Debussy Sonata

Copyright
by
Janelle Suzanne Ragno
2005
The Treatise Committee for Janelle Suzanne Ragno Certifies that this is the
approved version of the following treatise:
The Lutheran Hymn Ein feste Burg

in Claude Debussys Cello Sonata (1915):
Motivic Variation and Structure
Committee:
Elliott Antokoletz, Supervisor

Phyllis Young, Co-Supervisor
Eugene Gratovich
B. David Neubert
Marianne Wheeldon
Howard T. Prince II
THE LUTHERAN HYMN EIN FESTE BURG

IN CLAUDE DEBUSSYS CELLO SONATA (1915):
MOTIVIC VARIATION AND STRUCTURE
by
Janelle Suzanne Ragno B.M.; M.M.
Treatise
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
The University of Texas at Austin

August 2005
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge a number of people whose assistance and expertise
have made this treatise possible:
Dr. Elliott Antokoletz, my supervisor, who spent countless hours reading my
work and gave me his valuable advice.
Phyllis Young, my cello professor and mentor throughout my studies at the
University of Texas. Her guidance has helped me make it through this degree, and she
has given me the tools for my success in the future.
My committee members: Dr. Eugene Gratovich, Dr. David Neubert, Dr. Marianne
Wheeldon and Dr. Howard Prince II for their time and encouragement.
Dell Hollingsworth and others from the Harry Ransom Center for helping me find
fascinating information from the vast archives contained within.
Kenneth Caswell, who was generous in inviting Dr. Antokoletz and me to his
house to show us the Welte pianos and scroll recordings of Debussy.
All the proctors in the Music Computer Lab and the Fine Arts Computer Lab,
who answered all my questions about Finale and put out more than a few small fires.
Now a very special group of people:
Andrew Luchkow you are a God-send. Thank you for your emotional support,
for feeding me many meals when I ran out of time to eat, for listening to my lecture, and
for even helping me revise Finale documents at the last minute. I could not have
completed this without your help and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with
you.
iv
Thank you to my good friend, Miranda Wilson for lending her ears, lecture
experience and emotional support. Miranda, I know your life is just as crazy as mine and
I really appreciate all you do. I hope our paths cross many times in the future after we
graduate.
And finally, thank you to my Mother, Father and Step-Mother who have shown
me their love and support all throughout my musical studies, from the moment I first
began playing music. Your belief in me has taken me this far.
Thank you.
The Lutheran Hymn Ein feste Burg

in Claude Debussys Cello Sonata (1915):
Motivic Variation and Structure
Publication No._____________
Janelle Suzanne Ragno, D.M.A.

The University of Texas at Austin, 2005
Supervisors: Elliott Antokoletz and Phyllis Young

Although very few cellists are aware of its presence in the Debussy Cello Sonata,
the notes and rhythm of the Lutheran hymn Ein feste Burg are quoted Debussys
initial sketch of the sonata, implying a raison dtre that until now has remained
unnoticed. The discovery of Debussys application of motives derived from the hymn
will redefine how musicians view the sonata, as the symbolic significance of a motivic
variational process based on the hymn and hidden quotes of the French anthem La
Marseillaise in the third movement of the Sonata will place this piece into the context of
World War I and in accord with the nationalist attitudes of the French and Germans at the
time. Currently, the popular explanation of the sonata involves the commedia dellarte
story of Pierrot Angry at the Moon, but there is no solid evidence for the claim, only
rumors.
vi
Debussy also did not write in isolation from the artistic community. Between the
Prussian War and World War I certain groups sought to preserve French culture by
calling for a return to French classicism in music (from the styles of Rameau and
Couperin) and by banning all German music. While Debussy admitted his desire to
preserve French culture, he refused to adhere to their artistic demands which would have
limited his art. This treatise will examine Debussys response to the situation and the
significance of Ein feste Burg and La Marseillaise in the Cello Sonata.
Ein feste Burg, more commonly known in English as A Mighty Fortress is

Our God, was composed by Martin Luther in 1529 during the Protestant Reformation.
Since its composition, a number of composers have set the hymn for various purposes;
Debussy used the hymn and La Marseillaise in the piano duet En blanc et noir of 1915,
the same year as the Cello Sonata. The work is thought to depict the conflicts between
France and Germany through programmatic descriptions of war and symbolic
presentations of the melodies, set within a tonal dichotomy which is based on the musical
process in Debussys opera Pellas et Mlisande.
By this study, it will be now known that the Cello Sonata also bears the Ein
feste Burg hymn, which undergoes a motivic variational process in the work. In the first
movement of the Cello Sonata, entitled Prologue, Ein feste Burg is hidden within a
more traditional French style. In the second movement, entitled Srnade, the hymn is
treated more abstractly through motivic variation. This results in a conflict of keys and
motives that are then defeated by motives of La Marseillaise in the third movement,
vii
entitled Finale. The contours of the melodic lines based on both tunes in the Cello
Sonata are in some cases nearly identical except for the change in rhythm. In this treatise,
I will analyze in detail the motivic variational process to which it appears Debussy
subjected the Ein feste Burg theme in the Cello Sonata, and the structure that evolves
from that process.
viii
Table of Contents
List of Figures ....................................................................................................... xii
THE DISCOVERY
Finding Ein feste Burg ........................................................................................1

Pierrot fch avec la lune (Pierrot Angry at the Moon)..........................................2
Ein feste Burg in the Sketch of the Cello Sonata................................................5
Summary of Events leading to Frances Entry Into the War ...................................8
French Music and Art During World War One .......................................................9
Debussys Feelings Towards the War and Germans .............................................14
Debussys Style Changes and Reception...............................................................16
Nol des enfants qui nont pas de maisons (1915)....................................20
Berceuse hroque.........................................................................................20
Sonata for Flute, Harp and Viola ..................................................................21
Sonata for Violin and Piano..........................................................................21
PELLAS ET MLISANDE
24
Motivic and Cellular Development in Pellas et Mlisande.........................25

EIN' FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT
28
Ein feste Burg History.......................................................................................28

Why Would Debussy Use Ein feste Burg? .......................................................30
33
EN BLANC ET NOIR
Ein feste Burg in En blanc et noir.....................................................................33

First Section ..................................................................................................34
Third Section.................................................................................................35
Second Section..............................................................................................35
ix
Analysis of the Second Movement of En blanc et noir in terms of Ein

feste Burg and La Marseillaise ..............................................37
THE CELLO SONATA
44
Primary Sources .....................................................................................................44

Debussy's Remarks .......................................................................................44
A Secret Dedication? ....................................................................................45
Evidence Found in the Music .......................................................................46
Secondary Sources .................................................................................................46
Musical Elements of the Cello Sonata ...................................................................49
Motives from Ein feste Burg....................................................................49
Rhythmic Modifications of Ein feste Burg ..............................................50
Abstraction....................................................................................................52
Dichotomies Between Elements ...................................................................53
Some Comments on Interpretation ........................................................................54
Srnade (Second Movement)............................................................................59
Overall development of the movement.........................................................59
Analysis of the Srnade Movement.........................................................61
Section A..............................................................................................61
Section B..............................................................................................69
Section A..............................................................................................73
Section C..............................................................................................78
Section A..............................................................................................89
Prologue (First Movement) Analysis .................................................................93
Exposition ............................................................................................94
Development ......................................................................................100
Recapitulation ....................................................................................105
Finale (Third Movement) Analysis ..................................................................105
Section A............................................................................................106
Section B............................................................................................109
x
Section A and C................................................................................110

Section D............................................................................................110
Section A and C .................................................................................111
Coda 112
CONCLUSION
114
Bibliography ........................................................................................................116
Vita .....................................................................................................................124
xi
List of Figures
Figure 1, Ein feste Burg in treble clef, C Major .................................................5
Figure 2, Ein feste Burg in bass clef, E Major ..................................................5
Figure 3, mm. 79-89, En blanc et noir...................................................................37
Figure 4, mm.162-166, En blanc et noir................................................................38
Figure 5, La Marseillaise with traditional rhythmic values................................38
Figure 6, mm. 22-23, Second section, En blanc et noir.........................................39
Figure 7, mm. 53-54, Second section, En blanc et noir.........................................39
Figure 8, mm. 129-130, Second section, En blanc et noir.....................................40
Figure 9, mm. 132-133, Second section, En blanc et noir.....................................40
Figure 10, mm. 18-21, Second section, En blanc et noir.......................................41
Figure 11, mm. 10-11, Prologue, Cello Sonata ..................................................41
Figure 12, mm. 109-111, Second section, En blanc et noir...................................42
Figure 13, mm.7-9, Finale, Cello Sonata ...........................................................43
Figure 14, mm. 41-43, Finale, Cello Sonata ......................................................43
Figure 15, Ein feste Burg motive a ...................................................................49
Figure 16, Ein feste Burg motive b ...................................................................49
Figure 17, Ein feste Burg motive c ...................................................................49
Figure 18, Ein feste Burg motive d ...................................................................50
Figure 19, Ein feste Burg motive e ...................................................................50
Figure 20, Ein feste Burg motive f....................................................................50
Figure 21, m.1, Prologue, Cello Sonata .............................................................51
Figure 22, Sketch of opening bars of Srnade with initial passage in upper left
corner ................................................................................................61
xii
Figure 23, mm. 1-4, Srnade, Cello Sonata......................................................63

Figure 26, Sketch of passage in Srnade with E harmonics.............................67
Figure 27, mm. 10-11, Srnade, Cello Sonata..................................................67
Figure 28, mm.12-16 (first part of B section), Srnade, Cello Sonata .............69
Figure 29, Sketch of Srnade with initial B section passage in diatonic..........70
Figure 30, mm. 17-18 (second part of B section), Srnade, Cello Sonata .......72
Figure 31, mm. 18-19, Sketch, Srnade, Cello Sonata.....................................73
Figure 34, m. 25, Srnade, Cello Sonata ..........................................................76
Figure 36, Contour of C section corresponding to Ein feste Burg, Srnade,
Cello Sonata ......................................................................................78
Figure 37, mm.28-30, Srnade, Cello Sonata...................................................80
Figure 38, mm.31-54, Srnade, Cello Sonata...................................................82
Figure 40, m. 58, Srnade, Cello Sonata ..........................................................92
Figure 41, mm. 59-64 (end), Srnade, Cello Sonata ........................................93
Figure 42, mm. 1-4, Prologue, Cello Sonata ......................................................95
Figure 43, Ein feste Burg hymn condensed ......................................................96
Figure 44, mm. 45-46, Prologue, Cello Sonata ..................................................96
Figure 45, mm. 5-7, Prologue, Cello Sonata ......................................................97
Figure 46, mm. 8-11, Prologue, Cello Sonata ....................................................98
xiii
Figure 47, mm. 20-21, Prologue, Cello Sonata ................................................101

Figure 48, m. 28, Prologue, Cello Sonata ........................................................102
Figure 49, mm. 29-34, Prologue, Cello Sonata ................................................103
Figure 50, mm. 35-36, Prologue, Cello Part in Cello Sonata...........................104
Figure 51, The La Marseillaise melody in A Major.........................................106
Figure 52, mm. 3-5, Finale, Cello Sonata ........................................................107
Figure 53, mm. 6-11, Finale, Cello Sonata ......................................................108
Figure 54, La Marseillaise melody as it would be completed with B and C#..108
Figure 55, mm. 15-18, Finale, Cello Sonata ....................................................109
Figure 58, mm. 112-114, Finale, Cello Sonata ................................................112
Figure 59, mm. 115-End, Sketch of last section of Finale ...............................113
xiv
THE DISCOVERY
Finding Ein feste Burg

The discovery of Ein feste Burg in Claude Debussys Cello Sonata (1915), and
the composers application of motives derived from it throughout the work, did not come
about all at once. In fact, it was more than ten years ago that the cellist Moray Welsh
first discovered the melody, but only as a series of notes in the sketch. Two months later,
a commentary article by Alan Gibbs appeared in a Strad magazine stating that the melody
was actually the Lutheran hymn Ein feste Burg. This commentary article from August
1992 that I first encountered read:
The tone row which Moray Welsh quotes as Ex.2 of his informative masterclass
article on Debussys Cello Sonata (June 1992) is no plainsong, but Luthers Ein
feste Burg (A stronghold sure). Slightly unexpected, to say the least, and
seemingly worlds removed from the spirit of the Sonata. Perhaps its words were
a comfort to the mortally ill composer; and its shape may indeed have been the
starting point for significant ones in the Sonata 1
When I returned to the original article by Moray Welsh, the passage concerning
the tune read as follows:
The melodic material [in the sonata] has an organic growth from one idea to
another, with considerable play around certain melodic cells, and groupings of
notes. One can really feel the way in which Debussy was exploring this material
as he went along, so that the structure evolved as a result of ever-renewing
variation, with one section added to another to create a whole.
At the top of the first page of the second movement, there is an isolated phrase
jotted down next to the pizzicato theme from the second movement which is one
of those cells, in a rough hewn version, written out in such a way that it looks like
1
Alan Gibbs, Debussys Lutheran Side? Strad 103/1228 (Aug 1992), 684.
a plainsong melody. This whole tone sequence of the descending fourth from E
to B recurs in various places throughout the sonata, as does the outline interval
of a tritone. 2
Yet Moray Welsh shies away from analyzing the sonata in terms of this tone
row, which may have led him to discover the significance of it in the Sonata. He adds:
Lest the task of analysis should start to assume too important a function, in any of
the discussion of the interpretation of Debussys music there is always a ghostly
hand tapping one on the shoulder if not actually rapping one over the knuckles, in
the persona of Monsieur Croche, the alter ego musical critic in Debussy.3
Now, thirteen years later, in this treatise I will uncover the concept of motivic
variation in the Cello Sonata using the fragments of Ein feste Burg to illuminate the
musical significance I believe Debussy originally intended the sonata to bear. Obviously,
Debussy did not feel that he needed to communicate this musical intent verbally, or else
he would have done so. And it is true that Debussy did not like analyses of his works,
but when the use of musical quotation is obvious, one cannot refrain from investigating
its significance and application in the music. Especially in these modern times when the
Pierrot fch avec la lune (Pierrot Angry at the Moon) program, the existence of which
Debussy certainly did not approve, is all that is available to guide us in understanding the
Sonata.
Pierrot fch avec la lune (Pierrot Angry at the Moon)

Until last year, my thoughts regarding the Debussy Cello Sonata were formed by
what I had read and heard from other cellists and scholars, that the program of the Sonata
is the Pierrot Angry at the Moon program which apparently Debussy had originally titled
2
3
Moray Welsh, Un Embarras de Richsse, Strad 103/1226 (June1992), 517.

Welsh, Un Embarras de Richsse, 519.
the second movement, but later rescinded. But nowhere in my research did I find any
proof of there ever being a Pierrot story in any of Debussys letters, sketches or accounts
by friends. Even in scholarly writing, mention of the Pierrot story very rarely includes
footnotes referring to any primary sources. Real evidence is lacking that any Pierrot
program ever existed at all. The closest we come is in Debussys statement concerning
the misconceptions with his music after Rosoors visit:
Yesterday I had a visit from Mr. L. Roos (Rosoor). For a moment he made me
feel sorry Id composed a sonata and I began to wonder whether my writing was
at fault! This episode has worried me considerably; the ramifications are many
and Im not surprised any more that my poor music is so often misunderstood.
Without dramatizing it unduly, it was terrifying. Why wasnt I taught how to
polish spectacles, like Spinoza? Then Id never have to rely on music to provide
my daily bread Its a miscalculation, indeed I would go so far as to say
dishonest. If it werent too late, unfortunately, to make something out of this bitter
truth.4
Moray Welsh, in an article entitled Behind the Moon-Eyed Mask, presents a
study of the facts and circumstances surrounding the Sonata. At first makes the statement
that Pierrot Angry at the Moon is indeed no where to be found in the sketch or first
edition Sonata, even though some claim that it was to have initially been its title but was
later rescinded by Debussy. But Welsh then says that Debussy was fond of the commedia
dellarte theater, and attempts to support the Pierrot program with subjective historical
evidence. Welsh goes on to write that perhaps Debussy originally thought of the idea and
confided in the cellist, but then denied the claim when Rosoor started to distribute the
program to audiences, an act Debussy no doubt abhorred.5
Moray Welsh, Behind the Moon-eyed Mask, Strad (April 1992), 325.
Claude Debussy, Sonate fr Violoncello und Klavier, edited by G. Henle Verlag with a preface by
Francios Lesure (1998).
5
On the other hand, by this time, French audiences were used to reading
educational programs at concerts,6 and perhaps Rosoor felt he needed to provide more
information about the Sonata for this reason. He may have then gone to Debussy for
advice, and it is possible then that Debussy toyed with his mind when asked for a
programmatic explanation of the Sonata, since Debussy is known to have disliked
programs. There are statements regarding Debussys manner of dealing with people:
I do not know but that, during the first period of our acquaintanceship, he
imparted various confidences to me in order to see whether I would hasten to
transform them into echoes for the press. He had his own method of ridding
himself of newspaper men. It consisted in making those brusque and paradoxical
statements with which (often in the most ridiculous manner) the French press has
been nourished in the last fifteen years. 7
Lockspeiser, in his book Debussy His Life and Mind, also speaks of Debussys words:
What is certain with Debussy? The pleasure of scandalizing, the humor of the
moment, the happiness of a word, but also imaginative fantasies... these can to
diverse degrees falsify that which Debussy says or writes. 8
There is simply no evidence either way concerning the Cello Sonata and the
Pierrot Angry at the Moon program. All we have is Rosoor's insistence that Debussy
divulged the information (though the evidence even for this is hard to find) and Debussy's
letter saying that he was deeply troubled by the visit. Therefore, at this point, concerning
the Pierrot program, we can only haphazardly speculate about its use in the Sonata. The
Ein feste Burg tune, on the other hand, has much more solid evidence as being a basis
for the composers intentions.
Lesure and Roy Howat, Grove Encyclopedia 2nd edition, s.v. Debussy, Claude, 114.
G. Jean-Aubrey, Claude Debussy, Musical Quarterly 4 n1 (1918), 543.
8 Translated from the French by Miranda Wilson from Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy: His Life and Mind, 2
volumes (London, 1962), 66.
6Francois
7
Ein feste Burg in the Sketch of the Cello Sonata
One major source of evidence concerning the presence of Ein feste Burg in the
Cello Sonata is the presence of it in the Sonatas sketch. How is it possible to know for
certain that the presence of Ein feste Burg in the sketch of the Cello Sonata is
particularly meant for the Cello Sonata, instead of an idea for the piano duet En blanc et
noir, which also includes the hymn, and was composed at about the same time? At first it
seems quite likely that Debussy may have written the melody on simply an available
piece of paper while working on the piano piece, but further examination shows that the
particular quotation of the hymn belongs to the Cello Sonata.
One piece of evidence that might at first connect the hymn in the sketch to En
blanc et noir is that the Ein feste Burg hymn in the sketch bears no clef sign, and it is
impossible to tell whether Debussy wrote the tune in treble clef (implying C major) or
bass clef (implying E major).
Figure 1, Ein feste Burg in treble clef, C Major
Figure 2, Ein feste Burg in bass clef, E Major
When Moray Welsh noticed the quotation, he interpreted it as being in bass clef.9
At first glance one could believe that the sketched hymn belongs to En blanc et noir since
in that piece the melody is quoted directly in E major in bass clef, and in octaves so that
the bottom voice contains the notes from the melody in the Sonata sketch exactly. But,
after careful examination of the Cello Sonata Srnade movement, where the sketched
melody occurs, one can see that certain fragments of Ein feste Burg are repeated many
times. It is highly unlikely that Debussy would not have been aware that the second
movement contained an enormous amount of these small fragments of the melody. Also,
the Cello Sonata also contains not only a motivic variational process based on Ein feste
Burg, but also longer musical lines in the Sonata that are very close to the original
hymn.
But why would Debussy have written Ein feste Burg in C major in the sketch
when the Cello Sonata is clearly in D minor? There could be a number of explanations
for this: first of all, the Srnade movement is not clearly in D minor as in the
Prologue and Finale movements which surround it. This second movement is
written in a much more abstract style that does not usually imply a particular key.10
Therefore it is possible that Debussy wanted to write the hymn in C major, which
contains no sharps or flats, in order to work with the intervals more easily.
Another explanation is that Debussy meant to use C and D to symbolize the

distinction between the French and German cultures. In the Sonata I have found that
Welsh, Un Embarras de Richsse, 517.

