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Discuss, analyse and evaluate Debussy's contribution to

composition for the piano.
Born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, in August 1862, Achille-Claude Debussy was a
highly influential composer within piano writing, as well as the music of the twentieth century
as a whole. He was still composing in Paris until he passed away on the twenty-fifth of
March, 1918. He drew inspiration from other composers of the Romantic period, and his
music displays 'obvious aesthetic parallels [with] ... the work of the French Impressionist
painters'.1 Along with these influences, it is also accepted that Debussy's music is
representative of symbolism, 'a connection reinforced by his friendships with the symbolist
poets and his use of their texts for songs and dramatic works'. 2 Alongside his
contemporaries, for example Mahler and Strauss, Debussy produced an array of influential
and provocative orchestral works, however his piano compositional output heavily
outweighed theirs.3 As a highly competent pianist, with no evident proficiency in any other
instruments, Debussy was able to approach piano composition with an insight to how
emotion and passion can be integrated within the writing, somewhat altering the application
of piano technique in doing so.4 He also found the piano to be an 'congenial vehicle' for
expression of thought5, not just emotion. His highly varied repertoire is still prevalent within
today's society, boasting both academic and artistic value.

Modernism is the rejection and defying of a standard realist aesthetic. The works of Charles
Baudelaire, an influential poet for Debussy, are often attributed as being definitive examples
of the aesthetic. If one were to explore Modernism in a musical sense, the deconstruction of

1 Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy (Guildford, Great Britain, 1980), p. 156

2 J Peter Burkholder, Donald Jay Grout, Claude V Palisca, A History of Western Art Music
(New York, 2010), p. 790

3 Donald N. Ferguson, Piano Interpretation: Studies in the Music of Six Great Composers
(Great Britain, 1950), p. 319

4 Oscar Thompson, Debussy: Man and Artist(New York, 1940), p. 247

5 Ferguson, Piano Interpretation: Studies in the Music of Six Great Composers, p. 319

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standard harmony and tonality would be a prominent feature, along with rhythmic movement
and harmonic shifts perhaps becoming more ambiguous in their execution.6 This is evident
in the works of Debussy, whose harmonic palette explored a range of styles,
exploringncompassing whole tone scales, pentatonic modes and other non-standard tonal
foundations. Rverie, published in 18907, provides a good example of this innovative
harmonic writing. The opening appears tonally ambiguous; despite an F major key signature,
the opening ostinato suggests a tonal centre of the dominant, Bb. However, the melody is
introduced in the key of F major, driving the piece in a Bb lydian modal direction, before the
first true statement of the tonic as the root of a chord in bar nine.8 Bars nine and ten consist
of the tonic triad without any dissonant interruptions, however the eleventh bar 'further sways
us by the chord of the ninth and that of the sixth degree'.9 Despite the instant deviation from
the harmony implied by the key signature, Oscar Thompson describes this work as 'placidly
orthodox', as well as suggesting the piece only has a limited number of non-standard
harmonic devices.10
The piano prelude is a style that remains pervasive throughout history. Perhaps most
famously, Bach produced a series of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys:
The Well Tempered Clavier. However, perhaps just as notable, are Debussy's piano
preludes. These were produced in two volumes of twelve preludes, book one being
published in1910 and the second, which appears 'more advanced in its musical language',
just three years later.11 La Fille aux Cheveaux de Lin, or The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, is
arguably one of Debussy's most famous piano prelude, and was completed, published and
premiered within the first half of 1910. A 'remote paraphrase of a Chanson cosse of

6 Edward Campbell, MU3003: Modernism and Debussy (Lecture date: 29 th October 2014)

7 Although it is evident that Debussy wrote Rverie much earlier, as in a letter to the
publisher, Fromont, he confessed to have composed it 'in a hurry years ago, purely for
material considerations'. (Frank Dawes, Debussy Piano Music (London, 1982), p. 17)

8 ibid.

9 E. Robert Schmitz, The Piano Music of Claude Debussy (New York, 1966), p. 59

10 Thompson, Debussy: Man and Artist, p. 255

11 Schmitz, The Piano Works of Claude Debussy, p. 129

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Leconte de Lisle'12, La Fille provides further examples of Debussy's dynamic harmonic

