| Instructor: Stephen Peles | Office: 252a | ||
| Phone: 348-1472 | Office Hours: by appointment |
| Analytical examination of the vocal and instrumental music of Claude Debussy (1862-1918), with emphasis on the evolution of Debussy's musical language--both its traditional and innovative aspects--and the importance of that language to western art music at the beginning of the twentieth century. |
| Weekly reading and analysis assignments. Reading assignments will include, but are not limited to, items on the attached bibliography. |
| Weekly assignments and class participation will determine 80% of the final grade. Each student will present a 15 minute lecture/analysis on a work to be determined in consultation with the instructor. The remaining 20% of the final grade is determined by the final examination. |
Schedule
Week 1: Readings: none
Extensions of Earlier Harmonic Techniques
Week 2: Readings: Somer 1995
Week 3: Readings: Lenormand 1915 (No class Monday)
An Early Orchestral Work: Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faun
Week 4: Readings: Brown 1993, Salzer 1962, Berman 1980
Week 5: Readings: Hepokoski 1984
New Referential Collections: Pentatonic, Whole-tone, Octatonic, and Others
Week 6: Readings: Harris 1980, Whittall 1975, Bass 1994
Week 7: Readings: Mueller 1986
Week 8: Readings: Forte 1991
An Introduction to the Preludes and Etudes
Week 9: Readings: Barkin 1978, Benjamin 1978, Gauldin 1978 . Presentations.
Week 10: Readings: TBA; Student presentations
Week 11: Readings: TBA; Student presentations, etc.
Week 12: SPRING BREAK
More on the Preludes; Later Works
Week 13: Readings: Moevs 1969
Week 14: Readings: Howat 1984
Week 15: Readings: TBA
Week 16: Readings: TBA
BIBIOGRAPHY
Abbate, Carolyn. 1981. "Tristan in the Composition of Pelleas,"19th Century Music vol. 5 no. 2: pp. 117-141.
Barkin, Elaine. 1978. "Notes in Progress" [Analysis Symposium on "pour les Sixtes" from "Twelve Etudes"], Journal of Music Theory vol. 22 no. 2: pp. 291-311.
Bass, Richard. 1994. "Models of Octatonic and Whole-tone Interaction: George Crumb and His Predecessors," Journal of Music Theory vol. 38 no. 2: pp. 155-186.
Benjamin, William E. 1978. "`pour les Sixtes': An Analysis"[Analysis Symposium on "pour les Sixtes" from "Twelve Etudes"], Journal of Music Theory vol. 22 no. 2: pp. 253-290.
Bergeron, Katherine. 1994. "The Echo, the Cry, the Death of Lovers," 19th Century Music vol. 18 no. 2: pp. 136-151.
Berman, Laurence D. 1980. "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Jeux: Debussy's Summer Rites," 19th Century Music vol. 3 no. 3: pp. 225-238.
Briscoe, James R. 1981. "Debussy d'apres Debussy: The Further Resonance of Two Early Melodies," 19th Century Music vol. 5 no. 2: pp. 110-116.
______. 1984. "Debussy's Earliest Songs," College Music Symposium vol. 24 no. 2: pp. 81-95.
______. 1990. "`To Invent New Forms': Debussy's Diane au bois," The Musical Quarterly, vol. 74 no. 1: pp. 131-169.
Brown, Matthew. 1993. "Tonality and Form in Debussy's Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un faune." Music Theory Spectrum vol. 15 no. 2: pp. 127-143.
Eimert, Herbert. 1961. "Debussy's `Jeux'," Die Reihe vol. 5: pp. 3-20. English edition Bryn Mawr PA: Theodore Presser, Leo Black trans.
Forte, Allen. 1973. The Structure of Atonal Music. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
______. 1991. "Debussy and the Octatonic," Music Analysis vol. 10 nos. 1-2: pp. 125-169.
Gauldin, Robert. 1978. "An Analysis" [Analysis Symposium on "pour les Sixtes" from "Twelve Etudes"], Journal of Music Theory vol. 22 no. 2: pp. 241-251.
Goldman, David Paul. 1991. "Esotericism as a Determinant of Debussy's Harmonic Language." Musical Quarterly vol. 75 no. 2: pp. 130-47.
Haimo, Ethan. 1978-79. "Generated Collections and Interval Control in Debussy's Preludes." In Theory Only vol. 4 no. 8: pp. 3-15.
Harris, Simon. 1980. "Chord-Forms Based on the Whole-Tone Scale in Early Twentieth-Century Music," The Music Review vol. 41 no. 1: pp. 36-51.
Hepokoski, James A. 1984. "Formulaic Openings in Debussy," 19th Century Music vol. 8 no. 1: pp. 44-59.