See section entitled Dichotomies for more info on this.
10
there in fact is a dichotomy between D and C, and that C often returns at particular times
when the Ein feste Burg tune is the strongest.
A piece of evidence that helps to negate the idea that the hymn may be meant for
En blanc et noir is that the sketch of the Cello Sonata is a complete entity in itself.
Rather than being a general sketchbook containing ideas for a number works it bears a
title page and numbered pages, implying exclusivity to the sonata. While it is possible
that Debussy may have used this exclusive sketch to write down an idea quickly for
another piece, it seems unlikely.
DEBUSSY AND WORLD WAR ONE

Summary of Events leading to Frances Entry Into the War
World War I began with the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke
Ferdinand, and his wife, by a nationalist organization in Serbia, and escalated quickly due
to the unexpected loyalties of allied countries. Ferdinand and his wife visited Sarajevo,
Bosnia in 1914 and were assassinated by students from the Black Hand group while
attending a festival. The Austro-Hungarian government believed it was actually
masterminded by the Serbian intelligence, and initiated a more serious conflict by
deliberately compiling a list of political demands they knew that Serbia would reject. But
Serbia, backed by Russia, was able to prepare itself for military conflict. This move then
drew Germany into the conflict since Russian mobilization meant a threat to German
security. But Germany would have to fight the bordering country of France, an ally of
Russia, since Germany would have to get them out of the way first in order to tackle the
greater enemy. And so France and Germany were brought into a war that did not
originally concern them at all, but to which they dedicated. France entered the war with
optimism, confident that a quick, decisive battle would be over by Christmas. 11
11
Victor Seroff, Debussy: The Musician of France (New York, 1956), 34.
French Music and Art During World War One

People sometimes inquire what form of government is most suitable for an artist to live
under. To this question there is only one answer. The form of government that is most
suitable to the artist is no government at all. Authority over him and his art is
ridiculous.12
Between the time that France fought the Franco-Prussian war (1870) and World
War One, certain groups had been formed to protect their homeland by, among other
steps, nurturing an artistic environment in Paris (the cultural center of France) through
abundant funding of theatres and artists. Leaders in the Third Republic held the belief
that music should be written to serve the country. Control over music was given to
institutions such as the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts (starting in 1870) and
musical institutions were obligated to ask for permission before holding concerts of any
sort. This control was not necessarily negative, as the government also allotted many
funds towards the arts and even made public concerts affordable for the general public,
believing that art can have a positive moral influence on the citizens.13 All types of
concerts were given in great abundance, citizens began taking musical lessons, and a
number of musical journals such as Le Figaro thrived.14
Although French culture was greatly appreciated in pre-war Paris, the culture of
other nations also found recognition in the aesthetics of the public. A few French artists
even admitted their debt to other national styles, such as Vincent dIndy who first wrote a
book entitled De Bach a Beethoven (1899) and then founded the Schola Cantorum based
12
Oscar Wilde met Debussy in Feb 1893, Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism in
Fortnightly review Cahiers Debussy 23 (Feb 1891), pg.313-4, as cited in Didre Donnellon, The Anarchist
Movement in France and Its Impact on Debussy, Cahiers Debussy 23 (1999).
13 Francois Lesure and Roy Howat, Grove Encyclopedia 2nd edition, s.v. Debussy, Claude, 112.
14 Francois Lesure and Roy Howat, Debussy, Claude, 116.
on the belief that composition students were to study the masters of styles throughout
history, including: plainsong and chant and Beethovens style of composing symphonies.
These techniques, he believed, were the foundation of musical studies.15 In light of these
beliefs, the Schola promoted German-based compositional principles (such as counterpoint
and symphonic writing), particularly from the works of Beethoven. dIndy required
students to master the styles of previous composers before embarking on their own
creativity.16 When the war broke out in 1914, the schools emphasis changed drastically,
and suddenly the students were highly encouraged to write in a musical style that
reflected the roots of their heritage, dating back to the French classicists of the 17th and
18th centuries. The Schola banned German music as the music of the enemy, a decision
with which many musicians, including Debussy did not agree. Debussy wrote in his
Preface to Pour la musique franaise. Douze causeries 17 Apparently, the public might
have not been so fond of the new rules either, as can be seen in a 1918 article by J.G.
Prod'homme in the Musical Quarterly concerning the concerts in Paris:
But the experience of the season of 1914-1915, when every Austro-German
composer was banished from the programs, has shown that it is a difficult matter
when one follows music as a livelihood, to interest our music lovers in our school
alone. Whereas, in ordinary times, the sum received by each member of the
orchestra upon the partition of the proceeds of a concert was fifty or sixty francs,
his quota on one Sunday of the season of 1914-1915 fell to eighteen francs! Such
was the practical, the palpable result of the first war season at Paris.18
15
Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night: Music and the Great War (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2003), 59.
16 Jane Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power: The Dialogic Element in Debussys
Wartime Compositions, In Debussy and His World, edited by Jane Fulcher (Princeton and Oxford, 2001)
236-7.
17 Claude Debussy, preface to Pour la musique franaise. Douze causeries, edited by Bach-Sisley (Paris:
Editions Georges Grs et Cie., 1917).
18 D.C. Prodhomme, Music and Musicians in Paris During the First Two Seasons of the War, Musical
Quarterly 4, no.1 (1918), 138.
10
But why this sudden change in the emphasis concerning art? Jane Fulcher
describes the myth of the wartime culture, invented by Charles Maurras (founder of
Ligue de lAction Franaise) who decided that high art should return to its origins
(French classicism) in order to bring unity and victory to France. 19 This resulted in the
wartime belief that high art and culture were national rather than universal,20 and
classicism was seen as the means by which French culture could be defended from the
enemy.21 By 1916 certain people including Saint-Sans had formed the Ligue pour la
Defense de la Musique Franaise, which implemented a proposition to ban all German
music and set a list of rules determining the pure French style.
Composers were under enormous pressure to write for the spirit of France under
these new rules, thereby associating their art with the war. Ravel said Im working.
Yes, Im working, and with an insane certainty and lucidity. But, during this time, blues
are at work too, and suddenly I find myself sobbing over my sharps and flats! 22 This
outburst sounds very much like what Debussy had also said about his own compositional
attempts at the time in a letter to Robert Godet on October 14, 1915:
It is certainly not essential that I write music, but it is all I am able to do more or
less competently. I must humbly admit to the feeling of latent death within me.
Accordingly, I write like a madman or like one who is condemned to die the next
morning.23
19 As a result of the Dreyfus affair. Jane Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power: The Dialogic Element in
Debussys Wartime Compositions, 204.
20 Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power, 205.
21 Ibid., 206
22 Maurice Ravel, A Ravel Reader: Correspondance, Articles, Interviews, edited by Arbie Orenstein (New
York, 1990), 150, as cited in Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night: Music and the Great War
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), 170.
23 Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy: His Life and Mind, 2 volumes (London, 1962)
211.
11
How did Debussy respond to this political decree concerning music? He certainly
felt a strong desire to return to the French style as used by old masters such as JeanPhilippe Rameau and disliked the integration of other styles into French music. He said:
Since Rameau we have had no purely French tradition. We adopted ways of
writing that were quite contrary to our own nature, and excesses of language far
from compatible with our own ways of thinking. We tolerated overblown
orchestras, tortuous forms, cheap luxury and clashing colors, and we were about
to give the seal of approval to even more suspect naturalizations when the sounds
of gunfire put a sudden stop to it all. 24
As a critic, Debussy described what he thought constituted the French style:
We have, however, in Rameaus work a pure French tradition full of charming
and tender delicacy, well-balanced, strictly declamatory in recitative and without
any affectation of German profundity or over-emphasis or impatient
explanation . We may, however, regret that French music should so long have
followed a course of treacherously leading it away from that clarity of expression,
that terse and condensed form, which is the peculiar and significant quality of the
French genius.25
He certainly felt a strong link to his homeland, wanted to see victory for France,
and felt that music could assist in that victory since the contamination of French music
was part of the conflict with Germany at the time. Piet Ketting writes, He hoped for
victory, basing his hope on the great cultural tradition of his people, a tradition
established in music by Rameau and the clavecinists.26 Debussy with his own words
supports this notion as well in his Preface to Pour la musique franaise. Douze causeries
that were edited by Mme Bach-Sisley in 1917: There are many ways that one can
24 Debussy on Music : the Critical Writings of the Great French Composer Claude Debussy. Collected and
introducted by Francois Lesure; translated and edited by Richard Langham Smith. 1st American edition
(New York, 1977), 322-323.
25 Claude Debussy, Monsieur Croche, the Dilettante Hater, From the French of Claude Debussy, with a
foreword by Lawrence Gilman, (New York, 1928), 81.
26 Piet Ketting, Claude Debussy, translated from the Dutch by W. A. G. Doyle Davidson (Stockholm,
1947), 45.
12
vanquish the enemy, and it is important, above all, to remember that music is both an
admirable and fecund means to do so. 27
But there were limits on his submission to authority concerning French art.
Debussy felt a pull just as strong towards originality of artists, and feared that these new
rules towards French music would cause art to suffer. He then had no qualms about
criticizing those artists who appeared to be working solely for the public rather than their
own original ideas. 28 Saint-Sans had claimed Debussy was finding favor with the
German style in En blanc et noir in his modernism, but Debussy criticized Saint-Sans
Les barbares for wandering from the French spirit by sacrificing his individual style and
writing for the public instead.29 Other composers also did not want to sacrifice their
individual style for the good of France; Ravel is known to have said that he was tired
of being told that he was in effect working for the' fatherland' by writing music. 30
Debussy's music can be seen partly as a reaction to the new rules to which the
Republican groups expected conformity, but also as a reflection of his own pride in
France and the French heritage. While he felt that it was necessary to preserve the
French style of music and return to the old masters, Debussy also believed that this return
should not sacrifice the originality and imaginative mind of the artist. In his later works,
one can see that Debussy does use many French techniques and symbolism to promote
27 Translated in Jane Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power: The Dialogic Element in Debussys In
Debussy and His World, edited by Jane Fulcher (Princeton and Oxford, 2001), 211.
28 David Z. Kushner, Claude Debussy as Music Critic, American Music Teacher 33 (14) n2 (Nov/Dec
1983), 14.
29 Kushner, Claude Debussy as Music Critic, 14.
30 Maurice Ravel, A Ravel Reader: Correspondance, Articles, Interviews, edited by Arbie Orenstein (New
York, 1990), 155. In Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night: Music and the Great War (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2003), 171.
13
the idea of French victory, and in his written and verbal commentary Debussy often
speaks of victory for France and of spite for the Germans, but there is also an element of
individuality in every piece of commentary whether it be musical or verbal. Debussy
often seems to acknowledge in his works that the conflict holds more complexity than
right and wrong, that through art one must tell the honest truth. In the cello sonata in
particular, he employs the sonata form, traditionally a German genre admired by dIndy,
and infuses it with the French classicist style,31 mostly in regards to balance and
proportion.
Debussys Feelings Towards the War and Germans

On June 29, 1914, before France joined the fighting armies in World War I,
Debussy wrote to Durand of his feelings towards the growing political tension: Paris is
becoming more and more hateful to me, and I would like to get away a little. Literally, I
cannot endure anymore.32 Soon after France entered the war, Debussy wrote again to
Durand on August 8, 1914, this time about his feeling of hopelessness and uselessness: I
am nothing more than a poor man whirled like an atom by this frightful cataclysm. What
I am doing seems so wretchedly petty to me. 33 Many times in these last few years of
his life Debussy would profess his desire to help fight the war, but as he was old and ill
with colon cancer, he could not join the army. At one point he said If, to assure victory
31
Jane Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power, In Debussy and His World, edited by Jane Fulcher
(Princeton and Oxford, 2001), 222.
32 Marcel Dietschy, A Portrait of Claude Debussy, edited and translated from the French by William
Ashbrook and Margaret Cobb (London, 1990) , 177.
33 Dietschy, A Portrait of Claude Debussy, 177.
14
they are absolutely in need of another face to be bashed in, Ill offer mine without
hesitation.34
These years of 1915-1917 during the war mark the last three musically productive
years of Debussys life in which he struggled with illness and depression. A couple of
his friends, such as Louis Laloy in particular, even thought that his unhealthy obsession
with the war may have ultimately contributed to his death: It may have been the cause of
his illness, but it certainly accelerated its sudden progress, which was quiescent until
then. 35
Concerning culture, Debussy was fearful of the Germans taking over not only
France as a country, but the French culture and art as well. Edward Lockspeiser says that
Debussy saw the war however frightful, principally as a belated material expression
of spiritual or aesthetic antagonisms.36 The composer wrote to Stravinsky of these fears:
In these last years, when I smelled Austro-Boches miasma in art, I wished for
more authority to shout my worries, warn of the dangers we so credulously
approached. Did no one suspect these people of plotting the destruction of our art
as they had prepared the destruction of our countries? 37
In Seroff's book Debussy Musician of France the author writes ...Debussy left no
doubt as to how he felt about the Germans. And goes on to quote a letter Debussy wrote:
While I was in Dieppe I saw Monsieur X, who came on furlough. He is a skeptic
and declares that he has not seen a single Boche, and compares their existence to
that of a rat. On the other hand, the son of my wife's maid came to see his
mother, and has an entirely different attitude, I assure you. He is a real
Frenchman and a real soldier. Here is one who does not talk of stopping the war,
34
Seroff, Debussy: The Musician of France, 342.
36 Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy: His Life and Mind, 2 volumes (London, 1962), 206.
37Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Conversations with Igor Stravinsky (New York, 1959), 57-59.
35
15
who has seen the Boche's face and wishes, at least, to wipe it off the earth. He
says all this in simple words, but very vividly, and like a Japanese, he smiles.38
Debussys Style Changes and Reception