writing, including his use of alternative scales. Interestingly, this prelude is predominantly
pentatonic in its melody, a feature which is not necessarily reserved for folk and oriental
music, whilst maintaining a vertical diatonic harmony.13 The main motif, outlined by an
unaccompanied (until the final quaver of bar two) line at the beginning of the piece, is drawn
from the Eb pentatonic scale, ignoring the F natural in the third bar. Throughout the piece,
Debussy draws upon different pentatonic scales, such as in bars twelve to fourteen, in which
a different scale is constructed of a Gb triad with a ninth, eleventh and thirteenth.14 As
previously mentioned, a common misconception regarding pentatonic scales is that they are
almost exclusively derived from folk and oriental music. It is possible that Debussy was
intending to base this work on traditional Gaelic folk songs, as the poem on which the work
is inspired by is from a collection of Chanson cosse - Scottish songs, hence the
prominence of pentatonic melodies.
La Fille also draws upon a technique which is almost staple in Debussy's works; parallel
chordal movement. The aforementioned vertical diatonic harmony of the prelude is prevalent
throughout, with chords often changing with the quaver beat. Bar five exemplifies this, by
moving through Db, Bb minor, Eb minor and Gb, with the next bar resolving from Bb minor to
Eb minor. The constant shift in harmony almost suggests an absence of tonality15, something
which has been picked up by later composers, especially within the serialist movement.
Furthering the signature technique of parallel chords as a harmonic feature is Canope, in
which the first four bars move exclusively in four note chords in the right hand, the tonality of
which is reminiscent of the dorian mode, or the natural minor scale.
Debussy composed the six pieces of Children's Corner for his daughter Claude-Emma
(although she is more well known by her nickname Chouchou), who was no older than five
years of age when her father wrote these pieces.16 Inspired by Mussorgsky's song cycle The

12 Thompson, Debussy: Man and Artist, p. 266

13 Schmitz, The Piano Works of Claude Debussy, p. 151

14 Jos Rodrquez Alvira, Harmonic Analysis of Debussy's Prelude 'La fille aux cheveaux
de lin', http://www.teoria.com/articulos/analysis/debussy8/index.htm (Authored 2001,
accessed 30th November 2014)

15 Thompson, Debussy: Man and Artist, p. 247

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Nursery17, these were published in 1908 under the collection's English title bearing the
dedication 'to my dearest Chouchou, with her father's affectionate apology for what is to
follow'18, depicting the memory of childhood through from the perspective of an adult.19
Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum is the first of the collection. In a letter to his editor, Debussy
said the piece is to be 'played every morning, before breakfast', a small joke made due to the
study-like nature of the piece.20 The basic C major motif, reminiscent of an exercise, returns
multiple times as well as signalling the end of the composition. The simple repeated
arpeggios are a feature which appears to have influenced the minimalist works of Reich and
Glass. Schmitz compliments the rhythmic augmentation of the motif as '[serving] admirably
as a central slowing of the "perpetuum mobile" character' of Gradus, highlighting the
strength of its structure.21 Much like the constantly moving chords of La Fille aux Cheveaux
de Lin, the harmonic pattern moves rapidly (the first few bars shift from E to D, into F and
back to E22), from which stems a melody, marked by the composer in a separate voice. 23 As
mentioned above, the fast, successive nature of Debussy's harmonic structures act as a
signature of his works, picked up by his contemporaries and other composers such as
Stravinsky and Bartk.
Although it had been published two years prior to Children's Corner, Serenade for the Doll
was aptly included in the rest of the series.24 As the title Sserenade would suggest, the

16 Lockspeiser, Debussy, p. 152

17 Dawes, Debussy Piano Music, p. 33

18 Ferguson, Piano Interpretation: Studies in the Music of Six Great Composers, p. 335

19 Dawes, Debussy Piano Music, p. 33

20 Schmitz, The Piano Works of Claude Debussy, p. 119

21 ibid.

22 ibid. at p. 120

23 ibid. at p. 119

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accompanying nature of a guitar, mandolin or similar plucked string instrument is implied25 by

the broken chords under the melody. With a 'dainty rhythm delicately marked'26, the piece is
almost reminiscent of the light melodies of a music box. Debussy's oriental influences are
shown again by the pentatonic theme, contrasting with the 'sustained, rather sorrowing
melody of the middle section ... [which] suggests the nostalgia of the adult for childhood'.27 In
a stark contrast to the fragility of Serenade for the Doll is the brash Golliwog's Cakewalk, a
'pseudo-Negro American' number which appears to be one of Debussy's 'least inhibited
pieces'.28 The syncopated rhythms and bass lines, based on leaps between the root and
chords, share distinct similarities with the ragtime compositions of Scott Joplin, who would
have been composing at the same time as Debussy, and other American composers, a style
which grew into genres such as jazz and swing. There is no sign of modality in this piece,
with Debussy 'electing the keys of Eb major and Gb major for the two main materials', with
the inclusion of altered chords like added 6ths29, another aspect explored in later genres.
Debussy conveys a sense of musical humour, 'brought by sudden halts, sharp accents [and]
dynamic contrasts'30, conjuring the image of a tumbling, dancing ragdoll (as golliwog toys
were). Furthermore, the section Cdz 'with great expression' appears to be a parody of the
prelude to Tristan und Isolde by Wagner31, from whom Debussy draws inspiration.

24 Ferguson, Piano Interpretation: Studies in the Music of Six Great Composers, p. 335

25 Dawes, Debussy Piano Music, p. 34

26 Ferguson, Piano Interpretation: Studies in the Music of Six Great Composers, p. 335

27 Dawes, Debussy Piano Music, p. 34

28 ibid. at p. 35

29 Schmitz, The Piano Works of Claude Debussy, p. 125

30 ibid.

