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Complex Impressions: Nature in the Music and Criticism of Claude Debussy
in Two Volumes
by
Matthew Robert Morrow
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the
Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Supervised by
Professor Holly Watkins
Department of Musicology
Eastman School of Music
University of Rochester
Rochester, New York
2011
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by
Volume One
iii
Curriculum Vitae
Matthew Morrow was born on October 26, 1979 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in history and literature from Bucknell
University, where he graduated magna cum laude with Honors in Music.
Additionally, Morrow completed all the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts in
anthropology. During his time at Bucknell, he served as a teaching assistant for two
courses in music theory. Morrow also studied piano with Professor Barry Hannigan
and presented multiple recitals. In 2003 he entered the MA/PhD program in
musicology at the University of Rochesters Eastman School of Music and received
the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull University Fellowship. Morrow earned a Master
of Arts in musicology from Eastman in 2005 and began working as a teaching
assistant the following year. Having aided professors in the three courses constituting
the undergraduate music history curriculum, he was appointed as an instructor in
2007, whereupon he developed and taught a music history review class for graduate
students. In 2008 Morrow was awarded the musicology departments Glenn Watkins
Traveling Fellowship, which facilitated three months of dissertation research in Paris.
Drawing upon his experience abroad, he developed and taught a new music history
course entitled Debussy & Paris in 2010. That year Morrow won the musicology
departments Elsa T. Johnson Dissertation Fellowship. During his graduate studies,
he has presented papers in association with the Eastman Colloquium Series, the
American Musicological Society, the Nineteenth-Century Studies Association and the
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Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music at the University of California, Santa
Barbara. One of these lectures accorded Morrow the musicology departments
Charles Warren Fox Award, which is given in special recognition of original research.
Studying piano with Professor Rebecca Penneys, he passed juries in 2004 and 2005
and participated in several concerts thereafter. Professors Holly Watkins, Marie Rolf
and Melina Esse are his primary advisors. Morrow has been hired to teach music
history at Eastman during the 2012 spring semester.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professors Holly Watkins,
Marie Rolf and Melina Esse for their unwavering patience and support. The
completion of this project would not have been possible without their guidance.
vi
Abstract
In the aesthetic of Claude Debussy, nature constitutes the core element. Most
of the French composers music evokes the natural world in some capacity, and his
critical writings and personal correspondence argue passionately for a symbiosis
between music and nature. Adopting the increasingly relevant gaze of ecocriticism,
an interdisciplinary mode of critique that seeks to negotiate the complex relationship
between cultural artifacts and the natural environment, this dissertation illuminates
Debussys naturism, or nature-worship, against the backdrop of the long nineteenth
century, a concept coined by the Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm and subsequently
used by numerous scholars to designate the period in European history between the
French Revolution and the outbreak of the First World War. My study concludes that
the synergy between Debussys music and criticism constitutes an authentic challenge
to the environmental abuses that accompany unchecked industrialization in the
modern age.
Chapter 1, Reflections on Reconciliation, discusses the fundamental
concepts of ecocriticism and provides an overview of the current environmental
crisis, a calamity that poses an existential threat to the global ecosystem. It proceeds
to subvert Theodor Adornos pessimistic assertions that (a) artworks can effect only
an illusory reconciliation between humankind and nature and (b) nature-oriented
artworks are specifically complicit in humanitys injurious hegemony over the
environment. This opening chapter ends with an analysis of Debussys Jeux de
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vagues, a work that problematizes Adornos negative assessment of nature-oriented

art on account of its avant-garde ethos.
Chapters 2 and 3, entitled An Itinerant Critic and Reading Natures
Book, respectively, scrutinize the corpus of music criticism that Debussy published
between 1901 and 1917. Although many of the composers articles assume the guise
of garden-variety concert reviews, his impression of a given performance typically
serves as a point of departure for the discussion of some greater aesthetic truth
involving the mysterious affinity between Nature and the Imagination. Throughout
his criticism, Debussy argues that nature constitutes the supreme source of beauty in
the universe. Nevertheless, he contends that music possesses a singular capacity to
glorify the natural world. Reciprocally, the composer deems nature to be the paragon
for musical innovation because it exhibits grandeur that is unfettered by academicism.
According to Debussy, institutions like the modern conservatory systematically
suppress individual creativity in favor of standardization, a harmful situation that he
describes in industrial terms. Debussys extensive use of industrial imagery to decry
academicism suggests an aversion to the larger phenomenon of industrialization, and
indeed several passages in the composers criticism confirm such antipathy. The
closing pages of Chapter 3 demonstrate that Debussys ultimate criterion for judging
a piece of music was its rapport with the natural world or lack thereof.
But how does this criterion inform the composers own music? This question
is answered in Chapter 4, Walking the Walk, which argues that Debussys naturism
explains not only his numerous evocations of natural phenomena and avoidance of
viii
industrial imagery but also other key facets of his oeuvre, including his integration of
exotic musics, his deployment of the arabesque, his fascination with the mythical god
Pan and his revitalization of the symphony. Compositions analyzed include
Nuages, Pagodes, Le faune, and De laube midi sur la mer. This
penultimate chapter finishes with an assessment of Adornos various remarks on
Debussy, revealing that the philosopher misconstrued crucial aspects of the
composers aesthetic.
Chapter 5, The Followers of Pan, shows that Bla Bartk, Olivier Messiaen
and Tru Takemitsu, modernist luminaries all, specifically embraced Debussys
vision of nature as an awe-inspiring impetus for musical ingenuity. In doing so, they
gave rise to a dynasty of nature-infused modernism that criticizes humanitys ongoing
exploitation of the environment. This final chapter presents analyses of Bartks Az
jszaka zenje (Music of the Night), Messiaens Des canyons aux toiles and
Takemitsus Quotation of Dream. My dissertation concludes with an appeal to
present-day musicians to follow the example of the renowned harp virtuoso and
green activist Yolanda Kondonassis, who has harnessed the music of naturist
composers like Debussy to raise environmental consciousness.
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Table of Contents
Volume One (pages 1-184)

Chapter 1
Reflections on Reconciliation
Chapter 2
An Itinerant Critic
40
Chapter 3
Reading Natures Book
74
Chapter 4
Walking the Walk
109
Chapter 5
The Followers of Pan
163
Volume Two (pages 185-344)

Figures
185
Notes
300
Bibliography
334
List of Figures
Figure
Title
Page
Fig. 1
Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 1-8
186
Fig. 2
188
Fig. 3
189
Fig. 4
190
Fig. 5
196
Fig. 6
197
Fig. 7
199
Fig. 8
Paul Signac, Opus 217: Against the Enamel of a Background

Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints, Portrait
of M. Flix Fnon in 1890
206
Fig. 9
Cover of the first edition of Claudine lcole (1890)
207
Fig. 10
Cover of the inaugural issue of S.I.M. (1912)
208
Fig. 11
Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 1-4; 81-84)
209
Fig. 12
Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 350-360)
210
Fig. 13
Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 365-371)
212
Fig. 14
Sketch of Marcel Baschets Le Printemps
214
Fig. 15
Claude Debussy, Printemps, mm. 1-49
215
Fig. 16
Claude Debussy, Prlude laprs-midi dun faune, mm. 1-31
219
Fig. 17
Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise (1873)
227
Fig. 18
Gino Severini, Armored Train in Action (1915)
228
Fig. 19
Anonymous, Prussian troops marching past the

Arc de Triomphe during the Franco-Prussian War
229
xi
List of Figures (cont.)

Figure
Title
Page
Fig. 20
Claude Debussy, La damoiselle lue (piano reduction),

mm. 1-9
230
Fig. 20a
Richard Wagner, Parsifal (piano reduction), mm. 1-44
232
Fig. 21
Claude Debussy, Cinq pomes de Baudelaire,

La Mort des Amants, mm. 35-36
236
Fig. 22
Claude Debussy, Childrens Corner,

Golliwogs Cakewalk, mm. 61-77
237
Fig. 23
Advertisement for rail transport to the 1889 Exposition

Universelle
238
Fig. 24
Photo of the kampong javanais at the 1889 Exposition

Universelle
239
Fig. 25
Claude Debussy, Fantaisie, 4 measures before and after

rehearsal T
240
Fig. 26
Claude Debussy, Nocturnes, Nuages, mm. 1-4
242
Fig. 26a
Modest Mussorgsky Sunless, Finished is the idle,

noisy day, mm. 17-24
243
Fig. 27
244
Fig. 28
245
Fig. 29
Arabesque relief from the Great Mosque at Crdoba,

Spain (10th Century)
247
Fig. 30
mile Gall, Par une telle nuit, crystal chalice (1894)
248
Fig. 31
Claude Debussy, Estampes, Pagodes, mm. 1-10
249
Fig. 32
250
Fig. 33
251
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Figure
Title
Page
Fig. 34
252
Fig. 35
Roman sculpture of Pan teaching music to Daphnis

(2nd century), copy of Greek original (1st century B.C.)
256
Fig. 36
Kerr-Xavier Roussel, Scne mythologique (ca. 1916)
257
Fig. 37
Claude Debussy, Prlude laprs-midi dun faune,

mm. 1-4
258
Fig. 37a
Claude Debussy, Syrinx, mm. 1-2
259
Fig. 38
Claude Debussy, Chansons de Bilitis, La flte de Pan,

mm. 1-2
260
Fig. 38a
Claude Debussy, pigraphes antiques, Pour invoquer Pan,

mm. 1-3
261
Fig. 39
Claude Debussy, Ftes galantes II, Le faune, mm. 1-12
262
Fig. 40
Claude Debussy, Ftes galantes II, Le faune, mm. 30-39
263
Fig. 41
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony in F, Op. 68, Mvt. II,

mm. 129-139
264
Fig. 42
Jacques de Vaucanson, Duck (ca. 1734), photo of lost original
266
Fig. 43
Claude Debussy, Estampes, Jardins sous la pluie, mm. 1-15
267
Fig. 44
Claude Debussy, Chansons de Bilitis, La flte de Pan,

mm. 22-24
268
Fig. 45
Claude Debussy, La Mer, De laube midi sur la mer,

mm. 3-5
269
Fig. 46

mm. 23-30
270
Fig. 47

mm. 122-132
272
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Figure
Title
Page
Fig. 48
Bla Bartk, Kt Kp (Two Pictures), Virgzs,

mm. 79-89
274
Fig. 49
Bla Bartk, Szabadban, Az jszaka zenje, mm. 1-16
278
Fig. 50
Bla Bartk, Szabadban, Az jszaka zenje, mm. 17-71
282
Fig. 51
Photo of Bryce Canyon, Utah
288
Fig. 52
Photo of the geophone used in a 2008 performance of

Des canyons aux toiles at Oberlin College
289
Fig. 53
Olivier Messiaen, Des canyons aux toiles, Bryce Canyon

et les rochers rouge-orange, mm. 111-112
290
Fig. 54
Photo of an eoliphone produced by L.W. Hunt Drum Co.,

London
291
Fig. 55
Olivier Messiaen, Des canyons aux tolies, Bryce Canyon

et les rochers rouge-orange, mm. 108-109
292
Fig. 56
Katsushika Hokusai, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji,

Fuji in Clear Weather (1831)
293
Fig. 57
Katsushika Hokusai, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji,

The Great Wave at Kanagawa (1831)
294
Fig. 57a
Cover of the first edition of La Mer, published by

Durand & Fils (1905)
295
Fig. 58
Arkel, Japanese objct dart (19th century)
296
Fig. 59
Tru Takemitsu, Quotation of Dream, episode II, mm. 12-15
297
Fig. 60
Tru Takemitsu, Quotation of Dream, episode II, mm. 1-9
298
Chapter 1
Reflections on Reconciliation
If your knowledge of the outside world were limited to what you could infer from
the major publications of the literary profession, you would quickly discern that race,
class, and gender were the hot topics of the late twentieth century, but you would
never suspect that the earths life support systems were under stress.
Cheryll Glotfelty, The Ecocriticism Reader
Introduction
In the singular aesthetic of Claude Debussy, nature constitutes the core
element. Many of the French composers most celebrated works depict natural
phenomena such as wind, water and moonlight, and his critical writings and personal
correspondence argue passionately for a symbiosis between music and nature. The
beauty of the natural world captivated Debussy throughout his life, from his youthful
dreams of becoming a sailor to the composition of the opening Pastorale from his
Sonata for flute, viola and harp of 1915, his swan song to this lifelong fascination.
Nature was Debussys primary muse, an evergreen source of inspiration for his art, as
evidenced by his thoughts on the creative process:
Who can know the secret of musical composition? The sound of the sea, the
outline of a horizon, the wind in the leaves, the cry of a birdthese set off
complex impressions in us. And suddenly, without the consent of anyone on
this earth, one of these memories bursts forth, expressing itself in the language
of music. It carries its own harmony within itself. However much effort one
makes, one could not find anything better, anything more sincere. Only thus
does a soul destined for music make such beautiful discoveries.1
This dissertation illuminates Debussys affinity for the natural world against
the backdrop of the long nineteenth century, a term coined by the Marxist historian
Eric Hobsbawm and subsequently used by numerous scholars to designate the period
in European history between the French Revolution and the outbreak of World War
I.2 At the same time, my study amplifies the burgeoning discipline of ecocriticism by
analyzing the composers naturism, or nature-worship, with an eye towards the
current environmental crisis, a calamity that constitutes a grave threat to the viability
of the global ecosystem. Lest the reader dismiss such incisive language as the
alarmist ravings of a musicologist-cum-Cassandra, read on.
Ecocriticism
In the broadest sense of the term, ecocriticism may be defined as a mode of
critique that seeks to negotiate the oft-thorny relationship between cultural artifacts
and the natural environment. Although there has been a gradual greening of the
humanities since the 1970s, ecocriticism did not emerge as a distinct field until the
early 1990s.3 In a 1996 essay, Cheryll Glotfelty, an editor of The Ecocriticism
Reader and a key figure in the field of literary ecology, describes ecocriticism as the
study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment. Just as
feminist criticism examines language and literature from a gender-conscious
perspective, and Marxist criticism brings an awareness of modes of production and
economic class to its reading of texts, ecocriticism takes an earth-centered approach
to literary studies.4
Glotfelty expands on her definition by enumerating some of the key questions
posed by ecocriticism: How is nature represented in a literary work? How do our
metaphors of nature reflect and influence the way we treat it? How has humankinds
concept of nature changed over time? What bearing might environmental science
have on the humanities? What cross-fertilization is possible between literary studies
and environmental discourse in related disciplines such as history, philosophy,
psychology, art history, musicology and film studies?5 Over the past decade, this last
query has spurred ecologically oriented scholars to scrutinize a variety of cultural
artifacts, ranging from BBC nature documentaries to Walt Disney theme parks.6 But
despite the ancient ideological and material bonds between music and nature in
Western civilization, the cross-fertilization of ecocriticism and historical musicology
has yielded a surprisingly modest harvest, a shortfall that this dissertation hopes to
alleviate, if only in part.
One of the principal difficulties in writing a dissertation on the subject of
nature is defining this slippery term. In his review article Eco-Musicology,
Alexander Rehding tackles this problem, which any study on the topic must address
from the start.7 Nature, famously described by the Marxist critic Raymond Williams
as perhaps the most complex word in the English language, eludes facile definition
because it subsumes multiple meanings.8 As Rehding observes, the complexity of
the term is not only a consequence of the great abstraction of these definitions but
also of the ease with which we commonly slide from one partial definition to the
other, thus habitually conflating metaphysical, realist and aesthetic aspects of this
thing called nature.9 Nevertheless, the term typically refers to the collective
phenomena of the physical world, including plants, animals, geological features and
weatheras opposed to humans and their creations. This predominant definition,
which polarizes nature and humanity, speaks to the most pressing concern in
ecocriticism today, namely, the ways in which culture registers and shapes
humankinds alienation from the natural world.
Critical Theory and the Climate Crisis
As it happens, climate change is not the first catastrophe in the last hundred
years to engender discussion among scholars about humanitys injurious dominion
over nature. Disgusted by the atrocities of Nazi Germany and the rapaciousness of
American capitalism, Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer joined forces in exile
to write Dialectic of Enlightenment, a withering appraisal of Western civilization and
one of the foundational texts of Critical Theory. For the uninitiated, Critical Theory
constitutes a philosophically oriented form of Marxist critique that strives to
understand and confront the historically determined conditions that oppress human
beings.10 The opening pages of Dialectic of Enlightenment evince this impetus:
What we had set out to do was nothing less than to explain why humanity, instead of
entering a truly human state, is sinking into a new kind of barbarismEnlightenment,
understood in the widest sense as the advance of thought, has always aimed at
liberating human beings from fear and installing them as masters. Yet the wholly
enlightened earth is radiant with triumphant calamity.11
What could account for enlightenments failure to wipe genocide, racism and
exploitation from the face of the earth? According to Adorno and Horkheimer, the
root cause of this dereliction lies in humankinds alienation from nature, which
originated in our species primeval struggle to survive in the wilderness. Rather than
use reason to ward off the perils of Mother Nature in order to coexist harmoniously
with her, our ancestors set out to dispel their fear of the natural world by using reason
to conquer it.12 This fateful determination initiated a recurring pattern of domination
over the natural world that extends to the subjugation of nature within humans (i.e.,
human nature) and the enslavement of humans by humans.13 As Adorno and
Horkheimer assert, what human beings seek to learn from nature is how to use it to
dominate wholly both it and other human beings. Nothing else counts.14 The irony,
of course, is that while this pattern of domination has been the chief fashioner of
human subjectivity for millennia, it has also blinded our species to one of the most
fundamental truths of our existence: we are part of the natural world, not autonomous
masters of it. In Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno and Horkheimer address this
tragic myopia:
At the moment human beings cut themselves off from the consciousness of
themselves as nature, all the purposes for which they keep themselves alive
social progress, the heightening of material and intellectual forces, indeed,
consciousness itselfbecome void, and the enthronement of the means as the
end, which in late capitalism is taking on the character of overt madness, is
already detectable in the earliest history of subjectivity. The human beings
mastery of itself, on which the self is founded, practically always involves the
annihilation of the subject in whose service that mastery is maintained,
because the substance which is mastered, suppressed, and disintegrated by
self-preservation is nothing other than the living entity, of which the
achievements of self-preservation can only be defined as functionsin other
words, self-preservation destroys the very thing which is to be preserved.15
Some sixty years after the publication of Dialectic of Enlightenment, former
vice president of the United States and Nobel laureate Al Gore would restate Adorno
and Horkheimers indictment of such careless self-preservation. In the 2006 film An
Inconvenient Truth, Gore displays an illustration of a scale, one side of which is laden
with gold bars, the other with planet Earth.16 The gold represents the wealth
generated through humankinds exploitation of nature. Admittedly, this wealth
sustains the lives and lifestyles of billions of human beings. But as Gore prods his
audience to query, whats the use of all that gold if we dont have a habitable
planet?17 Here the erstwhile politician echoes the words of the American
environmentalist George S. Evans, who penned the following passage in 1904:
You know that while Nature sits enthroned in the midst of this mountain
kingdom, man needs but the words gold here to spur him into a campaign
ending in the dethronement of the monarch. At the touch of the magic words
gold here the trees would go down like wheat before the sickle, the rock
heaps of the ages would be rent asunder by the blast, streams would be
harnessed, mountains tunneledman enthroned.18
Despite their unsettling insight into human nature and equally troubling
assessment of humanitys future, Adorno and Horkheimer could not have imagined
the scale of the environmental crisis confronting us today. In 2007, the United
Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the foremost
international organization dedicated to studying the subject, published a massive
scientific report entitled Climate Change 2007.19 This assessment, which draws on
the work of more than twenty-five hundred of the worlds leading climatologists,
demonstrates the existence of global warming and indicates that human activity has
been its chief catalyst since the onset of the Industrial Revolution.20 Moreover,
Climate Change 2007 shows that global warming will continue into the twenty-first
century and that it may be too late to counter its dire consequences.21 In fact, the
World Health Organization estimates that the warming and precipitation trends due to
anthropogenic climate change already claim upwards of one hundred and fifty
thousand human lives annually through malnutrition and disease.22 Not surprisingly,
the worlds poor bare the brunt of these ills because they lack the resources to adapt
to changing environmental conditions. But as the IPCC report indicates, climate
change will impact virtually every single human being on the planet regardless of
region or class.23 And the worst is yet to come. According to the IPCC, rising
temperatures will alter global weather patterns, exposing hundreds of millions of
people to drought, famine, pestilence and severe storms. Rising sea levels,
precipitated by melting ice caps, will displace inhabitants of coastal regions, creating
tens of millions of environmental refugees.24 Up to thirty percent of the worlds
known plant and animal species face a significantly increased rate of extinction if
global warming is not drastically curtailed.25
Art and Reconciliation
One of the more compelling arguments pursued in Dialectic of Enlightenment
is that society and culture constitute a dialectic in which developments in one sphere
mirror and fashion developments in the other. In Adorno and Horkheimers view,
freedom in society is inextricably linked to enlightenment in art, religion, philosophy
and other facets of culture.26 Likewise, domination in society indicates an attendant
cultural complicity. Accordingly, the philosophers lambast contemporaneous
Hollywood films as handmaidens of fascism because they gradually annihilate the
critical faculties of their audiences by spoon-feeding them standardized narratives
about finding true love and material wealth.27 Today, there seems to be an equivalent
relationship between the environmentally delusional marketing of sport utility
vehicles and the escalating ecological crisis. Consider, for example, Hummers
advertising campaign over the past decade, which depicts their gas-guzzling
behemoths as eco-friendly modes of transport by positioning them in picturesque
natural environments.
But how might culture constructively challenge humankinds subjugation of
the natural world? According to Adorno and Horkheimer, genuine artworks, as
opposed to the mass-market ads and amusements generated by the culture industry,
provide us with the opportunity to reflect on our alienation from nature because they
point towards a reconciliation between reason and what the philosophers refer to as
the sanctity of the hic et nunc.28 For Adorno and Horkheimer, the expression hic
et nunc denotes the immediate realm of sensory perception. As a consequence of
our primordial struggle to master nature in the name of self-preservation, however,
sensory experience has become alienated from, and subservient to, reason. J. M.
Bernstein elaborates on this phenomenon in his article The Dead Speaking of
Stones and Stars: Adornos Aesthetic Theory:
We tame our fear of threatening nature when we see its terrors as components
of recurring patterns, say the cycle of the seasons. But this mythic mode of
adjustment is providential for instrumental engagement with nature generally,
since we gain control over particular items by coming to see them as
instantiations of recurring properties and concatenations of properties. Thus
the general pattern of rationalization involves the subsumption of particulars
under universals, and the ascent from narrow universals (which may remain
dependent on particular sensory phenomena) to wider, more unconditioned
ones.29
In Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno and Horkheimer maintain that this
pattern of rationalization characterizes the lions share of Western enlightenment
from Plato to the twentieth century.30 But the philosophers trace the origin of this
ideological operation back into the mists of prehistory, perhaps to a moment akin to
the one depicted by Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which one of our
simian ancestors first realizes that he can use a tool to dominate his environment.31
Like Kubricks ape, early humans employed reason and technology to counter natural
dangers like predators and storms. But as time passed, they began to group these
specific threats under the axiom the natural world is dangerous. As a result of this
rationalization, humanity set about asserting its universal supremacy over nature
whether it was necessary or not. This paradigm shift characterizes the writings of the
English philosopher Francis Bacon, whom Adorno and Horkheimer cite as a leading
exponent of instrumental reason, i.e., reason used to dominate nature. In his essay In
Praise of Knowledge, Bacon declares,
The sovereignty of man lieth hid in knowledge, wherein many things are
reserved, which kings with their treasure cannot buy, nor with their force
command; their spials and intelligencers can give no news of them, their
seamen and discoverers cannot sail where they grow. Now we govern nature
in opinions, but we are [in] thrall unto her in necessity. But if we would be
led by her in invention, we should command her by action.32
To be sure, the systematic, rational inquiry into nature espoused by Bacon and
other exponents of the scientific method has led to developments that have improved
the human condition in numerous respects, so Adorno and Horkheimer seem remiss
in allowing their pessimism to obscure this fact. But as the philosophers rightly point
out, the relentless march of civilization exacts a steep price. In the wake of the
Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, much of the technology developed to enhance
and sustain human life has also been used to debase and destroy it. Moreover,
10
Bacons widely adopted notion of nature as an instrument of human will has