Throughout his life, Claude Debussy had always been a controversial composer
due to his refusal to adhere to a particular school of composition. This independence,
says Didre Donnellon in Debussy and Anarchy, may not have been fully accepted by
many of those in the media and public because his art was an open challenge to
conformity, a kind of social revolt. 39 Some even believe that Debussys art is the first
outpouring of anarchy in music,40 appealing to the artists since it disregarded public
opinion and nurtured individuality.41
At both the early and late stages of his career (the later stage beginning in 1915,
when he resumed composing once again during the war) Debussy had many adversaries
and admirers. In the earlier part of his career there were even a group of young
composers called Debussyists whom he regarded as imitating his techniques, but not
the intentions of his works, claiming they were admirers not disciples. 42
There
were others who criticized what was labeled by the media to be Debussy's
impressionistic43 music because of its lack of melody44 and ambiguity in tonality and
38
Didre Donnellon, The Anarchist Movement in France and Its Impact on Debussy, Cahiers Debussy
23 (1999), 50.
40 Donnellon, The Anarchist Movement in France and Its Impact on Debussy, 52.
41 Ibid., 46.
42 Seroff, Debussy: The Musician of France, 268.
43 The controversy over labels applied to Debussys earlier style is not relevant to this study and it is for
another paper to contend with. For the purposes of this paper I will refer to Debussy's earlier style by the
term that most musicians recognize as being that of Debussy impressionist.
39
16
rhythm. But his desire to avoid a particular style led to harsh criticism after his music
began to evolve away from his initial style.
The compositions from Debussys last years have received very little recognition
until the last decade, relative to their historical significance. Since the style of these
pieces had changed from Debussys earlier impressionist years, many critics and
friends thought them of lower quality. The music was met with harsh criticism. Emile
Vuillermoz wrote a bold article in a 1907 newspaper stating:
M. Debussy does not condescend to send them anything but old compositions
that [lack] fluidity, freshness and brilliance One wonders whether M.
Debussy is not losing that marvelous skill, that instinct which has made him one
of the most remarkable poets of the modern orchestra. If that is the case, I see
only one remedy for this disastrous situation. Let the composer of Pelleas read
the works of the young composers who are regarded as his pupils He will find
all the new sonorous effects which he seems to have forgotten If he does not
resolutely take his place once more at the head of the contemporary musical
movement, the composer of Pelleas will find that the young generation of
parasites which has grown up around his work is writing Debussyist music better than he.45
Nadia Boulanger also joined in the criticism: Debussys last compositions are
frankly inferior. But it is not strange, since they were written under the strain of war and
the steady progress of an incurable disease.46 Another scholar and author, Oscar
Thompson in his book Debussy the Man and Artist (1937) felt that the later works were
not masterpieces either, in light of the earlier works.47 More recent scholarship gives a
more balanced perspective of Debussy's later works, however few scholars will give
equal attention to both Debussys later and earlier works.
44
Debussy is said to have replied to the statement that his music has no melody, but sir, my music aims at
nothing but melodies! Rollo Myers, Claude Debussy: The story of His Life and Work, (London, 1972), 30.
45 Seroff, Debussy: The Musician of France, 264.
46 Don G. Campbell, Master Teacher : Nadia Boulanger (Washington, D.C., 1984), 126.
47 Oscar Thompson, Debussy: Man and Artist (New York, 1937), 334.
17
One author, Jean Darnaudet praised Debussy's later compositions in his articles
for Action franaise, claiming that they were in fact superior to the earlier ones because
they contained traditional melody and defined rhythm, two characteristics that reflect the
French classicism promoted at the time.48
Debussy himself had admitted that his style had changed without conscious effort,
and continually complained that his works were very grim and depressing. He said of the
sonata for flute, harp and viola, on Dec 11, 1916:
The sound of it is not bad, though it is not for me to speak to you of much. I
could do so, however, without embarrassment, for it is the music of a Debussy I
no longer know. It is frightfully mournful, and I dont know whether one ought to
laugh or cry at it. Perhaps both.49
Jane Fulcher believes Debussys change in style resulted from a change of focus
from himself, individuality and sensual music to ideas and his French heritage.50 Perhaps
this stylistic change from the colorful impressionistic music to music that focused more
on organic form and process51 is due to his illness and the harsh realities of the war, but
this transformation is no basis for claiming that the music is less masterful just because it
is not the same style which was so popular and often imitated in his earlier years.
48
Jane Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power: The Dialogic Element in Debussys
Wartime Compositions, In Debussy and His World, edited by Jane Fulcher (Princeton and Oxford, 2001),
211.
49 Lockspeiser, Debussy, 217.
51 Roy Howat, Debussy In Proportion: A Musical Analysis (Cambridge, 1983), 30.
18
Some composers, such as Saint-Sans, saw this abstraction as being from German
influence and tried to stop it. Saint-Sans, on faculty at the Schola Cantorum, in a letter to
Faur about En blanc et noir, accused Debussy of being influenced by the Germans (and
therefore denying his French heritage), by implying an affiliation with a modern Cubist
style:
I advise you to look at the pieces for two pianos, Noir et Blanc [sic], which M.
Debussy has just published. It is unbelievable, and we must at all costs bar the
door of the Institute to a gentleman capable of such atrocities, fit to be placed
beside Cubist paintings.52
One can only guess what Saint-Sans would have said of the Cello Sonata, had he
known the amount of abstraction Debussy to which subjected Ein feste Burg in the
work.
52
Nectoux, J. M. ed., Camille Saint-Sans et Gabriel Faur: Correspondance, soixante and damiti
(Pairs, 1973), 107-108. Translated in Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night: Music and the Great War
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), 93.
19
DEBUSSYS LATE COMPOSITIONS

NOL DES ENFANTS QUI NONT PAS DE MAISONS (1915)
Almost all of Debussys later works reflect the composers obsession with the
war. The most explicit of these works are war-related songs, with texts that reveal French
nationalism and anti-German tendencies, such as: Nol des enfants qui nont pas de
maisons (1915), the only text Debussy is known to have written himself. The music
alternates between innocence, threat and irony:
Our houses are gone! The enemy has taken everything, even our little beds!
They burned the school and the schoolmaster. They burned the church and the
Lord Jesus! And the poor old man who couldn't get away! Our houses are gone!
The enemy has taken everything, even our little beds! Of course, Papa has
gone to war. Poor Mama died before she saw all this. Christmas! Little
Christmas! Don't go to their houses, never go there again. Punish them!
Avenge the children of France! The little Belgians, the little Serbs and the
little Poles, too! If we've forgotten anyone, forgive us. Christmas!
Christmas! Above all, no toys. Try to give us our daily bread again. Our
houses are gone! The enemy has taken everything, even our little beds! They
burned the school and the schoolmaster. They burned the church and the Lord
Jesus! And the poor old man who couldn't get away! Christmas, listen to us.
Our wooden shoes are gone, but grant victory to the children of France.53
BERCEUSE HROQUE
Another work that reflects Debussy's feelings towards the war, written just
before En blanc et noir, is Berceuse hroque (1914), which depicts realistic sounds of
battle and a funeral march. This work was not popular at its composition because it
showed the grim realities of war during a time when the French public wanted to be
reminded of heroic scenes and victory.
20
SONATA FOR FLUTE, HARP AND VIOLA

The sonata for flute, harp and viola of 1915, one of the three sonatas that were
actually written from the set of six Debussy originally intended, is considered by some
today a sunny work 54 but one performance of the work in a bourgeois house left the
audience in tears. Debussy responded, My dear, they cried so that I wondered whether I
should apologize.55 Even Debussy admitted that upon hearing it, he was not sure
whether to laugh or cry at it.56 Although no scholar has delved into the work in reaction
to these events, the comments leave one wondering whether there is more to the work
concerning the war than we have previously thought.
SONATA FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

Debussy himself then offered comments to Godet about his violin sonata
(1918), his last completed work and third in the projected set of six sonatas, in a letter
dated May 1917: Beware in the future of works which appear to inhabit the skies; often
they are the product of a dark, morose mind.57 Later again to Godet in a letter dated June
7, 1917:
Your enthusiasm for the sonata is going to receive, I am afraid, a cold shower
when the object is in your hands You, who know how to read between the
lines, will see the traces of that Devil of Perversity who pushes us to choose ideas
that should be left alone The sonata will be interesting only from one point of
view, purely documentary, and as an example of what a sick man could have
written during the war. 58
53Translation
from French to English by Faith J. Cormier,

www.recmusic.org/lieder/d/debussy/noel.des.enfants.html
54 Richard Parks, Structure and Performance, in Debussy In Performance, ed. James Briscoe (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 194.
55 Victor Seroff, Debussy: The Musician of France (New York, 1956), 342.
56 Seroff, Debussy, 332.
21
Debussy spoke of the last movement of the sonata, saying that he had an idea
for the finale: Only the first two parts wont have anything to do with it. 59 Some hear
this last movement as having Spanish flavor, with a theme strongly reminiscent of
Debussys earlier orchestral work, Iberia. This also is the theme that the composer spoke
of when the sonata underwent six revisions, and Debussys changed from a desire to use
a cellular theme instead to use what became a theme that is subjected to the most curious
deformations and ultimately leaves the impression of a theme turning back on itself like a
serpent biting its own tail. 60 It is curious to note that Debussy would write a work that
conjures up such strong Spanish thoughts, but it could be speculated that Debussy was
paying homage to the Spanish people, who had given a great amount of assistance to
France during World War I. In the Cello Sonata Finale the composer also includes a
short section (mm. 23-34) which sounds Spanish in style; it could possibly be included
for the same reason that I speculated the Spanish style was included in En blanc et noir,
since in both works the appearance of a Spanish style is very close to the French anthem,
La Marseillaise.
Although these comments and stylistic associations leave us wondering exactly

what Debussy meant by them (which will perhaps be discovered in years to come),
obviously, these works reflect the impact of the horrors of war on the composer and leave
much room for the interpretation of the Cello Sonata, a context which has been
previously ignored.
58
Seroff, Debussy, 346.

Ibid., 341.
60 Lockspeiser, Debussy, 214.
59
22
The best comparable work that helps us to find the significance of Ein feste
Burg in the Cello Sonata is the piano duet, entitled En blanc et noir, also written in
1915. The work is seen as the most literally programmatic piece Debussy ever wrote in
its depictions of war. It also includes a direct quotation of Ein feste Burg and a vague
rendition of La Marseillaise, symbolizing the aggression by the Germans against the
French and French victory in the end. Although Ein feste Burg was not officially seen
as a patriotic song by the Germans, some composers used the tune in their works.61 This
work will be discussed in more detail later in the section entitled Ein feste Burg in En
blanc et noir.
61
For a discussion of other works that also utilize the Ein feste Burg hymn, see the chapter entitled Ein
feste Burg.
23
PELLAS ET MLISANDE
The Cello Sonata is not the first work of Debussys in which motivic variation
appears. Elliott Antokoletz informs us that Debussys opera Pellas et Mlisande also
contains musical motives that undergo a variational process to support the action on
stage.62 This process, unlike that related to Wagners leitmotifs, which are often a part of
the very essence of the opera plot, reveals a less tangible, more mysterious realm that
exists beyond the limits of external, objective reality, in accord with the beliefs of
symbolist artists. 63 In Debussys opera, these motives are not used as pictures in a
storybook (indicators of action), but rather their intervallic development has structural
significance.
One finds similarities between the opera Pellas et Mlisande and the Cello
Sonata in the dichotomy of musical motives within each work. Pellas et Mlisande
includes a musical dichotomy between Real-life Humanity and Fate, which are
represented by certain musical styles. Humanity is represented by diatonic treatment of
motives (pentatonic, major/minor, modal) whereas Fate is represented by more abstract
treatment of motives (whole-tone scales, interval cycles, symmetry). 64 Instead of direct
motivic quotations, the motives change according to the situation and develop over time.
In the Cello Sonata a similar dichotomy exists between the more traditional diatonic
presentations of the hymn and relataed motives and abstract chromatic transformations.
62
For a complete analysis of the opera, see Elliott Antokoletz, Musical Symbolism in the Operas of
Debussy and Bartk: Trauma, Gender, and the Unfolding of the Unconscious (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004).
63 Antokoletz, Musical Symbolism in the Operas of Debussy and Bartk, 7.
64 Ibid., 57.
24
This dichotomy represents a move towards either the French or German strength in the
work in which motives are transformed to create a story based on structural continuity.
In the Cello Sonata the hymn Ein feste Burg possesses a potential for motivic
fragmentation. In accord with the principle of dichotomy, France seems to be symbolized
by diatonicism, classical style, and folk-like material (as can be seen primarily in the
Prologue and Finale), while Germany seems to be symbolized more abstract motivic
development, intervallic expansion, and whole-tone scales, primarily in the Srnade
movement.
MOTIVIC AND CELLULAR DEVELOPMENT IN PELLAS ET MLISANDE

Motivic development in Pellas et Mlisande also appears in the form of
intervallic pitch cells.65 The following section is a summary of Antokoletzs analysis.66
A brief overview of the analysis will cast light on Debussy's harmonic language and
treatment of motives, i.e., motives as theme or motives as cello (collections of pitches
that represent harmonic content). In the Cello Sonata, the hymn is exploited in terms of
such motivic fragmentation. Debussy refrains from simply presenting motives to allude
to a person or event, such as in Wagner's operas, but instead transforms the motives
intervallically according to the emotions of the characters and their cross references with
Fate and Destiny. By this development, the audience can hear Fate intruding into the
lives of the unknowing characters (controlling them), foreshadowing the events to come.
65 A complete analysis is provided by Elliott Antokoletz in his book Musical Symbolism in the Operas of
Debussy and Bartk: Trauma, Gender, and the Unfolding of the Unconscious (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004).
25
According to Antokoletz, the opening measures of the opera present a number of

motives to establish the dichotomy between Fate and Humanity.67 Measures 1 and 2
introduces the Forest motive, while including the notes G/A and D/C, separated by range.
These notes are part of a pentatonic scale, but D/C in the bass line moves to A in measure
4, transforming the D-C-A cell into a whole-tone fragment (from the scale C-D-E-G A -B ), already implying Fate. The resulting cell, A -C-D, the Fate-influenced Pellas
motive, returns later in the opera at the time when Mlisande tells Golaud (her husband)
that she is not troubled by any person in particular, such as Pellas, but by something
stronger than herself (Fate) (p.86 m. 2). It implies that her love for Pellas is her destiny,
which she cannot control.
In this dialogue between Golaud and Mlisande, which begins in act 2, scene 2 (p.
76) the Pellas motive is present in its pentatonic form first. Golaud recounts the events
from his hunt in the forest to Mlisande, and when he mentions that the horse must have
seen "something strange and unwonted," Pellas's motive is heard in its pentatonic form
(representing humanity) (p. 77 m.4). Although Pellas is Mlisande's destiny, his motive
is not here in its whole-tone (Fate) form because the motive has not been developed yet;
it is simply presented as a reminder that as Golaud was thrown from his horse, Mlisande
also threw her wedding ring and dropped it into the well as she spoke with Pellas (p.
67). Soon after, Golaud says that the horse ran into a tree like "a blind fool," implying
66 The page numbers and measures given in the actual text are referring to the pages in the 1907 voice and
piano edition of the opera . Claude Debussy, Pellas et Mlisande. (New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, n.d.)
Reprint edition of the 1907 publication of the piano-vocal score.
67 Antokoletz describes this in detail in Musical Symbolism, 62-63.
26
that perhaps something had spooked him, but the horse was blind to Fate, just as the
people in the opera are blind to fate as well.
Another excellent example of the transformation of motives and the expansion of

intervals as the Human element moves towards Fate, is represented in act 3 in which
Pellas and Mlisande are caught by Golaud in a meeting at night.68 In this section, one
can also see Pellas's passion by way of the accompanying motives. On p. 122, m. 5 the
descending chromatic line contains the notes B-A#-A-G#(F# simultaneously), which is
interrupted by the note E between A and G#(F#). This chromatic line had previously
accompanied Pellas when he first arrived in the opera (p. 33 m.10) and is viewed by
Lawrence Gilman69 as the Awakening Desire motive. In act 3 the motive accompanied
Pellas as he kisses Mlisande's hand. Only a bar later (p.123 m.1), Mlisande's line is
accompanied by the whole-tone tetrachord D-E-F#-G#, an expansion of the previous
chromatic line. Fate increases its hold even more as Mlisande lets her long hair fall over
Pellas (p. 127 m.1-2), the Hair motive being an extended whole-tone descent.
Through motivic development, one can compare Debussys treatment of the

various parameters of motives, intervals and pitches of Pellas et Mlisande and the
Cello Sonata. While the two works are vastly different in terms of the types of motives
(in the opera there are cells, in the Cello Sonata there are thematic motives derived from
the hymn) it is clear that Debussy consciously chose to manipulate the motives in order to
develop the music so it sets up a conflict or dichotomy between elements.
68 Antokoletz describes this section in detail on pages 131-138 in Elliot Antokoletz, Musical Symbolism,
131-138.
69 Antokoletz informed me of this motive, which he read in Lawrence Gilman, Debussys Pellas and
Mlisande: A Guide to the Opera (New Yrok: Schirmer, 1907)
27
EIN' FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT
Ein feste Burg History

The famous Lutheran hymn Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott is known by Englishspeaking Lutherans today as A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. The hym was composed
in 1529 by Martin Luther who protested against many of the injustices of the Catholic
Church at that time. Although it was originally written for worship, it soon became a
battle-cry for many in the Protestant Reformation in Germany. But rather than its words
being overtly anti-Catholic like many other songs of the day, its message is more
symbolic.70 The symbolism was so strong in Germany that Heinrich Heine later called it
the Marseillaise of the German Reformation. 71
These are the words to the first stanza of the hymn, taken from Psalm 46:
A strong fortress is our God,
A good defense and weapon.
He frees us from all the need
That now has met us.
The old evil fiend
Now means business.
Great power and much cunning
Are his frightful armaments,
His like is not on earth.
The Ein feste Burg hymn was never officially used as a symbol for German
strength in World War I, but a number of composers used it in their work to symbolize
Germany. Debussy was not the first to do this; Bach was recognizably the first in the
opening to his 80th cantata, although its use is in religious context. Bach also removed
28
the syncopation in the tune, which was to remain the tradition for most future composers.
In a non-religious context, Giacomo Meyerbeer, a French opera composer employed
Ein feste Burg in the staging of Les Huguenots in 1836, in which the words of Ein
feste Burg are written in red on the wall against which the Huguenots are murdered. The
German composer Felix Mendelssohn also used Ein feste Burg in his Reformation
Symphony.
Until now, Claude Debussy was known to have only quoted Ein feste Burg in
his piano duet En blanc et noir. Now it is known that the Cello Sonata of the same year
also includes the hymn, in an abstract setting, which lends itself to be hidden in the
variational process through which the motives are set.
After these compositions, Stravinsky, a good friend of Debussy's, also included

Ein feste Burg first in his work Histoire du Soldat (1918) as a symbol of Germany in
World War I as well. But the scholar Glenn Watkins claims that Stravinsky's distorted
version of Luther's hymn reflects nothing so much as the chaotic moral state of affairs
throughout the war period. 72 Watkins adds:
in war all parties are convinced that they are on the side of right and are even
known to adopt the symbols of the opposition in their campaigns. Stravinsky
arguably intended his music to endorse ambiguity at both the symbolic and
constructive levels. It was an attitude well known during World War I in the
Russian circus, where variant readings of patriotism were purposefully projected
in vague and ambiguous terms.73
70
Rebecca Wagner Oettinger, Music as Propaganda in the German Reformation (Aldershot; Burlington,
VT, 2001), 45.
71 Oettinger, Music as Propaganda in the German Reformation, 47.
72 Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night: Music and the Great War (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2003), 92.
73 Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night, 151
29
What makes the Ein feste Burg tune so attractive to composers? Besides the
symbolic meaning of the song as a battle-cry, Paul Reuter, in his article Music and the
Reformation claims that composers may have been drawn to the tune's revolutionary
spirit and the folk-like character of the melody. 74 Yet this still does not explain exactly
why Ein feste Burg was used so much by composers in World War I.
Why Would Debussy Use Ein feste Burg?

