When the French government sponsored the “Exposition Universelle” in 1889, which showcased brilliant, almost revolutionary music and artwork from all over the world, Claude Debussy found himself a new direction. At the Exposition, there were musical ensembles representing all genres of music – including famous European composers and even music from India, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and other non-Western countries. It is here that Debussy was first exposed to non-Western music, most predominantly the Javanese Gamelan music from Indonesia (Fauser, 197). In 1926, Robert Godet recalled,
“Debussy spent extremely fruitful hours in the kampong javanais section, where he went countless times…” (Fauser, 198).
In some of Debussy’s later works, Javanese Gamelan music had clearly left its mark on the French composer, yet there is little evidence that Debussy had been inspired by some of the other ethnic music groups — the other musical cultures are actually barely mentioned in Debussy’s account of the Exposition Universelle. For example, Debussy only briefly mentions Vietnamese music when he speaks of their music theater, about which he writes: “In Vietnamese Theater, one performs a kind of embryonic music drama [with a] tetralogical formula…” (Fauser, 196). However, upon examination, one can find prominent links between Debussy’s later works and Vietnamese traditional music as well.
Achille-Claude Debussy was a famous French composer born in 1862. He is considered to be the founder and one of the leading figures of the Impressionist movement, successfully creating a new style of music that suggests certain atmospheres or feelings rather than painting a clear picture (Schrott, Allen). This was achieved by Debussy’s use of many non-traditional compositional devices, of which some include tonality, texture, and meter.
The traditional music of Vietnam has roots in a variety of other East-Asian countries, and is therefore described as highly diverse and syncretistic (“Music of Southeast Asia”). Among its musical traditions is the famous dan tranh, a long, 17-string zither used either as a solo instrument or in an ensemble of instruments accompanying a vocalist. Its strings are tuned to the pentatonic scale, giving it a specific timbre unique to that of Asian music (“Dan Tranh”). Since the 1950s, the dan tranh has become one of the representative traditional instruments of Vietnam (“Dan Tranh”).
The dan tranh usually plays cheerful and bright solo pieces, although they are occasionally used in a bigger chamber group or even an orchestra. Its performance techniques are unique to each hand, as the left hand is used to add ornamentation to the notes while the right hand plucks the strings. The ornamentations, including vibrato and microtonal inflections, are added usually by pressing on the strings to vary their length, and thus changing the pitch of the note given off by the string (“Dan Tranh”).
Characterized as having a distinct “Asian sound”, Pagodes is arguably the most prominent example of Asian influence on Debussy’s later compositions. The piece has three main sections that tends to repeat itself in an interesting structure: section A stretches from measures 1~32; B, the second section is introduced in measures 33-40 and finally, the third section, C, is played in measures 41-45. Then, the piece repeats these sections in a ABCBA structure followed by transition material and a coda – creating a macro-structure similar to that of an actual pagoda.
The Khong Minh toa lau, meaning “Music for the Barbarian Invaders,” is a traditional Vietnamese piece composed specifically for the Dan Tranh. It features a solo performance by the Dan Tranh, highlighting the musical characteristics of the instrument and also some features of Vietnamese traditional music.
Overall, this piece begins with a calm, longer melody, but proceeds to a more upbeat, bouncy rhythm and tone. It a placid mood by using both the characteristics of the instrument and the piece itself. More detailed characteristics will be discussed in the analysis below.
Different music cultures have distinct ways of developing their melodic ideas in music. For example, some Asian cultures use improvisation as their main method of developing motifs and melodic ideas as each soloist elaborates on their own ideas. The Western music culture tends to have structured methods and guidelines for developing its melodies, depending on the genre and era (Roger, Kamien). However, in both Debussy’s piano music and the Vietnamese traditional piece, similar techniques are used in the process of motivic development throughout the pieces.
Perhaps the most prominent linking characteristic between the music cultures is their use of the pentatonic scale. Though this is mainly dealing with Pagodes and the Khong Minh toa lau, Voiles has a small middle section where the piece is in pentatonic scale as well (the rest of the piece is in the C whole-tone scale: C, D, E, F#, G#, Bb, C). (See Figure 1)
Figure 1: Pentatonic Scale in Debussy’s Voiles
As discussed before, the other two pieces are in the pentatonic scale as well. As the Dan Tranh is tuned to the pentatonic scale itself, the Khong Minh toa lau is naturally in a pentatonic scale, with many descending and ascending glissandos within this scale. Pagodes is extensively in the B major pentatonic scale (C#, D#, F#, G#, A#), again adding to the distinctly Asian qualities of this piece, as the pentatonic scale was most typical for Asian music cultures. This serves probably as one of the most prominent signs that Debussy may have been influenced by Asian music, as he is using a distinctly “Asian” scale as the tonal center of his composition.
