Picturing Music in Debussy's Claire de Lune

Introduction:

Recently, I had the chance to work with an A-level student to work on the theme of “picturing music”. The requirements are rather broad, open to interpretation since the topic itself is rather generic, and can be approached from different angles. The required pieces were Claire de Lune by Debussy, Smetana’s Vltava, Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique, and free choice of piece(s) that discuss theme of night. The idea is to prepare the student to handle a wide range of issues and topics regarding how composers picture their music.

Picturing music as a concept can be analyzed from multiple views; I take it here to mean how a composer brings an idea to life through the medium of composition/music. What are some of the influencing factors in making those decisions? How does music itself portray certain symbols and metaphors, and how we can use those metaphors as tools to control syntax and rhetoric.
I think it is very important to keep in mind that the goal is not to find musical proof that confirms the listener’s intuitive first impression (in most cases, people who listen to Claire de Lune think the piece is about the light of the moon. Some even claim it must be near a lake!). Rather, it is about raising a cultivated opinion that uses the music, and historical context to better appreciate the piece. So, with that aim in mind, let us proceed.

It is important to note that while Debussy disapproved the term, his style of writing was to be labelled impressionistic. It is also worthwhile to mention that Claire de Lune belongs to the suit Bergamasque (1890) which is from his early period. In other words, it was composed before Debussy established his middle period style (impressionism). We can argue that the piece can be viewed as a pre-catalyst for his impressionistic style since it involved many of his composition techniques.

Our argument starts to take shape around the premise that Claire de Lune is a piece that foreshadows impressionism. We can use the piece to show how Debussy pictured music. Therefore, I will start with a brief description of impressionism in the arts and transfer to music.

Impressionism in arts:

By mid 19th century, Paris’s art galleries were centered around a gallery called the Salon. It had one exhibition a year that displayed what was considered high art (classic art). Therefore, there was no room for young contemporary artists to display their talents. Even if they did, they would have to pass a jury examination made arbitrarily to determine what is good and what is bad.
Thus, a group of artists (Claude Monet, August Renoir, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, and Alfred Sisley) decided to create their own exhibition by pooling in money to rent a studio. This in itself was a revolution. They called themselves the Anonymous Society of Artists, which included artists from all genres.

The critics refused their work at first because it resembled “impressions” rather than complete finished paintings; critics thought it was absurd to sell what was considered a sketch (artists sketched to quickly remind themselves of an idea they can paint in detail later on) as a product. These sketches were called impressions by the critics, which the artists later accepted as their own movement name.

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Impressionists used quick strokes of color as a technique to achieve the effect of painting if the viewer stands far away (instead of clear lines to dictate the shape). This technique allowed for more vibrant colors, more depth to the character of the subjects since they are not clearly defined by lines. We see the impression of these subjects as they experience different shades of light while the painter draws them. Light and Color were the key attributes in defining impressionism. Impressionist considered landscape and contemporary life as crucial subjects to document the changing environment around them with buzzling streets and different reflections of lights and colors around them.

Impressionism in music:

What we can conclude from impressionism is that artists wanted a different perspective; it could be that they were tired of it or that the “classic art” has exhausted its resources with past artists exploring its regions in depth. Regardless, it is suffice to say that there was a thirst for something new. This is parallel with music since composers were looking for new ways to escape tonality, classic German forms such as the sonata, and to establish themselves as original composers.

We can also extract that the music would have to include some sort of reference to nature or being outdoors. We know it has to include some way of dealing with light and its changing nature, how it reflects on objects, and how they interact in creating a moment. We also know that this moment is the composer’s impression of that scene (ironically, it takes a lot more than a moment to compose a piece).

Technically speaking, the impressionist composer would be looking for ways to replicate the impressionist artist: take away the clear lines and add brush strokes that imply the line, this translates into:

• not having a clear melodic line (classical tonal music has a melody line supported by accompaniment, think of Mozart’s Alla Turca). Instead, the composer might add hints of a melody but not enough to make it a stand-alone unit.
• The harmonic language would use extended chords, parallel harmony, and different new scales. This would allow for new colors and shades to be added similar to the new colors used by artists.
• The rhythm will be less stable by usage of triplets, ties, and off beat placement of important structural points.
• Finally, cadences would be reduced in weight or completely avoided to diminish the rhetoric of classical tonal forms. This would further destabilize the piece and avoid the clear tonal relationships between parts and form; all are landmarks of impressionist paintings.

Claire de Lune:

Before we dig into the first section of Claire de Lune, I will demonstrate quickly what Debussy was trying to avoid, a clear example of a classical tonal piece. I have used Tarrega’s Lagrima because it is short, one staff, and fits the purpose of demonstration:

• Notice how, visually and aurally, the melody line (red box) is clear on top of the other parts? It is the driving force that steers the piece. The trajectory of rhetoric is to take us from the beginning towards a climax that dwindles down to a resolution. In other words, it is what grabs our attention the most (think of Mozart’s symphony no 40, Beethoven’s Fur Elise, Schubert’s Ave Maria, etc).
  