To admit the presence of Ein feste Burg in French wartime compositions is not
very difficult, but to trace the reason for its presence as a symbol of Germany can be
more of a challenging task. If the tune had been the German national anthem, the
explanation would be more clear, since it is often paired with the French national anthem,
La Marseillaise, but the Ein feste Burg hymn, as we have seen in the previous
chapter, is actually a Lutheran hymn, and was not used by the German propagandists to
represent the German nation. So what exactly did the hymn represent that composers felt
drawn to use it as a symbol of Germany?
Perhaps the hymn's words proclaimed rebellion so strongly that Debussy and
others felt it symbolized the battle cry of Germany in World War One, just as it had
become the battle cry during the Protestant Reformation. Debussy could have also been
aware of Meyerbeer's use of the tune in his work Les Huguenots (1836) and felt it had the
same significance during World War One.
74 Paul Reuter, Music and the Reformation, In Four Hundred Years: Commemorative Essays on the
Reformation of Dr. Martin Luther and Its Blessed Results, edited by W. H. T. Dau (St. Louis, 1917), 240253.
30
Another possibility is the religious affiliations of the countries. France was seen
as mostly Catholic, while Germany was associated with the German religious leader
Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation which began in Germany with
Lutheranism. Although Debussy himself never professed any religious affiliation it may
have been a kind of subconscious association concerning the Lutheran hymn in his
works. The French president at the time, Raymond Poincar called for a sacred union
of the nation of France against Germany, and although both Protestants and Catholics
were enemies of even their spiritual counterparts in Germany, Catholicism was viewed as
the true religion of France 75 Therefore, even if Debussy had no religious affiliation, the
hymn could have been seen as a symbol of Germany in the war. Watkins speculates that
Debussy and Stravinsky may have used the hymn in reference to the German slogan used
during World War One, Gott mit uns. 76
Alan Gibbs, in his commentary article in the Strad magazine says that perhaps
the words were comfort to the mortally ill composer. 77 But the evidence for this proves
it to be an unlikely explanation since the words imply a call to arms rather than
comforting an illness, and evidence says that Debussy was not a Lutheran or even a
professed Christian. Also, Debussy was not the only one to have used the hymn, and
other composers also seem to have paired Ein feste Burg with the French La
Marseillaise during World War One, which rather strongly implies the opposition
between the German and French nations. One other piece of evidence is that Debussy
used the hymn in a very unflattering manner in the Cello Sonata, accompanied by
75
Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night, 166.

Ibid., 94.
77 Alan Gibbs, Debussys Lutheran Side? Commentary in Strad magazine 103/1228 (Aug 1992), 684.
76
31
dissonances just as in En blanc et noir, and in abstract motives. The lack of positive
usage in the work is evidence against being a comfort to Debussy in his illness.
It is possible that a few of these speculations are true; that Debussy had included
Ein feste Burg to represent Germany in contrast to the French national anthem La
Marseillaise due to its symbolic meaning that had been formed by the French and
German cultures.
32
EN BLANC ET NOIR
Ein feste Burg in En blanc et noir

The most convincing evidence for the particular use of Ein feste Burg in the
Cello Sonata of 1915 is found in the piano duet written in the same year, En blanc et noir.
Debussy blatantly uses the Lutheran hymn in this work, in which the two halves of the
hymn are separated by a two-bar interlude, and then follows it with a slightly less obvious
quotation of La Marseillaise. He also depicts strong images of battle such as bugle
calls and military drum rhythms. 78
On July 22, 1915 Debussy wrote a letter to his publisher Durand stating that he
did not have a piano with which to compose:
It doesn't upset me. The lack has concentrated my feelings and prevented them
from floating off into improvisations which all too often allow one to give in to
the perverse charm of telling stories to oneself. And now Playel informs me they
have sent me a portable piano.79
One could speculate that without a piano to improvise his music, Debussy would
have refrained from composing music which deals mostly with color and mood, and
instead wrote more abstractly by manipulating and developing themes, such as what I
have found to be true in the use of motives and fragments of Ein feste Burg and La
78 Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night: Music and the Great War (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2003), 92.
79 Claude Debussy, The Poetic Debussy : A Collection of His Song Texts and Selected Letters. Collected
and annotated by Margaret G. Cobb. Translations by Richard Miller. (Boston: Northeastern University
Press, 1982)243.
33
Marseillaise in En blanc et noir. This could have then have been the case in the Cello
Sonata as well, which was written at about the same time and contains motivic variation.
Debussy dedicated each section of En blanc et noir to different people and adds
text that is significant to the intention of each section. These texts helped to make this
modern work more acceptable to a number of his contemporary anti-modernist critics by
giving the abstract expression actual meaning. 80 In addition, previous to the actual
quotations, fragments of the melodies can also be traced in this movement, creating a
foreshadowing of their arrival. In this way, En blanc et noir is a very interesting semitemplate for Debussys intentions in the Cello Sonata. Also, as will be apparent later in
this treatise, the use of Ein feste Burg and La Marseillaise in the Cello Sonata may
not be so blatantly obvious (or even admitted by the composer) because the Debussy
intended the Sonata to be a secret dedication. In this context, analyzing En blanc et noir
is important to understanding the context of the Cello Sonatas composition. Let us first
look at each section more closely, paying the most attention to the middle section marked
Lent. Sombre. which contains the German and French melodies.
FIRST SECTION
The first section of En blanc et noir is labeled Avec emportement and bears as
an inscription the following lines of text from Gounods opera Romeo et Juliet (1867):
He who remains in his place
And does not dance,
Of some disgrace
Whispers a confession.
Qui reste se place

Et ne danse pas
De quelque disgrace
Fait l'aveu tout bas. 81
80
Jane Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power: The Dialogic Element in Debussys
Wartime Compositions, In Debussy and His World, edited by Jane Fulcher (Princeton and Oxford, 2001),
216.
34
These lines were often used in wartime France to symbolize men who had
claimed disability in order to evade going into battle. 82 Debussy dedicates this section to
his Russian friend, A. Koussevitsky. It is not immediately clear who this A.
Koussevitsky was, although it is probably either the father (Alexander), mother (Anne) or
sister (Anna) of the composer Serge Koussevitsky. Debussy is known to have performed
Serge Koussevitskys music, and had stayed in their house as a guest in 1913.
THIRD SECTION
The third section, which Debussy calls a Scherzando is dedicated to Igor
Stravinsky, Debussys friend. It bears the inscription: Yver, vous neste quun
villain (Winter, you are nothing but a villain) by Charles dOrlans. This
inscription is also the title of the third section from Trois Chansons, three pieces for a
cappella chorus. The words in the song include the text:
Winter, you are nothing but a villain!
Summer is pleasant and agreeable, as April and May testify on every hand.
Summer clothes the fields, woods, and flowers in garments of green
and many other colors, according to the prescription of nature.
But you, Winter, are full of too much snow, wind, rain, and hail.
You should be banished into exile!
So I speak frankly and say: Winter, you are nothing but a villain!83
The music from this section of En blanc et noir contains more war imagery.
SECOND SECTION
The second section is the most important in the study of the Cello Sonata. It is
dedicated to Lieutenant Jacques Charlot, the nephew of Debussys publisher, Durand,
who was killed in battle on March 3, 1915. In the inscription Debussy quotes Francois
81
82
Translated in Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power, 217.

Ibid., 217.
35
Villon (1431-1463) from Ballade contre les ennemis de la France (Ballad against the
enemies of France):
Prince, be carried by Eolus on caribou?
Through the forest governed by Glaucus.
Or find thyself deprived of peace and hope
For it is not worthy to be virtuous
For whomever would bring harm to the
kingdom of France. 84
Prince, port soit des serfs Eolus

En la forest ou domine Glaucus.
Ou priv soit de paix et desprance
Car digne nest de possder vertus
Qui mal vouldroit au royaume de France.
This is the section of En blanc et noir in which the Ein feste Burg and La
Marseillaise melodies appear. Debussy is known to have revised this section many
times, unsure of how much of Ein feste Burg to include. He ultimately decided to
include only the Abgesang section (the first first phrase of Ein feste Burg).85
Although Ein feste Burg and La Marseillaise are known to be quoted in

measures 79-88 and then starting at 163 respectively, in addition, fragments of the
melodies can also be traced in this movement, creating a foreshadowing of the actual
quotations. Jane Fulcher says that the work contains almost collage-like abstraction, as
opposed to his earlier seamless interpolations or interweavings. 86
83
The Bellevue Chamber Chorus web site:

http://www.bellevuechamberchorus.net/Research/20thCentury/Music/TroisChansons.htm
84 Translated by Aurelian Pettillot.
85 Jurgen Vis, Debussy and the War, In Cahiers Debussy15 (1991), 32-33.
36
Analysis of the Second Movement of En blanc et noir in terms of Ein feste Burg
and La Marseillaise
The most obvious quotation of Ein feste Burg in En blanc et noir occurs in
measures 79-89 of the second section entitled Lent. Sombre. The most recognizable
representation of La Marseillaise begins in the anacrusis to measure 163. From these
points it is possible to analyze the remainder of the work in terms of motives based off of
these tunes and apply the concept of motivic variation to the Cello Sonata as well.
Figure 3, mm. 79-89, En blanc et noir
37
Figure 4, mm.162-166, En blanc et noir
Figure 5, La Marseillaise with traditional rhythmic values
The La Marseillaise reference begins in the second piano part, with the
anacrusis to measure 163. It may not be imediately recognizable due to its changed
rhythm, as the repeated notes in the anthem are not repeated in En blanc et noir (compare
figures 4 and 5 ). Although the La Marseillaise melody is not initially discernible in En
blanc et noir, Debussy hinted that French victory over Germany is musically symbolized
toward the end, [where] a modest carillon sounds a foreshadowing of the Marseillaise.
87
He might have said this because some people could not initially hear the La
Marseillaise melody, and may have believed that Debussy sympathized with the
Germans.
87
Watkins, Proof Through the Night, 92.
38
The work also includes developing fragments of the tunes that lead up to their
direct quotations.88
Figure 6, mm. 22-23, Second section, En blanc et noir
In measure 22 the repeated chords may be a foreshadowing of the opening three

repeated notes of Ein feste Burg (motive a).89 Later in the movement, in measure 53
there are once again repeated chords, but this time there are only three repetitions,
bringing the allusion closer to the actual hymn. The passage is followed by motive d (the
turn around motive comprised of G -F-G ), within an ostinato, beginning in measure 73.
It continues until the Ein feste Burg hymn is quoted in measure 79 (see figure 3). This
88 Although his analysis is slightly different than the one in this treatise, Jurgen Vis also claims to see
foreshadowing figures of La Marseillaise before the actual quotation in measures 162-166. Jurgen Vis,
Debussy and the War, Cahiers Debussy15 (1991): 31-50.
89 Vis claims to hear a deliberate military rhythm in this figure. Vis, Debussy and the War, 38.
39
ostinato is slightly varied, but retains the motive d in measures 103-106 in both piano
parts.
La Marseillaise is also foreshadowed before its actual arrival through the

presence of its characteristic intervals of a fourth followed by a major second and the
perfect octave leap from the first note to the highest note. First, at the Joyeux in
measure 129 one can find intervals of a fourth and then a third. This progresses to
measure 133 (four bars later), an ancrusis of measure 133, which contains four quick
notes F#-G#-A-B and continues to C#. These notes are an embellished version of the
opening two intervals, the fourth and the second. (F#-B-C#). They are even presented in
40
such a way that the passage would coincide rhythmically with a direct quotation of the
melody presented at the same time. The La Marseillaise melody is also foreshadowed
(in measures 140-144) by the notes E-A-C#-E, which continuously outline a major chord,
continuously quoting the first few notes of the anthem. In measure 160 there appears one
more variation of La Marseillaise, this time with its intervals in condensed form. Both
F's (the first and last notes) are taken up and down a step, respectively; F-B -C-F
becomes G-B -C-E.
There are also significant similarities between the Cello Sonata and En blanc et
noir that require attention.
Figure 11, mm. 10-11, Prologue, Cello Sonata
41
One similarity between the Cello Sonata and the second movement of En blanc et
noir is in measures 18-21 and again in measure 30-33 in which the figure repeats. Except
for a few differences, the melody is generally that of the consequent in measure 10 of the
Cello Sonata Prologue movement and that of other corresponding passages. The
melody also bears a slight resemblance to measure 3 in the second movement of the Cello
Sonata, demonstrating a correlation between the musical content present in the sonatas
movements; the two sections both contain mostly eighth notes, with a few sixteenth
notes, that trace the arched contour of Ein feste Burg. All of these sections are
variations on the Ein feste Burg hymn, containing the contour of the melody, the basic
rhythmic motive of two short notes and a long note and scalar motion without the
characteristic three repeated notes from the opening. In En blanc et noir this melody is
presented simply, with no accompaniment of any kind; in the Cello Sonata the
accompaniment is minimized.
Another similarity is in measure 109 of En blanc et noir, a melodic pattern that

would seem at first glance to be a fairly common series of notes, but in this context, and
alongside the fact that it stands out a great deal in both works, has further significance.
The notes comprise the inverted f motive, a third followed by steps, which may be a
42
signal of the departure of Ein feste Burg. In both works, this simple figure is a soaring
melodic line, occurring before or alongside La Marseillaise and after Ein feste Burg.
When the figure occurs in En blanc et noir it is in E major; in the Cello Sonata the
figure only appears in the minor modes of A and G, the dominants of D and C. 90
Figure 13, mm.7-9, Finale, Cello Sonata
Figure 14, mm. 41-43, Finale, Cello Sonata
90
See pp. 107-108 to read an explanation for what I believe is the symbolic significance of this passage.
43
THE CELLO SONATA

Concerning the Cello Sonata, Debussy did not divulge very much information
about its meaning and left it puzzling scholars for years. This chapter will contain the
information that exists regarding its existence within primary and secondary sources.
The next chapter, after the discussion of the Cello Sonata's history, will go deeper into an
analysis using Ein feste Burg and La Marseillaise.
Primary Sources
DEBUSSY'S REMARKS
Debussy actually said very little in terms of the Cello Sonata. The most famous,
and well-quoted remark by Debussy about it is Its not for me to judge its excellence but
I like its proportions and its almost classical form, in the good sense of the word. 91
We also know that Debussy originally planned for the Cello Sonata to be the first
of a projected set of six sonatas for various instruments. He decided that the sixth was to
be comprised of all the instruments in the previous sonatas plus double bass. But of these
six, Debussy only was able to finish three: for cello and piano (1915), for flute, harp and
viola (1915), and for violin and piano (1917). Debussy remarked to Durand that his idea
for the set of six sonatas was born upon hearing that Saint-Sans, his rival, also planned a
set of sonatas. 92
91
Moray Welsh, Un Embarrase de Richsse, Strad 103/1226 (June 1992), 519.
44
One more piece of information concerning the sonata was in a letter from
Debussy to Caplet Caplet in June of 1916:
You're an amazing fellow... as bold as a lion you manage to find a piano, a cellist
and a sonata and to get them all together just a few miles away from the Boches...
such elegant bravure is and always will be the very essence of France. 93
While this may just be Debussys enjoyment of seeing the bravery of a
Frenchman, the statement could also have a deeper meaning if the composer had intended
the sonata to be a symbol of German defeat and French victory. As was stated earlier,
Debussy did believe that the battles were fought on a cultural level as well as in the
trenches.
A SECRET DEDICATION?
There is evidence that the Cello Sonata may have a secret dedication which would
support the use of Ein feste Burg. During the time of its composition and that of En
blanc et noir, Debussy wrote a letter stating:
I want to work not for myself, but to give proof, small as it may be, that not thirty
million Boches can destroy French thought, even having tried to degrade it before
annihilating it. I am thinking of the French youth stupidly ruined by these
merchants of Kultur [sic] of which we have lost forever what should have
brought glory to our country. What I am composing will be a secret homage to
them a dedication is superfluous.94
Since Debussy had already written the Cello Sonata at this time and was still
finishing his En blanc et noir, it is possible that he meant the dedication for the latter
work; however, En blanc et noir would not require a secret dedication since all who
92
Jane Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power, In Debussy and His World, edited by Jane Fulcher
(Princeton and Oxford, 2001), 222.
93 Moray Welsh, Behind the Moon-Eyed Mask, Strad 103/1224 (1992), 327.
94 Victor Seroff, Debussy: The Musician of France (New York, 1956), 331.
45
heard it at the time would have been aware of the symbolism of the two nationalist tunes.
In addition Debussy seems to be speaking not only of the young men who died in battle,
which is the battle that En blanc et noir suggests, but also about culture. He says that
Germans wanted to degrade French thought and that the French youth were ruined by
Kultur.95 In the Cello Sonata, the two melodies are set within German (abstract) and
French (classical) styles, a step beyond the simple battle sounds in En blanc et noir.
EVIDENCE FOUND IN THE MUSIC