31 Ferguson, Piano Interpretation: Studies in the Music of Six Great Composers, p. 336

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The Estampes, translating to Stamps or, more appropriately, Prints, were completed in the
summer of 1903.32 The first piece of the collection, Pagodes, appears to be the result of
Debussy's interest in the Javanese gamelan performances he attended at the International
Expositions in Paris in 1889 and 1900.33 It is possible that here is where Debussy discovered
his interest in oriental styles, paving way to the pentatonic melodies and, although found less
frequently, sparser harmonies heard in a number of his works. Despite this, however,
Pagodes appears to be musically oriental 'only to the extent that the them is on a pentatonic
scale'.34 The 'static' nature of the piece is attributed not only to the frequent use of pedal
markings, elongating the harmonic shifts, but also to the harmonic restrictions that come with
the prominence of a pentatonic tonal structure.35 Although he never visited the Orient,
Debussy successfully paints a picture of the far East. Pagodes has three main thematic
phrases, the first marked by the resonating open fifths at the bottom of the bass clef in the
opening ten bars, reminiscent of bell ringing36, which subtly accompany the 'shimmering
golden surface'37 of a pentatonic melody. The slower motif appears as a variation of the first,
introduced at bar eleven, and the final based on a whole-tone scale beginning at the thirtythird bar.38 Throughout the piece, four different pentatonic scales are used. The harmonic
palette is therefore limited, although Schmitz praises Debussy in what he has done by
comparing the harmony to the oriental buildings that serve as the composition's namesake.
'Just as the pagodas are relatively small in body, but spread in ornamental roofs, this
music is small in basses but vividly spread in ornate tonal superstructure. As the

32 ibid. at p. 81

33 ibid. at p.82

34 Ferguson, Piano Interpretation: Studies in the Music of Six Great Composers, p. 327

35 Dawes, Debussy Piano Music, p. 26

36 Ferguson, Piano Interpretation: Studies in the Music of Six Great Composers, p. 327

37 Schmitz, The Piano Works of Claude Debussy, p. 83

38 Ferguson, Piano Interpretation: Studies in the Music of Six Great Composers, p. 327

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roofs of pagodas curve upwards with grace, so does the general melodic line and the
oft-repeated motif, G# - C# - D#.'39
The piece bears resemblance to the classical sonata form. Three thematic materials are
gradually introduced in the exposition, with the development beginning at bar fifteen with the
return of the initial pentatonic motif, followed by the development of the other thematic
materials. The piece continues to develop, combine and integrate these basic materials
before an exact recapitulation of bars three to twenty-two between bars fifty-three and
seventy-two. Finally, bars seventy-three to seventy-seven restate the content of bars eleven
to fourteen.40
Debussy hated describing his works as programmatic, despite a vast number of his works
bearing the title of an image; rather, like a lot of Romantic music, his compositions were
written to evoke feelings rather than to conjure an image. This idea of symbolism comes
across in his music, as his pieces invariably convey the emotions suggested by the titles,
even if a physical entity was used as inspiration. His harmonic signatures have made a
lasting impression on his contemporaries and those beyond his time, with other aspects
such as rhythm and style influencing the music of minimalist composer Steve Reich to the
swing and jazz classics of Irving Berlin respectively.

39 Schmitz, The Piano Works of Claude Debussy, pp. 83 - 84

40 ibid. at p. 84

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Bibliography
Books, dictionaries and articles

Burkholder, J Peter; Grout, Donald; Palisca, Claude. A History of Western Art Music
(New York, USA 2010)

Dawkes, Frank. Debussy Piano Music (London, England 1982)

Ferguson, Donald N. Piano Interpretation Studies in the Music of Six Great

Composers (Great Britain 1950)

Kerman, Joseph. Music at the Turn of Century (California, USA 1990)

Lockspeiser, Edward. Debussy (Guildford, Great Britain 1980)

Plantinga, Leon. Romantic Music (New York, USA 1984)

Rosen, Charles. The Romantic Generation (USA 1996)

Schmitz, E. Robert. The Piano Works of Claude Debussy (New York, USA 1966)

Thompson, Oscar. Debussy: Man and Artist (New York, USA 1940)

Websites and Lectures

Alvira, Jos Rodrquez. Harmonic Analysis of Debussy's Prelude 'La fille aux
cheveux de lin', http://www.teoria.com/articulos/analysis/debussy8/index.htm
(Authored 2001, accessed 30th November 2014)

Campbell, Edward. MU3003: Modernism and Debussy (Lecture date: 29th October
2014)

LCS Productions.
http://www.lcsproductions.net/MusicHistory/MusHistRev/Articles/DebussyStyle.html
Author unstated, author date unstated, accessed 27th November 2014

LCS Productions.
http://www.lcsproductions.net/MusicHistory/MusHistRev/Composers/Debussy.html
Author unstated, author date unstated, accessed 27th November 2014

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