• Notice how the bass (yellow box) is acting as a supporting function for the melody. In Lagrima’s example, it is a follower, a complimentary figure, but for the most part in tonal music, it acts as a harmonic guide that dictates keys.
  
• Notice how the rhythm is a straight count: {1 a 2 a 3 a}. There is no room for odd rhythms such as South American rhythms or jazz. This stability establishes a sense of unity and grounds us in our seat comfortably as we explore the melody and its development. This stability is coined the term: Tonal music.
• I want you to notice how the trajectory of the melody follows conventional chords progressions; it departs from I as expected, lands at V, then moves back to I through a Perfect Cadence to reassure us of our tonality (in this case E major). To make this clear, I want you to listen to the phrase again and pay attention to the climax high melody note. Notice how this new color creates a slight sense of uneasiness within you but quickly lose it with a smile when you reach the end of the phrase? This is tonality (tonality is the sense of knowing where we are going, not the smile part!).
• The last thing I want you to notice which is relevant to Claire de Lune, is the voicing. Notice how all melodic notes and bass notes are part of the chord? This voicing where both outer edges (bass and soprano) include notes of the tonal key create a safe environment for the listener to stay grounded in tonality, nothing is dangerous and we will never get lost.
  

In case you are lost with terms such as tonality, and keys, I will explain it in as few words as I possibly can. I always explain tonality to my students as a metaphor for Family:

Imagine your family is called the family of E Major. Your family would have a father and a mother (typical “classical” family) and maybe some siblings. These would stand for notes and possibly chords. Obviously, these members would have different weight of influence on you, some might be stronger and some might not influence you at all.

Imagine also that you live in this family, and that you’re going to tell us a classic story of one of your adventures leaving your “home” and doing something, then later hopefully making it back safely to your home. This is in essence, very simply put, tonality.

In Lagrima, we started with E major (our home), we then went for a short adventure to chord IV, and then back to our home E major. We have a second section that is in e minor, which follows the same metaphor, and we finish the piece by reminding you that we are still in the safety of our home, E Major.

This simple idea was strong enough to inspire generations of composers, and forms the majority of our repertoire. It also allows for massive expansions once implemented in forms and syntax that suits its functions. Think of sonata form in symphonic movements for example; it takes a small melodic unit, transitions it to another related theme, and develops both through fragmentation, modulation (moving to other keys, like when you move your house), sequencing, augmentation, diminution, and other techniques to further comment on the subject before restating it in home key. It is safe to say that after Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, Wagner, and other composers of late romantic period, composers were itching for something new to get rid of the compelling force of tonality. 

Exercise: can you pick out similar traits that we have discussed in the music that you listen to? Pop music is a great place to start but try to pick examples from classical composers.

With this over simplified view of western tonality and classical period music, we move to Debussy’s techniques used in Claire de Lune which sought to weaken the strength of tonality and open doors for his later more experimental pieces. It is a good time now to go take a break, and start listening to the piece as you read the rest of this blog:

This is the opening of Claire de Lune. Right from the start, we can notice the difference in style, how each part has a different weight/function compared to Lagrima, and above all, that the music has a “be in the moment” sense to it. Notice how the music is not an argument for/against the melody, nor is it a development of a theme, nor is it a trajectory of chord progression driven melodic line.

• We start right away with offbeat thirds that are harmonically ambiguous. Since we play F and an A flat, we do not know if we are in F minor, d diminished, or d flat major. This uncertainty continues up to the end of the first bar where the tonic D flat (strongest note in our home, red arrow) comes hidden in the inner voices (remember how in Lagrima, it was clearly displayed in the outer edges?).

While the introductory thirds are sweet, they are harmonically confusing, the insertion of the tonic in the inner voice at the end and inverting the chords all lead to the aural effect of reduced functionality of the tonal chord. We do not perceive it as chord I in D flat major start of piece, but rather, as an instant of music. A momentary flash of a brush stroke that hints at a “start” of something, and a start of melody, while in fact it is nothing but a brush stroke. Of course, when we step back, we realize that: A. it is the beginning of a piece, has a melody, bass and accompaniment. B. it is carefully planned to achieve this instant of sound.