precipitated centuries of environmental exploitation in the name of progress. The
resulting damage now threatens the welfare of our planet.
Unlike their precursor Friedrich Nietzsche, who viewed humankinds
conquest of nature as a manifestation of our innate and immutable will to power,
Adorno and Horkheimer insist that this hegemony is historically contingent and hence
capable of being overcome.33 In fact, the central animus of Critical Theory is to
emancipate both human beings and nature from the shackles of instrumental reason.
The catalyst for this liberation is reflection. Whereas the preponderance of Western
enlightenment asserts the supremacy of reason over sense and the corresponding
ascendancies of subject over object and humankind over nature, reflective thought
seeks to establish a healthy equilibrium between these entities. As Julian Roberts
observes in his essay The Dialectic of Enlightenment,
For Horkheimer and Adorno, truth involves awareness of the role taken in it
by the subject, not as a paranoid tyrant projecting some rigid system on nature
and humankind, but as an actor in a dialogical exchange with reconciliation,
not dominion, as its goalReflection knows the individuality of the knower
and the known, so it is always ready to revise a standpoint as soon as it has
reached it. Anything else is madness.34
Drawing on Nietzsches theory of aesthetics, Adorno and Horkheimer see the
realm of art as an outlet for humanitys sensory repressions. But as a foil to
Nietzsches philosophical dualism, which positions Dionysian creativity in stark
opposition to Apollonian reason, Adorno and Horkheimer affirm that artworks mirror
reflective thought because they embody a synthesis of rational form (Form) and
sensuous content (Inhalt).35 This fusion of reason and sense suggests a better world
11
in which humans and nature alike are liberated from the tyranny of instrumental
reason. According to Roberts, The dignity and worth of art thus exceeds that of
science, and foreshadows the happiness and freedom which are the birthright of all
human beings.36
Natural Beauty Hurts: Adornos Aesthetic Theory
In Aesthetic Theory, Adornos posthumously published magnum opus, the
philosopher pessimistically recasts many of the utopian ideas regarding the
relationship between art and nature that he presented in Dialectic of Enlightenment.37
Here Adornos arguments about the fundamental essence of art derive mainly from
his reading of the modern art movement. A final testament to the philosophers
famed proclivity for dialectical constructions, Aesthetic Theory evaluates the modern
art movement from the perspective of German philosophical aesthetics even as it
reconsiders the writings of Kant and Hegel in light of latter-day developments in
painting, poetry, music and drama. This ambitious agenda, pursued as it is through
unflinchingly paratactic prose, renders Aesthetic Theory Adornos most forbidding
monograph, though one of his most thought provoking.
Like many present-day accounts of aesthetic modernism in Western
civilization, Adorno locates the emergence of the modern art movement sometime in
the latter half of the nineteenth century, the apogee circa 1910 and the denouement
around 1930. In Aesthetic Theory, the philosopher discusses a broad spectrum of
artists from this era, including Charles Baudelaire, Pablo Picasso, Arnold Schoenberg
and Samuel Beckett (to whom Aesthetic Theory was intended to be dedicated). For
12
Adorno, the artworks created by these figures and their modernist contemporaries are
characterized chiefly by their formal and social autonomy. With respect to the
former, Adorno claims that a given artwork is governed by features specific to its
particular medium such as blocking in theater, perspective in painting and tonality in
music. Modernism entails the progressive interrogation of these features in a
conscious effort to overthrow established notions about what attributes an artifact
must possess in order for it to qualify as work of art. For instance, the tonal system
that first emerged as a constant at the end of the seventeenth century in the trio
sonatas and concerti of Arcangelo Corelli was increasingly undermined by
subsequent composers until Arnold Schoenberg abolished it altogether in works like
Das Buch der hngenden Grten and the Op. 11 piano pieces. In Aesthetic Theory,
Adorno contends that modernist interrogations of this sort meritoriously engage with
the unprecedented realities of the present, thereby illuminating the core essence of a
given artistic medium.
But in the philosophers view, there is a tradeoff for such revelation. As
modern art progressively dethroned the various rules and traditions that ordered
aesthetics in previous epochs, it gradually became unhinged from the society that
produced it. Indeed, one of Adornos primary concerns in Aesthetic Theory is to
account for the fact that modern art has shed the sense of social purpose (religious,
political, educational, etc.) that marked it in earlier epochs. This impetus manifests
itself in the opening line of the text: It is self-evident that nothing concerning art is
self-evident anymore, not its inner life, not its relation to the world, not even its right
13
to exist.38 In a surprising turn, however, Adorno goes on to argue that arts

increasing asociality is actually its greatest asset, because art can only oppose
instrumental reason if it lacks a social purpose:
By crystallizing in itself as something unique to itself, rather than complying
with existing social norms and qualifying as socially useful, it criticizes
society by merely existing, for which puritans of all stripes condemn it. There
is nothing pure, nothing structured strictly according to its own immanent law,
that does not implicitly criticize the debasement of a situation evolving in the
direction of a total exchange society in which everything is heteronomously
defined. Arts asociality is the determinate negation of a determinate
society.39
In accordance with this premise, Adorno privileges socially autonomous
artworks over those that seek to communicate a social message, whether it is stated
explicitly or uttered sotto voce: communication is the adaptation of spirit to utility,
with the result that spirit is made into one commodity among the restfor its part art
is integral only when it refuses to play along with communicationWhat is social in
art is its immanent movement against society, not its manifest opinions.40 But
problematically, the philosopher doubts that the immanent movement of socially
autonomous artworks can affect any sort of positive social change. In fact, Adorno
acknowledges that the abstract artworks he esteems so highly for their hermetic
resistance to instrumental reason have become increasingly meaningless: The
shadow of arts autarchic radicalism is its harmlessness: absolute color compositions
verge on wallpaper patterns.41 Yet if art relinquishes its social autonomy in the
midst of the rampant rationalization that has characterized modernity, it delivers
itself over to the machinations of the status quo; if art remains strictly for itself, it
nonetheless submits to integration as one harmless domain among others.42
14
In the Natural Beauty section of Aesthetic Theory, Adorno elaborates on this

dilemma by staking out his position on the relationship between art and nature.
Rejecting the widely held notion that human efforts have legitimately transcended the
natural world with respect to aesthetics, Adorno argues that nature has merely been
subverted in artistic discourse to grant humanity an ever-greater supremacy over the
natural world. As the following passage from Aesthetic Theory demonstrates, Georg
W. F. Hegel and his contemporary Friedrich Schiller are targeted as the chief
perpetrators of this phenomenon: Natural beauty vanished from aesthetics as a result
of the burgeoning domination of the concept of freedom and human dignity, which
was inaugurated by Kant and then rigorously transplanted into aesthetics by Schiller
and Hegel; in accord with this concept nothing in the world is worthy of attention
except for that which the autonomous subject has itself to thank.43
Contrary to Hegel and Schiller, Adorno contends that the notion of artistic
beauty is inextricably linked to the concept of natural beauty. Throughout history,
our purported freedom and dignity as human subjects has developed in direct
proportion to our domination of nature. But as Adorno argues, the repercussions of
this ennoblement have been tragic. Consequently, society laments its estrangement
from the natural world even though humankind normatively construes this alienation
as proof of its superiority. As Adorno states in Aesthetic Theory, The concept of
natural beauty rubs on a wound, and little is needed to prompt one to associate this
wound with the violence that the artworka pure artifactinflicts on nature.44
Indeed, the central paradox articulated in Aesthetic Theory is that while art
15
perpetuates the ascendancy of humankind over nature, it also projects the

reconciliation of these two entities in its synthesis of rational form and sensuous
content. But in accordance with Adornos notion of arts social autonomy, this
rapprochement is necessarily illusory: That is the melancholy of art. It achieves an
unreal reconciliation at the price of a real reconciliation.45
Ships Passing: Adorno and Ecocriticism
Despite the centricity of nature in Adornos philosophy, most ecocritics have
turned a blind eye to his work. Apart from the anthology The Green Studies Reader:
From Romanticism to Ecocriticism, which features two very brief excerpts from
Dialectic of Enlightenment and Aesthetic Theory, one is likely to encounter only
passing references to Adorno in many of the most prominent ecocritical studies.46
What could account for this phenomenon? After all, Adorno ranks as one of the most
significant figures in twentieth-century philosophy. Furthermore, his negative
assessment of anthropocentrism resonates with similar critiques advanced by
naturalists like John Muir, whose advocacy of forest conservation was largely
responsible for the creation of Sequoia and Yosemite national parks.47 In a diary
entry penned during one of his frequent treks into the wilderness, Muir laments the
numerous class of men who are painfully astonished whenever they find anything,
living or dead, in all Gods universe, which they cannot eat or render in some way
what they call useful to themselves.48 But unlike Muir, whose environmental
activism was inspired by the writings of Henry David Thoreau, Adorno refused to
recognize the potential of art to transformin praxishumanitys self-destructive
16
relationship with nature. Moreover, the philosopher specifically condemned

naturalistic art for what he perceived to be its complicity in the hegemony of
instrumental reason: Art stands in for nature through its abolition in effigy; all
naturalistic art is only deceptively close to nature because, analogous to industry, it
relegates nature to raw material.49
As this dissertation illustrates, however, Adornos indictment of naturalistic
art ignores its singular capacity to inculcate veneration for the natural world. The
philosophers theory of arts dual autonomy inimitably elucidates the crisis of
modernism, but it becomes unsustainable in the face of an environmental meltdown.
In fact, Adorno was more willing to entertain the possibility that art will disappear
altogether as a consequence of the highly improbable reconciliation between humans
and nature than to acknowledge that art, nature-oriented or otherwise, might actually
catalyze such a rapprochement: Whoever wants to abolish art cherishes the illusion
that decisive change is not blocked.50 Such dogged pessimism undermines the entire
emancipatory aim of Critical Theory as presented in Dialectic of Enlightenment. In
Aesthetic Theory, Adorno accepts the inevitability of our species march toward selfdestruction; at best, art can only lament the inexorable implosion.51
Regrettably, Adornos public aversion to praxis had tragic personal
consequences for the philosopher. During the German student movement of the late
1960s, Adorno became a figure of contempt for student activists who felt betrayed by
his political inertia, which seemed indefensible in light of his theories. The
philosopher refused to participate in the student protests of 1969 and further
17
exacerbated matters when he called on police to break up what he perceived to be a

hostile occupation of the Frankfurt Institute; in actuality, the seventy-six students who
were arrested were merely looking for a place to meet. Adorno was ultimately forced
to abandon his lecture series An Introduction to Dialectical Thinking because of the
increasingly audacious protests being staged in his lecture hall, which culminated in a
trio of bare-breasted women from the Students for a Democratic Society confronting
the beleaguered philosopher at his podium. According to Adorno biographer Martin
Jay, Adorno, unnerved and humiliated, left the lecture hall with the students
mockingly proclaiming that as an institution, Adorno is dead. 52 The psychological
strain induced by student protests prompted the philosopher to seek refuge in
Switzerland, where he suffered a fatal heart attack on August 6, 1969.53
In sharp contrast to Adornos unbending allegiance to theory, ecocritics tend
to advocate activism by linking their analyses to green sociopolitical agendas. Both
Leo Marx and Raymond Williams, the respective authors of The Machine in the
Garden and The Country and the City, have tied the pastoral tradition in Western
literature to the relatively recent emergence of environmental politics.54 Williams in
particular has championed the poetry of the English pastoralist John Clare, a lesserknown contemporary of William Wordsworth: Clare shared many of the insights of
the modern green movement, a name which would have pleased him. Like them, he
insisted that man does not own the earth and is not entitled to do whatever he likes
with it. Instead he must treat it as a responsible steward for his own sake and that of
other species (rabbits, elms, cattle) which also have a right to exist.55 In his book
18
Romantic Ecology: Wordsworth and the Environmental Tradition, Jonathan Bate

indicates that the poets appreciation for natural beauty inspired future activists to
establish the Lake District National Park in 1951.56 Lastly, Lawrence Buell has
documented the influence of Henry David Thoreaus Walden on a host of subsequent
environmentalists, including John Muir, John Burroughs and Rachel Carson.57 As a
foil to Adornos pessimism, these ecocritics have shown that literature that imparts a
reverence for nature can positively impact humankinds relationship with the natural
world. This dissertation illuminates similar potential in the music and criticism of
Debussy.
Adorno and Miners and Cowboys (Oh My!)
Although ecocritics have largely omitted Adorno from their scholarly discourse,
a handful of musicologists have recently published articles that explicitly reference
the philosophers uncompromising stance on the rift between humankind and nature.
In view of Adornos preeminence as a music critic, such overt engagement seems apt,
if not absolutely mandatory. After all, of the ten thousand pages that constitute the
twenty-volume German Collected Edition of the philosophers oeuvre, more than four
thousand discuss music in some capacity.58
In his 2002 article Paradise, Nature, and Reconciliation, or, a Tentative
Conversation with Wagner, Puccini, Adorno, and The Ronettes, Richard Leppert
historicizes Adornos fatalistic assertion that art posits an illusory reconciliation
between humanity and the natural world by demonstrating that a music-specific
progenitor of this claim appears in Arthur Schopenhauers seminal text The World as
19
Will and Idea.59 Leppert zeroes in on the passage where Schopenhauer compares
music to the vision of a paradise firmly believed in yet ever distant from us.60 The
scholar deftly links this idea to Wagners dramatic account of the Rings genesis and
to a few brief excerpts from Dialectic of Enlightenment and Aesthetic Theory.61
Although Leppert concedes the potential of naturalistic art to contest the onslaught of
modernity, he glosses over this intriguing notion and its implications for the current
environmental crisis.62 Instead, Leppert attempts to validate Adornos pessimistic
assertion that art projects an unreal reconciliation between humans and nature by
illustrating its aptness to a diverse array of musical examples, ranging from the
opening prelude of Wagners Das Rheingold to The Ronettess 1965 song Paradise.
But problematically, Leppert never tackles Adornos specific denunciation of natureoriented artworks, an omission that seems to undermine the central premise of his
essay. Nevertheless, his argument raises several important issues regarding the
entwinement of music and nature in Western civilization.
In his analysis of The Ronettess Paradise, Leppert explores the ancient
pastoral trope that links the consummation of romantic love to the rapprochement
between humans and nature. He argues that Phil Spectors trademark Wall of
Sound reflects the songs text by evoking a musical Eden in which an unrealized
love will one day be requited: the reconciliation of voiced subject with the natural
paradise that mirrors the paradise of requited love is musically realized by the sonoric
foreground and background that meld into a single unity: subject and object closing the
gap that otherwise divides them. In the absence of the real lover, nature is the standin. 63 But Lepperts unqualified use of a popular song to substantiate Adornos
20
position on the illusory reuniting propounded by artworks misrepresents the

philosophers theory. Adorno infamously believed that the products of mass
entertainment generated by the culture industry are complicit in perpetuating the
hegemony of instrumental reason because they numb the critical faculties of their
consumers, thereby impeding the reflective thought requisite for the rapprochement
between humans and nature. In his book Minima Moralia: Reflections from
Damaged Life, the philosopher glumly notes, Every visit to the cinema leaves me,
against all my vigilance, stupider and worse.64 For Adorno, the desensitizing quality
of mass entertainment derived from its standardization. In the opening section of his
inflammatory essay On Popular Music, the philosopher proclaims,
The whole structure of popular music is standardized, even where the attempt
is made to circumvent standardization. Standardization extends from the most
general features [of popular music] to the most specific onesThe
composition hears for the listener. This is how popular music divests the
listener of his spontaneity and promotes conditioned reflexes. Not only does
it not require his effort to follow its concrete stream; it actually gives him
models under which anything concrete still remaining may be subsumed. The
schematic build-up dictates the way in which he must listen while, at the same
time, it makes any effort in listening unnecessary.65
In his assessment of Paradise, Leppert overlooks the numerous ways in which
this song conforms to Adornos theory of standardization. In terms of form,
Paradise follows the conventional alternation of verse and chorus that has been
replicated ad infinitum since the advent of rock n roll. Moreover, this formulaic
structure seems to operate without regard to the expressive demands of the songs
saccharine lyrics, which explore a young womans dreams of finding true love in an
idyllic landscape where white flamingos fly way up high, way above the oceans
roar.66 For Adorno, such a discrepancy between music and text constitutes a
21
defining characteristic of standardization in popular music; serious music, by contrast,

integrates the two entities. Although the philosopher never actually demonstrates this
difference in On Popular Music, Adornos contention that popular and serious
songs diverge in terms of text-music interrelation may be elucidated by briefly
comparing Paradise to another evocation of a young girls daydreams of love,
Franz Schuberts Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 118. In this lied, Schubert varies the
musical setting of each strophe in order to mirror Gretchens changing psychological
state, dramatically breaking off the whirring piano accompaniment at the moment of
greatest emotional intensity. No such interaction between music and text occurs in
Paradise. Admittedly, the recorded sounds of chirping birds and crashing waves
heard at the beginning of the song set the scene for what is to follow, but it is hard to
imagine that Adorno would have considered these ambient effects as anything other
than instances of pseudo-individualization, especially since they function solely as an
introduction and are not incorporated into the ensuing musical material.67
While Leppert maintains that Spectors Wall of Sound realizes the blissful
reconciliation between humans and nature evoked by the songs lyrics, this argument
actually highlights the tracks standardization. Commenting on the chorus of
Paradise, Leppert writes, The Ronettess voices discourse in specific relation to the
instrumental sounds that accompany them. On the word paradise, the back-up voices
and instruments come together to form a synchronized acoustic wave, at highest volume
and thickest texture, a standard Spector feature [emphasis added]. 68 Indeed, the
eccentric producer utilized the Wall of Sound extensively throughout the 1960s, so
22
its relation to the text in Paradise appears to be the incidental byproduct of a

rigorously applied sonic formula.69 To be sure, Adorno recognized the unique power
of song to fashion human subjectivity through the articulation of desire, but he
viewed such standardization as a betrayal of the genres expressive potential.
Ironically, Leppert acknowledges this fact in his exegesis of On Popular Music:
In the instance of the mass-marketed pop hit, Adorno sees a utopian opportunity
missed. Implicitly arguing against Benjamins position in his Art-Work
essay, he suggests that the standardization constraining the hit song dishonors
music and the subject simultaneously, by working, for example, against the
commonly stated goals of song lyrics which, after all, so frequently evince
human desire. Desire, at once personal and social, is thereby transformed into
an advertising slogan by ever-same music that repeats endlessly, music which
does not enlighten but anesthetizes.70
Contrary to Lepperts intent, the example of Paradise ultimately illustrates
how an artifact that purportedly glorifies the natural world may inadvertently inhibit
the reflective thought necessary for humankinds rapprochement with nature. Leppert
himself alludes to this phenomenon in his discussion of Giacomo Puccinis 1910
opera La fanciulla del West, although his objective remains the substantiation of
Adornos pessimism. Despite his conspicuous avoidance of Adornos critique of
naturalistic art, Leppert achieves this aim in his analysis of La fanciullas conclusion,
where the operas protagonists Minnie and Dick Johnson, aka Ramerrez the bandit,
must abandon the paradisal forest that serves as the operas setting in order to start a
new life together. As the lovers bid farewell to their beloved Sierra Nevada, the
music that has evoked this utopia throughout the opera fades into silence.71 In terms
of Adornos theory, one could argue, as Leppert does, that Puccinis music has
enabled Minnie and Dicks sojourn in paradise. With the inevitable conclusion of the
23
opera (artwork) comes the correspondingly inexorable alienation of the two lovers
(humanity) from nature.
But while the ending of La fanciulla del West seems to epitomize Adornos
opinion that art advances an untenable reconciliation between humans and their
natural environment, the opera also resonates suggestively with the philosophers
claim that artworks perpetuate the ascendancy of humankind over nature, albeit in a
manner different from Paradise. As Leppert observes, the setting of La fanciulla
del West seems to typify escapism in early twentieth-century America:
The vastness of the operas natural setting holds out the promise of an
American paradiseeternal, without boundaries, a Utopia of striking visual
splendordespite the fact that the old-growth forests of the Sierra Nevada had
long since been exploited by 1910. In other words, Puccinis West of the
imagination, aesthetically speaking, provides modernitys rapaciousness with
the deniability it ethically craved. 72
Lepperts reading of La fanciullas setting meshes neatly with Adornos
assertion that art evokes natural beauty in its pristine, non-extant state, but the
deniability that he perceives in the operas backdrop is complicated by the backdrop
itself. 73 In actuality, the events in La fanciulla revolve around a mining camp
situated in the verdant Sierra Nevada during the 1849-1850 gold rush. Although the
miners exhibit the coarseness of manner that frequently characterizes depictions of
prospectors on the Western frontier, their portrayal in Guelfo Civinini and Caro
Zangarinis libretto is predominantly favorable. When Jake Wallace, a traveling
camp minstrel, regales the miners with the wistful song Che faranno i vecchi miei
in Act I, the homesick Larkens breaks down in tears, whereupon his fellow miners all
contribute money for his journey home. At the climax of Act 3, the miner Sonora
24
sways his fellow prospectors to release Dick Johnson, who is about to be hung on a
murder charge trumped up by the jealous sheriff Jack Rance, thus enabling Dick and
Minnie to ride off together into the metaphorical sunset. So while La fanciulla del
West may have provided American audiences with a cosmetic alibi for Manifest
Destiny, the opera also seems to endorse humankinds exploitation of nature in its
sympathetic portrayal of the miners.
Such ambivalence towards nature is by no means a unique property of La
fanciulla del West. In his article Eco-ing in the Canyon: Ferde Grofs Grand
Canyon Suite and the Transformation of Wilderness, Brooks Toliver draws upon
Adornos Aesthetic Theory and a wide range of recent ecocriticism to illuminate the
tension in Grofs work between the glorification of natural beauty on the one hand
and the celebration of humankinds domination of nature on the other.74 As opposed
to Lepperts decidedly discursive approach to the intersection of music and nature in
Western civilization, Tolivers study focuses specifically on Grand Canyon Suite and
its unique cultural context, namely, the American Southwest in the early decades of
the twentieth century. This historically grounded approach, upon which the present
dissertation is modeled, reveals that the contradictory attitudes toward nature
espoused by Grand Canyon Suite characterize not only Grofs life and oeuvre but
also American environmentalism in the first half of the twentieth century.
As his essay Story of the Grand Canyon Suite evinces, Grof possessed a
deep admiration for the majesty of the American Southwest:
I treasure my recollections of the place I am writing about; recollections
sentimental, pictorial, romantic; recollections of grandiose Nature, of vast areas
25
of eloquent solitudes, towering heights, silent deserts, rushing rivers, wild

animal life; of health-giving ozone, magic dawns and resplendent sunsets,
silvery moonshine, iridescent colorings of skies and rocks; and before all else,
of a stock of men and women who breathe deeply and freely, live bravely and
picturesquely, speak their minds in simplicity and truth, and altogether represent
as typical and fine a human flowering as this land of ours has inherited from its
pioneer days.75
But as Toliver observes, Grofs paean to the Grand Canyon and its environs
also emphasizes the utility of nature. Consequently, the composers reverie may be
considered to spring from a broader pioneer ideology, one that viewed the grueling
subjugation of the American wilderness as beneficial, if not indispensable, to the
formation of a distinct national character.76 In an article that appeared in The Etude
Music Magazine the same year as his exegesis of Grand Canyon Suite, Grof extends
this notion by linking industrializationthe culmination of humankinds quest to
dominate natureto the emergence of a distinctly American corpus of music in the
1930s. Musical creation in America, Grof writes, is daily soaring to new heights;
and more than this, it is becoming distinctly American, reflecting the dynamic
industrial power of our country, [and] our virile pioneer spirit.77 Indeed, much of
Grofs output during this tumultuous period revels in the widespread
industrialization that now poses such a drastic threat to the global ecosystem, as
evidenced by works like Free Air (Variations on Noises from the Garage), a chamber
work for woodwinds, anvil and bicycle tire pump; Symphony in Steel for band, which
incorporates various drills and a siren; Wheels, composed for automobile tycoon
Henry Ford; and Grand Canyon Suite, whose acclaimed theme of the burros was
inspired, ironically enough, by the pounding of pile drivers.78
26
In addition to his boundless enthusiasm for industrialization, Grofs vivid

