5/8/20

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Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Claude Debussy is a composer that I’ve mentioned several times in my posts, and although I have held out for some time on writing about one of his works, I decided that I could not hold myself back any longer. That being said, I must also admit that the task of writing about Debussy was one which genuinely intimidated me. As a composer that took a large part in defining one of the most influential styles after romanticism, Debussy is certainly one of the more famous names in classical music. The piece of his which I decided to talk about today is also one of his most famous works, and one which I have referenced in previous posts: La mer. Completed in 1905, the piece is written in three movements and only lasts 20-25 minutes. As perhaps the most recognizable work that I’ve picked so far in these posts, La mer warrants little to no introduction - and don’t worry, this will be the last piece I pick which is directly inspired by the ocean.

I find that there is some part of me that really did not want to pick La mer as the topic for one of my posts. The piece frequently makes lists like “10 most famous orchestral pieces” or “25 pieces of classical music you must know,” and for good reason too. It joins the ranks among works like Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 9, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, and Maurice Ravel’s Boléro - pieces that are so famous that they border on cliche. That quality of these pieces is what makes it so difficult to set aside preconceptions and analyse the piece just as you might with some new and unfamiliar work. There is no getting around the fact that La mer is brilliantly written, but let’s not allow that to alter how we approach the piece. For me, the piece is one of my favorite impressionistic works for orchestra, which is why I knew that I needed to write about it at some point in these posts. I must admit, however, that waiting to write about the piece allowed me more time to devise a plan to talk about it. At this point in my posts, there have been plenty of pieces which were inspired by Debussy’s music, which for me has helped me to slowly ease into the topic of impressionism.

I’ll spare you a detailed analysis of all three movements of La mer, but there are two very important elements of the piece that I believe are worthy of discussion. The first of those elements is harmony, which is always an important talking point when discussing impressionistic music. The harmony in La mer takes on a much different role than it does in pieces written in the Romantic era, almost completely setting aside traditional function. Functional harmony is the foundation for so much of music that the absence of it is what often makes the music of Debussy seem ‘colorful ‘ or ‘exotic’ at times. The “rules” of functional harmony are based on how certain chords tend to lead to others - the variation in fulfilling those expectations and sometimes breaking away from them is what helps to generate interest. On the other hand, the harmony of La mer is based on rejecting functional direction of chords and allowing one harmony to move freely to other distant tonalities. This is evident in Debussy’s frequent use of pedal points, and in how each harmonic shift feels like a fresh change in mood rather than motion pointing towards some sort of resolution. The second element which I believe is crucial to understanding the genius of La mer (before I get too caught up in harmony) has to be the orchestration. In this piece, Claude Debussy puts much more emphasis on woodwind instruments than he does on the string sections, providing for more variation of tone color throughout. The strings, which served as the backbone of orchestral writing for much of the history of Western music, are the only group in the orchestra which share a relatively uniform sound across all registers. In light of that, the strings in La mer take a smaller role in melodic ideas and instead provide textural background and expansive harmonies throughout. This allows for Debussy to create uniquely beautiful and soloistic tone colors with the woodwinds and brass, such as the doubling of English horn and trumpet, or the use of a rhythmically pulsing oboe underneath sustained flute. There is much more to the greatness of this work than these two brief examples, but I find that it is the harmony and orchestration that always grabs my attention. Regardless of any individual elements, it all converges to paint a truly remarkable scene of the ocean.

Hopefully this post will add to the appreciation you probably already have for such a famous piece of classical music. Even though I assume that most (if not all) of you are familiar with La mer, I encourage you to approach it with an unbiased and open mind regardless. I find that it can be so incredibly fun and rewarding to listen to a piece and consider what element of it makes me like it. With a famous piece like this one, it may be easy to sit back and let it wash over you, but I encourage you to try analyzing the piece on your own. Be as specific or general as you want with it, because either way you might just start to catch onto why this piece deserves its fame and why it is so different from music of the Romantic or Classical era. Even if you struggle with making sense of the music, maybe just try to look at how the score is different visually from other works which I’ve talked about. In the score video which I’ve linked below, hopefully you’ll be able to see, for example, how Debussy often prioritizes woodwind colors over the strings. Whichever way you decide to look at it, I hope that the piece remains enjoyable to listen to and shows you just how eloquent impressionistic music can be.