Obviously, the most important aspect in regards to this study is the Ein feste
Burg hymn found at the top of the sketch of the Cello Sonata in the second movement.
Another clue that Debussy possibly meant for the work to reflect his feelings towards
World War I is his signature, which includes the words Musicien franaise after his
name, which indicate the composers pride in his country during the war. The Cello
Sonata was not the first time Debussy had used this signature; in a letter to Stravinsky
dated 1913, he also signs his name with the same title.96
Secondary Sources
Most of the remarks made by scholars concerning the Cello Sonata imply a
classical French tradition, a return by Debussy to the style of the old French masters in
the spirit of the Schola during World War I. They claim that the melodies are like the
declamatory recitatives,97 that the second movement is fantastical and sarcastic like a
95 German kultur is defined by Websters Dictionary as: Civilization; social organization; especially, the
highly systemized social organization of Hohenzollern or Nazi Germany: now usually in application with
reference to chauvinism, militarism, terrorism, etc.
97 Claude Abravanel, Symbolism and Performance in Debussy In Performance (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1999), 36.
46
clown story, that they can find traces of Rameau and Couperin in its staves. Several
examples follow.
Louis Laloy gives his proof that Debussy purposefully published his sonatas in a manner
that imitated the old French composers:
The fly-leaf sets out the title as for a volume of Couperin or Rameau, and the
address of the publishers is given, as it was done then, at No.4 in the place de la
Madeleine, near the grands boulevards. This is no amateurs whim, but a
deliberate resolution to affirm that, more than ever in these troubled years, he was
faithful to the fine examples of yesteryear. 98
Paul Jacobs, in an article for Cahiers Debussy, writes:
Now that we know something about rhythmic alterations in 17th and 18th century
French music, we are less surprised to find some of the features of the style (or it
not exactly parallel, at least analogous) in Debussys music. 99
Jane Fulcher says that she can see a fragment of Rameaus Les festes de Polymnie (1745)
a piece which Debussy had recently edited under the direction of Saint-Sans. 100 She
sees the evidence for this in the rhythm of the opening measure in the Cello Sonata,
which has a quick triplet figure, just as in Rameaus work.
Fulcher also speaks of Debussys choice of sonata for the cello work:
Debussy was rather turning to the sonata, in its earlier, or still amorphous, state.
And as opposed to Germanic conceptions, he would here reappropriate the genre
as French by attempting to utilize French thematic material, and thus redefining
an appropriate form. 101
98
Louis Laloy, Claude Debussy (revised edition 1944), 106 as cited in Louis Laloy, Louis Laloy (18741944) on Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky, (Aldershot, England; Brookfield, Vt., 1999), Laloy 235-6 n5.
99 Paul Jacobs, On Playing the Piano Music of Claude Debussy, Cahiers Debussy 3 (1979), 40.
100 Scott Messing, Neo Classicism in Music: From the Genesis of the Concept Through the
Schoenberg/Stravinsky, (Polemic, Ann Arbor, 1988) as cited in Watkins, Proof Through the Night, 101.
101 Jane Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power,210.
47
This statement is supported by the findings in this study, as Debussy used not
only the sonata, a German genre, but also a German hymn, and abstraction, which was
considered by many to be a German style, in a symbolic manner.
48
Musical Elements of the Cello Sonata

MOTIVES FROM EIN FESTE BURG
Within the Cello Sonata, Debussy breaks the first phrase of the Ein feste Burg
hymn into small motives, which he then develops throughout the piece.
In some
instances, only one or two motives are missing from the statement of the hymn, in other
instances, the motives are entirely mixed up so that the hymn is completely
unrecognizable.
Figure 15, Ein feste Burg motive a
Figure 16, Ein feste Burg motive b
Figure 17, Ein feste Burg motive c
49
Figure 18, Ein feste Burg motive d
Figure 19, Ein feste Burg motive e
Figure 20, Ein feste Burg motive f

Some may claim that these motives from Ein feste Burg are common patterns
of pitches that can be found in many other works as well (for example, Mozart uses many
ascending and descending scalar passages). Yet the manner in which Debussy presents
and develops these motives suggest that they are not only the common patterns, but are
manipulated to realize Debussys musical idea as relating to Ein feste Burg.
RHYTHMIC MODIFICATIONS OF EIN FESTE BURG

Not all of the elements of Ein feste Burg in the Cello Sonata are motives that
are tied to pitches and intervals; Debussy transforms the quick-quick-long rhythm from
the Ein feste Burg hymn. He rarely uses the actual order of quick-quick-long in
which the quick notes begin on the beat, but either turns the first duplet figure of the
50
hymn (the ascending line) into a triplet figure, which only occurs in the Prologue, or
places the quick notes off the beat, which is the most common variation within the
context of the Ein feste Burg melody in the Prologue and Srnade movements.
Figure 21, m.1, Prologue, Cello Sonata
The first measure of the work demonstrates both rhythmic variations. Debussy
has taken the quick notes from ascending line (C-D-E-F) in which the C-D-E would be
quick-quick-long and has turned them into a triplet. Towards the end of the measure,
the descending line F-E-D-C would have included the quick-quick-long motive on F-ED in Ein feste Burg, but Debussy has turned the rhythm into long-quick-quick
beginning on E-D-C.
The variation of putting the long note on the beat could perhaps be a way of
disguising the hymn in the sonata, or of reducing the strength of the quick notes as a way
of already weakening Ein feste Burg.
51
ABSTRACTION
The Srnade movement of the Cello Sonata is obviously much more abstract
in style than the surrounding movements, although even in the outer movements,
commonly considered stylistically classical, there occur some elements of motivic
development as well. To certain artistic groups in France, who promoted a return to
French classicism, abstraction and modernism were seen as primarily German in nature,
and therefore a style to be avoided. It is possible that Debussy used these beliefs to
structure the use of Ein feste Burg and La Marseillaise in the Cello Sonata so that
the contrast between the classical and abstract use of the melodies could help strengthen
his depiction of the battles between France and Germany.
In the Prologue movement, motives from Ein feste Burg are set in a French
classical style which may represent the period before World War I in which French art
and music held elements of the German style. In the Srnade movement, the motives
of Ein feste Burg are set abstractly, which may be Debussy's depiction of the war in
which he felt the Germans were taking over not only the country of France but the French
style as well. In the last movement, the Finale, almost all motives from Ein feste
Burg (except for the departure signal, the f motive) are gone, and the movement is set
once again in French classical style. It could be that Debussy meant for this last
movement to symbolize the defeat of Germany and a return to a pure French style.
Although in the Finale, La Marseillaise occurs in fragments before its actual
presentation (which is still hidden within another melody), the fragments are not
developed motivically in the same manner as Ein feste Burg, but instead simply
grow into the final quotation.
52
DICHOTOMIES BETWEEN ELEMENTS

Glenn Watkins quotes George L. Mosse who said that altering the rules of
music, so that it became a sort of game, helped people to confront the war.102 As in a
game, elements of the music were set against each other and meet in competition until the
battle was won. In Debussys Cello Sonata this competition is present on a number of
levels: tonal, motivic and stylistic. These elements will be discussed more specifically
during the actual analysis of the Cello Sonata.
Tonally, the areas of D and C appear, and are often represented by their
dominants, A and G. When Ein feste Burg is the strongest towards the middle of the
first and second movement, there is a strong tonal sense of C major. This excludes the
initial and final presentations of the melody in the beginning and recapitulation of the
first movement.
Motivically, the Srnade and Finale are both dominated by fragments and
motives of the German and French melodies, Ein feste Burg and La Marseillaise,
respectively. This will be discussed in a detailed analysis later in the treatise.
Stylistically, abstraction and motivic development is found mostly in the second

movement where Ein feste Burg is the strongest; the other two outer movements are
more classical in style. Sometimes these dichotomies are combined to create a more
complex sense of conflict, such as motives of Ein feste Burg, in the tonal area of D
minor, or motives from La Marseillaise in the tonal area of G.
53
Some Comments on Interpretation

For musicians who wish to play Debussys works, the following information may
be useful as well, even if most of it specifically refers to piano music and must be
translated to other instruments. Obviously, a thorough discussion of it would require a
separate treatise, but these are the main performance issues that I feel may be discussed
regarding the cello sonata in light of the recent discoveries which may very well change
cellists ideas concerning tempo and phrasing. This information is gathered from sources
such as: books by Debussys contemporaries and students, articles and letters by those
who heard his performances, letters by Debussy concerning pianists whose
interpretations he liked, and Debussys own performances through recordings of songs
and Welte recording piano rolls.
One source for discussion on the interpretation of Debussys works are the Welte
recording piano rolls, which I came across through Kenneth Caswell in Austin, Texas.
He claims to have the most historically accurate renditions of the rolls due to careful
adjustments on the piano for each piece that ensure a close duplication of the original
musicians performance. The performer originally sat down at a piano and played, which
then simultaneously recorded the notes, pedaling, dynamics, and articulations. 103 The
result is a ghostly beautiful performance of each musician in a live concert today.
When listening to Debussy play his own compositions, one is struck by the lack of
characteristic elements we normally associate with his music. Musicians today (just as in
102
George L. Mosse, Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars (New York, 1990), 143,
as cited in Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night: Music and the Great War (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2003), 139.
54
his own day, as illuminated by Debussys letters) interpret his music in an exaggerated
manner, emphasizing all the details Debussy indicated in the music. But when the
composer performed it himself, the details appear to be much more subtle, and the
rhythms and tempi are much more flexible. I am therefore under the impression that
details such as crescendi and decrescendi are often more of a sign for phrasing, to
determine whether a phrase ends or continues on, even though still in many instances
they also indicate the crescendo or decrescendo we normally envision. Some may claim
that composers are not the best performers of their works, that they rely on others to
execute the performance correctly, yet there are many personal claims that Debussy
performed the pieces well, and did not lack the technique required to play his own works
the way he envisioned them.
Debussy harshly criticized many of the pianists who performed his music. He is
noted as saying Believe me, you cannot imagine to what extent my piano music has
been deformed, to such a degree that I often hesitate to recognize it.104 In fact, only a
couple of pianists ever found favor with the composer, including Walter Rummel,
Marguerite Long and Andr Caplet. The positive comments he had to say about each of
these pianists reflect the kind of performance for which Debussy searched. What did he
admire so much in Rummel and Longs playing? He admitted to liking refinement in
the details, rather than grand gestures with effortless mastery in Marguerite Longs
playing,105 and how Rummel could change from the grandest to the smallest apparently
103
Kenneth Caswell says that the Welte pianos are so valuable because the piano itself recorded all aspects
of the performance at the same time, as compared to other pianos which would record the notes, and then
other aspects (dynamics, articulation etc) would have to be added into the roll by hand at a later time.
104 Cecilia Dunoyer, Early Debussystes at the Piano, in Debussy In Performance, ed. James Briscoe
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999),102.
105 Dunoyer, Early Debussystes at the Piano,109.
55
without effort. 106 It seems that subtleties and effortless sensitivity were of utmost
importance to Debussy. Of Caplet, he said,
This Caplet is an artist. He knows how to find a sonorous atmosphere and, with
an attractive sensitiveness, he is more aware of proportion; something which is
more rare than one would believe in our musical epoch patched up or closed like a
cork. 107
In addition, Rummel may have been responsible for the music of Debussys later
years. After the year in which Debussy did not write any music, he wrote to Rummel
Very simply, I am sincerely grateful to you for having reawakened in me the appetite for
music at a time when I fully believe I would never again be able to compose.108
Rummel and his wife then premiered the piano duet En blanc and noir on Jan 22, 1916.
But why did so many pianists fail to achieve Debussys admiration? It is not just
a matter of technique and mastery of touch on the piano, but also of interpretation of the
composer's intention. Many pianists often saw the specific musical directions and
exaggerated the effects. Copland asked him about interpretation on one occasion and the
composer replied,
I think it is because they try to impose themselves upon the music. It is necessary
to abandon yourself completely and let the music do as it will with you to be a
vessel through which it passes. 109
It is also known that Rummel liked 17th century music just like Debussy, which may have added to
Debussys admiration for the pianist. James R. Briscoe, Debussy In Performance (New Haven: Yale
University Press,1999),103.
107 Williametta Spenser, Caplet and Debussy. Musical Quarterly 66 n.1 (1980), 112.
108 James R. Briscoe, Debussy In Performance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 105-6.
109 Aaron Copland, Debussy the Man I Knew, Atlantic Monthly (January 1955), 38, as cited in Kyungae Lee, A comparative study of Claude Debussy's piano music scores and his own piano playing of
selections from his Welte-Mignon piano roll recordings of 1912 (D.M.A. dissertation, University of
Texas at Austin, 2001), 113.
106
56
Concerning the melodies, they seem to be influenced by French recitative rather

than the Italian bel canto style, and are to be sung naturally and without emphasis with
rhythmic and expressive plasticity as if it were a text to declaim. 110 When it comes
to melody, Laloy says:
Pianists must give up the presumption of bringing out the tune: when
thoroughly understood, the melody will take on by itself the slight prominence
which is needed; to insist would be to fall into Romantic affectation. 111
This point is important to consider in the Cello Sonata, because we now
understand what parts of the music are considered melody in terms of the motives, and
that melody will come more easily with that understanding.
Laloy also says that the performance must not have any ugliness, even
intellectual ugliness, meaning that care must be taken that bows do not grate, that reeds
do not snap, flutes do not rasp, brass do not blare out, piano strings are not ripped out,
vocal chords not worn bare. 112
Tempo and amount of rubato are also issues that have not been interpreted in the
same way with various musicians playing Debussys works. Paul Jacobs, author of On
Playing the Piano Music of Debussy in Cahiers Debussy, interprets rubato in the
beginning of a work as meaning flexibility of tempo throughout, but rubato in the middle
of the work as meaning something akin to meno mosso. 113 Durand asked Debussy for
metronome markings to put in his scores and he replied,
110
Dunoyer, Early Debussystes at the Piano, 36.

Laloy, Louis Laloy (1874-1944) on Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky, 108.
112 Ibid., 109.
113 Paul Jacobs, On Playing the Piano Music of Claude Debussy, Cahiers Debussy 3 (1979), 40.
111
57
You know what I think about metronome markings: theyre right for a single
bar only there are those who dont hear music and take these markings as an
authority to hear it still less! But do what you please. 114
This gives evidence that Debussy did not expect musicians to perform his music
with a strict tempo throughout, but to change when the music itself dictates. He gave a
few tempo indications, but otherwise left the interpretation up to the performer, as can be
heard when one hears Debussys own playing. There are many changes in tempo and
rubato that are not indicated at all in the score. In fact, Debussy left many factors up to
the performers, including fingering, tempo, pedaling in piano parts and bowings in string
parts115 It is likely that if a musician understands the origin of the Cello Sonata, these
tempo changes and phrasing interpretation will become clarified when perceived in
relation to their significance in light of the whole work.
114
115
Claude Abravanel, Symbolism and Performance, 99.

Louis Laloy, Louis Laloy (1874-1944) on Debussy, Ravel, and Stravins, 109.
58
Srnade (Second Movement)

"To believe that one can judge a work of art upon a first hearing is the strangest and most
dangerous of delusions." 116
OVERALL DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOVEMENT
The Srnade movement of the Cello Sonata is in the form of a rondo, in which
the order of sections is ABACA, such that A marks similar sections. Between these
statements of section A, section B and C provide contrasting material and further develop
the motives and contour of the hymn in various techniques. The process that results from
this development implies musical battles that have victories and defeats.
Section A begins virtually unchanged each of the three times it occurs in the
movement, except for a short two-measure introduction at the beginning of the first A
section which never returns. The A section then finishes in a different manner each of the
three occurrences. Excluding these introductory bars, the initial A section includes
measures 3-11, the second A section, measures 18-28, and the third A section, measures
54-58. Following the third A section are six measures that act as a transition from the
Srnade to the Finale.
The apparent purpose of the A section is to present the motives is such a way that
masks the Ein feste Burg hymn. Within the first four measures the motives c and b,
the rising motive and fourth motive, are presented in various forms. Following this in
measures 5 to 7 are the rest of the motives - d, e and a (descending line, turn-around,
59
three repeated notes), and in the first A section only, motive f (third with steps). While
this section does not immediately illuminate Ein feste Burg, all motives are present to
some degree, basically in the same range, and all pizzicato, implying solidarity. This is
significant because Debussy will symbolically show the demise of the German army by
setting the motives in the last A section in various ranges and styles (i.e. pizzicato and
arco). The end of each of the three A sections is also significant, as the first ends on a D
in the cello, the second ends with no D in the cello but continues onto more motives from
Ein feste Burg, and the last includes the non-cohesive setting of the motives, with a
final battle that finishes on A, the dominant of D.
Section B, beginning in measure 12, is very short, but presents variations of the
Ein feste Burg hymn twice, in the beginning and the end of the section, expanding the
intervals used from half-steps in the first statement to a whole-tone scale rendition of
Ein feste Burg in the second statement. The section finishes on a pure C major chord,
which could be implying a temporary victory of the Germans in this musical battle since
C major is associated with Ein feste Burg.
Section C begins with a three bar introduction of tonal and rhythmic ambiguity,
which suddenly lands into a passage that develops motives (especially motive a) in a
broad, expanded contour of the Ein feste Burg hymn. One can trace the major
components of the hymn's contour - three repeated notes, a skip, an ascending line, a
descending line, a pause on a low range part that might symbolize a fermata, then starting
high once again, a descending line, and a quick descent to the final note.
116
Claude Abravanel, Symbolism and Performance, 44.
60
ANALYSIS OF THE SRNADE MOVEMENT
Section A
In Debussys sketch of the Cello Sonata, one can find a musical idea which
Debussy quickly rejected and which may point out the significance of the first two
measures. The notes begin with A -A-B in ascending motion, which Debussy kept in of
Srnade final manuscript, but following these notes are descending scalar sixteenth
notes (C#-B -A-A ). Together these motives give one the impression of the Ein feste
Burg contour in diminished intervals (half-steps).
Figure 22, Sketch of opening bars of Srnade with initial passage in upper left corner
In the final version, Debussy has decided to omit the descending passage, and
repeat the ascending motive a second time, starting an enharmonic fourth higher, on C#.
From this evidence, it is very likely that Debussy intended for this ascending line to be a
motive from Ein feste Burg. These initial two measures do not return in later A
sections, begging the question of why Debussy included them at all. It could be
speculated that he wanted to make these two measures an antecedent so that the following
two measures (measures 3 and 4, which are much closer to the Ein feste Burg hymn)
are the consequent. When analyzed in terms of its significance it gives one the
impression that Ein feste Burg is sneaking in to the movement, as it will gain more
presence in later A sections.
61
Robert Moevs may also be correct in believing that the first two measures
introduce the overall principle of intervallic expansion that is present throughout the rest
of the movement since the first two measures are comprised of half-steps, which then
immediately expand to a whole-step in the piano accompaniment, to the diatonic in the
following measure, and then expand to a tritone at the end of measure 3.
Measure 1 is comprised of two statements of motive c in chromatic intervals, the