account of his mining and ranching enterprises seems to further problematize his
position vis--vis the environment:
After the war [World War I], I lived in Arizona at different periods in 1918, 19,
20, 21 and 23I hobnobbed with Indians, did some gold prospecting with an
old friend, who at one time controlled an interest in the famous Ivanpaw Mine
in the Hualapai Mountains; often heard the Indian drums beating all night
during their powwows; had some ownership in the New Jersey Mining
Company at Chloride; formed partnership in several hundred head of livestock
with a cattleman and got to know the packing houses and methods of slaughter
and dressing; fished the Colorado River above Needles79
Clearly, Grof had a complicated relationship with nature; while he admired the
beauty of the natural world, he also worked to exploit its resources. But how does
Grand Canyon Suite specifically reflect this ideological quagmire? On account of the
works pronounced visual orientation, Toliver situates Grand Canyon Suite in the
long-standing tradition of the picturesque, an aesthetic category that emerged in
Britain during the eighteenth century.80 However, Tolivers classification should be
considered cautiously, as it disregards the multiplicity of meanings associated with
the term picturesque in favor of an overarching definition that highlights the
aesthetics emphasis on evaluating natural scenery according to the same criteria one
would use to judge a painting.81 In 1712 the noted English essayist Joseph Addison
neatly encapsulated this outlook: We find the Works of Nature still more pleasant,
the more they resemble those of Art.82 Toliver shows that a similar ideology played
a pivotal role in the establishment of Grand Canyon National Park in 1919 as the
proliferation of photographs and paintings of the canyons geographical highlights
persuaded the American public to support the preservation of this natural wonder.
27
For Toliver, this phenomenon evinces the environmentally progressive potential of

picturesque art like Grand Canyon Suite, a work that similarly recasts the canyon
as art.83
But following the central premise of his thesis, namely, that Grand Canyon
Suite extols humankinds nascent dominion over the American Southwest even as it
pays homage to the natural splendor of this once untamed wilderness, Toliver draws
on Adornos condemnation of naturalistic art to uncloak the negative aspect of the
picturesque, which he perceives in the aesthetics implicit endorsement of humanitys
dominion over nature.84 Here Tolivers critique becomes problematic because it
conflates intervention that damages the natural environment with intervention that
seeks to aid it.85 Moreover, Toliver seems to suggest that picturesque artifacts of all
stripes are equally complicit in their endorsement of domination, when, in fact, there
are varying attitudes within this ill-defined aesthetic toward humankinds relationship
with nature. Indeed, Tolivers entire argument regarding the tension he perceives in
Grand Canyon Suite hinges upon the conspicuous cowboy sitting astride Grofs
warhorse, by no means a universal caparison of the picturesque aesthetic.
In his reading of Grand Canyon Suites third movement, On the Trail, Toliver
links the cowboys lordly position as he descends into the canyon, which is explicitly
referenced in Grofs program, to the overlook or downward gaze perspective
common in American landscape painting during the nineteenth century, arguing that
both views emphasize humanitys mastery of nature. The earsplitting conclusion of
Cloudburst, the fifth and final movement of Grand Canyon Suite, seems to add
28
credence to this interpretation, as the material evoking the storm is ultimately

drowned out by a magisterial version of the cowboy theme played by the brass.
Disregarding the chronology of Grofs program, Toliver goes so far as to suggest
that Grand Canyon Suites opening Sunrise prefigures this outcome because it too
features a musical narrative of conquest that ends with man dominating nature. But
this particular hermeneutic, while tempting, rests on shaky ground, as it presupposes
the presence of man two movements before Grof introduces him in the program.
Moreover, the theme that Toliver associates with archetypal man in Sunrise bears
no resemblance to the cowboy tune that later appears in On the Trail and
Cloudburst. Nonetheless, Tolivers engrossing analysis admirably highlights the
domineering presence of man in Grand Canyon Suite.
Perhaps Toliver could have bolstered his dialectical reading of Grand Canyon
Suite by considering the specific role of the cowboy in the American West in addition
to viewing him as a stand-in for humankind. While the films of John Wayne and
Clint Eastwood have immortalized the cowboy as the Romantic hero par excellence
of the trans-Mississippi West, it is important to recognize that cowboys were also the
day-to-day operators of the American cattle industry. In this capacity, they
contributed significantly to the overgrazing of public lands that led to the Taylor
Grazing Act of 1934, which aimed to "stop injury to the public grazing lands by
preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration.86 In spite of this landmark legislation,
grazing on public lands remains a contentious issue, even today. While the Public
Lands Council, a lobby of the ranching industry, contends that grazing has helped to
29
preserve Americas unsettled expanses, environmentalists argue that overgrazing

causes more damage to the environment than deforestation because it precipitates soil
damage, water contamination and species decline. Furthermore, a recent ABC News
report indicates that conservation partnerships between cowboys and
environmentalists are still a rarity in the new millennium.87
This historically specific consideration of the cowboy further undermines the
environmental credibility of Grand Canyon Suite. Like Puccinis seemingly
innocuous miners, Grofs intrepid buckaroo brings a distinct narrative of domination
to the artwork he inhabits. Consequently, Grand Canyon Suite seems to epitomize
Adornos contention that naturalistic art is especially complicit in humanitys
dominion over nature. Nevertheless, Toliver attempts to redeem Grand Canyon Suite,
if only in part, by arguing that Grofs work typifies the sense of fulfillment that early
twentieth-century Americans found in conquering the wilderness, a process by which
the nation as a whole sustained itself.88 But this reading overlooks the fact that
Americas ongoing lust for expansion constitutes an ecological hazard of the first
order. In fact, the United States, which leads the world in per capita carbon
emissions, remains one of the only nations in the world to not ratify the Kyoto
Protocol of 1997, a binding international treaty that regulates the production of
greenhouse gasses. Rather then address this troubling phenomenon directly, Toliver
concludes his ambitious study by encouraging scholars to scrutinize other natureoriented artworks as they too may harbor a similar endorsement of humankinds
tyranny over the natural world.
30
A Green Alternative
But what if there were a body of nature-oriented artworks that were genuinely
devoid of the domineering impulses present in works like La fanciulla del West and
Grand Canyon Suite, artworks that genuinely suggest a recalibration of humanitys
troubled relationship with the environment? Artifacts of this sort would not only
frustrate Adornos uncompromising pessimism regarding art and reconciliation, but
might also play a role in liberating humankind and nature alike from the recurring
pattern of domination that threatens the existence of both.
In her article The Pastoral After Environmentalism: Nature and Culture in
Stephen Alberts Symphony: RiverRun, Holly Watkins contends that such
emancipatory potential inheres in Alberts musical portrait of the river Liffey, which
she situates in the tradition of the neo-romantic pastoral.89 According to Watkins, the
neo-romantic pastoral melds the environmentalist concerns of the 1970s with the
coeval resurgence of musical romanticism. The genre achieves this synthesis through
its appropriation of the various pastoral topoi that permeate Western art music of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In accordance with this appropriation, the neoromantic pastoral consistently manifests some species of neo-tonality.
Watkins observes that this turn to the past constitutes something of a doubleedged sword for the genre. To be sure, its assured tonal gestures render it eminently
accessible to the concert-going public, which to this day remains largely
unsympathetic to the forbidding soundscapes of Schoenberg, Boulez and other high
priests of musical modernism. Indeed, the environmentalist themes espoused by the
31
neo-romantic pastoral have been able to reach a sizeable audience over the past thirty
years, a phenomenon that accords the genre the potential to effect widespread social
change. As Watkins explains, Neo-romanticisms very engagement with tradition
created new opportunities for commentary on the relationship between human and
natural worlds thanks to its knowing use of musical conventions in service of the
representation of nature.90
But the pastorals of Albert, Libby Larsen and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich pay a price
for their allegiance to the past, as neo-romanticism has drawn fierce accusations of
aesthetic retreat. Richard Dyer presents such an indictment in a 1993 piece on Albert
for the Boston Globe, writing, it is hard to sound sincere when you speak the
language of another day.91 To similarly minded critics like Milton Babbitt and
Bernard Holland, neo-romanticisms rejection of modernisms cherished commitment
to innovation necessarily excludes it from the hallowed halls of serious music. As
Watkins illustrates, the critical hostility towards neo-romanticism mirrors Leo Marxs
earlier denunciation of pastorals that merely pine for an uncomplicated trip to
Arcadia. Retreat, writes Watkins, whether to bygone tonal practices or to an
uncomplicated vision of man and nature in harmony, results in an escapist art drained
of contemporary critical significance.92
Although Watkins acknowledges that Symphony: RiverRun exposes itself to
charges of sentimental escapism on account of its neo-tonal style and predictably
rustic imagery, she maintains that Alberts pastoral imparts an appreciation for the
grandeur of the natural world. In her graceful execution of this hermeneutic
32
somersault, Watkins contrasts the narrative trajectory of Symphony: RiverRun with

that of Beethovens Pastoral Symphony. This comparison seems apt, as Beethovens
Sixth was performed alongside Alberts ode to the Liffey at the latters premiere in
January 1985. While both compositions turn to the human domain in their respective
third movements, they conclude in dramatically different fashions. Whereas the
Pastoral Symphony ends with a shepherds song and cheerful and thankful feelings
after the storm, the finale of Symphony: RiverRun evokes the receding music of
humanity as the river Liffey reaches the Irish Sea, effectively highlighting the
transience of human existence against the abiding flux of nature. According to
Watkins, By replacing the momentary joys and sorrows of human existence with the
eternal flow of the river, this work [Symphony: RiverRun] allows the natural world to
trump the human.93 In her ensuing musical analysis, Watkins demonstrates how
Symphony: RiverRun bolsters its ecocentric narrative by subverting the tonal
conventions it appropriates in ways that underscore the autonomous splendor of the
natural world. Accordingly, Alberts compositionpace Adornoattests to the
capacity of naturalistic art to challenge humankinds toxic domination of nature.
Debussy: Where Naturism and Modernism Collide
So how might the example of Symphony: RiverRun contextualize Debussys
naturism and its relationship to twentieth-century music? As the ensuing chapters of
this dissertation illustrate, Debussys music portrays nature as an intrinsically
majestic entity that warrants the veneration of our ephemeral species. In this respect,
the composers oeuvre shares an affinity with the environmental spirit of Symphony:
33
RiverRun. But in contrast to Albert and other exponents of the neo-romantic pastoral,
Debussy regarded nature as the ideal model for musical ingenuity because it generates
beauty that is unfettered by the precepts of cultural institutions that seek to police the
production and apprehension of beauty. Indeed, the composers persisting disdain for
musical academicism, which originated in his student days at the Paris Conservatoire
and informed each stage of his subsequent development as an artist, acts as a telling
foil to his naturism. In a condemnation of the aesthetic conformity promoted by the
Prix de Rome, the composer juxtaposes the inventiveness of nature with the
dogmatism of culture:
[Music] is allied to the movement of the waters, to the play of curves described
by the changing breezes. Nothing is more musical than a sunset! For anyone
who can be moved by what they see can learn the greatest lessons in
development here. That is to say, they can read them in Natures booka book
not well enough known among musicians, who tend to read nothing but their
own books about what the Masters have said, respectfully stirring the dust on
their works. All very well, but perhaps Art goes deeper than this.94
Debussys brand of naturism, which patently integrates modernisms allegiance
to innovation, may be illuminated by considering Jeux de vagues, the second
movement of La Mer. Arguably the composers most important orchestral work, La
Mer embodies Debussys overpowering attraction to the ocean. Responding to a
questionnaire in 1889, the composer indicates that he would have liked to become a
sailor, his fathers occupation, if not for the lure of music.95 And in his 1931
monograph Claude Debussy, vues prises de son intim, the composers longtime
friend Ren Peter recalls a hair-raising nautical adventure he shared with Debussy,
who displayed a near maniacal zest for the sea despite hazardous boating
34
conditions.96 Keith Spence provides a ready synopsis of this account in his article
Debussy at Sea:
To get to Cancale by sea you have to round the dangerous headland of the
Pointe de Grouin into the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, and the party was
presumably at this stage of the voyageand feeling thoroughly miserable,
when the scene opens. A storm was getting up, and the boat owner and his
mate were grumbling. First Germaine [girlfriend of Rens brother Paul] was
sick, then the other passengers, except for Debussy and Ren himself. There
was a cloudburst overhead, and in the midst of freezing rain the boat danced
up and down like a porpoise. Debussy was thoroughly enjoying himself, but
the boatman got furious and accused him of risking all their lives for the sake
of sensations fortes. To which Debussy replied: There is one powerful
sensation I have never experienced, the sensation of danger! It is not
unpleasant. You are alive! What if you die?, asked the practical boatman.
Better like this than from pneumonia or cancer, answered Debussy.
When they finally got to Cancale they were sufficiently recovered to lunch off
the local oystersafter which they all went for a walk, except Debussy.
When they got back to take the carriage home to St. Lunaire, they found that he
had gone, leaving a note saying: I have been smitten not with sea-sickness, but
with sea-seeing sickness.97
Evincing Debussys belief in the interrelation of ingenuity and nature, the
composer aspired to make his ode to the sea as progressive as possible, a hope
highlighted by at least three letters written during the evolution of the work. Though
one might envisage Debussy beginning his orchestral triptych amidst the sound of
waves crashing on the shore, he actually began the piece while on holiday in
landlocked Burgundy during the summer of 1903.98 In a contemporaneous letter to
the conductor Andr Messager, who had premiered Pellas the previous year,
Debussy not only declares his fidelity to the ocean but also states that his seascape
transcends the uninspired paintings that populated many Parisian studios:
Youre unaware, maybe, that I was intended for the noble career of a sailor and
have only deviated from that path thanks to the quirks of fate. Even so, Ive
35
retained a sincere devotion to the sea.

To which youll reply that the Atlantic doesnt exactly wash the foothills of
Burgundy! And that the result could be one of those hack landscapes done in
the studio! But I have innumerable memories, and those, in my view, are
worth more than a reality, which, charming as it may be, tends to weigh too
heavily on the imagination.99
Writing to his friend and publisher Jacques Durand one year later, Debussy
laments his inability to finish La Mer before the end of his vacation to Dieppe, where,
having abandoned his wife Lilly (ne Texier), he was cohabitating with his new
mistress Emma Bardac. In addition to a passing illness, the composer blames the
holdup on his need to perfect the orchestration, which he teasingly compares to the
sea on account of its volatility and diversity: I wanted to finish La Mer here
[Dieppe], but I still need to perfect the orchestration, which is tumultuous and varied
like thesea! (my apologies for the last).100 Finally nearing the completion of La
Mer in January 1905, Debussy once again penned a letter to Durand to explain his
sluggish progress. In this dispatch, the composer discusses last-minute revisions to
Jeux de vagues, which he carried out to actualize the ambitious goal of evoking the
free-form interplay of waves on the open water: Taken by fever one day, I was
forced to stay in bed. But I recomposed the end of Jeux de vagues so that it is
neither open nor closed.101
Amazingly, Debussy realized his lofty aims for La Mer, a point underscored by
the structural, harmonic and timbral novelty of Jeux de vagues. In this recalcitrant
scherzo, the composer creates an unprecedented form that evokes the undulations of
the sea while remaining thoroughly resistant to formal classification. Although
36
scholars have attempted to elucidate Jeux de vagues with a variety of schemata

ranging from ternary plus introduction to overlapping binary, these stabs at
classification fall short of penetrating the essence of the piece.102 Perhaps the most
sensible approach to such inscrutable music has been articulated by Douglass Green,
who suggests that musicians abandon the traditional concepts of statement,
development, and restatement [and listen] to the work as a coherent flow of short
moments merging from one to the next.103 Not surprisingly, the avant-garde layout
of Jeux de vagues was lauded by latter day composers like Jean Barraqu and
Herbert Eimert, who hailed the movement as a precursor to serialism and electroacoustic music, respectively.
Exhibiting a harmonic inventiveness commensurate with its structural novelty,
Jeux de vagues constitutes a tour de force of tonal fluidity. Improbably, the
movement opens with an F# minor 9 sonority that is immediately vaporized by the
deployment of a D6 chord and serpentine chromaticism in the flutes and clarinets
(mm. 1-8; Fig. 1). Repeated notes in the trumpet usher in a nebulous melody in the
English horn that outlines a tritone between C and F# (mm. 9-17; Fig. 2). In mm. 1827, a lone oboe borrows this theme and plays it up a tritone as the underlying
harmony shifts up an augmented fifth, an abrupt transposition that further undermines
any sense of tonal certainty (Fig. 3). Suddenly, a major ninth chord on B-flat emerges
as an irresolute tritone dominant to E, which seems to stake its claim as the tonal
center of the piece at the Assez anim in measure 36. Here a sense of tonal certainty
manifests itself in the form of a scintillating E major 7 chord with a chromatically
37
oscillating fifth. But this impression of surety is quickly sublimated by whole-tone

glissandos in the harps, which propel the movement into additional harmonic eddies
(mm. 28-59; Fig. 4). In fact, Debussy drowns the key of this aqueous romp until the
last four measures, where a discrete E major triad in root positionthe only one of its
kind in the entire movementfinally surfaces as the tonic sonority while a tempering
C# in the glockenspiel fades into silence (see mm. 249-261; Fig. 5). In his account of
the harmonic course of Jeux de vagues, Simon Trezise neatly encapsulates the
freshness of the piece: at the opening, tense dissonances incorporating major
sevenths are used, to be superceded in the sustained music of the second half by softer
dissonances with minor sevenths, and finally a major triad. Few symphonic works of
the nineteenth century exhibited such freedom.104
Debussys manipulation of timbre in Jeux de vagues exhibits further
inventiveness on the composers part. In the first four measures, he weaves a sonic
shimmer by layering three distinct elements: stratified tremolos in the strings, a
hushed chord in the low winds, and delicate arpeggios in the harps and glockenspiel.
This mesmerizing effect quickly gives way to disparate sounds in the flutes, clarinets
and trumpets, which occur in rapid succession. A bit too literally, Trezise envisages
this passage as a seagull spaying up water as it dives into the ocean in search of
prey.105 Nevertheless, such a construal speaks to the suggestive power of Debussys
orchestral wizardry. No less evocative are measures 62-68, in which the composer
introduces a flowing theme in the English horn amidst a sparkling texture that is
principally achieved by delicate, staccato triplets in the flutes and clarinets (Fig. 6).
38
The glistening interplay of the harps and glockenspiel as well as the first violins
striking alternation between pizzicato double-notes and arco trills enhance the
coruscating triplets in the winds. A resplendent doubling of the English horn theme
rounds off this passage, which is immediately followed by jarring chords in the
strings. Last but not least, Debussys layering of instrumental parts in the
movements climactic section effects a sense of unadulterated jubilation (mm. 184215, Fig. 7). The passage begins with soft chords in the strings that are accompanied
by broken octaves in the harps. Note how the division of these octaves between the
first and second harp creates a captivating stereo effect (mm. 184-185). Over the
ensuing ten measures, Debussy builds the texture through the incorporation of various
figures in the woodwinds. As the harmony abruptly shifts from D to D# minor in
measure 196, the composer expands the thirds in the first and second violins to sixths,
further augmenting the building wall of sound. The harps fortissimo arpeggiations of
an E7 chord in measure 200 herald the blissful explosion of sound that finally occurs
in measure 212.
The commingling of nature and innovation in Jeux de vagues characterizes
much of Debussys oeuvre, a phenomenon that clearly distances the composers
aesthetic from the nostalgia of the neo-romantic pastoral. This is not to say, however,
that Debussys naturism failed to take root in the twentieth century. As Watkins
notes in her essay, non-tonal idioms do not necessarily exclude the pastoral, nor do
pastoral themes require a conservative or nostalgic musical treatment.106 As this
dissertation demonstrates, modernist luminaries like Bla Bartk, Olivier Messiaen
39
and Tru Takemitsu specifically embraced Debussys vision of nature as an aweinspiring impetus for musical ingenuity. Consequently, Debussy may be regarded as
the progenitor of a widely adopted naturism that presents unique challenges to
Adornos negative assessment of naturalistic art on account of its avant-garde ethos.
But to fully appreciate the implications of Debussys naturism, it is necessary to
understand its development, content and context. Accordingly, my study turns
toward the criticism that the composer published between 1901 and 1917. This rich
body of prose, a veritable playground of ideas for the ecologically inclined humanist,
acts as a window into the soul of a brilliantly green artist.
40
Chapter 2
An Itinerant Critic
Youre aware that Ive gone back to being a music criticYoull say, quite rightly,
[that] its not an event to change anything in the established order. Still, one must go
on religiously trying to put things back where they belong in an attempt to recover the
values falsified by arbitrary judgments and capricious interpretations, so that people
can no longer distinguish between a Bach fugue and the Marche Lorraine.
Claude Debussy to Robert Godet, January 18, 1913
Introduction
In contrast to other prominent composer-critics of the long nineteenth century
like Hector Berlioz and Robert Schumann, both of whom turned to criticism in their
mid-twenties, Debussy bloomed late as a pundit, joining the Parisian press at the age
of thirty-eight. Admittedly, he had flirted with a few literary endeavors during his
earlier years. Along with his friend Ren Peter, Debussy planned to establish a
review that would feature a dizzying assortment of contributors, ranging from the
eminent Sorbonne historian Ernest Lavisse to the equally eminent courtesan Liane de
Pougy. In further collaboration with Peter, Debussy intended to stage Les Frres en
Art, an original play in which a group of artists establish a secret fraternity to combat
the inequitable commoditization of their work. Last but not least, the composer
promised the imminent publication of a polemic entitled On the Uselessness of
Wagnerism, an announcement that excited members of the musical cognoscenti like
Debussys former classmate Paul Dukas, who enthused to fellow composer Vincent
dIndy: I have no idea what that could be, but when it comes out, Ill get it. It could
41
be quite profound and its rightly said that truth comes from the mouths of children.
The title is rather good, isnt it? And you can tell its author a mile off! 1
But typical of Debussys proclivity for abandoning creative ventures before
their completion, these literary efforts, all of which date from the early 1890s, never
came to fruition. It was not until April 1901 that the composer turned to the written
word in earnest by filling the music-critic vacancy at La revue blanche, an influential
arts magazine devoted to all things avant-garde. By this time, Debussy had already
composed many of his most celebrated works, including Prlude laprs-midi dun
faune, Pellas et Mlisande and Nocturnes, so from the very outset, his criticism
reflects the thinking of a highly developed artist. During the remaining seventeen
years of his life, Debussy produced dozens of essays and interviews for a gamut of
publications that spanned the freewheeling La revue blanche on the one hand and the
prim bulletin of the Socit Internationale de Musique, or S.I.M., on the other. While
most of these writings assume the guise of garden-variety concert reviews, Debussys
impression of a given performance typically serves as a point of departure for the
articulation of some greater aesthetic truth involving the mysterious affinity between
Nature and the Imagination.2 Despite this conspicuous inclination, scholars have yet
to subject Debussys musings to the increasingly relevant gaze of ecocriticism.
Scrutinized through this hermeneutic lens, Debussys punditry emerges as the credo
of a composer deeply devoted to the mysterious beauty of the natural world and
equally troubled by the relentless onslaught of industrialization. Accordingly,
Debussys critical output may be regarded as a discrete point along a continuum of
42
environmentally conscious literature that stretches from Francis of Assisis Canticle

of the Sun to Rachel Carsons Silent Spring and beyond. Moreover, Debussys
reverence for nature permeates virtually every nook of his oeuvre; indeed, its
centrality cannot be overstated. As the rakish littrateur Henry Gauthier-Villars, aka
Willy, remarked with respect to the close correspondence between Debussys
criticism and music, all the paradoxes do not just appear in La revue blanche, but are
entered on paper ruled in five lines of five lines.3 But where Gauthier-Villars
glimpsed a concatenation of contradictions, this dissertation discerns a synergy that
urges humankind to rethink its troubled relationship with the natural world.
Unpacking the naturist content of Debussys criticism proves tricky, however,
because it forces the musicologist to balance chronological concerns with thematic
ones. To be sure, several salient motifs pertinent to the composers nature-worship
materialize upon studying his critical output, and such motifs cry out for analysis.
But it is important to recognize that the principal themes in Debussys criticism took
shape over a period of seventeen years. During this interval, the composer not only
witnessed sweeping changes in his personal and professional life but also produced
articles for an array of periodicals, each with its own unique makeup. Consequently,
a purely thematic analysis of Debussys critical musings would be just as inadequate
as a dissection that was purely chronological. Notwithstanding the valuable insights
it conveys, Didre Donnellons essay Debussy as Musician and Critic sidesteps this
dilemma by providing little in the way of context for the composers prewar
publications, which, it should be noted, comprise well over ninety percent of his total
43
criticism.4 In a gluttonous effort to have my cake and eat it too, I historicize