Figure J: Fragmentation in Khong Minh toa lau
Between the 2nd and 3rd sections in the Khong Minh toa lau, we see two very similar melodic lines. The melodic line in the third section is actually a fragmentation of the melody from the second section (See Figure J). The melody from the second section had been taken and shortened to create the melody in the third section, while preserving the melodic contour. The long note has been moved from the first beat to the second beat (and thus the accent and microtonal inflection, accordingly). Then, the sixteenth note progressions have been taken out to create the simple, third section melody. In addition, the glissandos at the end of each phrase have been taken out as well. However, though it may seem that the melody for the third section will sound rather boring and bland, the faster tempo marking allows it to develop
in its own way.
Figure K: Fragmentation in Debussy’s Pagodes
Again, we see evidence of fragmentation in Debussy’s piano music as well. In Pagodes, Debussy takes the melodic line that was originally played in octaves with a complex rhythm in the last two beats of the measure, and turns it into a simplified single-line melody with 4 eighth-notes instead of the original tied rhythm followed by a triplet (Figure K).
Figure K: Layering of Melodies in Khong Minh toa lau
Another characteristic that these two music cultures share is the way they layer their melodies. In the Khong Minh toa lau, the melody already starts off in octaves. Because the dan tranh limits the performer to only one hand to pluck the strings, there is only so many layers that a performer could create. Therefore, the piece uses a staggering of the melody instead, where the top melody (the higher octave) is displaced by a sixteenth-rest, creating two melodic lines playing at different intervals (See Figure K). This continues for the majority of the second section. Also, the melody itself is made more complex with dotted eighth notes and rapid 32nd notes afterwards. This creates the feeling of the melody having a thicker texture itself, and adds to the effect of having layered the two lines.
Figure L: Layering of Melodies in Debussy’s Voiles
In Voiles, Debussy uses a slightly different approach to layering his melodies. The excerpt in Figure L is the main melody of Voiles as it opens the piece and constantly reappears throughout the piece as a repetitive motif. As seen in Figure L, while maintaining the same right hand melody, Debussy adds not just one, but two melodic lines under this right hand part. The lowest line is the base drone note of Bb, with the middle line also played by the left hand in octaves. As the piece progresses, this creates a thicker texture as three melodic lines are layered on top of each other to create a complex progression of multiple motifs playing simultaneously.
Figure M: Layering of Melodies in Debussy’s Pagodes
Finally, in Pagodes, Debussy similarly develops the main melody in his piece. In Figure M, the melodic line is – just in Voiles – the first subject that opens the piece and is immediately repeated three times, and many more times throughout the piece. Debussy keeps the bass and top line and decides to change the middle voice from merely playing chordal accompaniments to having an actual melodic line of eighth notes. Debussy is adding variation to the main melody as the piece progresses. This changes the feeling of the melody from having two layers to three complete layers, creating a thicker texture and creating a similar effect as in Voiles.
Again, another compositional device that has been used in all three pieces to develop the melody is the use of ostinato. An ostinato is a melodic phrase or motif that is repeated in succession usually within the same pitch (Kamien, 611).
In all three pieces, ostinato have been used as a key compositional device in introducing the melodic themes of the pieces and assisting in developing them throughout. In fact, they are persistent throughout all three songs from the very beginning to the end, showing the significance of this device in both music cultures.
Figure A (left) and Figure B (right): Evidence of ostinato in Debussy’s Pagodes
Figure A is from the first two measures of the piece, as Debussy repeats the first measure to create this short introduction. Figure B is from the second measure of the 4th line on the 6th page and shows Debussy’s use of ostinato in the right hand melody. The descending quintuplet is played twice before being followed by an ascending passage consisting of a quintuplet and four 32nd-notes. This phrase is directly repeated right after, and this pattern continues for another measure before developing into new lines which are then repeated, again showing the use of ostinato in this piece.