second of which is transposed a fourth higher, enharmonically. Following this, the piano
enters with the notes G and A (a whole-step apart) in octaves, creating an immediate
expansion of the half-step which is moving towards the intervallic spacing of Ein feste
Burg.117 The second measure then varies rhythmically the pitch material of the first
measure and also simulates the rhythm within the Ein feste Burg hymn.
In general, the impression of these two measures is one of rising, as none of the
motives that include descending lines are present. The first descending interval is the E
to C at the end of measure 2, played without piano accompaniment. Whereas the first
two measures together make a complete antecedent phrase, the low C begins a
consequent, ascending to F which becomes the first recognizable part of Ein feste
Burg with motive b and c together. The rhythmic variation is one of the reasons that this
melody is not immediately recognizable. Measure 3 is also a warped palindrome; if one
were to trace the notes in retrograde in this measure from the Db, one would find similar
inverted intervals that started at the F a fourth rise and a descent past the d motive.
62
Figure 23, mm. 1-4, Srnade, Cello Sonata
Beginning in measure 4 Debussy varies the motivic material by placing it out of

sequence from the actual Ein feste Burg hymn. The ascending motive c stops just
short of continuing on to motive d (to turn around) as in Ein Feste Burg and instead
continues with another motive b, this time as a tritone instead of a perfect fourth. This
figure is then repeated three times, each time rising a half-step (which in itself is motive
117
Robert Moevs, Intervallic Procedures in Debussy: Serenade From the Sonata for Cello and Piano,
63
c). The sequence of ascending tritone is an extension of the consequent and already a
variation of the preceding material. This is also an example of variation by mixing the
motives; whereas in measure 3 motive c and b are consecutive as occurs in the hymn, in
measure 4 they are morphed into one, creating a new idea. Accompanying this in
measure 4, the pianos notes are A-B -C , in patterns of motive c and d. The d motive is
possibly a foreshadowing of the d motive that will be immediately present in the next
measure.
In measure 5 Debussy finally presents motive d, the continuation of the hymn that
had been lacking from measure 3. Following the turn-around of motive d is the of motive
e in the cello (the descending line, F-E-C#) interrupted by motive c (the ascending line GA-B -C#), in diminution in the piano. Lastly, motive a, the opening three notes of Ein
feste Burg is played by both cello and piano in octaves. The next measure is very
similar to measure 5, except that the motives include d-c-a in the cello (with the rising
motive c) instead of the motives d-e-a (with the descending motive e). The piano part
during this measure includes the notes B -C#-D-F#, which are similar to the previous
measure, but are not in ascending scalar motion anymore; this could possibly be a
variation of the minor third with steps motive, combined with an ascending line. This
skip in the piano coinciding with the cello ascending line also gives one a stronger
impression of rising, as will be seen in the C section ascending line in the contour of
Ein feste Burg. One other important observation concerning these two measures is that
the piano bass line begins with G on each down beat, implying a move towards C major.
1915. Perpectives of New Music 8:1 (Fall/Winter 1969), 82.
64
Measure 7 begins the first presentation of motive f in the movement, which had
been present in the first movement and pervades the Finale as well. It gives the strong
impression of D minor by way of the notes D-F-G-A, a return to the original key and
away from the C major key of Ein feste Burg. The piano plays the notes in basically
ascending in quarter note rhythm while the cello line has the same line descending in
retrograde-inversion diminution. Following motive f in the cello (A-G-F-D) the cello
line then begins the motive again, but instead of continuing on to D to complete the third,
it expands the skip to C, a fourth. Then the C proceeds to an F, expanding the interval
even further, to a fifth. The cello and piano both then play a G dominant chord, a
surprise considering that the measure it is ending sounds mostly like D minor, but not so
surprising when one considers that the intervallic expansion symbolizes the move
towards Ein feste Burg and therefore C major. This is a battle of the keys, each
struggling to gain foothold in the music.
65
After the sudden G dominant chord, the cello strums an E diminished chord at the
end of measure 7, since the G (the third), while being absent from that particular chord, is
still ringing strongly in the ears of the listener from the previous piano chord. This chord
is the same as it was written previously in measures 5 and 6, in which the top E was the
first note of motive d. While the G dominant tends to go to C, the E diminished wants to
bring the music back to the key of F (the relative major of D minor). But instead of either
one of these outcomes occurring immediately, the cello continues to hold the E in
measure 8, accompanied by a C# minor chord and then an F major chord, which produces
a strange sort of V-I progression. The first time this occurs, the cello resolves the E to F.
66
In the measure after this the cello sounds the E harmonic again, accompanied once again
by the C# minor chord, but instead both piano and cello return to D minor.
Figure 26, Sketch of passage in Srnade with E harmonics
In the sketch, the false harmonic E that is an octave above the E in the final
manuscript, and there is a glissando after each E harmonic, which also did not survive the
final cut. Perhaps this is Debussys indication of the falling E towards D, whose victory
may symbolize a temporary defeat of C major and therefore Ein feste Burg by D. But
as is shown in the next two measures, the defeat is not lasting.
67
In measure 10 and 11, all of the motives from Ein feste Burg are present out of
their original sequence and in a more compact form. Measure 10 is in loose contour of
the middle of Ein feste Burg, and has elements of the chromatic motive c, motive d (in
inversion in the piano line and expanded to a whole-step in the cello line) and motive e,
but motives c and e are hardly recognizable due to their varied form. In the first piano
chord the motive c which occurred at the beginning of the work can be found
simultaneously in the notes A -A-B and D-E (missing an E initially). The cello line
then enters on D#-E, seeming to complete the c motive (D-E -[E]). The cello continues
to add to the motive D#-E-F-E, finishing with a D on the downbeat of measure 11; this
completes the tritone in the cello part from Ab to D that the piano has played as a
harmonic interval on the half-bar throughout the two measures. Also during this measure
the piano part has included Ein feste Burg motive d in inversion (G-F#-G) and motive
a in the piano part in which a short passage is repeated three times. The tonal area of D
(minor) is present, but is strongly influenced in this section by the motives from Ein
feste Burg and especially the tritone, a variation of the characteristic fourth. It now
appears that the defeat in the measure 9 was not strong enough to be lasting. Once the
cello plays the final D in the harmonic tritone on the downbeat of measure 11 (the end of
the A section) the piano begins another ascending motive c within Ein feste Burg,
leading into the B section which is dominated by the whole-tone scale ostinato in the
piano line.
In this A section, as can be seen by the preceding analysis, Debussy has presented
the motives in a different order, set up a sense of intervallic expansion and has given the
initial victory to D over C.
68
Section B
Section B contains the process of expanding the Ein feste Burg hymn motives
from half-steps to whole-tone scale within five measures. It is also possible that this B
section is much shorter than the other sections because it contains a compacted version of
the motives without much development.
Figure 28, mm.12-16 (first part of B section), Srnade, Cello Sonata
The anascrusis to measure 12 starts the B section. These measures involve an

ostinato figure in the piano, which is a fragment of Ein feste Burg (motives b and c)
and continues until measure 17. The ostinato is comprised of b motives, as tritones, and
motive c, in whole tones. By way of the whole-tone ostinato version of motive b and c
69
under the half-steps in the cello, Debussy once again seems to be foreshadowing the
expansion of the intervals.
Figure 29, Sketch of Srnade with initial B section passage in diatonic
In the sketch of the Cello Sonata, Debussy originally composed a different cello
line in measure 13. Instead of the chromatic line that traces the contour of Ein feste
Burg without the initial leap of a fourth, he had the cello repeat the G#, skip down to D
and begin the notes of Ein feste Burg in G major in the rhythm from measure 10 in the
first movement. Perhaps he rejected this idea because the three G#s with the contour of
the melody sounded too much like Ein feste Burg, and listeners most likely would
have recognized it. Or perhaps Debussy thought that this presented the tune too strongly
for the meaning he wanted the music to convey (although the music comes close to the
Ein feste Burg hymn, it never actually presents all of the motives of the first half in
order). Another reason, though all of these reasons may also be true, is that Debussy may
have wanted to exaggerate the expansion of intervals by expanding from half-steps to
whole-tones rather than from diatonic, which contains half-steps and whole-steps, to
whole-tones. For whatever, Debussy chose to use the chromatic contour of the hymn that
exists today in measure 13, yet still leaves out the most characteristic interval, the fourth.
70
The cello part in the B section from measure 12-18 gradually expands from halfsteps to a mix of half and whole steps in measures 14-15 (a section of which is marked
ironique and later expressif) to a whole-tone scale, and finally to a close rendition of the
Ein feste Burg hymn in measure 17. Measure 13 and 14 contain chromatic notes in a
melodic manner and all of the motives contained in Ein feste Burg. In measure 13
alone, at ironique the motives a, c, d, and e are present in various forms, along with the
additional tritone motive b in the piano. Measure 14 also includes a variation of a number
of motives put together. The notes at the beginning of measure 14 are reminiscent of the
motive f, as the notes are C#-A-G# (minus the passing B), and motive d (the small arch).
Motive b also appears in the cello part as a tritone (G-C#), in the piano part the tritone
and ascending motive ostinato is still present.
The next section marked expressif is legato, but continues the same ideas of
expansion and variation, with the added tritone A#-E in the piano bass line. In measure
16 Debussy finally employs almost an entire whole-tone scale in the cello part containing
the notes D-E-F#-G# with an A# and B# previously in the piano line.
The progression in the cello part from measure 13 to measure 16 that is marked
by an expansion of the intervals from half-steps to whole steps to whole-tone scale is
very likely a variant of the opening transition from half steps to whole step in measure 1.
Tension is created by the expansion of intervals to whole-tones, which produces a large
amount of tritones, which are presented all at once in the downbeat of measure 17.
71
Figure 30, mm. 17-18 (second part of B section), Srnade, Cello Sonata
These last two measures (17 and 18) in this B section are probably the closest to
Ein feste Burg than any other section in the second movement, perhaps symbolizing
the strength of the Germans at this point in the musical war occurring in the sonata.
These measures contain all the motives that make up the Ein feste Burg hymn, even if
slightly out of order. Also, if one were to delete the G#s and As from measure 17, the
measures would contain a perfectly arched contour of the melody in whole-tone scale.
This section ends with a pure C major chord, returning to the A section once again in
measure 19. Considering how Debussy wrote the Ein feste Burg hymn in C major in
his original sketch, the arrival on a perfect C major chord seems significant, especially in
a work that contains few purely major chords that involve both parts.
The previously discussed passage in the sketch of the Cello Sonata indicates
pizzicato on the last low C of the B section in measure 18 instead of the E in measure 19
where the second A section begins. Many cellists who perform this work today pause
72
after the low C momentarily before beginning measure 19, but the indication of pizzicato
on the low C in the sketch implies that the tied C is reminiscent of the tied low C in the
original A section in from measure 2 to 3. Therefore, I believe that after the cdez,
Debussy intended for the music to continue into section A without a pause.
Figure 31, mm. 18-19, Sketch, Srnade, Cello Sonata

Section A
The second A section is exactly as the first A section for 4 measures (excluding
the introductory two measures of chromatic notes in the first A section), except for the
variations in dynamics from the corresponding measures, which imply a strengthening of
the Ein feste Burg motives. Then, when the A section begins to completely change in
measure 23 and 24, there is an emphasis on the perfect fourth at the end of these two
measures, some of the only perfect fourths in the second movement that are not tritones.
There is also a strong G dominant chord, pulling towards C, and the section does not end
on D, but continues into the next section, implying a weakening of D.
73
Debussy varies the dynamics in the new A section; in measure 20 the ascending
tritones have crescendi instead of decrescendi, the decrescendo in measure 21 begins
directly on the three repeated notes rather than the note before them, and in measure 22
the hairpin goes to the second repeated note of motive a rather than the third. This is an
example of the variational process with which Debussy treats his thematic material. It
could possibly be symbolic of the strength of Ein feste Burgas well, by emphasizing
the notes in the ascending tritones that lead to C major (the lower notes of the tritones, DE -E as opposed to A -A-B ) and giving more strength to motive a through dynamics
that emphasize the three repeated notes rather than letting them die away.
74
Measures 23-25 are analogous to, but different from, measures 7-9; then measure
26 returns to the similar passage from measure 10. Whereas the first A section included
the f motive for one measure and then the false harmonic Es for two measures, which
resolved eventually to D minor through F major, this A section seems to extend motive a
from the measures 21 and 22 until measure 24, accompanied by interval expansion in the
piano part. Measure 23 in the cello part contains the notes A -G-F#(G ), oscillating
around the note G, which is then followed by B -F, motive b as a perfect fourth. The next
measure begins like the previous one, but a half-step higher. The cello line contains AA -G-B at first seeming to oscillate around A , but then the last group of three is
75
ascending instead of surrounding the note. The last two notes are once again a perfect
fourth on B-F#. After so many presentations of motive b in tritone form, this appears to
be an example of increasing clarity of Ein feste Burg in the cello line while intervallic
expansion is occurring beneath it in the piano part, further implying a strengthening of
the hymn.
There is even more to this passage in measures 23 and 24 when one considers the
piano part. The piano bass notes begin with tritones A -D, but then expand to a perfect
fifth, A -D . The next measure begins once again with a tritone, A -D, but expands to a
perfect fifth a half-step higher, A-D. Both measures also include motive d twice in rising
half-steps in the piano line where D-E -D and E -F-E becomes D-E-D and E-F#-E.
This overall expansion and rise of melodic material is perhaps an expression of tension
generated by the increasing clarity and gathering strength of Ein feste Burg motives in
the A section. Measure 25 then starts with a G dominant 13th chord a powerful chord
that includes many potentially resolving notes in C major.
Figure 34, m. 25, Srnade, Cello Sonata
76
Measure 25 is not the same as its corresponding measures 8 and 9. Just as in the
latter, it begins with an E and has fifths, but in measure 25, Debussy repeats the figure EA-B-D, falling an octave with each repetition. The last repetition ends in a triplet whose
last note, D, is in the piano left hand. The D minor has now hardly resolved, whereas in
measure 9 it had already resolved before the down beat and had been strengthened by F
major, even though its victory was soon lost to the whole-tone scale.
Measure 26 is exactly like measure 10, but the figure in the cello part extends into
measure 27 as well. Whereas in the previous A section the cello finished with a D and let
the piano take over the ostinato, this time the cello continues the D#-E-A -B fragment
over the same piano part and repeats it an octave higher until it reaches five high Cs,
which are a lengthened variation of motive a, and is marked crescendo molto. These Cs
are an interruption of the whole-tone scale ostinato. Together with the C major
symbolism of the hymn in the sketch, the Cs being the opening motive of Ein feste
Burg, and the hymn being a symbol of the Germans, it is likely to be symbolic in this
piece as meaning that the Germans have fully arrived. The piano, meanwhile, initially
77
begins its ostinato, but ends abruptly before the next measure in which section C begins.
Throughout this A section, Debussy has musically portrayed the gathering strength of
Ein feste Burg by varying motives and emphasizing G dominant and C major.
Section C
The body of section C lasts for 26 measures, the longest yet, and has a general
shape of the Ein feste Burg hymn. It seems as if Debussy chose certain characteristics
of the hymn to set as the contour of this section as a whole the repeated three notes, the
ascending line, the descending line, the repeated two descending lines in the second half
of the tune and the last note (ending on C of course, as he has in the sketch). Within
these general characteristics, he also varies other motives within as well.
Figure 36, Contour of C section corresponding to Ein feste Burg, Srnade, Cello
Sonata
This section has a number of aspects that divide the music into two parts. One of
the divisions concerns the piano accompaniment, which starts in measure 31 in the time
signature 2/4, against the cello 3/8. The second half of this section begins in measure 44,
in which the accompaniment begins in 2/4 against 3/8 once again. The second split
concerns the melodic phrasing in measure 31 in the cello line, which is repeated in
measure 42 an octave higher and continues the melodic similarity in measure 43,
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analogous to measure 32. The third split concerns the Ein feste Burg contour in the
cello part. In the hymn, the second half begins after the fermata; in the Cello Sonata the
second half of the Ein feste Burg contour begins in measure 48.
Section C begins with a three measure introduction in which the Cs in measure