Debussys critical career in the present chapter, thereby providing crucial background
for the motivic evaluation of his criticism that follows in Chapter 3.
Anarchy at La revue blanche
Although Debussy enjoyed a string of successes during the final years of the
nineteenth century, he remained on the periphery of French musical life until the
spring of 1902, when the premiere of Pellas et Mlisande at the Opra-Comique
rocketed him to stardom. As an up-and-coming bohemian in the spring of 1901,
Debussy was an ideal hire for the cutting-edge La revue blanche. Founded in 1889
by a coterie of young aesthetes, the magazine came to boast a staff that included some
of the most creative minds in Paris. In her memoirs, the Polish pianist Misia Sert,
who had been married to one of the periodicals founders, recalls the magazines
stunning roster:
I found myself quite at home, surrounded by Mallarm, Paul Valry, Lautrec,
Vuillard, Bonnard (these last three still mocked by the world at large, who
misunderstood their pictures), Lon Blum, Flix Fnon, Ghion, who
exasperated me with his javions, Tristan Bernhard, Jules Renard (whose wife
managed the house), Henri de Rgnier, the charming Mirbeau with his wife
the heroine of Calvaire, Jarry, La Jeunesse, Coolus, Debussy (married to a thin,
dark little nanny goat), Vollard, the ravishing Colette with her triangular face
and wasp waist drawn in so tightly that she had the silhouette of a schoolgirl,
and her husband Willy, who called her professeur and whose crude stories I
hardly understood. With few exceptions we were all under thirty, and I was but
sixteen5
As one might expect, this vibrant cast of characters imbued the pages of La
revue blanche with a distinctly progressive ethos. But above all, the periodicals
commitment to the avant-garde was cultivated by its editor-in-chief, Flix Fnon.
44
As a critic, Fnon achieved fame by denouncing academicism and promoting the

works of Neo-Impressionists like Georges Seurat and Paul Signac at a time when they
were largely misconstrued by the Parisian intelligentsia. In fact, Fnon coined the
term Neo-Impressionism to distinguish its pointillist approach from the loose
brushstrokes of Impressionism while highlighting the underlying affinity between the
two aesthetics. Although he produced very little in the way of published criticism,
Fnon was revered for his acumen. Stphane Mallarm regarded him as one of the
most subtle and astute critics that we have, and the Symbolist littrateur Rmy de
Gourmont declared, we have had, perhaps, one critic in a hundred yearsand that is
Flix Fnon.6 Perhaps the ultimate tribute to Fnon, however, came from Signac,
who immortalized the critic in his Neo-Impressionist canvas Opus 217: Against the
Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints, Portrait
of M. Flix Fnon in 1890 (Fig. 8).
Like the Neo-Impressionists whose work he applauded, Fnon had close ties to
the anarchist movement in France, which rose to prominence in the decades following
the brutal suppression of the Paris Commune in 1871.7 In the wake of Auguste
Vaillants bombing of the Chamber of Deputies on December 9, 1893, the Third
Republic passed a series of laws, known derisively as the lois sclrates or
villainous laws, that effectively allowed the police to summarily arrest anyone
suspected of advocating anarchism. The ensuing witch-hunt saw numerous leftist
intellectuals taken into custody, including Fnon. At the critics trial, Mallarm
averred that Fnon was a nonviolent supporter of anarchism and above the use of
45
anything else but literature to describe his ideas.8 Thanks to the famed poets
testimony, the defendant was ultimately acquitted of the charges leveled against him.
Seemingly unfazed by this brush with the law, Fnon remained a committed
anarchist (aesthetically, at least) and brought his anti-establishment views to bear on
La revue blanche when he became the magazines editor-in-chief in 1896. By dint of
his artistic vision and leadership, La revue blanche evolved into one of the most
significant periodicals of its time. But in spite of Fnons pioneering influence, the
magazines music criticism paled in comparison to its other constitutive elements
until Debussy arrived on the scene, that is. As Franois Lesure notes in the
introduction to his compilation of the composers critical musings:
The music columns of La revue blanche had not previously been noted for
either continuity or originalitythe Wagnerian music columnist Alfred Ernst
and Andr Corneau, critic of Le Matin and Le Franais, succeeded each other
between 1892 and 1901so the appearance of Debussy on the team was much
more in line with the style of this dynamic and advanced review.9
Indeed, Fnon employed a kindred spirit in Debussy, who also espoused
maverick notions in the realm of art thanks to the stifling academicism he was forced
to endure during his student years (more on this in Chapter 3). Anarchism
specifically influenced the composer and his Symbolist friends through Edmond
Baillys bookshop LArt Indpendent, where the first edition of Cinq pomes de
Baudelaire went on sale, and Francis Vil-Griffins literary review Les Entretiens
politiques et littraires, which published numerous essays arguing for the liberation
of verse whilst extolling the beauty of nature.10 Debussy and Peters unfinished play
Les Frres en art [F. E. A.] also bears witness to the two friends absorption of
46
anarchist thought. As Richard Langham Smith notes in his account of the project.,
This pipe dream is interesting not only as a curious echo of the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood, which was becoming widely publicized in France during the nineties,
but also as a counterpart to the militant anarchist unions.11
Les Frres en Art [F. E. A.] may be described as a pice clef, a genre in which
notable personalities of the day appear under assumed names. For example, the
painter Maltravers is Debussy, Maltraverss mistress Marie is Debussys wife Lilly
Texier, and the English critic Redburne is an amalgam of Algernon Chalres
Swinburne and John Ruskin.12 Maltravers, who ultimately comes to threaten the
stability of the newly formed brotherhood, is described in Debussys hand as nearly
an anarchist. In the first tableau of the play, the opinionated painter lauds the
authenticity of nature at the expense of libraries, which he deems repositories of
inferior verity: As for librariesyou can only find changing aspects of the Truth
there. Believe me, the Truth is not in books, rather it is in the form of a tree or the
color of the sky!13 Maltravers upbraids his colleagues with similarly evocative
language at the climax of the third tableau: Art is the flame in the young, new light
of the morning; sometimes it is when the sun shines gently, others in the days which
finish in an orgy of gold and blood like the Egyptian kingsArt is liberty and you
make it a formula.14
Maltraverss unique blend of naturism and anarchism characterizes much of
Debussys published criticism. Not surprisingly, the more conservative members of
the Parisian cognoscenti reacted hostilely to the composers anti-authoritarian views
47
when they debuted in La revue blanche. Consider the high-handed attack on Debussy
that was published by the novelist Josphin Pladan, who evidently believed that
music observed the same rules from Renaissance polyphony to the cyclical forms of
Csar Franck:
When I had the opportunity to compose a recital program, I put the Pope
Marcellus Mass on it. When I heard Franck, without recourse to paper or
shouting, I wrote a novel in my head about how Franck was the greatest
musician since Berlioz. Lastly, I magnified Wagner with all my strength, as
much as a poet as a composerDebussys music, however, might be the only
kind that is radically disagreeable to me, to the point of physical illnessIn La
revue blanche I have read blasphemies against masterpieces and the masters
themselves, and I have doubts about the merit of those who lack respect for our
iconsM. Debussy resembles nobody: musically deformed and
impressionistic, he corresponds perhaps to some nervous category that is
difficult to designate. But to see in him a chief of a school or a novelty that
might be of value to others is to forget that all the masterpieces resemble each
other because they obey the same rules from Palestrina to Wagner, from Bach
to Berlioz and Franck. 15
As per Pladans rant, Debussys articles for La revue blanche burst with
anti-establishment rhetoric, much of which glorifies nature. In one well-known
instance, Debussys literary mouthpiece M. Croche favorably compares a sunrise with
Beethovens Sixth Symphony:
Music contains so many impulses you could write a song about them. My
favorite music is those few notes an Egyptian shepherd plays on his flute: he is
part of the landscape around him, and he knows harmonies that arent in our
books. The musicians hear only music written by practiced hands, never the
music of nature herself. To see the sunrise does one far more good than hearing
the Pastoral Symphony.16
Admittedly, Debussy did not always resort to nature-imagery when crafting his
invective; indeed, his iconoclasm could be far more blunt. Note the composers
favorable juxtaposition of Paul Dukas immense Piano Sonata with those penned by
48
the mighty Beethoven, which, in the words of M. Croche, are very badly written for
the piano, and are really more like orchestral transcriptions, especially the last ones.
Often they seem to require a third hand, which Im sure Beethoven intended, at least I
hope he did.17 In another inflammatory article, Debussy takes the venerable Opra
to task for its humdrum programming: Everybody knows the Paris Opra, at least by
reputation. It is with regret that I assure you it hasnt changed at all: for the sake of
the passer-by who hasnt been warned, let me say it looks like a railway station. But
once youre inside youll be more likely to mistake it for a Turkish bath. The Opras
business is noise: those who have paid for it call it music. Dont believe them.18
The subversive Fnon gave Debussys offbeat views free rein in the pages of
La revue blanche, an arrangement that was mutually beneficial for a time. The
quality of the periodicals music criticism improved markedly thanks to the
composers deliciously irreverent prose, while Debussy gained much-needed
exposure, not to mention money, through his provocative essays. But in the waning
months of 1901, the stress caused by the looming premieres of Nocturnes and Pellas
prompted the composer to abandon his position at La revue blanche after penning
eight articles. In his letter of resignation to Fnon, the composers regret seems
palpable: I think that the overwork and nervous strain of these past few months are
the cause of my inability to write as I should. In any case, Ive tried. Its inexcusably
stupidI will leave La revue blanche with bitter regret, not because of the small job I
held there, but because of the precious fondness I have for it.19
49
Claude and Claudine

Debussys departure from La revue blanche in December 1901 inaugurated a
yearlong hiatus in his budding career as a columnist. In the interim, the successful
premiere of Pellas at the Opra-Comique secured a place for the composer among
the cultural elite of Paris. In fact, Debussy was named Chevalier de la Lgion
dHonneur shortly after the first revival of Pellas in the autumn of 1902. Peter later
recounted a poignant anecdote from this momentous period in the composers life:
The morning after Debussy had been made a member of the Lgion dHonneur,
he put a light overcoat on top of the ribbon and hailed a cab to go to the corner
of the suburbs where his father lived. Debussy pre was standing out on the
lawn of his tiny garden in his shirtsleeves, a waxing brush in his right hand, his
left inside a large shoe, which he was polishing. As he didnt see his son at
first, Debussy gave a loud cough.
Ah, my dear boy, what a nice surprise!
That was not the end of the surprises, for Claude came towards his father and,
without saying anything, briskly opened his overcoat. His father too was
speechless; he stood stock still, looking dazed and pale; two large tears,
nourished by twenty years of disappointment, rolled down his cheeks and into
his moustache before he could recover himself. Then suddenly he embraced
Claude in a frenzy of love.
Ah, my boy! My boy!
while the back of the new chevalier was subjected to furious, repeated blows
from the ecstatic brush and the grateful shoe. Claude loved telling this story.
You see, he said, in that brief moment I could feel pride at having been
good for something.20
In the afterglow of Debussys operatic triumph, two competing periodicals
solicited the composers commentary. On December 15, 1902, the monthly magazine
La Renaissance latine announced that it would feature Debussys ruminations in
50
forthcoming issues. After some characteristic procrastination on the composers part,

Debussy submitted for publication a brief article entitled Music in the Open Air, in
which he calls for the symbiotic integration of music and nature. In the composers
view, this rapturous union would contravene the restrictive academicism of
contemporary musical life:
For the trees we should have a large orchestra with the support of human
voices. (No! Not a choral society, thank you!) I envisage the possibility of a
music especially written for the open air, flowing in bold, broad lines from both
the orchestra and the voices. It would resound through the open spaces and
float joyfully over the tops of the trees, and any harmonic progression that
sounded stifled within the confines of a concert hall would take on a new
significance. Perhaps this is the answer to the question of how to kill off that
silly obsession with overprecise forms and tonality, which so unfortunately
encumber music. She could certainly be regenerated, taking a lesson in
freedom from the blossoming of the trees. What she lost in the charm of details
she would gain from her newfound grandeur. It must be understood that it
would mean working not with the gross but with the grand. Neither would
it be a question of annoying the echoes by repeating huge clusters of sound ad
nauseam, but rather taking advantage of them by using them to prolong the
impression of harmony. It would be a mysterious collaboration between the air,
the movement of the leaves, and the scent of the flowersall mingled into
music. She would be reunited with all these elements in such a natural marriage
that she would seem to live in each one of them. Then, at least, we could prove
once and for all that music and poetry are the only two arts that live and move
in space itselfI might be mistaken, but it seems to me that here are
possibilities for future generations. But for us at this time Ive a feeling that
music will continue to be rather stuffy.21
Despite the verve of Debussys prose, the director of La Renaissance latine was
less than thrilled with the composers naturist reverie. In fact, he dubbed Debussys
essay ridiculous and inscribed the instruction to be destroyed on the proofs,
which ultimately came into the possession of the late musicologist Edward
Lockspeiser.22 On account of this editorial antagonism, the composers relationship
with La Renaissance latine withered briskly on the vine.
51
Fortunately for Debussys growing fan base, the composers association with
the periodical Gil Blas was decidedly more fruitful. Named after the quick-witted
hero of Alain-Ren Lesages eponymous picaresque novel, Gil Blas was a daily paper
that not only provided news and criticism but also serialized novels before they
appeared as books. Like La revue blanche, Gil Blas fostered artistic innovation and
enjoyed an impressive list of contributors, including mile Zola, Auguste Villiers de
lIsle-Adam and Guy de Maupassant. In 1903 Debussy left his mark on the
periodical by publishing some twenty-five articles between January 12 and June 28.
Far and away, this five-month span constitutes the composers most prolific stretch as
a critic. Aside from the first set of Images for piano, Debussy produced little in the
way of new music during this period, and his typically robust correspondence tapered
off significantly. Instead, the newly empowered composer was preoccupied with
setting the record straight on a number of aesthetic issues. Gil Blas was a welcome
medium for this reckoning.
Similar to present-day newscasts, Gil Blas regularly featured pundits with
divergent perspectives. The paper would dispatch two critics to a given performance,
and their reviews would materialize opposite each other in the same issue. Creating
one of the more interesting collaborations in the history of music criticism, the brass
at Gil Blas decided to pair Debussy with another migr from La revue blanche,
namely, the alluring Colette. Ne Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and regarded as one of
the more intriguing personalities of early twentieth-century Paris, Colette is
commonly remembered for her 1945 novella Gigi, which was subsequently adapted
52
into a wildly successful musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. But in
1903 she was known as the woman behind the immensely popular Claudine novels,
which recount the homoerotic escapades of a young schoolgirl (Fig. 9). Originally
published between 1900 and 1903 under the nom-de-plume of Colettes husband
Gauthier-Villars, the four books comprising the Claudine series spawned a marketing
and merchandizing campaign that would make George Lucas salivate. The novels
were dramatized as a musical in 1902, and devotees of the series could purchase a
plethora of Claudine-branded goods, including soap, perfume and cigarettes.
Aiming to capitalize further on her newfound celebrity, Colette published under
the pen name Claudine when she teamed up with Debussy at Gil Blas. Like her
fictional namesake, Claudine the critic assumed the pose of a nave country girl, as
evidenced by the opening lines of her first column: Rest assured that I shall be
speaking little of music. First of all, because it would bore me stiff, and secondly,
because Debussy with his ebony curls seems to be more qualified in that respect
better to be Claude than Claudine! My contribution to criticism will be my good faith
and coarse upbringingqualities that have already made me many enemies. Each
day I hope to increase their number!23 Here and elsewhere, Claudines combative
tone and ironic aversion to music patently model themselves on Debussys musings.
In his debut article for La revue blanche, the composer similarly dismisses music:
I shall be discussing established classics very little, no matter if they are
popular or traditionally famous. Once and for all: Meyerbeer, Thalberg, and
Reyerthey are men of genius. But thats as far as their importance goes.
On Sundays when the good Lord is kind, I shall not be listening to music at all.
For this I apologize in advance. Finally, let me add that I prefer to keep to
53
impressions, for only these can give me the freedom to keep my feelings
immune from parasitic aesthetics.24
As it happened, Claude and Claudine crooned in harmony on a number of issues
despite their divergent opinions of Berlioz and Strauss.25 Like her critical
counterpart, Colette exhibited something of a love-hate relationship with Wagner (see
Chapter 4 for a full account of Debussys estimation of the German composer).
While she adored the orchestral Forest Murmurs from Siegfried, she condemned
Wagners penchant for pomp and circumstance. In her 1903 novel Claudine sen va,
most of which is set in the Holy City of Bayreuth, Colette expresses her disdain for
Wagners bombast through the wisecracks of the caf-concert singer Polaire, who
appears as a character in the book. Born mile Marie Bouchaud, Polaire was a
salient performer of her era, and it was she who created the title role in the 1902
dramatization of the Claudine series. A champion of popular music, Polaire wastes
no time in mocking Wagners magniloquent music when she appears in Colettes
novel: There is nothing [here] to make you fall flat on your fanny! And for his
music, why, its just like a band. Makes you want to salute and slap your right
thigh!26 Polaire seems particularly repulsed by Der Fliegende Hollnder, which she
describes as a piece of sentimental filth, the dregs of Italian-German opera.27
In addition to a conflicted estimation of Wagners oeuvre, Colette shared with
Debussy a scorn for pedantic musical analysis. Indeed, both commentators espoused
the Symbolist conviction that mystery constitutes an indispensable aspect of
compelling art as it invites the imaginative collaboration between subject and
object.28 In their respective reviews of a performance given by the Concerts
54
Lamoureux in February 1903, Claude and Claudine denounce the organizers for
furnishing the audience with a motivic primer for Guy Ropartzs Symphony on a
Breton Chant, which appeared on the program alongside Mozarts Symphony in Eflat, K. 543. Debussys humorous comments on the matter not only underscore the
composers negative disposition towards the academicism of the contemporary
symphony, but also illustrate his belief that overscrupulous dissection undermines the
suggestive powers of music, not the least of which is its ability to evoke nature:
I would like to protest against a custom that is prevalent each time a modern
symphony is performed: that is, that a four-page thematic analysis containing
the text as well as numerous illustrated examples is distributed among the
audience. It tells everyone how a composer should treat his theme, and puts the
secrets of composing a symphony at the disposal of the public. There is nothing
to prevent the dilettante listener from being attracted to the idea of composing
his own little symphony! Being unable to contain himself, he might even take
it, still warm, to M. Chevillard. Its an encouragement to all the horrors of the
symphony. Moreover, I believe that it is dangerous to initiate laymen into the
secrets of musical chemistry. Some people do treat these little analyses with
suspicion, as if they were explosive, others treat them with puzzled
stupefaction, but the most sensible people send them gently away on the north
wind, or quite simply put them in their pocketsand there is the real moral of
the story
I must confess that the words on a Breton Chant had made me imagine the
opposite of what it meant to Guy Ropartz. I envisaged Brittany with its hard,
stark countryside and its deep green sea, which is more beautiful than anywhere
else. And I saw the Breton chant as her fiercely religious soul, of the kind that
makes one awestruck, as if an old cathedral. Then I was handed a little
brochure to enable me to follow the whimsical pranks of the chant. In all
seriousness I am not making fun of symphonic form. I know that Guy Ropartz
could have written a brilliant piece. If only he hadnt thought it necessary to
wrench a symphony out of this Breton chant! After all, it had done him no
harm. He should have respected it like the true Breton he is. I hope he will
pardon me if I seem to be giving him a lesson, but his example is a lesson for all
of us concerned with music.29
55
Time and again, Claudine expressed a comparable aversion to dogmatic

analysis, which she too viewed as antithetical to the mysterious beauty of nature and
art. In one particularly pithy instance, she writes, the experts will tell you why that
was beautifulFor my own part I am only Claudine, someone frequently
overwhelmed by beautyin music, in painting, and above all in nature. But I have
no wish to analyze it.30 Like the contemporaneous anarchist who identified himself
as the son of Nature when he was questioned by a magistrate on charges of
burglary, Colettes evocative iconoclasm suggests that naturism was not a mindset
peculiar to Debussy, but rather an ideological current that flowed through French
intellectual life during the denouement of the long nineteenth century.31
Such Hardy Specialists
In spite of his productive partnership with Colette, Debussy left Gil Blas a mere
five months after writing his first article for the periodical. Like his departure from
La revue blanche, stress seems to have been the primary factor in this decision. The
pivotal events of the previous eighteen months had taken their toll on the composer,
who wrote to his friend Pierre Lous that he felt sickened by age.32 In his
monograph Debussy: Documents iconographiques, Andr Gauthier suggests that this
turn of phrase indicates that the composer was already beginning to feel symptoms of
the malignancy that would ultimately claim his life, but Debussys cancer would not
develop for another six years.33 Even so, the summer of 1903 found Debussy utterly
exhausted by his rise to fame. In view of this fatigue, the composer elected to
temporarily shelve his critical ambitions, focusing what remained of his brainpower
56
on finding a new musical direction that would be convincingly post-Pellas.

Debussys second hiatus from criticism dwarfed his first; indeed, more than
nine years evaporated before the composer once again contributed regularly to a
periodical. This is not say, however, that he produced nothing in the way of criticism
during this stretch. In addition to giving insightful interviews to a variety of
publications, Debussy penned a short article on each of four musical personalities that
he held dear: Charles Gounod, Mary Garden, Jean-Philippe Rameau and Jules
Massenet.34 All four essays bear witness to the lan of Debussys prose, but
Apropos of Charles Gounod is the most pertinent to the aims of the present
dissertation because it underscores Debussys contempt for academicism in the arts.
In this testimonial, Debussy communicates a tempered respect for his subject that
contrasts sharply with the boundless enthusiasm that he later expressed for Gardens
artistry.35 The prodigious mass appeal of Faust made the composer of Pellas
uneasy; after all, such popularity inhibited the staging of new productions, as
evidenced by the Opras insistence on programming the same works over and over
again. Nevertheless, Debussy admired Gounod for maintaining a spirit of
independence in the face of encroaching Wagnerism:
Gounod was never part of any school. It is something like that popular attitude
held by the masses: when they are encouraged to raise their aesthetic sights,
they merely reply by going back to what they are accustomed to. And that is
not always in the best of taste, either. It wavers fearlessly between Pre la
Victoire and Die Walkre. The people who so cautiously make up the elite take
off their hats to the famous, the accepted, and they encourage others to do the
same. But nothing comes of it all, for those would-be educators soon run out of
breath, and the masses will not allow their hearts to be won over: art continues
to have a will of its own, and the Opra persists in putting on Faust
57
If Gounods influence is questionable, Wagners is only too apparent. He,