Howat, Roy. 1983. Debussy in Proportion: A Musical Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kresky, Jeffrey. 1977. Tonal Music: Twelve Analytic Studies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Lenormand, Rene. 1915. A Study of Twentieth-Century Harmony. Reprint New York: Da Capo Press, 1976, Herbert Antcliffe trans.
Lewin, David. 1987a. "Some Instances of Parallel Voice-Leading in Debussy." Nineteenth-Century Music vol. 11, no .1: pp. 59-72.
______. 1987b. Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. New Haven: Yale University Press.
______. 1992. "Some Notes on Analyzing Wagner: The Ring and Parsifal," 19th Century Music vol. 16 no. 1: pp. 49-58.
______. 1993. "A Transformational Basis for Form and Prolongationin Debussy's `Feux d'artifice'," in Musical Form and Transformation: Four Analytic Essays. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 97-159.
Miller, Horace Alden. 1930. New Harmonic Devices: A Treatise on Modern Harmonic Problems. Bryn Mawr, PA: Oliver Ditson Co.
Moevs, Robert. 1969. "Intervallic Procedures in Debussy: Serenade from the Sonata for Cello and Piano, 1915." Perspectives of New Music vol. 8 no. 9: pp. 82-101.
Monelle, Raymond. 1990. "A Semantic Approach to Debussy's Songs," The Music Review vol. 51 no. 3: pp. 193-207.
Mueller, Richard. 1986. "Javenese Influence on Debussy's Fantaisie and Beyond," 19th Century Music vol. 10 no. 2: pp. 157-186.
Parks, Richard S. 1980. "Pitch Organization in Debussy: Unordered Sets in `Brouillards'," Music Theory Spectrum vol. 2: pp. 119-134.
_____. 1985. "Tonal Analogues as Atonal Resources and Their Relation to Form in Debussy's Chromatic Etude." Journal of Music Theory vol. 29, pp. 33-60.
______. 1989. The Music of Claude Debussy. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Pasler, Jann. 1982. "Debussy'sJeux: Playing with Time and Form," 19th Century Music vol. 6 no. 1: pp. 60-75.
Reti, Rudolph. 1951. The Thematic Process in Music. New York: Macmillan.
Salzer, Felix. 1962. Structural Hearing: Tonal Coherence in Music. 2 vols. New York: Dover.
Smith, Richard Langham. 1981. "Debussy and the Pre-Raphaelites," 19th Century Music vol. 5 no. 2: pp. 95-109.
Somer, Avo. 1995. "Chromatic Third-Relations and Tonal Structure in the Songs of Debussy," Music Theory Spectrum vol. 17 no. 2: pp. 215-241.
Wenk, Arthur B. 1983. Debussy and Twentieth-Century Music. Boston: Twayne Publishers.
______. 1986-87. "Parsing Debussy: Proposal for a Grammar of His Melodic Practice." In Theory Only vol. 9, no. 8: pp. 5-19.
Whittall, Arnold. 1975. "Tonality and the Whole-Tone Scale in the Music of Debussy," The Music Review vol. 36: pp. 261-71.
Youens, Susan. 1986. "Music, Verse, and `Prose Poetry': Debussy's Trois Chansons de Belitis," Journal of Musicological Research vol. 7: pp. 69-94.
PARTIAL WORKS LIST
Ariettes oubliees, 1885-88, songs
Petite Suite, 1886-89, piano four hands
Cinq poemes de Baudelaire, 1887-89, songs
Fantaisie, 1889-90, piano & orch.
Suite bergamasque, 1890 rev. 1905, piano
Trois melodies, 1891, songs
Fetes galantes, set 1, 1891, songs
Pelleas et Melisande, 1893-1902, opera
String Quartet, 1893
Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune, 1892-5, orchestra
Images, 3 pieces, 1894, piano
Suite: Pour le piano, 1894-1901, piano
Chansons de Bilitis, 1897-98, songs
Nocturnes, 1897-1900, orchestra
La Mer, 1903-5, orchestra
L'isle joyeuse, 1904, piano
Fetes galantes, set 2, 1904, songs
Images, set 1, 1905, piano
Images, 1905-12, orchestra
Images, set 2, 1907, piano
Trois ballades de Villon, 1910, songs
Preludes, book 1, 1909-10, piano
Preludes, book 2, 1912-13, piano
Jeux, 1912-1914, ballet
Trois poemes de Mallarme, 1913, songs
Syrinx, 1913, solo flute
Sonata, 1915, vc. & pf.
Etudes, 1915, piano
Sonata, 1916-17, vln. & pf.