27, perhaps a foreshadowing of the variation to come, gradually progress down to
measure 31 in which B is the new tonal key area. The Cs are repeated, as a variation of
motive a, but then rhythmic and tonal ambiguity causes the C to lose its foothold as the
tonal area. In measure 28 the C section of the rondo begins with a sigh-like figure on the
notes C-B-D# in the cello, and alternating chords (these chords contain the notes F-A B -C-D and F#-A-B-C-D#) in the piano. The cello joins the alternation in measure 29 in
which the groupings containing the notes C-B -D and C-B-D#. These groupings of notes
are then transformed into a triplet figure, and accelerate until they become a whirl of
notes that mix into C-B-D, a combination of both groups. This leads into a melody in
measure 31, comprised of the same notes.
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Figure 37, mm.28-30, Srnade, Cello Sonata
From measure 29 until 32 the cello part continually repeats C-B[ ]-D[#] in
various rhythmic patterns. In measure 29 there is a foreshadowing of Bs ultimate
victory, for the piano strikes a low B even while the cello is still playing B -C-D. In
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measure 30 the cello part changes its notes to B-C-D, and the piano attacks the B one
more time during this measure as if to emphasize its victory over B . This supposed
victory of B could mean a leaning towards C, as the former is a leading tone to the latter
(as opposed to the B pulling down to A, the dominant of D), although B becomes a key
in itself for a short time in the following C section.
81
Figure 38, mm.31-54, Srnade, Cello Sonata
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In the first nine measures of this section, one can trace the actual notes of Ein
feste Burg within the general contour of the hymn, and even specific notes from the
hymn in C major, which are shown here by an underline. Later, it is apparent that this
contour does end in C as well, as the last and lowest note of the passage in measures 5153 are low Cs. The three repeated notes from the opening of Ein feste Burg can be
found in measures 32-34 (three Cs in measure 32, Fs and G#s in measure 33 and 34);
in addition, motive a is continued in the triplets throughout measures 37-40 which contain
the rising line from the contour of the hymn as well. This rising line can be traced in the
movement from G-A (in m. 37, which also contains motive d) to A -A-B (m. 38) to GA -C (m. 39 this is also motive f) to B -C -E (m. 40); each measures reach is higher
than the previous measure. The highest point of this first half is the G in measure 41,
analogous to the climax of the Ein feste Burg phrase. The descent of the Ein feste
Burg contour occurs in plateaus contained in measures 42-44. Debussy has the cello
stay down in the lower range for a short time, giving it a sur la touche melody. The
second half of Ein feste Burg occurs in measure 48, a return to higher notes once
again. In the Ein feste Burg hymn, the descent happens twice, one slightly lower than
the other, and here it is the same first starting at the F which descends relatively slowly,
and then at the A which descends rapidly down to C in the cello pizzicato, the C being
the last note of the Ein feste Burg hymn in Debussys sketch of the Cello Sonata.
The body of section C begins in measure 31 with the new theme, grown out of the
three bar introduction in which the transformation occurred. In the cello part, the triplet
figure with the notes B-D-C (previously the emphasis had been on the order C-B-D)
becomes a figure in duplets, though the cello part is in 3/8 time. The triplets resume
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beginning on the note C in measure 32. Underneath this the piano is in duple (2/4) time
with a boom-chick accompaniment. The notes in its line make up a half-diminished
chord on B (B-D-F-A) which includes the tritone B-F, with the bass lines notes
alternating between B and F as well. The tritone is strong and the B half-diminished
chord is probably borrowed from C minor as a seventh chord, which could mean that the
tonal area of C, and Ein feste Burg, is sneaking into the music. It could also be a
borrowed half-diminished ii chord from A minor. At this point, the music is ambiguous
in terms of contour, tonality and rhythm.
The next two measures are slightly different, for even as the piano line remains
exactly the same, the cello rhythms are becoming noticeably more in 2/4 time. While the
cello line still fits comfortable within 3/8, the notes F-G# appear to respond to the bass
notes of the piano in 2/4. This rhythmic development seems to progress from 3/8 with
2/4 (mm. 31 and 32) to 2/4 (mm. 33 and 34) to 6/8 (mm. 35 and 36) and finally to a stable
3/8 in measure 37. In measure 33, G# assists in modulating to the key of A by way of the
leading tone, which begins on an E major chord. Interestingly enough, the only cello note
in the preceding passage that had not been present in the piano chords (C, the destination)
is a tritone away from the only note in the cello line that in measure 33 is not present in
the piano chord (G#).
In measure 35 the piano chords change, although the piano time signature is still
2/4. This new chord is a dominant ninth chord on E, which is the dominant of A. Also in
these measures, the cello part has grown in tonal and rhythmic ambiguity, as it is
comprised of almost constant wandering triplet figures which seems to suggest 6/8 when
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played with the piano lines 2/4 time signature. The wandering passage ends in measure
37 on G, as an elision to the next section, which begins the ascent of the contour of Ein
feste Burg. This G is the fifth in a C major chord, the tonal area of Ein feste Burg.
One question that may be asked is, within this contour, where is the
characteristic descending fourth from Ein feste Burg? I believe Debussy has
transformed the interval into a change of color more than range, creating an impression of
descent. The passage of triplets in measure 36 seem to wind down even though they in
actuality they only change the range by exactly an octave between the preceding and
following notes. Also, the music changes suddenly in measure 37 and the cello and piano
parts are marked subito pp, leggiero, meno mosso poco. Therefore, it seems possible
that in two measures Debussy has taken the music from the high repeated notes of Ein
feste Burg in measures 32-34 to the gradually ascending passage in measures 37-41 by
way of a drop in intensity (color) and a feeling of winding down, without the actual
descending fourth.
In measure 37, the triplet figure is in full force and begins the ascending part of
the Ein feste Burg contour. Without a break or other transition, the piano part is
transformed from 2/4 to 3/8, and the cellos triplet figure becomes motive a. But motive
a is also mixed with motive d, where for each note in motive d is repeated three times.
The piano during the cellos line also has motive d without the three repeated notes of
motive a; however, these single notes rise and fall with the cellos motive d. At the end
of measure 38 the last triplet is not three repeated notes but A -B-A , creating an
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expansion of the intervals from major second to augmented second, and a rise in the
melodic line that traces the contour of the rising line in Ein feste Burg.
Measure 39 and 40 appear at first glance to be a continuation of 37 and 38, but in

fact they contain almost entirely new motives. The cello line still employs motive a, but
now the triplets are arranged in the frame of motive f in retrograde (rising half-steps and
then third). This rising motive helps the cello line to follow further the rising contour of
Ein feste Burg. Then the figure is repeated in the next measure, transposed a minor
third higher, perhaps exaggerating the rising contour of Ein feste Burg and bringing
the range of notes even higher. The piano line, meanwhile, changes by rising in the right
hand (motive c) and descending in the left hand (motive e) which emphasizes the ascent
by widening the range with contrary motion. From this point in measure 41, the cello
skips the repeated note motive a entirely and races up to the high G , which will become
an F# in the next measure when the figure from measure 31 repeats. This high G may
be seen as the top of contour of the Ein feste Burg hymn.
Measure 42 marks the beginning of the second half of the Ein feste Burg
contour where hymn descends, pauses on the fermata, and then begins again for its final
descent. Measure 42 is the figure from 31 transposed a perfect fifth higher, in a major
rather than a minor mode, and with a different accompaniment. This accompaniment
seems to be derived from the cello part of measure 33 and 34, and is now comprised of
the notes C#-B in 3/8 time which is no longer an augmented second, but is now a whole
step.
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The fact that it takes considerably less time to complete the second half of the
hymn contour is perhaps symbolizing a move away from the strength of Ein feste Burg.
The lessening strength is also apparent when comparing the initial chord on the downbeat
of measure 42 (a major 7 chord on D) with measures 31 and 32 (a half-diminished chord
on B, the leading tone to C major). Therefore, it is possible that this second half, the
descending portion of the Ein feste Burg contour is losing strength as it falls farther
away from C major and closer to D. Even though the range of the cello hovers around
the highest note of the contour, the accompanying chord is already bringing the hymn
back down.
Measures 42-44 mark the actual descent of the Ein feste Burg hymn. The cello
and piano line both drop an octave from the previous measure rather than staying in the
same range. The following measure, part of the second half of this second section, is an
octave lower, marking a further decline in range that traces the contour of Ein feste
Burg.
The second half of this second section, starting at measure 44, is marked by a
change in tempo and color, being marked rubato and sur la touche, and could possibly
represent the fermata in the middle of Ein feste Burg, especially since it is slow and its
two measures are repeated, elongating the line. The cello part begins with the triplet
figure from the previous measure but then descends with motive e and presents motive b
in tritone form, which is accompanied by another tritone E-B in the piano bass line.
Following the note F is the ascending c motive. The second presentation in measure 46
begins the same way with the triplet figure and unexpectedly jumps up to an F an octave
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above the B instead of below. The resulting group (B-F-G-A -B ) seems to be a

variation of the motive f (skip with steps) employing a tritone instead of a third. The
figure has gone from using the fourth skip with contrary motion (from the Ein feste
Burg contour) to the third with steps motive by changing only the octave of the notes.
Therefore, so far within this second section, the motives that have been used are b, c, e,
and f. These measures end the contour of the descending part of Ein feste Burg.
Measures 48/49 and 50/51 are exact repetitions of each other and sound very
much like an inversion of what came before in measures 45 and 47, since the rhythms are
very similar. In measure 48, this descending passage starts on the high F in the cello and
can be traced back to the contour of the Ein feste Burg melody towards the end, the
descending passage beginning high once again after the fermata. 118 After the descent the
notes return to the C#-B figure that was derived in measure 42 and possibly symbolized
the waning strength of the Germans by intervallic compression. In the piano part, the
ascending chromatic line is motive c in chromatic motion, a further compression of
intervals, also implying that Ein feste Burg is losing strength in this section. The
motive ends on the second beat of measure 49 with perfect fifths plus an F, followed by
the cello in quick pizzicato descent on all open strings. This quick descent matches the
end of the Ein feste Burg hymn, that originally included the quick-quick-long
rhythm, from which motive f is originally derived. After an exact repetition in measures
50 and 51, as if to signal the end of Ein feste Burg, the cello once again reiterates the
C with a sforzando, vibrato, tenuto and carrot (quite a bit for pizzicato on an open string!)
and then echoes the C in the next measure again to end with a total of three repeated Cs.
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On an interpretive note performers have often broken this section from measures
32-53 because of the indicated change in tempi, dynamics and color. Yet, in light of
interpreting the C section as the contour of Ein feste Burg, it would seem to suggest
that despite the changes in dynamics and tempo, the parts of this section should display
unity, and that the changes in color and tempo indicate Debussys own impression of the
different parts of the hymn. One example of this is in measures 37-41 (the ascent), where
it might be wise to moderate the accelerando that is so typical of many performances,
since it detracts from motive a in measures 32-34. Also, the descent in measures 42-44
could perhaps be connected in a performance, as if they were descending as one line,
without as much of a break as is usually given in the changes of tempo, dynamic and
color. In measures 42-53 (the second half of Ein feste Burg and quick descent to the
end), the cello part should seem like a quick end to a phrase, ending on C.
Section A
The third A section is a final battle between D and C, plus a symbolic falling apart
of the motives from Ein feste Burg. Whereas in the first two A sections the motives
had some unity through range and continuous, Debussy changes the treatment of the
motives here perhaps to musically symbolize the weakening of the German army, and
prepares for the victory of France in the next movement.
118 It is interesting to note that in the sketch Debussy composed a similar section here with harmonics,
indicated by diamond-shaped notes. In the final manuscript this passage is not written as harmonics, but
the cellist is told to play it flautando.
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Measure 54 brings us to the last A section of this rondo form beginning exactly as
it had been when it was first presented in measure 3, excluding dynamics once again.
While the ascending tritone figure (motives b and c) has diminuendi just like the first A
section, the previous measure (measure 54) has a hairpin on the initial motives c and b,
which emphasizes the note G that does not belong in the Ein feste Burg hymn, but
goes beyond.
In measure 56 the notes are the same as in measure 5, continuing the motives
from the A section, but there are also many changes in the presentations of the motives
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that break their continuity. In the cello part, the figure is now arco and sur la touche with
no crescendo on motive d. There is also a glissando from the D to the C#, the latter being
an octave lower instead of in the same range as the D, as it was in measure 5. In measure
57 the entire figure begins an octave lower, whereas in measure 6 it had begun in the
same octave as the previous measure, once again with no crescendo, and the D falls even
lower to the lowest C# on the cello, instead of ascending the second time as it did in
measure 6. The figure is getting weaker when it cannot rise any longer.
The piano part also supports the idea that the motives are being weakened; instead
of an E minor chord to strengthen the first E of motive d, the piano plays an F#, creating
a melodic dissonance. This chord is followed by quarter note chords in the piano, unlike
measure 5 that had presented the ascending motive c in sixteenth notes. When analyzed,
these chords spell two dominant ninth chords on F# and G. In the next measure the first
chord is missing entirely, which gives an even weaker impression of the off-beat E; the
cello starts motive d on its own and is soon accompanied by a dominant seventh chord on
A with a doubled seventh (G). Perhaps as a doubled seventh, the G is trying to push
through to become the dominant of C once more, leading to the final battle in measure
58.
Measure 58 is the thickest measure in the entire movement and symbolizes a final
musical battle. The cellos sixteenth notes, comprised mostly of a motives which seem to
be trying to break through, are accompanied by successive eighth-note chords comprised
of six notes each in the piano part. The top notes of each of the chords spell out a wholetone scale (B -C-D-E-F#-A ). The bottom notes are a fifth apart from the cello part,
spelled enharmonically (A -A-C-C#-E-F). These chords are all minor ninth chords in
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different inversions, although ever other chord is missing its third degree, which can be
found in the previous chord.
Figure 40, m. 58, Srnade, Cello Sonata
Measures 58, with its running sixteenths and building tension, could perhaps
resolve to an A in the same register, and one would expect some sort of lively motion to
continue after the passage. Instead, the cello and piano lines jump two octaves to a
higher A which the cello holds in measure 59 with no change in accompaniment for half
of a bar. This leaves the audience wondering what will happen next, asking about who
won this musical battle. When something does happen in the second half of measure 59,
the piano plays the notes E -F -D -E -C -D consecutively in three octaves for each
note.
The notes in measure 59 seem originate from a C major scale. Later, in measure
61 and 62, the figure in the piano is repeated in C major, a half-step higher than the
previous measure, perhaps symbolizing a last gasp for air by C whose defeat is imminent,
before falling back to C in measure 63 and 64.
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Figure 41, mm. 59-64 (end), Srnade, Cello Sonata
Over these last six bars, intervallic expansion is also represented, as the cello is
mainly holding the high A (the dominant of D), but bursts into a short flourish of halfsteps (A-B -C -Bb-A), perhaps symbolizing the distance from Ein feste Burg at this
moment since, throughout the movement, intervallic expansion reflected a move towards
the Ein feste Burg hymn. This is in contrast to the pianos whole-steps that symbolize
the last breath. In the end of this movement, one could speculate that Debussy has
symbolized musically the French victory over Germany.
Prologue (First Movement) Analysis

The Ein feste Burg motives can also be found in the Prologue and Finale
movements of the Cello Sonata. The most frequently occurring motive Ein feste Burg
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is the third with half-steps (motive f), and many instances of the contour of the Ein
feste Burg melody.
Exposition
The opening bars of the first movement already contain a variation of the Ein
feste Burg hymn. Debussy has taken the hymn in F major and transformed it into a D
minor theme by adding a D minor chord, so that the first note of Ein feste Burg (F) is
the third of the chord. He also adds a new note (D, on the third beat) and changes the
rhythm to mask the true melody.119 If one were to delete the D on the third beat, and put
the sixteenth notes on F-E instead of D-C, the first half of Ein feste Burg would be
immediately recognizable in the first bar of the sonata.
119
See section entitled Rhythm.
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The second measure continues the hymn, but is disguised by a new harmony.
Debussy also presents motive d in inversion; this motive had been interrupted in the
upper voice by the D on the third beat. After this, there is a G dominant seventh chord,
which will return throughout the entire piece as leading to C major, the key of the hymn
in the sketch.
One could trace the notes of almost the entire hymn if one were to elide the first
and second half of Ein feste Burg on itself; upon analyzing the hymn, there are two
descending lines, each using the same notes (in F major, F-E-D-C) before and after the
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fermata, and Debussy has taken away one of the descents. When these two descents
become one, the result is the melodic line in the first few bars of the Cello Sonata.
Figure 43, Ein feste Burg hymn condensed
In measure 2, Debussy has not left out the D (the top of the f motive) but has
instead given it to the piano left hand. The tune then continues with B -C. At this point,
it appears that Debussy has cut Ein feste Burg short; but if one were to look closer
once again, one could see that the G-F of the very end is present in the middle voices of
the piano in the correct range. Between the first and second statements of the hymn in
measures 1-3 and 3-(unfinished hymn) respectively, there is an elision which further
masks Ein feste Burg. The last F then becomes a chord-tone of the harmony for the
next statement in measure 3. Although it is not immediately clear, the cello will have this
complete line in measures 45-46, continuing the phrase until the end without interruption
or elision. These are the only two sections of the work that contain the entire Ein feste
Burg hymn. The two statements of it at the beginning and end of the movement reflect a
kind of presentation of the melody, thereby preparing Ein feste Burg for further
development in the rest of the work.
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Measure 3 begins the same as the first, except that instead of the descending
motive e the line rises again to state a second presentation of the ascending part of Ein
feste Burg. The low C interrupts the hymn (the first instance of a disruption by the note
C) , and continues finishing the first half of the hymn in C major rather than F major,
ascending and then quickly descending in a triplet figure in measure 4, repeating it an
octave lower. In this measure, the tritone (in the form of B and F) also appears for the
first time. This measure could be a preliminary battle between F major/D minor and C
major to foreshadow the conflicting tonal areas of the second movement.
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In this same measure as the triplets in measure 4, the cello enters for the first time.
After an initial tirade120 which contain the notes D and G,121 the cello line presents a
portion of the hymn and continues on to a flourish of notes. This embellished line is in
the key of D minor while the piano is clearly in C major, presenting the tonal conflict that
will continue to haunt the work. It could perhaps represent the French and Germans since
the Ein feste Burg hymn is in C major in the sketch of the Cello Sonata and D minor is
the key of the work. The unexpected minor chord on E in measures 6 and 7 is puzzling,
but might be explained as sinking down to A (dominant of D) from G (dominant of C) by
way of the high B in the cello line. The last note in measure 7, the A , acts as a G# by
leading to A in measure 8. It appears that even with the slight interruptions of C, D is
still dominant in the work so far.
120 A tirade is described by Paul Jacobs as rapid scales as upbeats to a strong beat. These notes were to be
played rapidly and with articulation, but not in the pedantic values of their actual notation.( I have
included this passage, even though it consists of two notes instead of a scale, because it has as similar
impression and purpose here.) Paul Jacobs, On Playing the Piano Music of Claude Debussy, Cahiers
Debussy 3 (1979), 41.
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In measure 8 the cello line includes the notes A-F-E, the descending third with
steps motive f from Ein feste Burg; these notes are exactly the notes of the original f
motive in the sketch in C major. In the piano part during this measure the motives e and
b subtly appear as D-C#-C-B and D-G# respectively. These are not as bold as in the
Srnade movement, but creep along beneath the cello line. In measure 9 there appears
twice a variation of motive f as the cello line continues, and beneath this the piano is the
same as measure 8 but is lacking the tritone at the end of the measure. It is almost a
decrescendo of motives in which the motives are presented and disappear or lose their
strength through repetitions that start on consecutively lower pitches. In measure 10
there appears a line that is rhythmically similar to a part of the Ein feste Burg hymn,
although it lacks the opening three notes that make up motive a. Also in measure 10,
there occurs again a larger portion of the hymn without the repeated three notes of motive
a, and uses eighth notes instead of the triplet figure from the beginning. The rhythmic
ambiguity has grown, but the hymn is still present. So far, the music has presented the
Ein feste Burg hymn, the tonal conflict and a number of motives, but they are subtle,
undisruptive elements.
Measures 12 and 13 are a restatement of measures 8 and 9 in the cello part, except
for the surprising A , creating a melodic tritone between E and A . This could be seen as
a strengthening of the characteristic fourth from Ein feste Burg, perhaps growing as an
adversary, since it is dissonant. The piano line is entirely new, consisting of an F major
chord to an F minor chord with a Bb in the bass (creating a dissonance between A and
B and a tritone between B and E). This new accompaniment is less active in terms of
121
These notes are found in ascending fourths and fifths that are more similar to the La Marseillaise
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motivic development but creates a thicker chordal texture within a more classical
idiom122 to support the melody. In measure 14 motive f is presented once again, in the
notes A-F-E, in diminution, as part of a larger phrase. This theme ends in measure 15
with a plagal cadence in D minor. The turn towards a classical idiom, D minor and the
retaining of disjunct motives instead of the entire Ein feste Burg hymn could be a
foreshadowing of the end of the work, that France (symbolized by a D tonal area,
classical style and a move away from Ein feste Burg) will be victorious.
Development
The middle section of the first movement starting in measure 16 can perhaps be
seen as comparable to a development section in which Ein feste Burg grows in
strength through victory in tonal battles, motivic prominence and similarity to the actual
hymn. It begins with a sequence of rising steps in the cello line that alternate between A
minor and A major with the change from C to C#. A major is significant because it is the
dominant of D, most likely symbolizing France. The passage begins twice, first in
measure 16, which finishes in G minor (a chord from the tonal area of D, rather than G
major which is the dominant of C, perhaps implying the temporary victory of that key)
with a reminiscent version of the Ein feste Burg hymn, and then again in measure 18,
which continues to be a minor version of the actual hymn and ends with sequences of the
descending f motive. This motive then continues to become an ostinato in the cello line
until measure 27. This second statement ends on an A minor chord, as a deceptive
cadence in C major, which could mean that C major is gathering strength (whereas in
measure 17 the chord on G had been minor, not acting as a dominant to C).
anthem, which could possibly be foreshadowing the anthem in the third movement.
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The next section seems to be based on the progression of growing domination by