however, influenced only the specialists, which leads one to conclude that there
must have been something lacking. It must be confessed that there is nothing
more deplorable than that neo-Wagnerian school in which French genius is
obscured by a lot of imitation Wotans in long boots and Tristans in velvet
jackets.
Even if Gounod didnt tread the harmonious paths we would have like him to,
he must nonetheless be praised for having known how to avoid the imperious
spirit of Wagner, whose utterly Germanic nature never lived up to his ideal of a
fusion of the artsan ideal that has now become scarcely more than a
fashionable stock in trade among the literary36
Baldly expressed in his comparison of Gounod and Wagner, Debussys
aversion to aesthetic specialists played a significant role in his protracted break from
regular criticism. In April 1905, the critic Louis Laloy, whom Debussy had
befriended, sought the composers input on a fitting name for a new music periodical
that he was preparing to launch. Laloy appears to have favored two potential titles for
the review: Le mercure de France and Le mercure musical. In a letter to Laloy dated
April 21, 1905, Debussy professes enthusiasm for the former title because it had been
used by a prominent eighteenth-century journal and thus possessed a modicum of
cultural stature. But the composer expresses concern about the latter appellation
because it lacked such a pedigree. According to Debussy, this lacuna could expose
the fledgling periodical to a volley of lewd jests from the Parisian public, who
associated mercury (le mercure) with syphilis since physicians routinely employed
it to treat the disease. A pagan naturist to the hilt, the composer offers La Flte de
Pan as a potential title, but his words ultimately fell on deaf ears. Laloy went ahead
and dubbed his review Le mercure musicalsyphilis jokes be damned.37
Seemingly unperturbed by his discarded suggestions, Debussy agreed to support
58
his friends new publication in the guise of M. Croche. In a letter to Laloy penned on
May 2, 1905, the composer writes, Reserve me a corner under the title
Conversations with M. Croche. Hes a man that I used to see a lot in former times.
Lets hope that I will find him again.38 Le mercure musical swiftly announced the
forthcoming appearance of the fictional critic. But predictably, the composers article
never surfaced in Laloys journal. Not only was Debussy unimpressed with the
highbrow tone of the first few issues, which differed markedly from the literary joie
de vivre that characterized La revue blanche and Gil Blas, but he was also uneasy
about working alongside the staff at Le mercure musicale, which in his view
amounted to an overly erudite cadre of specialists. Rather than resurrect M. Croche
for Laloys periodical, Debussy decided to bury him once and for all. In a letter to his
friend dated September 13, 1905, the composer wryly eulogizes his deceased
spokesman after attacking the personnel at Le mercure musical:
Apart from yourself, dear friend, the people of the Mercure musical are
dreadful; above all they are so terribly informed. I really dont see what poor
M. Croche would do among such hardy specialists. I would like to tell you of
his death in these terms:
M. Croche, antidilettante, justly disheartened by the musical standards of these
times, has quietly passed away amidst general indifference. It is requested that
no flowers or wreaths be sent and above all there is to be no music.39
Heedless of Debussys characteristic reneging, Laloy continued to cajole his
friend on behalf of Le mercure musicale until the composer put his foot down once
and for all in March 1906. The strain of the previous six months left Debussy dogtiredand for good reason. Consider, for example, the events of October 1905,
which Debussy biographer Roger Nichols regards as one of the busiest months of
59
Debussys entire life.40 In this brief period, the composer moved into a new
residence at 80 avenue Bois de Boulogne with his lover Emma Bardac, supervised the
oft-stormy rehearsals leading up to the premiere of La Mer under the direction of
Chevillard at the Concerts Lamoureux, oversaw Jacques Durands publication of the
first set of Images for piano and greeted the birth of his daughter Chouchou, who
quickly became the apple of her fathers eye. The opening months of 1906 proved
similarly hectic for Debussy, who not only had a newborn to nurture but a bevy of
musical projects to cultivate as well, including Ibria and Le diable dans le beffroi, an
operetta based on the eponymous short story by Edgar Allen Poe. But surprisingly,
Debussy does not emphasize these legitimate concerns in his final letter of refusal to
Laloy. Instead, the composer rails against the dismal state of contemporary music
criticism, which would dissuade him from producing regular commentary for several
years:
Its very kind of you to be so insistent on the subject of M. CrocheBut hes
no longer very well in touch with the musical mores of his age. Whats the
point, in any case, of spelling out his opinions to people who dont listen!
Music is currently split up into lots of little republics in which everyone is
determined to shout louder than the man next door. The result is such horrible
music, one begins to fear a taste for the other sort of music may not long
survive, and its no consolation to see a sort of pretentious mediocrity gaining
ground. Its not only irritating but positively harmful.
You know, better than I do, the standard of writings about music. Today, if you
dont know what to do or, especially, what to say, you improvise some art
criticism! As for the artists themselves, theyve taken to profound dreaming
about aesthetic problemsthe strange thing is, they generally talk more
rubbish than the other lotaltogether not very stimulating!41
60
An Unlikely Couple
Six years after Debussy penned his conclusive demurral to Laloy, the last
remnants of the foundering Mercure were subsumed by the monthly bulletin of the
Socit Internationale de Musique, or S.I.M., a decidedly highbrow journal that was
headed up by the critic mile Vuillermoz. An accomplished musician in his own
right, Vuillermoz offered Debussy a position covering the celebrated Concerts
Colonne. Apparently, six years of critical silence was enough for the opinionated
composer, who readily accepted the post. According to Langham Smith, Debussy
had several times backed out of contributing to this type of paper [S.I.M.], the
forerunner of academic musicological journals, but his desire to retain a mouthpiece
for his ideas seems to have triumphed in the end.42
Although the erudite S.I.M. differed dramatically from the free-spirited La
revue blanche in terms of its editorial tone, Vuillermoz adopted the latters policy of
hiring prominent composers for concert reviews. As a result, critiques by luminaries
like Debussy, Satie and dIndy could all appear in the same issue of S.I.M., as they
did when the periodical debuted in November 1912 (Fig. 10). Taking an additional
cue from Gil Blas, Vuillermoz paired critics with strongly contrasting viewpoints and
published their essays alongside one another. Thus the progressive Debussy was
matched with the conservative dIndy, who had been hired by S.I.M. to report on the
Concerts Lamoureux. Clearly, Vuillermoz possessed a keen sense for the sensational:
in coupling these seemingly incompatible personalities, he created a buzz-worthy
situation in which rival composers were reviewing rival concert series. As Donnellon
61
notes, Debussy was frequently posited by the critics as the alternative to the
teachings of the more conservative dIndy. While Debussy came to be seen as the
revolutionary head of the unhealthy school of Debussysme, dIndy was the pioneering
figure behind the traditional Schola Cantorum. The emotional basis of Debussys
Symbolist music was contrasted with the intellectual basis of dIndys art.43
But a closer look at Debussy and dIndys collaboration at S.I.M. indicates that
concert reviews amounted to little more than pretexts for both composers, who used
their allocated space to expound on their divergent aesthetic philosophies.
Occasionally, fireworks ensued. Consider, for example, dIndys scathing citation of
Debussy as one of the chief culprits for the decline of music, which appeared in
S.I.M.s inaugural issue:
In the eighteenth century, Rameau had the idea of discretely adding, under
certain circumstances, a note to the perfect chord, the basis of all music. In the
nineteenth century, with particular effects in mind, Russian composers
used the whole-tone scale, a process that might be called atonal because it
prevents any possibility of modulation.
In the twentieth century, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel also used these
methods, enlarging them, often applying them in most ingenious ways; but they
made the mistake (one must be bold enough to speak the truth about those one
admires) of forming principles from them, or at least of allowing others to form
principles from themtheir muftis and ulemasuntil they become a sort
of formulae established by fashion. From the harmonic sensation, the
titillation of orchestral timbres, there is now no escape.
This is a serious mistake, for far from constituting progress, a step forward, it
will end up by being a step backward for our art, taking us back at least a
hundred years.44
To be sure, this was not the first instance in which dIndy expressed misgivings
Debussys music. In a candid critique of Pellas that appeared in LOccident, the
62
composer of Symphonie sur un chant montagnard franais ultimately deems

Debussys opera inferior to those by Rossini on account of its recourse to the
damnable pleasures of musical sensuousness.45 Likewise, dIndy targets Debussy
in his influential treatise Cours de composition musicale for glorifying harmony at the
expense of other musical parameters like form and counterpoint. Last but not least,
dIndy caricatures aspects of Debussys style in his music drama La lgende de SaintChristophe. Ranking among dIndys most reactionary compositions, this opera
constitutes a musical diatribe against its composers perceived enemies, including
Jews, freemasons, socialists and atheists. According to musicologist Andrew
Thomson, The most notorious part, and at the same time the weakest, is the first
acts tasteless parade of false thinkers, scientists and artists united in their hatred of
Christ and charity, in which stylistic features of Debussy and Stravinsky are
ruthlessly parodied.46
Despite dIndys persistent indictments against his music, Debussy refrained
from launching a full-scale retaliation against the elder composer. Rather, he seems
to have accepted the fact that he and dIndy possessed vastly different backgrounds
and personalities: the former hailed from peasant stock, lived a bohemian existence
and exhibited a fierce iconoclastic streak, while the latter descended from a militaryaristocratic family, championed Catholicism and pursued a rightist aesthetic agenda.
As Debussy confided to his friend Ren Peter, DIndy and I, we are not the same
color.47 Nevertheless, Debussy lauded dIndy for founding the Schola Cantorum,
which the former regarded as a welcome rival to the orthodox Conservatoire. DIndy
63
drew additional praise from his younger contemporary for promoting music of the
French Baroque, especially the operas of Rameau.48 Debussy even found a few
pleasant things to say about dIndys music drama Ltranger when he reviewed it for
Gil Blas in January 1903, although he was evidently troubled by the operas
overbearing craftsmanship, which he tellingly likens to a machine:
It [Ltranger] certainly unfolds itself in pure and lofty forms, but they have all
the intricacy, the coldness, the hardness, even the blueness of a machine of
steel. The music appeared to be very beautiful, but it was as if veiled; its
workmanship struck one so powerfully that one scarcely dared let oneself be
movedan uncomfortable feeling
Without dwelling on technical questions, I want to pay homage to the serenity
that runs right through this work, to the deliberate avoidance of all
complication, and above all to dIndys quiet determination to excel himself.
And if earlier I was complaining that there was too much music, its just that,
here and there, it seemed to inhibit the marvelous blossoming of unforgettable
beauty that flows from so many pages of Ltranger.49
As it happened, dIndy reciprocated Debussys respect more than his invective
would indicate. In his 1973 article Les Rapports Debussy-dIndy, Henri Mouton
observes that the influential dIndy secured several premieres for Debussys pieces at
the Socit Nationale de Musique.50 Moreover, the elder composer promoted the
juniors music as a conductor, regularly programming Prlude laprs-midi dun
faune on his concert tours. And with the notable exception of La lgende de SaintChristophe, dIndy tempered his attacks on Debussys music with accompanying
praise, acknowledging, for instance, the emotional power of Pellas: the composer
in fact simply felt and expressed human feelings and human sufferings in human
terms, despite the outward appearance the characters present of living in a mysterious
64
dream.51
So, in spite of their vast differences, Debussy and dIndy shared a mutual, if
guarded, esteem as colleagues, which enabled their effective partnership at S.I.M.
Like rival athletes locked in competition, the two musicians pushed each other to
broaden the scope of their critical inquiries. For example, both composers addressed
the emerging relationship between film and music. Predictably, the hidebound dIndy
decried cinematographic music on account of its formlessness: from the moment that
all musical form is banished, as if worn out or old hat, it seems to me to be imperative
that this sensorial music should be accompanied by a visual representation of it.52
Debussy, by contrast, viewed film as a revitalizing force for music, proclaiming,
there remains but one way of reviving the taste for pure symphonic music among our
contemporaries: to apply to pure music the techniques of cinematography. It is
filmthe Ariadnes threadthat will show us the way out of this disquieting
labyrinth.53
Wartime Senescence
Debussy and dIndys critical marriage seemed destined to produce dozens of
thought-provoking exchanges, but fate had different plans for their union. By the
winter of 1914, Debussys mounting health problems made regular criticism
impossible; accordingly, his final article for S.I.M. appeared on March 1. During the
remaining five years of his life, which were overshadowed by his battle with cancer
on the one hand and the bloodshed enveloping Europe on the other, the composer
produced three pieces of music criticism: an interview for The Etude conducted by
65
the musicologist M.M.D. Calvocoressi and two short articles, both of which address
the impact of the Great War on French culture. In the former essay, which appeared
in LIntransigeant on March 11, 1915, Debussy reiterates his earlier appeals for
French musicians to emancipate themselves from the shackles of German hegemony
and embrace the clarity and spontaneity of their own national tradition. Given the
political situation at the time, it is not surprising that this particular plea seethes with
nationalism, which, true to form, manifests itself in the imagery of nature. The
composer describes Frances musical heritage as an uncultivated garden and
favorably contrasts its rough-hewn eloquence with the garish timbres and
overwrought forms of the Teutonic tradition:
For many years now I have been saying the same thing: that we have been
unfaithful to the musical traditions of our own race for more than a century and
a half
In fact, since Rameau, we have had no purely French tradition. His death
severed the thread, Ariadnes thread, that guided us through the labyrinth of the
past. Since then, we have failed to cultivate our garden, but on the other
hand we have given a warm welcome to any foreign salesman who cared to
come our wayWe tolerated overblown orchestras, tortuous forms, cheap
luxury and clashing colors, and we were about to give the seal of approval to
even more suspect naturalizations when the sound of gunfire put a sudden stop
to it all
Let us try to understand its own rough-hewn eloquence! Today, when the
virtues of our race are being exalted, victory should give our artists a sense of
purity and remind them of the nobility of French blood. We have a whole
intellectual province to recapture! That is why, at a time when only Fate can
turn the page, Music must bide her time and take stock of herself before
breaking that dreadful silence which will remain after the last shell has been
fired.54
Admittedly, Debussys statements about the purity and nobility of
French blood are disconcerting in light of two World Wars that were, to a large
66
extent, precipitated by nationalism. And surely, such remarks would have resonated
with conservative members of the French intelligentsia. But Debussys anti-German
rhetoric pales in comparison to the rancor expressed by many of his contemporaries.
For example, Camille Saint-Sans published malicious, unsubstantiated assaults on
Wagner and advocated a national embargo against Boche music.55 And though
Debussy repeatedly encouraged his contemporaries to liberate themselves from
Wagners sway, he found such misguided prejudice against German composers to be
utterly absurd. In his final piece of criticism, which appeared in 1917 as the preface
to Paul Huvelins book Pour la musique franaise, Debussy mocks the nationalistic
demagoguery of his colleagues, who went so far as to suggest that Beethoven wasnt
really German: Even at this very moment, when France is sacrificing the blood of
her best children, without regard to birthright or class, one hears some strange
proposals about Beethoven put forward: Flemish or German, he was a great musician.
And Wagner, tooalthough he was more of a great artist than musician. But that has
been understood for a long time.56
Debussys final essays indicate that he, like so many of his countrymen,
experienced a swell of national pride during The Great War. But they also suggest
that the composers patriotism was tempered by a keen sensitivity to the contagion of
xenophobia and the horrors of trench warfare. Drawing further attention to the close
correspondence between Debussys criticism and music, wartime compositions like
Berceuse hroque and En blanc et noir similarly meld nationalism with somber
reflection.57 These works differ markedly from the glut of patriotic marches
67
produced by Debussys contemporaries, especially those of Saint-Sans, which were

composed for military band and bear flag-waving titles like Vers la victoire. In a
letter to Durand dated October 9, 1914, Debussy not only explains his aversion to the
heroic-march genre but also finds the time to praise the music of Wagner and Strauss
even though Germany had just declared war on France. This letter, like so many
penned by the composer, demonstrates that above anything else, he construed war as
sheer idiocy:
If I dared to and if, above all, I wasnt afraid of the routine element which
haunts this kind of composition, Id be happy to write a Heroic MarchBut, as
Ive said, to play the hero while sitting peacefully a long way from the action
seems to me ridiculous
Not that therell be any shortage of this kind of thing. I can predict that when
you get back to Paris youll have enough offers to fill every cupboard Messrs
Durand posses
As I write, little soldiers are at their exercises, some with bugles, some with
drumsFanfares and rhythms which remind me irresistibly of the two
Richards [Wagner and Strauss] best themes. If you have a taste for drawing
morals, you can make something of that.58
While Debussy poked fun at the heroic marches of his contemporaries, SaintSans returned the favor by slamming En blanc et noir (1915), a three-movement
work for two pianos that employs poignant epigraphs and strident dissonances to
express the harsh reality of war. In a letter to Gabriel Faur dated December 27,
1915, Saint-Sans assails the composition and urges his colleague to blackball
Debussys admission to the Institut de France, the nations most prestigious learned
society: I suggest you look at the pieces for 2 pianos called Noir et Blanc [sic] which
M. Debussy has just published. Its unbelievable, and we must at all costs bar the
68
door of the Institut against a man capable of such atrocities; theyre fit to stand beside
Cubist paintings.59
M. Croche, antidilettante
Ostensibly to Saint-Sanss relief, Debussys Picassoesque atrocities would
soon come to an end. In November 1915, just a few weeks before Debussy premiered
En blanc et noir at Durands salon, the composers physicians diagnosed him with
cancer of the rectum. When Debussys doctors operated the following month, they
deemed his condition terminal. Henceforth, Debussys health deteriorated rapidly,
and his illness necessitated the humiliating use of a colostomy bag. Beset by extreme
somatic pain and deep bouts of depression, Debussy found some measure of relief in
morphine and cigarettes. By the turn of 1918, the composer was effectively
bedridden, his gaunt visage signaling the end. Debussy died on March 25 to the
sounds of German artillery battering Paris. He was 55.60
Although Debussys final years were excruciating, the composer continued to
find solace amidst the beauty of nature, at least until his final confinement precluded
outdoor reveries. In the summer of 1915, Debussy traveled to Normandy for a threemonth holiday to escape war-torn Paris and his own progressing illness. During his
stay, the composer resided in the villa Mon Coin, where he felt rejuvenated by his
pastoral surroundings. Writing to Durand on Bastille Day, 1915, the composer
gushes about his seaside summerhouse:
As I said, the best part is the gardenIts rather untidy, with none of the proud
orderliness of the gardens laid out by Le Ntre [who designed the gardens at
Versailles], but its a gentle sort of jungle, well suited to those who arent keen
69
on playing Robinson Crusoe. Once you get to the top, you come upon a fine
expanse of sea, enough to make you think that theres more beyondthat is,
the sea of infinity!61
A letter to Durand two moths later not only conveys Debussys sense of peace
in the presence of nature but also jests that Victor Hugo would have been hard
pressed to describe the majesty of the sea at Dieppe: The trees are good
friendsThese last days I have cursed the sullen sea to the point of weeping. [But]
today, it is so beautiful as to surpass any comparison. Victor Hugo would have used
up his arsenal of images.62 Last but not least, Maurice Bouchers account of the
composers final seaside vacation portrays Debussy fading into the haven of nature:
The last time that I met him was at Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a year before his death.
He walked with difficulty, leaning upon a stick. He paused a few moments
facing the sea. His gaze was lost in the distance, and he lowered it only to look
at the children playing on the beach. He avoided peopleThis man dressed
in black who went down to a shore flecked with sunlight, wearing city
clothes, and a crushed felt hat in his hand, who spoke to no one and soon left as
his carriage moved off at a trot to a house chosen for its isolation among the
greenery, all this made one think of some character from a fantastic tale.63
In addition to halting numerous musical projects, Debussys demise delayed the
publication of an anthology of his critical musings entitled M. Croche, antidilettante
Despite his generally low opinion of music criticism and his sporadic interest in
elevating its level of discourse, the composer evidently believed that his assembled
essays would serve as an aesthetic manifesto of sorts. Debussys idea for the project
can be traced back to Christmas Day, 1906. In a letter to Laloy, the composer
confides, For the future I have in mind a collection of notes, opinions, etcTheyve
been left me by poor M. Croche, who grew tired of lifethat most sensitive of men
thought I couldnt in all decency go on with conversations in which the Void
70
bandied words with a vague Nothing-at-All!hes left it up to me to publish the

papers or burn them. We can discuss what the best policy would be.64 Several years
later the translator Georges Jean-Aubry urged Debussy to follow through on this
endeavor. You are very kind for wanting me to revise my old articles, Debussy
replied, but for some time now it has also been Laloys concern. I should have let
you know.65 In any event, the preliminary manuscript for M. Croche, antidilettante
was not assembled until the conclusion of 1913. Although the publisher Dorbon
wanted to print the book in its current state, Debussy dallied over the proofs for years,
submitting several of them just before his death. Thanks to further delays precipitated
by the chaos of the First World War, M. Croche, antidilettante did not appear until
1921, when it was published in an edition of five hundred copies.66
A valuable resource for decades after its initial publication, M. Croche,
antidilettante has nevertheless irked scholars on account of its shortcomings. First of
all, the book contains only one half of the composers total criticism, with a
disproportionate number of articles pulled from La revue blanche and Gil Blas.
Moreover, Debussys essays bare neither their original titles nor their dates of
publications, and the individual items are haphazardly organized. Some modest
editor, mindful of historic exactitude, faced with the same task, wrote Vuillermoz in
Le Temps, would perhaps have given us a richer and more colorful collection than
that which we owe to the authors own initiative.67
Fifty years after the appearance of M. Croche, antidilettante, Lesure produced a
more robust anthology of Debussys critical prose entitled M. Croche et autres crits,
71
which adds numerous articles as well as several interviews given by the composer.
Into the bargain, Lesure restores the original titles of the composers essays and
arranges them chronologically in order of their publication. This historically
sequential presentation seems to have been provoked by The Theories of Claude
Debussy, a study penned by the French musicologist Lon Vallas, which loosely
incorporates the composers criticism in its discussion of Debussys aesthetic.68 As
Lesure explains in the introduction to M. Croche et autres crits, The work of Lon
Vallasattempted to reconstruct the musical leanings of the composer by juxtaposing
random fragments of his articles without taking their chronology into account. Such a
method does not facilitate a return to the original textsand it dangerously divorces
them from their context.69
Without question, Lesures collection remains the primary French-language
source on Debussys criticism. But in 1977 Langham Smith published a widely
praised English translation of Debussys critical musings, Debussy on Music. Though
based on M. Croche at autres crits, Debussy on Music silently restores several
discrepancies between the text of the original periodicals and Lesures collection
while including three previously unavailable interviews that Debussy gave during the
final decade of his career. Moreover, Langham Smith provides a myriad of insightful
footnotes that pertain to the essay at hand. To achieve a perspective on the
composers criticism that is as complete as possible, this dissertation draws the on the
respective anthologies of Lesure and Langham Smith.
Before moving on to Chapter 3, a musicological discrepancy regarding
72
Debussys interviews requires resolution. In her article Debussy as Musician and

Critic, Donnellon highlights the composers general disinclination towards the
interview process. Finding his comments misquoted and misconstrued by the
Parisian press, Debussy complained to his friends about the inexactitude of hack
journalists. In 1904 the composer gave an interview for Paul Landormys article
The Present State of French Music, which appeared in La revue bleue on April 2.
The following day Debussy griped to Laloy, Have you read an article by Landormy
in the Revue bleue in which he describes a conversation with C. Debussy? Its
extraordinary that this so-called musician should have such defective hearing70
But problematically, Donnellon effectively views all of the composers
journalistic exchanges as suspect, when in fact, some interviews are likely more
trustworthy than others. For example, the interview Debussy granted with the
respected French writer Henry Malherbe, who won the prestigious Prix Goncourt
with his book La Flamme au poing, probably reflects the composers words more
accurately than others. Moreover, Donnellon claims that Debussy was more reluctant
to sit for interviews in his later career because he had been burned in the past. In
actuality, the composer gave the majority of his interviews after 1910, the year in
which Caillard and Brys published a pamphlet entitled Le Cas Debussy, which
irritated Debussy with its fallaciousness. Henceforth, the composer granted more
interviews, understanding as he did the importance of staying in touch with his
audience. These circumstances suggest that Debussys antipathy towards interviews,
especially those conducted by qualified writers, has been overstated. Ultimately, such
73
exchanges should be regarded as useful supplements to his writings, even if they are
not always verbatim.
Having situated Debussys criticism in its historical context, this study goes on
to present a thematic analysis of the composers writings vis--vis nature. The
present chapter, however, has already introduced several significant examples of
Debussys naturism in its chronological treatment of the composers mtier. The
ensuing chapter dives headfirst into the essence of Debussys nature-oriented
aesthetic while allowing the reader to relate the composers comments back to a
specific point in his career.
74
Chapter 3
Reading Natures Book
To the concert hall, alas! When spring is bursting forth as from a ripe seed pod, her
casual splendors taking place before our eyes and her cruel light illuminating the
ugliness of our lives in comparison with those ethereal clouds that sail by far above.
And when I stop to look up, I say to myself: How nice it must be up there!
Colette, Gil Blas, March 23, 1903
Introduction
While Debussy extols the virtues of nature throughout his criticism, the
composers most explicit profession of nature-worship occurs in an interview that
appeared in Excelsior on February 11, 1911. In this exchange with the writer Henry
Malherbe, Debussy rejects Christianity in favor of pagan naturism, a striking
declaration in view of his contemporaneous preoccupation with composing incidental
music for Gabriele DAnnunzios mystery play Le Martyre de Saint-Sbastien:
I do not worship according to the established rites. I have made the mysteries
of nature my religion. I do not think that a man in abbots attire is necessarily
closer to God, nor that one particular place in a town is especially favorable to
meditation. Before the passing sky, in long hours of contemplation of its
magnificent and ever-changing beauty, I am seized by an incomparable
emotion. The whole expanse of nature is reflected in my own sincere but
feeble soul. Around me the branches of trees reach out toward the firmament,
here are the sweet-scented flowers smiling in the meadow, here the soft
earth is carpeted with sweet herbsAnd, unconsciously, my hands are
clasped in prayer. Nature invites its ephemeral and trembling travelers to
experience these wonderful and disturbing spectaclesthat is what I call
prayer.1
Debussys unorthodox credo not only provides a ready summation of his
naturism but also acts as a foil to the environmentally deleterious tenets of the
established rites that he dismisses. In his landmark essay The Historical Roots of
75
Our Ecological Crisis, medievalist Lynn White Jr. targets Western Christianity as
the chief architect of the environmental disaster confronting humanity in the
information age. Zeroing in on the religions deep-seated anthropocentrism, he states,
As early as the second century both Tertulian and Saint Irenaeus of Lyons
were insisting that when God shaped Adam he was foreshadowing the
image of the incarnate Christ, the Second Adam. Man shares, in great
measure, Gods transcendence of nature. Christianity, in absolute contrast
to ancient paganism and Asias religionsnot only established a dualism of
man and nature but also insisted that it is Gods will that man exploit nature
for his proper ends.2
White proceeds to demonstrate that the Scientific Revolution, which vastly
augmented humankinds dominion over the natural world, was forged in the crucible
of Christian ideology. Taking their cue from the creation myth presented in Genesis,
exponents of the scientific method like Francis Bacon, whom Adorno and
Horkheimer also targeted as a whipping boy, regarded nature as an antagonist that
had to be bridled before man could assume his divinely ordained rule over the earth.
Popularized over the ensuing centuries, this view of the natural world has been
cataclysmic for the global ecosystem.
Concluding his essay, White asserts that technology alone will be insufficient to
combat the looming environmental meltdown; additionally, humankind must
relinquish its overbearing attitude towards nature. In an unexpected gambit, White
suggests the worldview of a Christian saint, Francis of Assisi, as a model for this
renunciation. Yet Francis was a heretic in all but name, a mendicant who rejected
humanitys supremacy over the natural world in favor of a more democratic harmony
between the two entities. Accordingly, White identifies Franciss philosophy as a
76
locus of resistance against the harmful tenets of Western Civilization, proposing him
as the patron saint of ecology. Finding inspiration in Whites essay, my dissertation
argues that a similar challenge to environmental exploitation inheres in the criticism
and music of Debussy, who must surely be ecologys patron composer.
Peerless Beauty
Ever the discriminating aesthete, Debussy venerated the natural world because
he considered it to be the ultimate source of beauty in the universe. In fact, several
passages in the composers critical writings indicate that he actually preferred the
splendor of nature to that of music, a surprising predilection given his chosen
profession. In the article that features the debut of M. Croche, the composer contrasts
the setting sun with the art of music, noting that the former inspires heartfelt silence
while the latter merely elicits disingenuous applause:
As I [Debussy] argued that I had not only witnessed but been a part of a
genuinely enthusiastic audience, M. Croche replied, No! You are quite
mistaken. If you do show true enthusiasm its only in the secret hope that
someday someone will do the same for you! Just remember: something that is
truly beautiful commands only silence. Every day we witness the magical
beauty of the sunset. Does one think about applauding that? Well, youll admit
that it takes its course in a far less predictable way than any one of your silly
little stories in sound. Whats more, you feel so overawed that you are
unable to be a part of it. But with these so-called works of art you merely make
up for their deficiencies with an accepted jargon that enables you to talk
about them for hours.3
Further strengthening the impression that Debussy privileged the beauty of
nature over the beauty of art, the composer tended to decry the bothersome concerts
that so frequently interrupted his plein-air daydreams. Critiquing a 1901 performance
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by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of the Austro-Hungarian conductor