Figure C (left) and Figure D (right): Evidence of ostinato in Debussy’s Voiles
Similar to Pagodes, Debussy introduces ostinato right from the beginning of this piece. Figure C (first three measures of the piece) shows the melody in the first measure that is repeated in the third measure (descending whole-tone passage with an interval of an augmented fourth or a diminished fifth, also known as the tri-tone, which has a dissonant quality to it, and thus establishing the eerie atmosphere from the beginning). Figure D is an extract from the last page of the score (measures 58-60). Just like Figure C, Debussy uses the melody in the right hand and repeats it two measures later (which is actually the same motif he introduced in measure 1).
Figure E (left) and Figure F (right): Evidence of ostinato in Khong Minh toa lau
In Figure E (measures 7-8), we can see again that ostinato is being used to introduce a new melodic idea as this is the introduction of the second section of the piece. Similarly in Figure F, there is a series of two ostinati in succession to introduce the beginning of a new section. In these examples of ostinato, an interesting observation is that all the melodic ideas have been kept very short and repeated to develop them, rather than modifying them. Both Debussy’s piano music and the Vietnamese piece do not use ostinato for rather long motifs or melodic ideas, but only short ones that could easily be repeated within a measure.
Another clear musical link between the two musical cultures is their ambiguity in meter. This means that their meter is unclear and can create the feeling of lacking a pulse. When listening to the recordings, listeners can often find themselves having trouble trying to tap their feet along to the song.
In the Khong Minh toa lau, the characteristic of ambiguous meter is created by the varying lengths of each measure, and the lack of a time signature. In this piece, the measures aren’t necessarily divided by the number of beats but by different phrases of melodies.
Figure N: Ambiguous meter in the Khong Minh toa lau
The first six measures of the Khong Minh toa lau have varying measure-lengths in terms of how many beats are in each measure (See Figure N). This makes it hard for listeners to get a good grasp of the time signature (because there is none) and the meter. The only reference they have is the length of each melodic phrase (in this excerpt, it is 10 beats per phrase). But even this varies at times, as can be seen in measures 5-6 of Figure N — the phrase length changed to 13 beats instead of 10. This is also the case for the second section and the rest of the piece (See below: Figure O).
Figure O: Ambiguous meter in the Khong Minh toa lau
Also, the staggered rhythm in the second section of the piece (See Figure O) makes it difficult for listeners to find the true pulse of the piece.
Figure P: Ambiguous meter in Debussy’s Pagodes
Similar to the Khong Minh toa lau, Debussy placed all the rhythmic ideas eighth-rests displaced from beat 1 of every measure. This creates an ambiguity in the beats of each phrase and measure, creating the feeling of ambiguous meter. In addition, as you can see from Figure P, this piece has very flexible interpretations on rhythm. This is described as having a tempo rubato (typical to the Romantic Era), meaning the performer can slow down (ritardando) or speed up (accelerando) in certain areas they feel they want to emphasize. This is another contributing factor as to why it is hard to deduce a definite pulse while listening to this piece.
In the case of Voiles, Debussy uses rather extreme note durations and values such as 32nd notes, double-dotted eighth notes, and rapid glissandos under the 2/4 time signature to create the feeling of ambiguity (See Figure C). These are rather difficult to follow and does not help establish a solid pulse. Also, the tied notes that start the beginning of certain melodic phrases make it difficult to deduce when the start of a new phrase is, and what beat number that phrase entered on. Debussy also uses the augmentation and diminution of note values to disguise the meter.
Figure Q: Ambiguous meter in Debussy’s Voiles
In addition Debussy introduces his melodies an eighth rest into every measure (staggered entrance discussed in Pagodes) (See Figure Q). In addition, the layering of melodies discussed before can play a role in “disguising” the meter or pulse of this piece. With multiple melodies overlapping each other and entering and ending at different times, it is difficult to decipher the beginning and ends of different phrases. The phrases do not necessarily start in logical places either, and are often carried on to the middle of the next measure and such, further contributing to this effect. Finally, in contrast to the rapid note values of this piece, the rests are significantly long and take up a large portion of the piece, and these rests provide very little clues as to what the meter exactly is.
Even in light of all these musical links between Debussy’s piano music and Vietnamese traditional music for the dan tranh, it is impossible to know for certain whether Debussy had been influenced by the Vietnamese music. It may have been another Asian music culture similar to that of Vietnamese music, or even pure coincidence that these links happen to exist. However, it is indisputable that these two completely distinct musical cultures with radically different backgrounds show significant musical links in their pieces that seem completely irrelevant to each other at first.
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