La Cathédrale Engloutie by Claude Debussy Essay

Impressionism is an artistic style of painting that originated in France in the 1870s. This style of painting attempts to capture an experience or emotion opposed depicting a scene accurately. Every impressionistic painter has a distinct method of rendering as well as their own distinct set of qualities that reflect the artist themselves. For instance, The Basket Chair by Berthe Morisot and The Orange Trees by Gustave Caillebotte are two impressionist works of art of oils on canvas that contrast in many ways. These two paintings will be compared side by side with an in depth approach comparing the artist’s personal status in society, modernism’s role in the piece, and the execution of composition.

While the painters after the Impressionism period were collectively called the “Post-Impressionists,” the label is quite reductive. Each artist had their own unique style, from Seurat’s pointillism to Signac’s mosaic-like divisionism, Cezanne, Émile Bernard, and others. These artists were all connected in that they were reacting to the aesthetics of Impressionism. Two of the more influential painters from this movement were Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, who aimed to connect with viewers on a deeper level by access Nature’s mystery and meaning beyond its superficial, observable level. However, each artist’s approach to achieving this goal was different. In close examination of Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait (Dedicated to Paul Gauguin) and Paul Gauguin’s Self-Portrait with Portrait of Émile Bernard (Les misérables), one may clearly see the two artists’ contrasting styles on display.

Section A’’ (mm. 51-65) repeats the MT with variation mostly in rhythmic changes leading up to the PAC in A♭ major at m. 66 where the coda (m. 66-73) begins. The coda essentially acts as a tonic expansion with some added 9ths to the dominant as seen in m. 67 and m.69. The piece works the V-I in a decrescendo to the final PAC in A♭ major in m. 73.

Impressionism, in contrast, strove not to capture the toils of society in a moralistic setting like Realism did, but to evoke a general mood in the viewer. Painting was transformed from the idea of capturing a moment on canvas to creating a moment on canvas; painting was reduced to its own surface, “no longer transparent means but opaque ends” (Schneider 43). This was exemplified by Manet’s own ideas of painting not as “sight” but as “insight” into the human condition, driven by an artist’s intuition. Manet and the impressionists began painting en plein air, outdoors in the fresh air where they were closer to their subjects and captured the light of fleeting moments like sunrises and sunsets with quick brushstrokes intended to evoke general mood in the viewer based on the capture of light and tones in the painting, leading to the namesake “impression” left by the movement.

The dynamic increases to fortissimo at mm. 73 as the texture thins and harmony becomes very clear for a brief section. In this second closing theme G major, G augmented, and E minor7 in the bass are strongly arpeggiated before four octaves of C, D and G quickly reaffirm the key of G. This cadential crash is followed by some of the softest and lightest material of the whole movement, which due to the surrounding measures is proved to still be part of the second closing theme.

As I first examined this work, I could not focus on just one portion of it. Although each part tells its story, there it one overall explanation. As usual, I am drawn to the center of this piece which would be a man sitting in an oval like throne. With a closer look, I look at this man and see a cross behind him, with angelic figures in the background. I conclude this important

The narrator in “The Cathedral” begins the story with the issue of hesitation in seeing the light. The light in this story just like the light in Plato’s “Myth of the Cave” represents reality. The narrator expresses the fear of expressing reality when he said “ I wasn’t

“Pagodes” makes use of just a few short melodic ideas. The piece is in a loose ternary form, however, the B section makes use of elements heard in the A section. The first idea (bars 3-4) is repeated verbatim three times after it is first heard. This becomes an ostinato as it is repeated in full and broken into parts throughout the piece. A two bar scalic countermelody is heard in the middle of the texture at bar 9. At bar 11 a new idea is introduced that uses all 5 notes of the pentatonic scale. At bar 15 the trill-like triplet idea is introduced. A whole-tone melody is introduced at bar 33, the beginning of the B section. These few motifs undergo little melodic variation occurs; Debussy layers these melodies and transposes them in different octaves to create a rich contrapuntal texture that is reminiscent of gamelan’s busy and dense multi-layered texture. Western musical tradition had placed emphasis on strict forms as a method of melodic development and contrast, such as the Classical sonata form. Debussy was keen to move away from these conventional ideas of melodic development, instead taking inspiration from the more free-form and layered approach to

Achille-Claude Debussy or Claude Debussy was a French 20th century composer known for his prominent role in impressionistic music. Debussy never described his pieces as impressionism as he disliked the term when it was associated with his music. Born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, he and his family left for Paris in 1867 only to move to Cannes in 1870 to escape the Franco-Prussion war. Claude Debussy learnt to play piano from an Italian violinist by the name Jean Cerutti and later studied under a woman, by the name of Marie Mauté de Fleurville, who claimed to have been a pupil of Frédéric Chopin. In 1872 he was enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire and remained there to develop musically over the next 11 years. Debussy was infamous for his experimental nature breaking

After listening to “Clair de Lune” a few times, I find Claude Debussy’s piano music to be claiming and relaxing. Debussy used various tones and Keys to create a soft natural melody. At times in this piece he would change his tones and pitch using half-tones between notes given more intense melody. He composed a rhythms of patterns of alternation that was appropriate with his impressionism approach.

The piece written at a slow tempo and has a meter of 4/4 throughout. It has a soft and small dynamic range, moving between pianissimo and piano, and a light texture. The piece is written with three staves in order to clarify and neaten Debussy’s notation. The piece has a B-flat in the key signature, suggesting D minor. The piece mainly centers around the pitch D.

In later years following his graduation, after composing his ‘Suite Bergamasque’ for piano, he found himself in the impressionist art movement with fellow composers -like Maurice Ravel- because of the link French music had with the paintings of Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Van Gogh and other modern, like-minded artists, even though he stated that he never felt connected to the movement with the words,

“That oppresses, like the Heft of Cathedral Tunes--.” It has a very heavy feeling derived from the word Heft as well as Cathedral Tunes. The Cathedral is considered sacred yet it is such as somber sound that it could easily affect a person’s mood. The use of paradoxes in the poem creates a sense of confusion about the true feelings about the revelation. “Heavenly Hurt” is both wonderful and horrible and suggests that the pain comes from the heavens. This suggestion is support in various situations throughout the poem. “Cathedral Tunes” and “Sent us of the Air” are the prime examples. It shows that this new realization may have been from a divine being therefore the reader is confused on it’s significance because it perhaps a type of gift. “Landscapes Listen Shadows—hold their breathe” is the personification used in the poem. This personification in the work shows that a divine being has arranged for this revelation to occur therefore, all of nature will halt to the being who has been selected to find this new piece of themselves. She also uses a bit of irony as well as parallel structure to set the scene in the poem. The revelation is brought out in the light of an wintery afternoon, this is the parallel yet it oppressive and dark which is ironic because the light brought with it such darkness.

In 1903 Debussy wrote, “Music is a mysterious form of mathematics whose elements are derived from the infinite. Music is the expression of the movement of the waters, the play of curves described by changing breezes. There is nothing more musical than a sunset.” (Vallas 8) Debussy felt a strong connection with the arts and nature. According to the Oxford Music Online article on Claude Debussy, written by Francois Lesure and Roy Howat, Debussy once said, “I love pictures almost as much as music”.

Chopin’s third sonata is a masterwork filled with pianistic elements, daring harmonies, experimental form, and a wealth of expressivity. In this four-movement work, references to other Chopin compositions and influences from fellow composers are found. At the same time, there is a progressive element; it looks forward to the heights which would be achieved by Chopin and later composers.