Arthur Nikisch, Debussy relates,
On Sunday, 19 May, there was an overpowering but quite irresistible spell of
sunshine that seemed to thwart all attempts at listening to music. The Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra, with Nikisch as conductor, chose this day to give its
first concert. I hope the good Lord will pardon me for having broken my
vow never to hear music on a Sunday and some other people, luckier than I,
will have paid homage to the green grass He litters with sausage skins on such
days, given over to the creation of lovers idylls.4
In his concluding remarks on the orchestras rendition of Schuberts Unfinished
Symphony, Debussy claims that the impromptu chirping of sparrows at the concert
added something unusual but positive to the Viennese composers effort:
During the performance of Schuberts Unfinished Symphony, a bevy of
sparrows was rattling against the windows of the Cirque, and they furiously
began a chirping that wasnt entirely devoid of charm. M. Nikisch had the
good taste not to ask anyone to get rid of these disrespectful music lovers, no
doubt intoxicated with azure. Perhaps it was just a harmless protest against
this symphony, which cant decide for itself, once and for all, to be
unfinished.5
Additionally, Debussy denounces Sunday concerts in two articles for Gil Blas,
which appeared in January and February of 1903, respectively. The former finds the
composer lauding the merits of the Jardin dAcclimitation, an outdoor venue in the
Bois du Boulogne, even as he sarcastically rips the concerts traditionalist
programming:
At the Jardin dAcclimatation, someone sang Les Vallons (Gounod), the
aria from Guido en Ginevra (Halvy), and the trio from William Tell
(Rossini). I do hope that these young composers, so honorably received
before now, commanded success with these new and so little known
pieces. Of all the locations for Sunday concerts, this spot is the nicest,
because it gives you the alternative, if the music bores you, of watching the
charming animals. And they are certainly not musicians!6
78
In the latter critique for Gil Blas, Debussy chastises the Austrian conductor Felix
Weingartner for performing Beethovens Pastoral Symphony on a particularly lovely
afternoon: Last Sunday was an irresistibly pleasant day. The first sunlight of the
year seemed to forestall any attempt to listen to music, no matter what it was. A day
for the swallows to returnif I may express myself thus. M. Weingartner chose this
day to conduct the orchestra at the Concerts Lamoureux. Well, we cant all be
perfect!7
Despite his belief in the aesthetic supremacy of the natural world, Debussy
acknowledged that music possesses a capacityunique among the artsto evoke the
grandeur of nature. Nowhere in the composers critical output is this conviction more
evident than in his essay on Carl Maria von Weber, which appeared in Gil Blas on
January 26, 1903. In praising Webers imaginative artistry in works like Oberon and
Der Freischtz, Debussy declares,
He [Weber] was perhaps the first to have concerned himself with the
relationship that must surely exist between the all-embracing spirit of
nature and the soul of the imaginary character. Certainly it was he who had
the idea of using the legend as a background against which the music could
express real actions. For it is music alone that has the power to evoke
imaginary scenes at will, to conjure up the intangible world of Fantasies
secretly shrouded within the mysterious poetry of the night, the thousand
indistinguishable noises made by moonbeams caressing the leaves.8
Eight years later, the composer would restate this conviction in an interview with the
dramatist Georges Delaquys, proclaiming, I myself love music passionately, and
through my love I have forced myself to break free from certain sterile traditions with
which it is encumbered. It is a free art, a wellspring, an art of the open air, an art
79
comparable to the elementsthe wind, the sea, and the sky! It must not be an art that
is confined, academic.9
Conform or Fail
But according to Debussy, music can only realize its lofty potential by
modeling itself on the beauty of the natural world, which he viewed as antithetical to
the comorbidity of academicism and authoritarianism that plagued contemporary
French music. As it happened, Debussy manifested his highly eccentric personality at
an early age. The composers godfather Achille-Antoine Arosa routinely criticized
his young charges lair distant" and inclination towards the sensuous, traits that
would go on to characterize Debussy as an adult. Meanwhile, Clmentine Debussy,
the composers aunt and godmother, conducted her godsons entre into the realm of
music by arranging piano lessons for him when he came to visit her in Cannes.
Debussys sister Adle, who accompanied her brother on these trips to see Aunt
Clmentine, later recalled that the budding pianist would typically spend entire days
sitting in a chair dreaming, no one knew what about.10 And while other kids were
romping around, Debussy was playing with his sisters pasteboard playhouse. In a
letter to Durand dated March 24, 1908, the composer recalls his halcyon visits to the
Riviera, a reminiscence that suggests his appreciation of natures majesty began at an
early age: I remember the railway in front of the house and the sea on the distant
horizon, which sometimes gave the impression that the railway came out of the sea,
or else went into it (as you pleased). And then there was the road to Antibes with so
80
many roses that Ive never in my life seen so many at the same timethe perfume
along the road certainly qualifies as intoxicating.11
Quickly absorbing the rudiments of piano playing, Debussy entered the
Conservatoire in October 1872. His sprouting idiosyncrasies immediately
exasperated faculty members, a trend that would continue for well over a decade.
The schoolboy jeered at his solfge teacher Albert Lavignac for his unimaginative
exercises, complaining, One is suffocated by your rhythms.12 In addition, Debussy
vexed his piano professor, Antoine Marmontel, with his showing in the 1876 piano
competition. Apparently, the future composer played a sloppy rendition of
Beethovens Op. 111 Piano Sonata, prompting his teacher to remark, Reckless,
inaccurateblundering a bithe does not accomplish what I expected of him.13 But
given Debussys decidedly unusual approach to the piano, Marmontels
disappointment was all but inevitable. A contemporaneous student, Gabriel Piern,
later recalled Debussys unique brand of pianism:
I got to know Debussy around 1873 in [Albert] Lavignacs solfge class at the
Conservatoire. He was a fat boy of ten or so, short, thickset, wearing a black
coat enlivened by a loose, spotted tie and short velvet trousers. His
clumsiness and awkwardness were extraordinary, in addition to which he
was even shy and unsociable.
In Marmontels piano class he used to astound us with his bizarre playing.
Whether it was through natural maladroitness or thorough shyness I
dont know, but he literally used to charge at the piano and force all his
effects. He seemed to be in a rage with the instrument. Rushing up and
down it with impulsive gestures and breathing noisily during the difficult
bits. These faults gradually receded and occasionally he would achieve
effects of an astonishing softness. With all its faults and virtues, his playing
remained something highly individual.14
81
Unfortunately for Debussy, his extreme unconventionality became a real

liability in the years bookending his receipt of the Prix de Rome, an episode that left
permanent scars on the composers psyche. Established in 1803 during Napolons
reorganization of the Institut de France and its component academies, the Prix de
Rome granted its recipient a substantial government stipend for a period of four years,
two of which had to be spent in residence at the Villa Medici in Rome. More
attractive still, the award was perceived as conferring instant legitimacy upon its
beneficiary, even if the list of composers who failed to capture it ultimately turned out
to be as impressive as the list of those who did.15 Consequently, generations of
Conservatoire-trained composers toiled through a grueling competition in the hopes
of garnering the money and prestige that came with the prize. In Debussys era, the
Prix de Rome was adjudicated by the Acadmie des beaux-arts, the wing of the
Institut de France devoted to the cultivation of music and the fine arts.16 With respect
to music, its highly selective membership limited itself to the foremost figures of the
Parisian establishment, most of whom hailed from the cursus honorum of the
Conservatoire themselves. For example, Saint-Sans, Gounod, Massenet and
Ambroise Thomas all held chairs in Acadmie des beaux-arts during Debussys quest
for the Prix de Rome.
In the preliminary round, or concours dessai, competitors were sequestered
for six days in small cells that housed little apart from a piano and a worktable. Here
they had to complete exercises in harmony and counterpoint to the satisfaction of the
Acadmie. Those receiving passing marks advanced to the second round, or
82
concours dfinitif, where they were immured for an additional twenty-five days as
they composed an operatic scene based on a text selected by the contests organizing
committee. Not surprisingly, the individualistic Debussy found these periods of
confinement positively dehumanizing, as evidenced by a revealing anecdote from his
second unsuccessful foray into the competition in 1883. During the composers
internment, his friends the Vasniers came for a visit, which, according to the Prix de
Rome guidelines, had to be closely supervised. When the young Marguerite Vasnier
inquired as to why the contestants windows had metal bars over them, the composer
replied, No doubt because they regard us as wild animals.17 Adding to the
competitors misery were the harsh time constraints imposed by the Acadmie. As
journalist Charles Darcours observed in 1883, the rapidity with which the contestants
had to produce was bedeviling:
Inspiration must come by the minute, during these hours at their disposal
hours that allowed them scarcely enough time to trace the innumerable signs
of the musical language that must be thought, reasoned, combined. These
hours seemed too short to them, and more than one has been seen to flee from
them not without anxiety, for at the Rome competition, under pain of
being eliminated, the first condition is to finish.18
But as far as Debussy was concerned, pitiless working conditions were just
the tip of the iceberg when it came to the Prix de Rome; even more galling was the
conformist approach one had to adopt in order to claim the award. In the wake of his
first fruitless bid for the prize in 1882, the nature-worshipping Debussy became
enthralled with the idea of composing dramatic music based on Thodore de
Banvilles pastoral play Diane au bois, in which the eponymous goddess of chastity
confronts the amorous overtures of the dissolute Eros amidst a sylvan dreamscape.
83
Markedly more progressive than the librettists tapped by the Acadmie des beaux-arts
for the concours dfinitif, Banville was a proto-Symbolist who rejected the overblown
emotionalism of Romanticism in favor of enigmatic verse. As the poet explains in
the preface to his 1846 collection Les stalactites: It would be no more sensible to
exclude the half-light from poetry than it would be reasonable to wish it absent from
Nature; and it is necessary, in order to leave certain poetical objects in the gloom
which envelopes them and in the atmosphere which impregnates them, to have
recourse to the artifices of negligence.19
Embodying Banvilles arcane aesthetic, Diane au bois suggested new avenues
of experimentation to Debussy, who was desperate to break free from the shackles of
his Conservatoire training. Indeed, several musicologists have convincingly argued
that Debussys Diane au bois represents a watershed moment in the composers
development even though he only completed an overture and one operatic scene by
the time he finally abandoned the work in 1886.20 Unearthed in 1980, the
undistinguished overture was composed in 1881, and, apart from one motive, bears
little relationship to the sophisticated scene that Debussy began to write in 1883.
Accordingly, scholars have focused of the lions share of their attention on the
novelties of the scene, as they prefigure salient aspects of the composers mature
style.
Although Debussy structures his scene around the tonally vanilla poles of C#
and F#, he befogs this traditional framework by juxtaposing distantly related keys and
employing extensive chromaticism.21 Regarding the latter, consider measures 81-84,
84
in which the composer combines the respective leitmotivs associated with Eros and
Diane. This Wagnerian collocation initially projects the key of G# minor, but
Debussy quickly obscures this tonality with a filigree of chromatically descending
thirds in the bass, leaving the leitmotivs in the gloom as it were (Fig. 11). Arresting
chromatic motion also marks the climax of Eross plea to Diana in measures mm.
350-360 (Fig. 12). Here the root tone of the harmonic progression moves
chromatically from A to A#, tertially from A# to F#, then chromatically again from
F# up to G#, whereupon Diana enters on a wailing G# as she finally reciprocates
Eross love. Both of these passages adumbrate techniques that Debussy deploys in
Pellas, as do measures 365-377, where the goddess of the hunt recalls her vow to
remain chaste despite her desire (Fig. 13). Channeling the ancientness and the ardor
of this moment, Debussy employs chromatic root motion, parallel voice leading and
enriched sonorities, all hallmarks of his artistic maturity. But the composers
pioneering efforts had to be curtailed at the behest of Conservatoire professor Ernest
Guiraud, who believed that his pupils penchant for innovation would be a hindrance
vis--vis the Prix de Rome. As Louis Laloys 1909 biography of the composer
reports:
One day, Debussy had set to music a comedy of Banville, Diane au bois, and
had brought it, not without pride, to class; Guiraud read it through and
pronounced: Come to see me tomorrow and bring your score. The next
day, after a second reading, Guiraud asked: Do you want to win the Prix de
Rome? Without a doubt, replied Debussy. Well, Diane is very
interesting, but you must save it for later. Or else you will never win the
Prix de Rome.22
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Reluctantly heeding his teachers advice, Debussy made the necessary

compromises to finally seize the carrot in 1884 with his cantata Lenfant prodigue,
which recounts the Biblical tale of a wayward son who reconciles with his family. In
this work, Debussy jettisons the novelties of Diane in favor of Conservatoireapproved harmonies and reminiscence themes redolent of traditional French opera, an
aesthetic retreat that not only won praise from the Acadmie des beaux-arts but the
Parisian press as well.23 Yet Debussys classmates at the Conservatoire, who
regarded the composer as the institutions reigning enfant terrible, were disappointed
by his concessions to the Acadmie. Debussys fellow pupil Maurice Emmanuel
emphasizes this dissatisfaction in his recollection of the first public audition of
Lenfant prodigue:
Instead of the scandal we were counting on, and despite occasional signs of
agitation on the part of two elderly conductors who looked surprised and
inclined to protest, compared with the outrageous harmonies which
Debussy had served up previously, Claude-Achilles cantata struck us as
debonairAnd while we did not begrudge its success, we felt seriously let
down that the expected brouhaha had not materialized.24
Notwithstanding his hard-fought victory in the 1884 competition, Debussy
remained beholden to the authoritarian gaze of the Acadmie des beaux-arts for the
entirety of his four-year fellowship, a circumstance that the composer resented
vehemently. Like all Prix de Rome laureates, Debussy was required to furnish the
Acadmie with a substantial composition, or envoi, at the end of each year in order to
prove that he was not slacking off. Produced during the first year of his sojourn in the
Eternal City, Debussys cantata Zulima, which depicted the tragic downfall of a
Moorish princess in Spain, served as his first envoi to the Acadmie. Regrettably, the
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score of Zulima no longer survives, but the Acadmie issued a scathing critique of
the work, which, adding insult to injury, was published in the institutions official
journal:
M. Debussy, for his first years submission piece, has written the first part of a
symphonic ode entitled Zulima. The work that had earned M. Debussy the
first grand prize of musical composition in 1884 gave the Acadmie reason
to expect that this young artist, endowed with remarkable faculties,
would furnish in the future the confirmation of the melodic and dramatic
qualities of which he had given evidence in his competition piece. The
Acadmie regrets having to declare an entirely contrary result. M. Debussy
seems today tormented by the desire to produce the bizarre, the
incomprehensible, and the unperformable.25
A few months after weathering this diatribe, Debussy began work on his
second envoi in the hopes of receiving a more favorable review from the Acadmie.
Writing from Rome to his friend mile Baron, a Paris bookseller who provided the
composer with books by Symbolist luminaries like Jean Moras and Joris Karl
Huysmans, Debussy outlines his plan: Ive decided to write a work of a special
color, recreating as many sensations as possible. Im calling it Printemps, not
spring; from the descriptive point of view but from that of living things. I wanted to
express the slow, laborious birth of beings and things in nature, then the mounting
fluorescence, and finally a burst of joy at being reborn to a new life, as it were.26
In addition to the composers innate love of nature, two paintings inspired the
composition of Printemps: Sandro Boticellis La Primavera and Marcel Baschets Le
Printemps. Debussy encountered a copy of the former during his residency in Rome
and remained an admirer of Botticellis art, as evidenced by an 1889 questionnaire in
which the composer lists the fifteenth-century Florentine as one of his favorite
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painters. With respect to the latter, Baschet captured the Prix de Rome for painting in
1883 and worked alongside Debussy at the Villa Medici, where he produced Le
Printemps as his fourth and final envoi for the Acadmie. While the original painting
has been destroyed, a surviving sketch of the work depicts young ladies disporting
themselves among the greenery of spring (Fig. 14). Despite the four centuries of
artistic development that separate these two paintings, they extend a similar invitation
to the viewer, namely, to revel in the seasons brilliant hues.
Although Debussy envisaged Printemps as a symphonic suite with chorus, he
only completed a four-hands piano reduction for his second envoi. Nevertheless,
Printemps, like Diane au bois, represents a significant stylistic advance for the
composer. Consider, for example, the attenuation of tonality that characterizes the
first movements introduction, which is comprised of three thematically related
periods (mm. 1-59; Fig. 15). All three periods begin with the same motive but
develop and conclude differently. In the first period, the opening motive intimates F#
as the tonal center, albeit weakly on account of its marked pentatonicism. Debussy
further unsettles this tenuous impression with the deployment of a F# dominant ninth
chord in measure 5, which, by way of some enharmonic sorcery, leads to a cadence
on an enriched E-flat sonority. The initial motive of the second period proposes the
key of F# as well, but the ensuing material travels to E by way of a radiant passage in
B, denying tonal confirmation once more. At the outset of the introductions third
and final period, Debussy recasts the recurring motive in G# minor, an arresting
transposition, to be sure. But after traversing a series of disparate harmonic zones,
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the closing period ultimately fulfills the harmonic expectations of the motives first
iteration by cadencing on a C# sonority, which in turn acts as a dominant to a new
formal area that clearly projects F#.
In its deferral of tonality over three thematically related periods, the first
movement of Printemps anticipates the more advanced harmonic detours that
characterize the opening thirty measures of Prelude laprs-midi dun faune, a
passage that Pierre Boulez has dubbed the launching pad of modern music.27 Evoking
the tuneful meditation of Mallarms Faun, an unaccompanied flute introduces the
sections primary motive (Fig. 16). The monophonic entrance of this motto, combined
with its emphasis on a C#-G tritone, gives rise to exquisite tonal ambiguity. In measure
4, the first harps arpeggiation of an A# diminished-seventh chord intensifies the sense
of ambivalence, which grows greater still as this harmony morphs into a dominantseventh on B-flat (mm. 5). A shiftless repetition of the alternation between these two
sonorities winds down the first period, leaving the listener in a state of suspended
animation until the reemergence of the main motive in measure 11. At the outset of this
new period, however, Debussy unexpectedly harmonizes the motto with a hazy D chord
that suggests the Fauns declaration, Inert, all burns in the fierce hour. By way of a
passing B9 sonority in measure 13, the underlying harmony ascends from D to E,
which ultimately materializes as the tonal center of the piece. But for the time being, any
feeling of certainty proves as elusive as the nymphs who populate Mallarms eclogue.
Immediately, the ambiguous B-flat dominant-seventh recurs in measure 14 and pervades
the second periods indecisive yet impassioned conclusion (mm. 17-20). Indeed, it is
not until the third period that tonal surety asserts itself in earnest. Here the composer
presents three florid variations of the initial motive over a clearly discernible I-V-I
progression in E. Debussys deployment of a F# secondary dominant in measure 28
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leads to a straightforward cadence on the dominant of E, thereby rounding off the third
and final period of the introduction with a long-awaited feeling of tonal certitude.
Commenting on the similarity between the first three periods of Printemps and those of
Prelude laprs-midi dun faune, Rolf observes,
A seminal quality of the Faune is based on the principle of exposing a
suggestive monophonic melody, repeating and sequencing it, and featuring
different harmonies and timbres around and under it, creating a kaleidoscopic
palette of color and sonority. Although the subtlety with which Debussy
works out this principle in the Faune, including a far more tonally ambiguous
motto and a remarkable rhythmic fluidity, reaches new artistic heights, its
prototype clearly emanates from Printemps.28
Much to Debussys chagrin, however, the musical innovations that later dazzled
Boulez failed to impress the Acadmie, which attacked Printemps on account of its
originality. As far as Saint-Sans was concerned, Debussys second envoi was dead
on arrival thanks to the works chosen key. One does not write for orchestra in six
sharps, he quipped.29 Though less dismissive than Saint-Sanss personal evaluation,
the Acadmies official critique-by-committee still wounded Debussy:
M. Debussy assuredly does not transgress by platitude or banality. He has,
quite to the contrary, a pronounced, even too pronounced, tendency toward
the pursuit of the strange. One recognizes in his case a feeling for musical
color, the exaggeration of which makes him too easily forget the importance
of precision of design and form. It is strongly desired that he guard against
this vague impressionism that is one of the most dangerous enemies of truth
in works of artThe Acadmie expects and hopes for better for a musician as
talented as Debussy.30
This assessment holds the dubious distinction of being the first text to employ
the term impressionism in relation to Debussys music. Derogatory at its inception,
the word was popularized in 1874 by the conservative art critic Louis Leroy, who
used it to ridicule Claude Monets painting Impression, Sunrise, the artists seminal
representation of dawn breaking over the port city of Le Havre (Fig. 17).31 Leroy was
reacting to Monets loose brushstrokes, which he perceived as a clear indicator of the
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painters shoddy technique. In a caustic critique of the first Impressionist exhibition