• Notice how the rhythm serves a function of destabilizing the piece. The avoidance of familiar rhythmical patterns or emphasis on strong beats achieves two things: combining it with point 1, it enhances the sensation that we are not in clear classical tonality anymore. Second, it suspends us and allows us to float in this moment as we are unclear when do our feet touch the floor again. Try to count the piece the same way you did with Lagrima, can you?
• For the musically trained reader, see if you can spot how Debussy avoids the strong punctuation cadence that happens at mm 9 (not in the diagram). We get perfect cadence but it is weakened due to its beat placement and approach by an arpeggio through wide register distances.
• Notice how this new sound and attitude is all achieved while still carefully observing tonal laws and regulations. Debussy is still unsure of his new style and we can see experimentation in real time as we progress through the piece. Of course, this is all done in retrospect and I do not want to be accused of claiming things Debussy have not thought of himself. For all I know, he was just composing!
  

The second section of Claire de Lune is a chordal passage with several characteristics that foreshadow later pianistic techniques used by Debussy in his later works:

• Bass pedal that sustains the sound and ambient color. We should not think of this as a harmonic prolongation (a method to make sure we stay in the same home even though our melody is changing, remember E major home?). Rather, it is a coloring effect to add a different shade of light when superimposed on the chordal passage.
• The chords themselves can be considered an early instant of parallel harmony. In simple terms, they are chords that are almost identical from one chord to the other with notes in common. They change slowly and almost unnoticeably. This is a perfect example of direct translation of impressionistic techniques on music, a brush stroke instead of clear melodic passage. Sadly, I fear that this is only considered when we force the idea of impressionism on the music. However, it could be interpreted that way.

What we can say, which can hold more weight for our argument, is that the parallel chords allow for easier left/right hand figures while the melody slowly changes on top. This is a common technique for anyone that improvises and we do have proof of Debussy’s passion for improvisation. What is better than adding color to your improvised “instant” melody than to flourish it with chords?
We can see this technique used in several of Debussy’s music such as The Sunken Cathedral and Sarabande

• The end of that passage is a hint of Debussy’s love for Harps (a new colour and timbre). The arpeggiated chords add a rippling effect similar to that of the Harp. It is important not to fall for the trick and say these are “water” ripples. There are no clear hints of water just yet and we should be careful to associate any programmatic elements to the piece.
  

The third and final section that I am going to discuss is the flourishing of notes that happen after the chordal passage. Few points to notice:

• The register difference between the melody and the bass becomes obscured with the constant flow of arpeggio notes that fill the space. If you are confused to what I am talking about picture this: think of Stand by Me, you can easily sing the bass line because it is so low and distinct, when the melody comes it is much higher than the bass, thus it stands out as well.

We can argue that this is another instant of imitating impressionism in art; many brush strokes create the illusion of melody but nothing stands out when we zoom in. It is only by observing the piece from a distance that we can appreciate the whole as an instant of sound, a moment. Again, I repeat that this interpretation is only valid as a hypothesis. We also need to be aware that we are forcing the similarities, we do not have proof of Debussy’s mind set when composing, but the net effect can be analyze in this way.

• Pianistically though, this is an instant of a flow of notes where the momentum picks up and we are transported to other areas rather quickly. It can also be considered a part of cross hands technique, but I am not a piano player so I cannot comment on that. However, you can hear similar effect in his Voiles (1:24), and first movement of Estampes, Pagodes.
  

I will stop my discussion of the sections here simply because the style of writing of the third section continues almost to the ending of the movement. I want to emphasize that the piece is not divided into three sections the way I mentioned. I only divided it this way because of the angle I am approaching the analysis (that is, what are some musical instances that shed light on picturing music). For a form analysis, you will have to read elsewhere. However, depending on your opinion, it could be A B A with a coda or A B C A coda. I personally see it as an A B C D A Coda.
 
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this blog, learned something, or maybe thought about music in a different way. I have to say it took a lot of courage for me to write this considering that I am not a piano player and Debussy is not my forte. However, I have learned a lot through my interaction with my student and I am a huge fan of his thinking process and sound since my university years. I understand there are other musicians out there who are better critics than me and can confirm/negate my opinion. However, that should no deter us from conversation!

When listening to music, it is important to understand what it is we are listening to, and why. Most people I talk to are afraid of this conversation because they want to “enjoy” music based on feelings. That is one way of approaching music, but there are many others. They do not necessarily conflict and sometimes even compliment each other. Saying you see the moon light when listening to Claire de Lune is perfectly acceptable, but it is not the truth. Personally, I strive to find ways to enrich my listening habits and appreciation of music. As a performer, it is important to understand these elements in pieces because they can guide you in making editorial decisions that are unique to your personality and technique.
 
To summarize this post, we have discussed an instant of how a composer can picture music. This instant being Claire de Lune by Debussy. We have looked at ways the music reacted to its social context by observing specific musical examples and techniques. I have to admit, at some points I forced some of my views on the piece to make it fit a narrative that is agreeable with picturing music theme. It is my hope that I kept this “forcing” at minimum and helped the listener gain a wider perspective on the music.

A la prochaine