motive f, which first appeared in measure 8. It enters simply, as a undisruptive fragment
of a phrase in measure 8 with minimal accompaniment, but then starts to become stronger
as it is influenced by the changing modality from major to minor in measure 12. By
measure 19 and 20, it is repeated as a fragment that makes up a large portion of the
melodic material, and then in 21 it finally becomes a kind of melody itself, as an ostinato.
Rollo Myers also said that this treatment of a simple melody could also be similar to
Claire de Lune in which the simple melody is transformed by the changing harmony.123
122
123
Here, classical idiom means melody and accompaniment instead of abstract motives.
Rollo Myers, Claude Debussy: The story of His Life and Work, (London, 1972), 32.
101
After this large section of ostinato, motive f does not appear in the movement again until
the recapitulation in measure 39. In the second half of this ostinato section, the piano
begins the technique called planing, which Debussy so often used in his earlier music to
promote a feeling of staticism, in which the intervallic spaces of each chord remains the
same as the previous chord. In measure 27 the planing technique ends, which creates a
feeling of new energy and motion, preparing for the final climax of sequential fourths in
measure 28 and into the Ein feste Burg melody in measure 29.
Figure 48, m. 28, Prologue, Cello Sonata
In measure 28 the cello bursts into sequences of ascending fourths, the most
prominent interval in Ein feste Burg. Along with these fourths, the piano alternates
inversions of the G dominant chord that ultimately lead to the widely spaced C major
chord in measure 29. This could imply the dominance of the Ein feste Burg since one
of the strongest motives (the fourth) appears with a strong feeling of tonal dominance to
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the symbolic key of C major and the wide spacing gives the chord a unique color,
emphasizing it.
Measures 29-30 once again present the variation of Ein feste Burg from the
opening of the work, and following this, measure 31 gives an embellished variation of the
a motive (three repeated Gs). It also appears that a tonal battle is being waged in this
section, particularly in measures 29, 31, and 32, in which the first beat of the measure is a
C chord without the third degree, the second beat is three octaves of C together with three
octaves of D, and the fourth beat is a D minor chord. In measure 32, the third time this is
presented, the fourth beat does not resolve clearly in D minor, but to F major (the key of
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Ein feste Burg in the opening measures of the movement), which then leads to the
Ein feste Burg hymn in measure 33 in the cello line. The progression implies a
temporary victory of Ein feste Burg.
Figure 50, mm. 35-36, Prologue, Cello Part in Cello Sonata
In measure 35 the intervals suddenly expand into fourths and fifths, and the
expansion and presentation of the intervals from Ein feste Burg foreshadow the
strength of the hymn. All of the notes contained in this measure are C-E-G-D-A. It
could be speculated that Debussy has chosen these notes because they are found in the
chords used to symbolize Germany and France in the Cello Sonata. C-E-G is from the
key C major, D-A could be the key of D and G-D is an ambiguous G chord. From this
we could also speculate that at this point the battle between D and C is being won by C.
Soon after, however, C major already appears to be losing its strength, as C# and A occur
immediately after, in measure 36, implying the dominant of D. The intervals then seem
to contract, as in the next measure 37, C# diminished (containing a G) alternates with C#
minor (containing G#, which pulls to A) in the piano. Therefore, the music is getting
further from C major and further from Ein feste Burg (in motive development and
contour) which may imply the lessening strength of the Germans.
Debussy may have then planned for the recapitulation to have more than a formal
function, as he had musically portrayed the gathering strength of the Germans and then
104
the lessening strength soon after in the development. At the recapitulation, motive f
appears once again, which may signal the departure of the Germans.
Recapitulation
The Recapitulation begins in measure 39, and remains the same as the exposition
until measure 43 when Debussy decided to leave out the initial A (and therefore the
descending minor third) from the descending f motive. He had considered the A at first,
as can be seen in the sketch, but crossed it out. In measure 43 motive f is weak, as it is
presented with even less accompaniment (no tritone and an ascending line in measure 44
rather than a second descending line); the motives are falling apart towards the end. This
is also true concerning the ascending motive c in measure 47; instead of continuing to F
as in Ein feste Burg, it simply repeats. At the end, starting in measure 47, the chords
alternate between minor-major instead of major-minor, and the piece ends on a major
chord, creating a sense of hope.
Finale (Third Movement) Analysis

Just as in the second movement of En blanc et noir, there is evidence that
elements of La Marseillaise appear in the third movement of the Cello Sonata.
Although these quotations are not obvious, there is ample evidence that Debussy would
have included La Marseillaise in a work that also contains Ein feste Burg. If one
were to analyze the Cello Sonata without any respect to Ein feste Burg, it would be
impossible or quite unlikely to see La Marseillaise in the last movement, but in the
context of the Lutheran hymn, and its symbolic meaning in the work, a lack of the French
national anthem would be even more puzzling, since it would mean imply no victory for
France. Debussy in his comments on En blanc et noir, admitted to the presence of La
105
Marseillaise so that his work would not be misunderstood as sympathetic to the

Germans.124
In En blanc et noir, La Marseillaise occurs in various fragments until a

quotation towards the end. In the Cello Sonata the quotation of the French anthem is also
masked in as an anacrusis to the soaring figure (based on motive f, that marks the
departure of Ein feste Burg) that occurs three times throughout the work and leads into
the major melody that also has fragments of the French anthem.
The Finale movement does not follow a traditional form such as sonata or
rondo. It contains elements of both, as sections return and modulate, but the overall form
is not standard. As a result, sections will be labeled as in the following order:
ABA`CDAC`(Coda)
Section A
Similar to En blanc et noir, the La Marseillaise melody is presented in
fragments before Debussy writes a passage that resembles the melody more closely. The
first instance of a fragment of La Marseillaise is in measures 3 and 5, which contain the
ascending fourth. Although the fourth was also a motive from Ein feste Burg, the
fourth in that melody was descending, and often used in the form of a tritone.
Figure 51, The La Marseillaise melody in A Major

124
Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night: Music and the Great War (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2003), 92.
106
(within the key of D minor in the Finale)
The second presentation of a fragment that more closely resembles La

Marseillaise is in measure 6-7 in which the cello has the notes E-A-E-A. Although it
does not look like the French anthem at first, adding the note B after the first A and then
C# after the second high E would complete the anthem; Debussy has provided these
missing notes in the piano left hand.
Following this passage in measures 7-9, in the key of A minor, are a rising
variation (inversion) of motive f, which is similar to a measure in En blanc et noir.125
The significance of these measures is that could be a symbol of German departure or
distance from France, since it is the last motive of the Ein feste Burg hymn, turned on
its back. But the figure in measures 7-9 returns in measure 41-43 as well, this time in G
minor, the dominant tonal area of C major, and does not continue eventually to material
related to La Marseillaise as in measures.
125
This figure is discussed on pp. 42.
107
Figure 54, La Marseillaise melody as it would be completed with B and C#
108
In measure 15-18, Debussy has written a cheerful D major melody in the cello
line that will be picked up by the piano in measures 19-22. It seems at first that this
melody, too, has no similarity to La Marseillaise until closer examination: this time, by
subtracting the Ds and F# in measure 16 the anthem is more apparent. In measure 15,
the passage from measure 16 is in retrograde motion.
Section B
Measures 23-34 are an interlude completely different from the preceding material.
The melodic line, mostly in the piano, has a certain Spanish flavor, perhaps harkening
back to the Spanish music that Debussy loved so much, and the style of which can be
109
found in his violin sonata. In this section, there are many perfect fifths, which could be
symbolic as being associated with La Marseillaise, but other than this, I have not found
any Ein feste Burg or La Marseillaise motives in this section, and so it would not be
helpful to this study to analyze the section in detail. But it could perhaps be seen as
Debussys homage to the Spanish people, who aided France in their war with Germany.
Section A and C
Measures 37-44 give a presentation of the La Marseillaise material from
measures 4-14, but this time in the key of G, the dominant of C, (instead of A ,the
dominant of D in mm. 6-11), which had been in conflict with D in the previous
movements. Debussy also writes sur le chevalet (near the bridge) for the cello, which
produces a scratchy, nasal sound when playing the music he indicates. It could be
speculated that Debussy used the contrast of G and La Marseillaise in this passage as
looming danger when victory had seemed sure, especially in light of the following
material in section C that takes the music into various keys, even as far as B minor in
section entitled Lento, molto rubato con morbidezza. This section has no precedent
before it and contains wandering tonalities in which the piano is mostly a chordal
accompaniment to the cellos soaring lines. This abruptly changes in measure 69 to the
key of A major and back to the original tempo of the last movement.
Section D
In this section of measures 69-85 Debussy utilizes the perfect intervals (fifths and
octaves) that comprise the La Marseillaise anthem.
110

Section A and C
Measure 85 also marks the beginning of the recapitulation for the movement, in
the same tonal area. It is almost identical to the beginning until measure 100 when the
cello trills B -C over the La Marseillaise anthem in the piano part. Perhaps it indicates
a final push towards the end, another interruption of C, reflecting Debussys anguish with
the long-lasting war. B and C also could symbolize the move away from C since B is
not the leading tone to C, but rather pulling the music down to A. In the following
measures, it seems almost as if the intervals want to expand once again. A similar
passage to the previous C section from measure 45-67 occurs again in measures 104-111.
Yet while the previous section wandered in terms of tonality, this new section centers
around both C and D (and the primary notes associated with them, such as their
dominants), leading to a final battle of wills in measure 112 between C major (by way of
111
G dominant seventh) and D minor whose notes are found in both the piano and cello
parts. For a moment the listener is not sure what will happen, if the music will take a turn
for C major or D minor; it seems as if the sonata could end at the next down-beat in
measure 115 with a C major chord, but Debussy has the cello play a strong A and hold it
for almost two beats.

Coda
Following the cellos A, the coda begins as an embellished variation of motive a
(repeated three times), but after that all traces of Ein feste Burg are gone. There is no
longer a fourth, ascending scale, or turn around. Measures 120 and 121 shake off the last
of the C and G, leaving a pure D minor chord in measure 122 and a four octave D in
measure 123 which ends the work.
It appears that Debussy was sure of this ending; he did not make any changes to his
sketch when he composed this last section.
112
Figure 59, mm. 115-End, Sketch of last section of Finale
113
CONCLUSION
When France entered World War I in August of 1914, Debussy began his
despairing obsession with the conflict which some believe eventually led to his illness
and death. As a result, his later works, written after a period in which he felt he could not
compose because of his depression, continually refer to the war and the Germans, whom
the French were fighting at close range. Although the public desired to hear positive,
patriotic music that would boost their morale (propagandist music, as Saint-Sans
composed), Debussy felt drawn to write the truth about the reality of the conflict and
horrors of war, leading to controversy over his works.
The Cello Sonata and the piano duet En blanc et noir particularly reflect this
conflict by setting Ein feste Burg and La Marseillaise as an analogy for the French
and German nations and ultimately depicts victory for France, a victory Debussy would
never live to see. Although the melodies are quoted somewhat directly in En blanc et
noir, this piano work also includes motives derived from them. These motives then stand
as a starting point for analysis of the Cello Sonata, in which motivic development serves
a much more significant portion of the abstract music in the Srnade. The Prologue
and Finale movements of the Cello Sonata are more classical in nature, and it is
possible that these movements harken back to the French classicists, though Debussy
never discussed the inspiration in this particular work.
114
Debussy never overtly admitted to the presence of Ein feste Burg in the Cello
Sonata, but there is ample evidence to prove that he originally intended for it to be the
basis for the work. Besides the numerous motives used throughout the melodic material,
there is also a quote of the hymn in a sketch of the Sonata. Another piece of evidence is
in a letter to his publisher Durand stating that he had been working on a piece with a
secret dedication; the only two works he was composing at the time were En blanc et
noir, whose dedication is certainly not a secret, and the Cello Sonata of which he spoke
very little.
The interpretation of the Cello Sonata will be affected by this discovery, as

knowledge of the Ein feste Burg motives and how they relate to the structure affects
performance characteristics such as tempo, phrasing and continuity between sections. In
the past, cellists have clung to the notion that the abstract second movement was meant to
portray the commedia dellarte clown Pierrot, the program which calls for a vastly
different interpretation and of which there is no conclusive evidence.
Hopefully this new knowledge concerning the Debussy Cello Sonata will renew
in cellists the interest in a work that is already timeless, yet whose true meaning has been
misunderstood for so long.
115
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122
Vita
Janelle Ragno was born in Ft. Leonardwood, Missouri on November 14, 1978.
She is the daughter of James Richard Ragno, Jr and Janet Grenon Ragno. Janelle
graduated from John F. Kennedy High School with honors in May 1996. She then
attended Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University for a Bachelors in Cello
Performance with Julian Tryczynski, and graduated summa cum laude in May 2000.
Janelle began her studies with Phyllis Young at the University of Texas at Austin in
August of 2000. She first attained a Master of Music in String Literature and Pedagogy
in May 2002, summa cum laude, and then began her studies towards a Doctorate of
Musical Arts in Cello Performance at the University of Texas at Austin in August of
2002.
Permanent address:
46 Fairview St, Willimantic, CT 06226
This dissertation was typed by the author.
123

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The Lutheran Hymn Ein feste Burg

Elliott Antokoletz, Supervisor

THE LUTHERAN HYMN EIN FESTE BURG

Doctor of Musical Arts

The University of Texas at Austin

The Lutheran Hymn Ein feste Burg

Janelle Suzanne Ragno, D.M.A.

Supervisors: Elliott Antokoletz and Phyllis Young

Ein feste Burg, more commonly known in English as A Mighty Fortress is

Finding Ein feste Burg ........................................................................................1

Motivic and Cellular Development in Pellas et Mlisande.........................25

Ein feste Burg History.......................................................................................28

Ein feste Burg in En blanc et noir.....................................................................33

Analysis of the Second Movement of En blanc et noir in terms of Ein

Primary Sources .....................................................................................................44

Section A and C................................................................................110

Figure 23, mm. 1-4, Srnade, Cello Sonata......................................................63

Figure 47, mm. 20-21, Prologue, Cello Sonata ................................................101

Finding Ein feste Burg

Pierrot fch avec la lune (Pierrot Angry at the Moon)

Moray Welsh, Un Embarras de Richsse, Strad 103/1226 (June1992), 517.

Ein feste Burg in the Sketch of the Cello Sonata

Figure 1, Ein feste Burg in treble clef, C Major

Figure 2, Ein feste Burg in bass clef, E Major

Another explanation is that Debussy meant to use C and D to symbolize the

Welsh, Un Embarras de Richsse, 517.

DEBUSSY AND WORLD WAR ONE

French Music and Art During World War One

Debussys Feelings Towards the War and Germans

Debussys Style Changes and Reception

DEBUSSYS LATE COMPOSITIONS

SONATA FOR FLUTE, HARP AND VIOLA

SONATA FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

from French to English by Faith J. Cormier,

Although these comments and stylistic associations leave us wondering exactly

Seroff, Debussy, 346.

MOTIVIC AND CELLULAR DEVELOPMENT IN PELLAS ET MLISANDE

According to Antokoletz, the opening measures of the opera present a number of

Another excellent example of the transformation of motives and the expansion of

Through motivic development, one can compare Debussys treatment of the

EIN' FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT

Ein feste Burg History

After these compositions, Stravinsky, a good friend of Debussy's, also included

Why Would Debussy Use Ein feste Burg?

Glenn Watkins, Proof Through the Night, 166.

Ein feste Burg in En blanc et noir

Qui reste se place

Translated in Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power, 217.

Prince, port soit des serfs Eolus

Although Ein feste Burg and La Marseillaise are known to be quoted in

The Bellevue Chamber Chorus web site:

Figure 3, mm. 79-89, En blanc et noir

Figure 4, mm.162-166, En blanc et noir

Figure 5, La Marseillaise with traditional rhythmic values

Watkins, Proof Through the Night, 92.

Figure 6, mm. 22-23, Second section, En blanc et noir

Figure 7, mm. 53-54, Second section, En blanc et noir

In measure 22 the repeated chords may be a foreshadowing of the opening three

Figure 8, mm. 129-130, Second section, En blanc et noir

Figure 9, mm. 132-133, Second section, En blanc et noir

La Marseillaise is also foreshadowed before its actual arrival through the

Figure 10, mm. 18-21, Second section, En blanc et noir

Figure 11, mm. 10-11, Prologue, Cello Sonata