that appeared in Le Charivari on April 25, 1874, Leroy compares Monets painting
unfavorably to a preliminary sketch for a wallpaper pattern.32 A sworn enemy of the
avant-garde, the critic characterized Monet and his contemporaries as hostile to good
manners, to devotion to form, and to respect for the masters.33 By invoking
impressionism in their critique of Printemps, the Acadmie was essentially echoing
Leroys denunciation: M. Debussy lacks good manners, devotion to form, and, above
all, respect for the masters.
Industrialization, Standardization
As a result of the Acadmies vituperative evaluations and reactionary
policies, Debussys lifelong disinclination towards protocol evolved into acute enmity
towards the French musical establishment by the late 1880s. Violating the
requirements of Prix de Rome recipients, the composer refused to produce an
overture for the Acadmies annual concert in 1888 and later declined to submit his
fourth and final envoi for review. In Debussys opinion, institutions like the
Conservatoire and the Acadmie were systematically suppressing individual
creativity in favor of musical standardization, a harmful situation that he frequently
described in industrial terms. In a 1908 interview, Debussy laments the factory-like
production of his colleagues. Thankfully, the composer did not follow through on his
proposed change of careers:
I believe the principal fault of the majority of writers and artists is having
neither the will nor the courage to break with their successes, failing to
seek new paths and give birth to new ideas. Most of them reproduce
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them twice, three, even four times. They have neither courage nor the
temerity to leave what is certain for what is uncertain
That is the great evil of today. Art has become almost like an industry. But,
believe me, those who are resigned to this truth are not real artists. If one day
I become like that, I shall lay down my pen forever. I shall not complain but
quietly go away to tune pianos. Claude Debussy: tuner.34
For Debussy, the root of musical standardization lay in the early education of
would-be composers. In a letter to his publisher Jacques Durand, the composer
alludes to the conservatory model as a machine that produces musicians on demand:
I couldnt come to see you last Saturday as I promised, being engaged with Mlle
E.F. Bauer, an American journalist, who came to ask me for advice on the best way to
educate young American geniusesI assured Mlle Bauer that her compatriots would
soon find a machine to deal with such youngsters, turning them into fully-fledged
artists in five minutes."35 The composers 1912 essay On Respect in Art elaborates
on the systemized approach of contemporary music education:
For a long time now we have been trying to organize the most unorganizeable
things in the world, and, as it was bound to, this obsession has ended up by
invading art!...And if one wants to learn music? One goes to the
Conservatoire or to the Schola Cantorum where, whether one is a genius like
Bach or gifted like Chopin, one has to undergo the same regime. How on
earth did these two words, art and regime, ever come to be linked? I
really cannot imagine.36
According to Debussy, the stench of standardization emitted by the
Conservatoire wafted up to the pinnacles of Parisian culture. Bemoaning the Opras
tendency to stage the same warhorses ad nauseam in the pages of La revue blanche,
he remarks, Of all these things there is not a thing that is really new. Nothing but the
churning of a factory, the same old things over and over again. Youd think that
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music had to put on an obligatory uniform as it entered the opera house, as if it were a
convict.37 In a 1903 essay for Gil Blas, the composer similarly indicts the OpraComique for its staid regimen of productions:
Let us move to the Opra-Comique. There we find a hive of industry, as
methodical and organized as any factory, where hard work is going on on
every floor! They revive the old comic operas: M. Albert Carr still has a
weakness for Adolphe Adams Le Torador as much as he does for Verdis
La Traviata. That brings us no closer to the time when we can expect
revivals of Le Nozze di Figaro and Der Freischtz, works from which we
could learn a great deal; whereas Le Torador and other similar works
merely remind us that French music went through some dreadful periods.38
Debussys extensive use of industrial imagery to describe musical
standardization, a process he plainly loathed, seems to hint at an aversion to
industrialization as a larger phenomenon, and, indeed, several passages in the
composers criticism confirm such antipathy. Consider, for example, Debussys
denunciation of Futurism, which targets the aesthetic for its recourse to machines.
Created in 1909 with the publication of Filippo Marinettis Manifeste de fondation du
Futurisme, the Futurist movement celebrated humankinds triumph over nature by
glorifying the mechanistic trappings of modern life, such as locomotives, factories
and weaponry. In the sphere of painting, Gino Severinis 1915 canvas Armored Train
in Action typifies the aesthetic (Fig. 18). Severini did not fight in World War I;
rather, he heeded Marinettis exhortation to live the war pictorially, studying it in all
its marvelous mechanical forms."39 Armored Train in Action depicts a squad of rifletoting soldiers defending an armor-plated locomotive as it blasts through the
countryside. The composition and coloring of these elements emphasize the
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supremacy of industry over the natural world as the gunmetal train dominates the
center of the painting while the green terrain is confined to the periphery.
With respect to music, the works of Luigi Russolo exemplify Futurism.
Initially embracing the movement as a painter, Russolo turned to music in 1913 with
the publication of his manifesto L'arte dei rumori, which championed the
incorporation of industrial sounds into contemporary composition. Working to
achieve this end, Russolo built a series of intonarumori, or noise-machines, that
featured colorful monikers like the howler and the exploder. He then teamed up
with Fidele Azari, who established the Futurist Aerial Theatre, to construct flying
intonarumori, i.e., airplane engines whose pitch and tone could be controlled by the
pilot. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your point of view, only one of
Russolos compositions has survived, but his works bore industrial monikers such as
Convegno di automobile e aeroplani and Risveglio di una citt.
To be sure, certain aspects of Futurism resonate with Debussys views,
particularly its fierce iconoclasm. Shortly after the publication of Marinettis
inaugural manifesto, a cadre of artists based in Milan, including Severini and
Russolo, produced a like-minded sequel that heaps scorn upon tradition: We want to
fight ferociously against the fanatical, unconscious and snobbish religion of the past,
which is nourished by the evil influence of museums. We rebel against the supine
admiration of old canvases, old statues and old objects, and against the enthusiasm for
all that is worm-eaten, dirty and corroded by time; we believe that the common
contempt for everything young, new and palpitating with life is unjust and
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criminal.40 Further underscoring Futurisms aversion to orthodoxy, Russolo

believed that his lack of formal musical training actually enabled his ingenuity, a
view that Debussy would have appreciated.41 But the composer of Pellas welcomed
neither Futurisms obsession with industrialization nor its zest for World War I, the
first conflict to feature mechanistic mass destruction. For Debussy, Futurism, despite
its pronounced claims to the contrary, represented an aesthetic regression thanks to its
misguided fetishization of machines. As the composer explains in an article for
S.I.M.,
I shall only mention the so-called futurist music for the sake of recording
history. It claims to reassemble all the noises of a modern capital city and
bring them together in a symphonyfrom the sound of railway-engine
pistons to the tinkling of a porcelain menders bellsIt is strange how the
fantasies of progress lead one to become conservative. We must be
careful not to end up in a state of decline and to be wary of machinery,
something that has already devoured many fine things.42
While Debussys critique of Futurism succinctly encapsulates his disquiet
over the mechanization of society, the composers most poignant reproof of
industrialization appears in an article for La revue blanche. Here the composer
positions the virtuous harmony between nature and music in stark contrast to the
dehumanizing machinery of the modern world:
Lingering in the autumnal countryside, all that magic of the ancient forests
invincibly came back to me. A gentle, persuasive voice that lulled one into
perfect oblivion rose from the falling of the golden leavesseeming to
celebrate the glorious death throes of the treesand the hollow tones of the
angelus, which tolled the fields to sleep. The sun set quite alone, for
there was no peasant in the foreground to strike a lithographic pose. Man and
beast went to and fro together in peace; the days tasks were ended.
And even those daily chores would have had a special beauty of their own,
needing no encouragement and inciting no disapproval. Far, far away were
artistic discussions: the names of the Great Men would have seemed like
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coarse words here; all the artificial hysteria of first nights was forgotten. I
was alone and wonderfully carefree. Perhaps I had never loved music
more than at this time, when to talk about it was furthest from my mind.
Music appeared to me in her total beauty: no longer as tiny fragments of a
symphony, nor overblown, complex forms. Sometimes my thoughts would
turn to M. Croche, for his neat, ghostly appearance would have fitted in to any
landscape without spoiling its lines. But I had to leave all this tranquil joy and
return, my heart heavy with a mistrust of towns where so many prefer to be
slowly broken than to be left out of the machinery of which they are
unwittingly the wheels.43
Doubtlessly, Debussys everyday living conditions informed his repugnance
towards industrial enterprise. Despite the fact that Frances Industrial Revolution
lagged well behind Englands on account of the disorder precipitated by the
overthrow of the ancien rgime and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars, it had still
transformed the nation by the turn of the twentieth century. Facets of this
metamorphosis benefited society, albeit incrementally; as Yves Lequin states it in his
Histoire de la France urbaine , the lot of the average citizen graduated from misery
to precariousness.44 All the same, the country did witness substantive
improvements. New agricultural tools and techniques like the modern scythe and
crop rotation gradually upgraded the diet of the average French citizen. Louis
Pasteurs achievements, too numerous to list here, not only insured the safety of
foodstuffs like dairy products and beer but also facilitated the creation of vaccines for
a variety of diseases. Advances in the production of textiles, notably the power loom,
provided clothing at an affordable price, even for the impoverished masses. Last but
not least, refinements in metallurgy facilitated the diffusion of zinc-coated bathtubs
and bidets to people who were unable to afford those made of porcelain, thereby
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providing much needed relief to the besieged olfactory organs of the French
populace.
All of this progress, however, was offset by a host of problems that came
with the Industrial Revolution. Economic opportunities associated with
manufacturing attracted droves of penniless workers to urban centers. As a result, the
overcrowding of cities became a societal ill whose symptoms included crime,
alcoholism and pollution. Regarding this last item, the widespread burning of coal,
the indiscriminate disposal of factory detritus, and the mounting collection of human
refuse collaborated to produce a toxic environment. Describing his rejection of
realism in favor of the occult, the celebrated novelist J. K. Huysmans explained that
he was seeking compensation for the disgust of everyday life, for the garbagethe
purulence of a repugnant epoch.45 Blaring noises, which were generated by new
machines like cars and trolleys, further assaulted the city dwellers sensibilities.
Equally mind numbing were the conditions for hordes of factory workers, who were
obliged to perform the same menial task ad nauseam while subject to harsh workplace
discipline. As a contemporary union advocate put it, these poor souls were working
machines rather than thinking beings.46
Forged in the crucible of this noxious atmosphere, Debussys hostility towards
industrial enterprise reflects a broader cultural phenomenon, namely, the birth of
French environmentalism. As the eminent historian Eugen Weber relates in his book
France: Fin de Sicle, the degradation of city life during the denouement of the long
nineteenth century gave rise to widespread ecological consciousness:
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Starting with major taints like syphilis and alcoholism, moving on to more
general considerations like cleanliness and adequate housing, social solicitude
(or anxiety) could lead to initiatives like the fin de sicles pioneer crusades
for garden cities, urban removal, allotments, or even noise abatement.
The modern ecological tradition, the concern with pollution and its social
fallout, taken up the radical Left and Right at the centurys turn, then by
Fascism and National Socialism, only to be inherited by the New Left, the
Liberals, and the Greens of the later twentieth century, found its wellsprings
in the sensibilities of a decadent society apprehensive of degeneration.47
Tributes and Rebukes
Shunning industrialization and its aesthetic repercussions, Debussy enjoined
aspiring musicians to reject standardization and seek inspiration in the beauty of
nature. In a dialogue with the composer, M. Croche counsels, Remain unique!
Unblemished! Being too influenced by ones milieu spoils an artist: in the end he
becomes nothing but the expression of his milieu. Search for a discipline within
freedom! Dont let yourself be governed by formulae drawn from decadent
philosophies: they are for the feeble-minded. Listen to no ones advice except that of
the wind in the trees. That can recount the whole history of mankind.48 M. Croches
exhortation reverberates in Debussys 1903 censure of the Prix de Rome, which he
viewed as a stultifying agent of formalism:
[Music] is allied to the movement of the waters, to the play of curves described
by the changing breezes. Nothing is more musical than a sunset! For anyone
who can be moved by what they see can learn the greatest lessons in
development here. That is to say, they can read them in Natures booka
book not well enough known among musicians, who tend to read nothing but
their own books about what the Masters have said, respectfully stirring the dust
on their works. All very well, but perhaps Art goes deeper than this.49
Musicians who shared Debussys reading habits, i.e., those who discarded
convention in pursuit of beauty and originality, received favorable copy from the
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composer. Not surprisingly, such praise tends to be swathed in the imagery of nature.
Reviewing a performance of Edward Griegs song The Swan given by the Swedish
soprano Ellen Gulbranson, Debussy invokes the natural world in expressing his
admiration for the Norwegian composers effort: There always seems to be one note
that drags on over a chord like a water lily on a lake, tired of being watched by the
moonOr a tiny balloon obscured by the clouds. This music leaves one in such a
quandary that one cannot resist it 50 Gulbransons voice also made an impression
on Debussy, who writes that she sang these three songs with a voice so light, so
dreamy, that one could feel that cold sadness peculiar to the fjords, still the purest of
Norways charms. 51 In a 1914 critique of Max dOllones opera Ltrangre, the
composer heaps similar praise on the French soprano Jeanne Hatto, who sang the title
role: Her voice is commanding yet gentle, like the reflection of a beautiful sky in
the sea; she made us realize both the dream and the reality contained in this part.52
But the most striking examples of Debussys flowery accolades appear in
articles devoted to German music. These instances demonstrate that the composers
admiration for nature-infused art transcended the anti-German ethos of his milieu.
Every day of his life from the age of eight onwards, Debussy breathed the fallout
from the Franco-Prussian War, one of the most humiliating events in French history.
The conflict was masterminded by the Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarck,
who wanted to unify northern and southern Germany through combat with France.
Opportunity came knocking for the Machiavellian statesman with the overthrow of
Queen Isabella II of Spain. Working in tandem with Juan Prim, the Spanish official
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charged with finding a replacement for the deposed monarch, Bismarck advanced the
candidacy of the Prussian prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Distressed
by the possibility of being sandwiched between two empires headed up by Prussian
rulers, Napolon III of France applied diplomatic pressure to quash Leopolds
coronation. Additionally, the French emperor demanded an assurance from King
William I of Prussia that henceforth no member of the Hohenzollern nobility would
lay claim to the Spanish throne. In a conversation with Frances ambassador to
Prussia, William I refused to offer such a guarantee. Receiving the Prussian kings
account of this exchange via telegram, Bismarck edited the document to make it seem
like the two parties had traded insults with each other when in fact their dialogue had
been rather civil. He promptly published his revisions, inciting rage among French
and Prussian partisans alike. With calls for retribution ringing throughout his
administration, Napolon III took Bismarcks bait, declaring war on Prussia on July
19, 1870.
At the outset of the conflict, the French military believed itself to be superior to
its Prussian counterpart thanks to its development of two new weapons: a breechloading rifle and a rudimentary machine gun. But these technological marvels
failed to compensate for the Prussian armys superiority in men, organization and
mobility. Within a matter weeks, Prussia dealt France a mortal blow at the Battle of
Sedan, in which 83,000 French troops were captured along with Napolon III himself.
In response to this calamity, officials in Paris announced the dethronement of the
emperor and the formation of the Third Republic, which carried on the fight despite
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daunting odds. Resistance proved futile, however, and the French capital surrendered
to Prussian forces on January 28, 1871.
Evoking Brennuss oft-cited maxim woe to the conquered, Prussias victory
was ruinous for France. Ten days before the official capitulation of Paris, Bismarck
realized his goal of German unification as William I was proclaimed emperor at
Versailles, a ceremony that mortified the French public. Next, France had to endure a
German victory lap under the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe (Fig. 19). Equally
upsetting was the Third Republics ensuing subjugation of the rebellious Paris
Commune, which ended in the death of some twenty thousand insurrectionists and the
apprehension of some forty thousand more, including Debussys father.53 Having
crushed this internal opposition, the fledgling French government set about enacting
the pitiless conditions of its surrender to Germany. France began to pay an indemnity
of five billion francs (a huge sum in those days) and ceded five thousand square miles
of land on its eastern border, a territory known as Alsace-Lorraine.
For the French, the grim consequences of the Franco-Prussian War signaled the
terminus of their countrys military, economic and cultural dominance over
continental Europe. Predictably, their defeat gave rise to pangs of national shame.
Touring Versailles with his brother Jules in 1879, the diplomat Paul Cambon
reflected on the humbling coronation of William I: between the glorious France of
yore and our France there is thisdisgrace, this flawlike a burn that doesnt
heal.54 Expressions of such ignominy were frequently accompanied by strong antiGerman sentiment. Various courts of law actually issued rulings on whether or not
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calling someone a Prussian constituted defamation. Judicatures in Lilles, Douai and

Sceaux opined that it did, given the state of public opinion in France concerning the
Prussian nation.55 The court of Boulogne-sur-Mer took a softer stance, stating to
call someone a Prussian does not qualify as abusive languageIt would be different
if the expression was dirty Prussian.56 Further exhibiting this sort of animosity, the
popular newspaper Le Petit Parisien featured a regular section devoted to sniffing out
suspected German spies, who, according to the man on the street, were ubiquitous in
postwar Paris.
In the wake of the Franco-Prussian War, anti-German feelings marked all
spheres of French culture, especially music. One month after Frances surrender,
Saint-Sans mustered a host of his colleagues to found the Socit Nationale de
Musique. Adopting the motto Ars gallica, this organization exclusively promoted
indigenous music to counter decades of Teutonic hegemony in French concert halls.
The approximately one hundred and fifty members of the Socit not only mounted
performances of French music themselves but also pressured more prominent
institutions to do the same. Such was the case with the well-attended Concerts
Populaire de Musique Classique, which were conducted by Jules Pasdeloup. Prior to
the founding of the Socit Nationale, Pasdeloup concentrated on the five composers
that he held in highest esteem, Austro-Germans all: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
Weber and Mendelssohn. The conductor also championed the music of Wagner, his
favored contemporary composer, and directed the French premiere of the Wedding
March from Lohengrin. Pasdeloups partiality towards German composers left little
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room on his programs for native fare; in a ten-year span, the conductor directed a
mere smattering of French works. But through the efforts of the Socit Nationale,
Pasdeloup did an about face, eschewing the Teutonic canon in favor of new music by
French composers, including Saint-Sanss Marche hroqiue and Massenets Les
Scnes hongroises.
Though universal in the immediate aftermath of 1871, French hostility towards
German music became less ubiquitous over time. Pasdeloup openly resumed his love
affair with Wagner after his 1879 performance of the Tannhuser Overture passed
without a riot, and in 1886 the once hermetic Socit Nationale opened its arms to
foreign repertoire, including German music. But as one might expect, openmindedness of this sort generated a backlash from the more nationalistic members of
the musical elite like Saint-Sans, who not only broke from the Socit Nationale in
disgust but also accused Pasdeloup of being a German agent. Doubtlessly, the
composer of Samson et Dalila would have concurred with the militant assessment of
a 1907 history textbook, which states that the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War
is a truce, not a peace; which is why since 1871 all Europe lives permanently under
arms.57
The acrimony between those who favored the inclusion of German music and
those who wanted to banish it indefinitely characterized French concert life well into
the twentieth century. Even Debussy, who frequently conveyed his reservations
about German music, risked charges of cultural treason by expressing admiration for
composers like Bach, Beethoven and Weber. But as several sections in Debussys
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criticism indicate, his was willing to give German music its due as long as it
displayed an affinity to nature. In his article German Influence on French Music,
the composer downplays the perniciousness of his subject and compares the singular
beauty of Bachs B Minor Mass to that of the natural world:
German influence never had any ill effect on anyone except those people easily
impressed, or, to put it another way, on those who take the word influence to
mean imitation.
Besides, it is always difficult to be precise about influences, whether it is of
Goethes second Faust or of Bachs B Minor Mass. These works will remain
monuments of beauty, unique and incapable of repetition. Their influence is
like that of the sea or the sky, universal rather than especially German.58
Taking a similar tack in an interview that he gave to his friend Robert Godet after the
dress rehearsal of Pellas, Debussy gushes over Webers operas for seamlessly
meshing nature and the human spirit:
Weber sings and thereupon the voice of this Orpheus renews the harmony of
nature with the human soul in a visionary kingdom which has no difficulty in
persuading it of its reality, since the law which governs it secures for art a life
of its own, far better balanced than ours. In this accord which he constructs so
harmoniously, note that Weber begins instinctively by transposing its two
terms: it is in the measure, when matter unloads its weight, that it impresses him
so that he succeeds in animating it with his breath when he sets it down. And
if, for example, he turns his landscapes into living beings, one might even say
individualized in their characters, and if he transforms his characters, even
those that are supernatural, into elementary types of innocence and malice akin
to the tree and the flower, it is the genius in him, in spite of himself, that
transfigures them until they are knit one within the other.59
Last but not least, Debussy lauds Beethoven in his 1903 critique of the Pastoral
Symphony even though he downgrades the hallowed status of the work on account of
its artificiality vis--vis nature (more on this passage in Chapter 4):
Certain of the old masters pages do contain expression more profound than
the beauty of a landscape. Why? Simply because there is no attempt at direct
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imitation, but rather at capturing the invisible sentiments of nature.

Elsewhere in this symphony, Beethoven shows himself to be of a time when
one never saw the world of nature except in books. This is proved by the
storm, which forms part of this same piece. The real terror of man and beast
in the face of a storm is hidden beneath the folds of a romantic cloak, and the
thunder is hardly severe.
But it would be stupid to think that I have no respect for Beethoven. Its just
that a musician of genius, such as he, can make unconscious mistakes greater
than anyone else. There is no man who is bound to write only masterpieces, and
if we class the Pastoral Symphony as one of these, then we have no yardstick
with which to measure others. Thats all I want to say.60
While Debussy was willing to overlook the German pedigree of music that
satisfied his naturist criteria, he refused to give his countrymen an inch if they
promoted academicism. This was especially true with Saint-Sans, whom Debussy
viewed as the embodiment of the conservatism that he so thoroughly despised. In
stark contrast to the iconoclastic composer of Pellas, Saint-Sans rejected upheaval
in favor of traditionalism, an aesthetic position that characterizes his critical writings
and compositional output. As far as he was concerned, modernist composers like
Debussy were barbarians at the gates of form and harmony, which had been
meticulously constructed over thousands of years. Although Saint-Sans articulates
this outlook ad nauseam in his criticism, his 1913 essay Anarchy in Music proves
exemplary, especially for the ecocritic. Here the composer not only decries the
impertinence of his youthful colleagues but also associates their misguided quest for
innovation with the intuitive music of nature, which, though pleasant enough, plays
second fiddle to the music of humankind:
There is no longer any question of adding to the old rules new principles which
are the natural expression of time and experience, but simply of casting aside
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all rules and every restraint. Everyone ought to make his own rules. Music
is free and unlimited in its liberty of expression. There are no perfect chords,
dissonant chords or false chords. All aggregations of notes are legitimate.
This is called, and they believe it, the development of taste.
He whose taste is developed by this system is not like the man who by tasting
wine can tell you its age and its vineyard, but he is rather like the fellow who
with perfect indifference gulps down good or bad wine, brandy or whiskey, and
prefers that which burns his gullet the mostThe man with a developed taste
is not the one who knows how to get new and unexpected results by passing
from one key to another, as the great Richard did in Die Meistersinger, but
rather the man who abandons all keys and piles up dissonances which he neither
introduces nor concludes and who, as a result, grunts his way through music as
a pig through a flower garden.
Possibly they may go further still. There seems to be no reason why they
should linger on the way to untrammeled freedom or restrict themselves
within a scaleThat is what dogs do when they bay at the moon, cats when
they mew, and the birds when they sing. A German has written a book to
prove that the birds sing false. Of course he is wrong for they do not sing
false. If they did, their song would not sound agreeable to us. They sing
outside of scales and it is delightful, but that is not man-made art.61
As this essay and numerous others indicate, Saint-Sans espoused an aesthetic
that may be regarded as diametrically opposed to Debussys, hence the elder
composers reactionary critiques of the juniors student works. But Saint-Sanss
enmity towards Debussy extended well beyond the latters receipt of the Prix de
Rome. The composer of Samson et Dalila regularly professed his contempt for
Pellas et Mlisande, which, thanks to his distinct lisp, he reportedly pronounced as
Pellath et Mlithande.62 Writing to the musicologist Jules Ecorcheville on June
16, 1909, Saint-Sans affirms his own status as a musical immortal and confidently
declares that Debussys opera would not endure for another forty years.63 Not content
to wait for the passage of time to diminish his adversary, however, Saint-Sans
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exerted his considerable influence to thwart Debussys admission into the Institut, an
entre that would have otherwise been a formality.
Ostensibly to Saint-Sanss credit, he put his money where his mouth was by
composing music that mirrored the conservative bent of his writings. AABB phrase
patterns, direct chord progressions and restrained orchestration typify the lions share
of his oeuvre. With respect to instrumental music, Saint-Sans favored classical
genres like the concerto, sonata and symphony and carefully modeled his
compositions on antecedents from the First Viennese School. Similarly, his various
restorations of Baroque dance forms adhere closely their source material. In terms of
theatrical music, the composer readily adopted the conventions of grand opera such as
ensemble ballets and historical themes, thereby perpetuating the methods of
Meyerbeer and Gounod.
While several of Saint-Sanss contemporaries admired his traditionalism,
Debussy was certainly not one of them. Admittedly, the junior composer respected
the elder for audaciously championing the music of Bach and Liszt in his formative
years. But he could not abide the authoritarian conservatism that Saint-Sans had
come to personify by the mid 1880s. In his 1903 article At the Concert Colonne:
MM. C. Saint-Sans and Alfred Bachelet, Debussy, through the lips of the gnarled
M. Croche, stakes out his position on the grand old man of French music:
This scientific approach to music has meant that Saint-Sans will never allow
himself to overload his music with too many of his own personal feelings. We
are indebted to him for having recognized the tumultuous genius of Liszt, and
we should remember that he professed his admiration for old Bach at a time
when such an act of faith was also an act of courage. But lets make no
mistake: Saint-Sans is, by definition, the essential traditional musician. He
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has accepted traditions harsh discipline, and he never allows himself to

