A Gift from Hundred Years Ago: Musical Inspiration from Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy was a famous composer in the 20th century. Although he did not like being labeled, there is no doubt that he was an influencer for contemporary music as an impressionist. The thesis of this essay will be the influences of Debussy to contemporary music in the 21st century. The essay will be based on the concert of Wednesday Noon Hour, a traditional setting music concert performed by Elysian Trio, which the members are famous local musicians in Vancouver, B.C. The program of the concert consisted of various pieces composed by Canadian composers and others. This essay will focus on the theme of the concert, orchestration, musical style of different works from different composers, analysis of Sonata after Syrinx by Bennett.
Wednesday Noon Hours was a livestream concert on February 3rd, 2021 in a traditional classical music set up with professional sound recording. Elysian Trio is a flute, viola and harp ensemble from Canada. In this concert, there were two different works from the 20th century, Syrinx by Claude Debussy released in 1913 and Sonata after Syrinx by Richard Rodney Bennett released in 1985. The rest of the works from the program were all composed by local Canadian composers in the past decade, such as Studies in Nature by Kari AI-Zand, To Ignite a Star by Leslie Opatril, Dancing Lights at Dusk by Nicholas Ryan Kelly and Supernova by Aidan Wong. These works demonstrated the influences from Debussy from their theme, style, tonality and structure.
The theme of the concert was an evidence of Debussy influencing 21st century music. The title of the works from this concert were about a creature, a scene or a story. The composers applied the impressionism ideas to their pieces. Similar to Impressionism art, instead of sculpturing the detail of the content, Impressionism music uses music notation to convey emotion, picture and scenario. (Mathias Impressionism In Music: Parker Symphony Orchestra) For example, the first movement of Studies in Nature by AI-Zand is Sea Lilies. It was a music compositional work inspired by the captivating illustrations of biologist and naturalist Erns Haeckel. (Al-Zand Karim Al-Zand: Studies in Nature) AI- Zand applied chromatic and slurring note in a flowing gesture to simulate the movement of the sea lilies from the sea; In Supernova, Wong used the effect of contrasting techniques and dynamics from different instruments to create the mysterious mood of the space with a quiet hollow sound. He also applied dramatic extended techniques, such as flutter tongue and glissando, to phrase out the gesture of the stars shooting around the space. Moreover, he used a wide range of dynamics to create the powerfulness of a supernova. Audience can experience the theme of the music from the color, shape, gesture and orchestration of melody. Debussy was one of the notable French impressionist composers in the late romantic period to early 20th century. (Mathias Impressionism In Music: Parker Symphony Orchestra) For example, La Mer was a famous impressionist work composed by Debussy. The theme of La Mer was about the ocean. While different instruments were playing a wavy melody in a countered point, it created a complex gesture of wavy lines, like the movement of the wave from the ocean. The shape of the phrases suggesting a flowing like feeling. The atmosphere was from mysterious to exciting. These examples show how much Debussy influenced the approach of contemporary composers nowadays.
The composers from in this program demonstrated the potential of the orchestration of this trio with creating a new timbre with different melody and different register of tone which was invented by Debussy. Most of the works from this program harmonized to his concept from the orchestration, the combination of the trio. The works from this concert has shown the flexibilities of the range of different instruments from the setting. The rich tone and color from different instruments create a refreshing tonality for the audience. In fact, the idea of the setting of flute, viola and harp as a trio was first invented by Debussy. The first composition for this combination from Debussy was the Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp in 1915. Unlike the traditional classical setting, such as string quartet and woodwind quintet, Debussy invented this combination of trio with three different timbre instruments from different families. Flute has a bright and open tone, viola has a contrastingly dull and dark tone, and harp is very colorful and powerful. Although Debussy was well-known as composing music for the combination of flute and harp, it was his first try to add viola into the ensemble. He believes adding the viola in the combination helps give the trio “a character of mournful tenderness; it emphasizes the vague atmosphere of despair that characterizes the work..” (Walker An analysis of Debussy's Sonata for flute, viola, and harp) Debussy’s idea for the trio has strengthened the comprehensiveness of the program in this concert.
In this concert, the musical style of the works from different decades echoes to each other. These works were tonal music, which represented a strong melodic sense. Each individual work had a short melodic phrase that repeated as a motif, and these motifs developed into different variation throughout the whole piece. Moreover, the techniques that applied in these works, such as repetition and variation of motifs, overlapping of phrases and the development of melody from the motifs, were not coincident. In the past few centuries, musical style changes along with the change of period. The musical genre, idea of scales and mode, tonality, orchestration and texture changed overtime. Especially in Contemporary period, more and more unique genres developed by individuals. (Ekwuribe What Is Contemporary Music?) It was very interesting how the works in this concert can keep the musical style harmonized to each other. In fact, Debussy started to use these techniques while he just invented the combination of this trio a hundred years ago. It was proved that these composers’ works were influenced by Debussy. (Walker An analysis of Debussy's Sonata for flute, viola, and harp) Though their styles echo each other’s work, composers’ unique musical ideas make them an individual, it recalls the aim of the contemporary period. Each composer and musician is unique.
Syrinx by Debussy influenced Bennett to compose Sonata after Syrinx. The most significant works from the program were these two pieces. The Sonata after Syrinx borrowed the motifs from Syrinx as its motifs. Bennett was inspired to compose a set of music by developing motifs from Debussy’s piece. This piece was the third piece from the set.(Bennett Sonata after Syrinx: Richard Rodney Bennett) For Sonata after Syrinx, he chose to orchestrate this piece into a trio, the combination that was invented by Debussy. Although the motifs were so familiar for the audience, he developed the motifs in a richer texture. Each part took turns to play the motifs, and the audience can notice the motif had transformed into different shapes and gestures. While harmonies filled in, the whole structure of the music became stronger and more convincing. It created a contrasting approach from Syrinx, especially while the motifs develop into different gestures. The melodies were refreshing and interesting. This piece was not only showing the respect from Bennett to Debussy. It also shows the influence from Debussy to new composers, and how the composers were inspired by these material and concepts.
The concert of Wednesday Noon Hours presented by Elysian Trio demonstrated a wide range of contemporary music from different cultural backgrounds and decades but in the same setting. It demonstrated the influences from Debussy to the new composers. Influences and inspirations from the past would help improve the musical approach. New artists will bring the best idea to create a better form of contemporary music. Contemporary composers would always inspire and learn from the past and develop their own style. Based on the experience and the concept from the historical background, new music will always be creative and effective.
References
Al-Zand, Karim. “Karim Al-Zand: Studies in Nature.” NaxosDirect, naxosdirect.com/items/karim-al-zand-studies-in-nature-467063.
Bennett, Richard Rodney. “Sonata after Syrinx: Richard Rodney Bennett.” Wise Music Classical, www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/11739/Sonata-after-Syrinx--Richard-Rodney-Bennett/.
Ekwuribe, Emeka. “What Is Contemporary Music?” The Music Resource, 12 Aug. 2020, themusicresource.com/what-is-contemporary-music/.
Lockspeiser, Edward. “Claude Debussy.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 21 Mar. 2021, www.britannica.com/biography/Claude-Debussy.
Mathias, Shari. “Impressionism In Music: Parker Symphony Orchestra.” Parker Symphony Orchestra | Your Local Community Orchestra, 27 Mar. 2017, parkersymphony.org/impressionism-in-music.
Walker, Deanne E. An Analysis of Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp. University Microfilms International, 1987.
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