CDXCIV. DEBUSSY, Claude (1862-1918)
What a retrobate!
After discarding one lover for her best friend, he threatened to kill himself if this new one would not consent to marriage.
Thus chastened, Lilly Texier married the bastard.
Thus chastened, Lilly Texier married the bastard.
Less than five years later, Debussy found a new love, and told Lilly it was over. She responded to this cheery news by shooting herself in the chest. She survived, with a bullet lodged in her vertebrae forever after ...
**
Ah, but the music ...
Images was originally intended as a two-piano sequel to his piano work, Images (1901-07). In '06 he decided to orchestrate it (NB: It is still not entirely decided whether or not André Caplet had a hand in the orchestration).
In any case, it is an astonishing late work.
1. Gigues
Based in part on this banal little tune by Charles Bordes:
A vague outline occurs almost immediately, with the fourth note going in the wrong direction:
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The motif breaks down into little component pieces as the movement unfolds (rude means harsh):
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2. Ibéria
a. Par les rues et par les chemins
a. Par les rues et par les chemins
Ah, Spain!
Doth I hear a touch of the Bolero melody here? (Ravel wrote it decades after this work) ... the tambourine and castanets provide the necessary rhythmic accompaniment ...
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Beautifully orchestrated ... note the two against three rhythm here, subtly provided by oboe and solo viola!
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b. Les parfums de la nuit
Debussy:
"Anyone using the term impressionism (whether about painting or music) is an imbecile."
Labels stick. But honey is honey.
And if this is not an impression of the "perfume of the night," it is certainly evocative. Maybe we should call it that -- evocatism.
See how the tinkling celesta, the on-beat xylophone, the falling woodwind riffs, and the high strings evoke the feeling:
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and this beautifully orchestrated breeze created by falling and rising winds and divisi violins glissing up and down.
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attacca:
c. Le matin d'un four de fête
c. Le matin d'un four de fête
Debussy now foregoes the atmospheric vagueness of rhythm for a steady 4/4 with offbeats -- but see how he returns to the previous music for only two bars, and then continues with the new pace. The bells (cloche) are a nice touch.
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The strings and castanets/tambourine keep rhythm while a solo clarinet belts out a Spanish melody. The rest of the movement features off-kilter rhythms and dazzling orchestral color.
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3. Rondes de printemps
Using two folk tunes as his musical material, we have here a great surprise of a time signature of 15/8 (9+6)! It could have been divided by three, and written in 5/4 (3+2), which would have seemed just as unusual in this first decade of the 20th century.
In any case, spring has arrived!
In any case, spring has arrived!
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ending with a flourish:
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