essential Guide to his Life and Works, London: Pavilion
Chaffin, R. (2007). “Learning Clair De Lune: Retrieval Practice and Expert Memorization.”
Music Perception, 24(4), 377-393.
Carr, E. H. (1967). What is history? London: Macmillan.
Hoffer, C. R. (2008). Western Music Listening Today. Boston: Schirmer Publishers.
Jenkins, K. (1995). On "What is history"": From Carr and Elton to Rorty and White, London:
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Jarocinski, S. (1976). Debussy: Impressionism & Symbolism. London: Eulenburg.
Palmer, C. 1996. 'Anatomy of a Performance: Sources of Musical Expression', Music Perception,
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Juslin P. N. Laukka, P. 2003. 'Communication of Emotions in Vocal Expression and Music
Performance: Different Channels, Same Code?' Psychological Bulletin, 129-5, 770-814
Schmittz, R. (2010) The Piano Works of Claude Debussy. Dover Publications.