overstep the limits set by those he considers to be great masters. This is proved
marvelously by his Variations for Two Pianos, which is based on a theme by
Beethoven. He recaptured Beethovens style so accurately that it is only
Beethoven we think of64
M. Croche proceeds to lament Saint-Sanss tendency to churn out uninspired operas
in the manner of a hack, a propensity that he tellingly likens to pollution:
God in his infinite wisdom has put countless opera writers on this earth! In
making the number still greater, Saint-Sans becomes one too many. And what
he has done can only encourage the commercial success of the rest of them: its
wicked! How can he be blind to the fact that it is bound to lose him the respect
of all those young people who are counting on him to open new roads to
freedom, toward a purer air65
Specifically referencing Saint-Sanss opera Les Barbares, M. Croche suggests that
the aged composer should abandon his theatrical efforts in favor of world travel,
which would expose him to the much-needed inspiration of nature:
Theres even a farandole that has been praised for its archaic feelingthats
nothing but cold-blooded ignorance of the kind peculiar to music critics. In
reality, its just a rather stale echo of the old Exposition of 1889. Wasnt there
anyone who cared enough for Saint-Sans to tell him that hed written enough
operas, and that hed be better employed in his more recently found vocation as
an explorer? The contemplation of new areas of sky might suggest to him a
more useful kind of music66
No longer speaking through his fictional mouthpiece, Debussy concludes his critique
by claiming that Saint-Sans missed an opportunity to unite music and nature in his
incidental music for Jane Dieulafoys play Parysatis, which was premiered at an
outdoor theater in the south of France:
The music for Parysatis was written for the play by Mme Jane Dieulafoy, and
first performed at the Thtre des Arnes at Bziers in August 1892. I was not
fortunate enough to be present at this performance and Im deeply sorry, for the
idea of music in the open air interests me. It seems to me to be one of the best
opportunities for a musician to bring together all the resources of music. To
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have the natural scenery and the beautiful sky at ones fingertips! To be able to
make an orchestral commentary on the daily miracle of the sunset! What a
marvelous chance for anyone with a feeling for the harmony that so powerfully
links Art with Nature herself! I have myself spoken, in these very columns, of
my hopes as regards open-air music. But to return to Parysatis: I will never
know if it was better in its original open-air setting than in the confines of the
concert hall
In short, it was pleasant concert-hall music. But it should not have been! It was
written for the open air!67
The centrality of nature in Debussys criticism, which the present chapter has
hopefully illuminated, seems to contravene Adornos sweeping assertion that artifacts
have superseded natural beauty in aesthetic discourse. For Debussy, music that
evokes the singular beauty of the natural world merits acclaim, whereas music that
evokes industrialization warrants condemnation. All the same, a crucial question
remains: how does this fundamental criterion inform the composers own oeuvre? To
be sure, the analysis of Jeux de vagues that I presented in Chapter 1 highlights the
conspicuous nexus between nature and innovation in Debussys music. But this
examination provides only a brief glimpse into the natural worlds comprehensive
impact on the composers output. It falls to the following chapter, therefore, to track
this influence along its various vectors
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Chapter 4
Walking the Walk
Wagner, if one may be permitted a little of the grandiloquence that suits the man,
was a beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a sunrise. There will always be periods
of imitation and influence, but one can never foresee how long they will last, still less
their nationality; truth moves at the same speed as the laws of evolution. These
periods are necessary for those who like to follow easy, well-trodden paths. But they
allow others to go further into realms where they will suffer for having found Beauty.
So everything is for the best.
Claude Debussy, The German Influence on French Music
Introduction
As much as any aesthetic movement of the long nineteenth century, Symbolism
exercised a conspicuous influence on Debussys music. Admittedly, some
musicologists have overemphasized its impact. For example, Stefan Jarocinskis
monograph Debussy: Impressionism & Symbolism unnecessarily disallows the vibrant
canvases of the former as inspiration for the composer in favor of what it deems the
all-encompassing muse of the latter.1 In actuality, the Symbolist poetry of
Baudelaire, Mallarm and Verlaine constituted one of many man-made stimuli for
Debussys creativity. Art Nouveau, Neoclassicism and, yes, Impressionism also
fanned the flames of his imagination.
All the same, Symbolisms notion of correspondence proves crucial to
understanding the connection between Debussys criticism and music vis--vis
nature. Positing a link between the natural world and the human spirit as well as an
interrelation between sensory faculties, the concept originated in Baudelaires sonnet
Correspondances, which appeared in his 1857 anthology Les fleurs du mal:
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Nature is a temple where living pillars

At times send out muddled words:
There, man passes through forests of symbols
That watch him with familiar looks.
Like long echoes that blend from afar
In a deep penumbral wholeness
As vast as the night and the light
Aromas, colors and sounds give answer.
There are aromas cool as the flesh
of babies
Sweet as oboes, green
as the fields
And others, tainted, rich and thriving,
Having the power of infinite expansion,
Like amber, musk, balsam and incense
Which sing of the transports of spirit and sense.2
Given Baudelaires attraction to synaesthetic experience, it follows logically
that he was wonderstruck by the French premiere of Wagners Tannhuser in March
1861. Indeed, the composers theory of Gesamtkunstwerk, which calls for the
integration of various artistic media within the framework of a drama, approximates
Baudelaires idea of correspondence. But unfortunately for Wagner, the French
cognoscenti were less enamored with Tannhuser than the bohemian poet. As a
matter of fact, the works debut in France ranks among the most notorious scandals in
the history of Western music. Yearning to conquer Paris, Wagner received a royal
invitation to stage Tannhuser at the Opra through the intercession of Princess
Pauline Metternich, the wife of the Austrian ambassador to the court of Napolon III.
For various reasons, Metternich was an object of derision to the Paris Jockey Club, an
exclusive social organization for affluent Parisian men that owned several boxes at
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the Opra. Already critical of Wagners Austrian benefactor, the club was further
vexed by the composers refusal to add a ballet to Act II, which denied its members
the customary pleasure of ogling the Opras nubile ballerinas after a fashionably late
arrival. Unwilling to suffer in silence, members of the Jockey Club disrupted the
premiere with relentless catcalls and whistles, prompting Wagner to withdraw
Tannhuser after three performances.3
Despite his self-professed ignorance of music, Baudelaire felt compelled to
respond to this brouhaha. Accordingly, he speedily produced and published his only
major piece of music criticism, Richard Wagner and Tannhuser in Paris, to defend
the German composer against the bigotry of the French elite. In this essay,
Baudelaire explains that Wagners works epitomize his own notion of sensory
interrelation and goes so far as to inscribe Correspondances into the texts main
body. The passage that immediately precedes this quotation, however, turns out to be
more relevant to the aims of the present dissertation because it explicitly states that
varying artistic media can evoke homologous thoughts:
The reader knows the aim we are pursuing, namely to show that true music
suggests similar ideas in different minds. Moreover, a priori reasoning, without
further analysis and without comparisons, would not be ridiculous in this
context; for the only really surprising thing would be that sound could not
suggest color, that colors could not give the idea of melody, and that both
sound and color together were unsuitable as media for ideas; since all things
always have been expressed by reciprocal analogies, ever since the day when
God created the world as a complex indivisible totality.4
As the present chapter demonstrates, Debussys music and criticism exemplify
Baudelaires notion of reciprocal analogies because the composers oeuvre mirrors
the naturist content of his writings and vice versa. To be sure, Debussys numerous
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evocations of natural phenomena like La Mer and Nuages as well as his total
eschewal of industrial themes attest to this correspondence on a surface level. But as
we will see, the composers naturism subtly informed other salient aspects of his
output, namely, his integration of exotic music, his utilization of the arabesque, his
fascination with the mythological god Pan and his rethinking of the symphony.
Sundown
In addition to his abhorrence of academicism, Debussys assimilation of exotic
music, which began in the wake of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, hinged upon his
complex relationship with Wagners oeuvre. Recall that the French composer
planned to publish a polemic entitled On the Uselessness of Wagnerism in the fall
of 1893. Contrary to the implications of this provocative heading, Debussy had been
the most zealous of Wagnerians in his youth. But after his 1889 pilgrimage to
Bayreuth, the composer began to question Wagners mounting aesthetic primacy, a
progressive interrogation that lead him to far-flung sources of musical ingenuity.
In light of Wagners well-established influence on French aesthetics during the
latter half of the long nineteenth century, it is hard to believe that Paris witnessed only
three ephemeral stagings of the composers operas between the famed excerpt
concerts of 1860 and the mounting of Lohengrin in 1891, but such was the case. As
this chapter has already noted, the 1861 premiere of Tannhuser came up against the
hostility of the Jockey Club and was consequently shut down after three harried
performances. Pasdeloups attempt to stage Rienzi eight years later encountered
similar resistance. In an article that appeared in Le Figaro on December 19, 1904,
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Henry Roujon recollects the raucous debut of Wagners grand opera: Pasdeloup
delivered this music to the beasts in his circus and became the butt of their hoots and
howls at each performance of the Overture. Two thousand whistled furiously, while
twenty pairs of hand applauded. To subdue them, Pasdeloup spoke quietly but
firmly.5 But despite the conductors efforts to pacify his audience, its unrelenting
antagonism briskly dashed his hopes of mounting all of Wagners operas beginning
with Rienzi. Equally doomed was Charles Lamoureuxs production of Lohengrin in
May 1887. On April 21 of that year, a French police commissary by the name of
Guillaume Schnaebel was arrested in Germany on trumped-up charges of espionage.
Although he was released one week later, the so-called Schnaebel Incident nearly
brought France and Germany into armed conflict for the second time in as many
decades. Accordingly, demonstrations against Wagner broke out in Paris, forcing
Lamoureux to cut the ten scheduled performances of Lohengrin down to two.6
Amidst the performance vacuum created by such enmity, Debussys initiation
into the cult of Bayreuth came through Albert Lavignac, a Wagner enthusiast who
instructed the enfant terrible in solfge during the early 1870s. According to multiple
biographies of Debussy, the inquisitive pupil and his teacher became so engrossed in
a reading of the Tannhuser Overture one evening that they were locked inside the
Conservatoire building on the corner of rue Bergre. Consequently, Lavignac and his
young charge had to fumble their way out in the dark.7 Talk about an omen!
When the twenty-two-year-old Debussy departed Paris for the Villa Medici as
the recipient of the Prix de Rome, he brought his boyhood fascination with Wagner
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along for the trip. During those precious hours when he was free from toiling away
on his envois, Debussy found time to champion the genius of Wagner in debates with
the painter Ernest Hbert, who succeeded Louis Cabat as the director of the Villa in
June 1885. Debussy was a frequent guest of M. and Mme Hbert at dinners and other
social events during his unhappy sojourn in Rome, which seemingly offered the
composer a respite from the unique loneliness that accompanies immersion in a
foreign culture. But the parade of invitations from the sociable Hberts prompted the
introverted Debussy to complain to his confidant Henri Vasnier, Regarding the
Hberts, they show me an interest that is a bit tiresome. Under the pretext of trying to
make the Villa agreeable to me, they are going to make it a bit more unbearable.8
Nonetheless, these soires afforded Debussy the opportunity to sharpen his critical
acumen by discussing Wagners music with a fellow artist who disagreed with him.
In an article entitled Impressions of a Prix de Rome that appeared in Gil Blas on
June 10, 1903, Debussy recalls these formative sparring sessions:
Hbert adored music, but he didnt like the music of Wagner at all. At this time
I was a Wagnerian to the point of forgetting the most fundamental good
manners. I would never have thought for one moment that I would come
around to where I almost agreed with this dogmatic old man! He had sifted
through the emotional effects of Wagners music very carefully, while we
scarcely knew what they were, or how they might be used.9
Surprisingly, Debussys change of heart vis--vis Wagner came on the heels of
his most fervent engagement with the German composers music. Shortly after his
return to Paris in March 1887, Debussy attended a performance of the first act of
Tristan und Isolde at the Concerts Lamoureux. Although he had to suffer through
performances of works by Mendelssohn and Ernest Reyer before the pice de
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rsistance, Wagners meditation on erotic death did not disappoint the young
composer. In a letter to Hbert dated March 17, 1887, Debussy rekindles the debate
with his former chaperone:
And finally, the first act of Tristan und Isolde: it is definitely the most beautiful
music I know from the point of view of depth of emotion. It envelops you like
a caress and makes you suffer; in short, you undergo the same emotions as
Tristan, but without doing violence to your intellect or your heart. Not very
well sung, but superbly played and at times even too accuratelyone would
like to see the music spring more freely. Thats the only music Ive heard, as
the Opra doesnt tempt me in the slightest.10
Against the backdrop of the contemporary music scene, this performance of
Tristan, though incomplete, must have seemed like an epic validation of Debussys
youthful enthusiasm for Wagner as 1887 marked something of a nadir for theatrical
music in France. Contending with the numerous factors that have made public opera
a risky financial proposition since its inception in seicento Venice, Pierre Gailhard
and Eugne Ritt, the co-directors of the Opra, decided to play it safe that year, opting
to forego the customary premiere of a new work. Instead, the two impresarios relied
on the steady income generated by recycling classics from the core repertory, which
at that time included several operas by Meyerbeer, whose grandiloquent music
Debussy detested.11 This formulaic programming prompted one subscriber to write a
letter of complaint to the Opra: I shall not be subscribing againLast winter, I
swallowed twelve performances of Patrie [a grand opera in the style of Meyerbeer by
mile Paladilhe] on Fridays, and I need a rest. When MM. Ritt and Gailhard feel like
varying their repertoire a little, I shall resume the subscription I have been taking out
for the last 20 years.12 To make matters worse, the Opra-Comique, which typically
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provided some respite for concertgoers bored by the Opras cavalcade of warhorses,
suffered a devastating fire in May 1887 and was forced to relocate elsewhere, a
disaster that threw the institutions creative endeavors into chaos.
Thanks to the shortfall of innovation that resulted from the indolence of the
Opra and the incapacitation of the Opra-Comique, Debussy drew much of his
inspiration from the font of Bayreuth in the years immediately following his return
from Rome. In the latter half of 1887, the composer embarked upon two of his most
patently Wagnerian works: La damoiselle lue, a pome lyrique based on Dante
Gabriel Rossettis pre-Raphaelite verse The Blessed Damozel, and Cinq pomes de
Baudelaire, five settings of the decadent littrateurs texts. Completed in late 1888
and early 1889, respectively, both works reflect Debussys contemporaneous fervor
for Wagnerian opera, which led the composer to make his first pilgrimage to the
Festspielhaus at Bayreuth in the summer of 1888. Through the monetary support of
tienne Dupin, an affluent financier to whom the Cinq pomes de Baudelaire were
subsequently dedicated, the composer attended performances of Die Meistersinger
and Parsifal along with several other notable Frenchmen, including the editor of La
revue wagnrienne, which Debussy read avidly.13
Predictably, Parsifal left a strong impression on the composition of La
damoiselle lue as the medieval mysticism of Wagners swan song resonates with the
numinous character of Rossettis poem, which depicts a newly arrived maiden in
heaven as she laments the absence of her earthbound lover. Indeed, the first nine
measures of Debussys pome lyrique may be regarded as a tightly compressed
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analogue to the forty-four measures that begin Parsifal (Fig. 20 and 20a). In both
openings, a solemn theme gives way to undulating arpeggios in the strings, which
culminate in a sustained, softly articulated triad (Debussy mm. 1-4; Wagner mm. 119). Each work subsequently presents a harmonic variant of this initial gesture
(Debussy mm. 5-8; Wagner mm. 20-43) before moving on to a chorale-like section in
6/4 time (Debussy mm. 9-; Wagner mm. 44-). As Robin Holloway observes in his
study Debussy and Wagner, allusions to the German composers Bhnenweihfestspiel
permeate the entirety of La damoiselle lue: Debussy renders with perfect success
the chaste simplicity intended by [Rossettis] poem; he has learnt the means from the
appropriate music in Parsifal.14
Whereas La damoiselle lue evinces Debussys coeval preoccupation with
Parsifal, the Cinq pomes de Baudelaire attest to his ardor for Tristan und Isolde.
These songs primarily evoke Wagners tragic romance through their sinuous
chromaticism and dense accompaniments. According to Holloway, The
exceptionally complicated piano part in the Debussy has very much the feel (and to a
certain extent the sound) of an orchestral transcription; the texture it most closely
resembles is that of [certain] pages in the piano-score of Tristan.15 Fortifying the
bond between the Cinq pomes de Baudelaire and Wagners epic love story, Debussy
quotes the Tristan death motive in La Mort des Amants just as the poems
speaker talks of opening the portals between this world and the next (Fig. 21; mm.
30-40).16
The seemingly boundless enthusiasm for Tristan und Isolde that characterizes
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the Cinq pomes de Baudelaire prompted Debussy to return to Bayreuth in the

summer of 1889 to attend a full staging of the work. Lamentably, there are no extant
documents detailing Debussys first experience of Tristan live and uncut, but an
account of the composers reaction to a 1914 production at the Thtre des ChampsElyses describes him as literally shaking with emotion.17 Debussys performance
indications in Golliwogs Cakewalk from Childrens Corner seem to corroborate
this account as the composer indicates that the Tristan quotations in measures 61-77
should be rendered avec une grande emotion, which produces a brilliant comedic
effect in light of the encircling cakewalk (Fig. 22). These particulars suggest that
Debussy likely shared the exquisite sadness experienced by so many devotees who
attended performances of Tristan at Bayreuth, even if he did not engage in the
histrionics of fellow composer Emmanuel Chabrier, who reportedly burst into sobs
of despair before even the first note of the Prelude.18 In Chabriers defense,
emotions tended to run high at the Festspielhaus during performances of Tristan, a
phenomenon that drew the satire of the American humorist Mark Twain during his
own pilgrimage to Bayreuth in the summer of 1891:
Yesterday the opera was Tristan and Isolde. I have seen all sorts of
audiencesat theaters, operas, concerts, lectures, sermons, funeralsbut none
which was twin to the Wagner audience of Bayreuth for fixed and reverential
attention. Absolute attention and petrified retention to the end of an act of the
attitude assumed at the beginning of it. You detect no movement in the solid
mass of heads and shoulders. You seem to sit with the dead in the gloom of a
tomb. You know that they are being stirred to the profoundest depths; that there
are times when they want to rise and wave handkerchiefs and shout their
approbation, and times when tears are running down their faces, and it would be
a relief to free their pent emotions in sobs or screams; yet you hear not one
utterance till the curtain swings together and the closing strains have slowly
faded out and died; then the dead rise with one impulse and shake the building
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with their applause.19

While Debussys passion for Wagner never fully dissipated, his second
pilgrimage to Bayreuth marked the end of his unflinching admiration for the German
composer. Writing to his former composition teacher Ernest Guiraud in August 1889,
Debussy expresses his nascent disillusion with Wagners leitmotif technique and
likens Der Ring des Nibelungen to a machine:
I envy you for having stayed in Paris and for not having had the appetite for the
trip. What bores, these leitmotifs! What infinite catapults! Why didnt Wagner
have dinner at Pluton after finishing Tristan and Die Meistersinger? The
Nibelungen, where there are some pages that overwhelm me, are a machine of
deception. They even rub off on my dear Tristan, and it is a hardship for me to
realize that I am drifting away from it.20
In the four years between his second trip to Bayreuth and the announcement of
On the Uselessness of Wagnerism, Debussys disaffection with Wagner
snowballed. The German composers escalating influence on French culture appears
to have precipitated this phenomenon. Between 1880 and 1890, Wagner went from
being persona non grata to a celebrated icon. As Elaine Brody notes in her book
Paris: The Musical Kaleidoscope (1870-1925), The list of Wagner works presented
at the Opra increased dramatically after 1890 and Wagnerism no longer remained
the exclusive domain of a cult group.21 For a non-conformist like Debussy, this was
an unwelcome development. Like a hipster who decries the popularization of a
previously niche rock band, Debussy, who had cultivated an insiders appreciation for
Wagner since his childhood, lamented the German composers apotheosis during the
twilight of the nineteenth century, when, according to Edward Lockspeiser, the
Wagnerian fever in Paris was at its height.22
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Ironically, Debussy abetted the hoopla in 1893 when he agreed to play extracts
from Das Rheingold in a series of lecture recitals organized by Catulle Mends, a
diehard Wagnerian who had championed the German composers music since the
excerpt concerts of 1860. The raison dtre of these recitals was to introduce Das
Rheingold to Paris in the weeks surrounding the French premiere of Die Walkre on
May 12. On May 7, the day after Mendss first lecture recital, Debussy sent a letter
to his friend Ernest Chausson in which he mocks the affair and conveys his concern
over Wagners mushrooming dominance:
The halting intellects that hover round the Opra had the pleasure yesterday of
hearing Catulle Mends explaining Das Rheingold. A huge successthough
why is beyond me. The general impression seemed to be that Wagner should
light a large candle to Mends for having recalled so many erring souls to the
true religion! (Its enough to make one choke!) Be it noted that his lecture
was dedicated to playing down the role of the composer to glorify the poet. A
roundabout way, in fact, of saying that if he, Mends, hadnt actually written
any music it was because music was something one could quite do without. I
tell you, if fire from heaven, which perhaps doesnt manifest itself often
enough, had descended during this cozy little gathering it would have set the
seal on a unique occasion.
I offer my profoundest apologies to Wagner for getting mixed up in all that.
But the time will shortly come when this gentleman gets a merry revenge on
Paris, and the two of us will be the sufferers because hell become one of those
fortresses the public likes to use to block all new artistic ideas. And as, in all
honesty, we cant pretend his musics bad we shall have no option but to keep
quiet. Ive come to the conclusion that as far as music goes I should like to be
my own grandson! Or else just think what excellent monks wed have made,
walking together in a slightly over-lush cloister garden, discussing how to
perform Palestrinas latest mass.23
Clearly, Debussy was conflicted in his estimation of Wagner. While the
French composer recognized the titan of Bayreuth as one of the greatest artists ever
produced by Western civilization, he was troubled by the excessive artifice that he
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perceived in much of the German composers oeuvre, especially the trellis of

leitmotivs that constitutes Der Ring. Accordingly, Debussy resented the Parisian
intelligentsias rose-colored deification of Wagner. Here he was out of phase with
Mends and composers like Chabrier, Franck and dIndy, who ensconced the German
composer as the paragon for contemporary and future composers alike. In Debussys
view, this Wagnermania was just the latest incarnation of academicism. His letter
to Chausson on May 22, the day after the final Mends lecture recital, imparts this
position:
Im rid of Das RheingoldThe last session was grotesque and boring. Catulle
Mends language about Die Walkre was such that mothers who, in all
innocence, had brought their daughters were obliged to walk out on the
passionate outbursts of this unseemly priest. From now on, anyway, May, the
month of renewal, will become the month of Die Walkre: some simple souls
see this work as being the renewal of music and the death of the old, outdated
formulae. I dont agree, but never mind.24
Despite the Troubles that Civilization Has Brought
On account of his contempt for the Wagnerian rapture sweeping through Paris,
Debussy looked to altogether different sources for the renewal of music, notably the
exotic fare that he encountered at the 1889 Exposition Universelle. Conceived as a
grand celebration of the French Revolutions centenary, this exhibition, which was
staged in Paris on the Champs de Mars between the months of May and November,
ranks as one of the most sensational events witnessed by nineteenth-century Europe
(Fig. 23). Attracting some thirty million visitors and sixty thousand plus exhibitors,
this neologism-worthy megafair featured an endless array of wonders, from a
reconstructed Moroccan souk to the newly completed Tour Eiffel, an addition to the
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Paris skyline that notoriously incensed many of the citys leading aesthetes.25 As the
Guide bleu, a period guidebook for the event, boldly proclaims:
[The Universal Exhibition] shows us how, in 1889, man nourishes himself,
dresses, furnishes, and speaks; through which scientific procedures he works to
the satisfaction of his needs; it shows us the past history and the present state of
the arts which ornament his life and of the sciences destined to make man
happier, more intelligent, and betterIt shows, and it explains everything.
Following the example of manufacturers who, every year, take stock in order to
evaluate to the penny yesterdays returns and tomorrows resources, one might
say that all humanity has come in 1889 to take stock in Paris, between the
Esplanade des Invalides and the Trocadro.26
In accordance with the universal aims of the event, the 1889 Exposition
furnished its visitors with a dizzying assortment of aural experiences, from the lavish
production of Massenets Esclarmonde at the Opra-Comique to the Egyptian cafconcerts on the rue du Caire. Given Debussys distaste for musical orthodoxy, it
seems apt that he gravitated toward the exhibitions exotic sonic offerings, namely,
performances of Javanese, Vietnamese and Russian music. While several
musicological studies have addressed the composers absorption of these diverse
traditions, none have done so from an ecocritical perspective. As it happened,
Debussy patently associated these exotic musics with the natural world. In an article
entitled Taste that appeared in S.I.M. on February 15, 1913, the composer relates
the Southeast Asian musics that he experienced at the 1889 Exposition to the music of
nature itself. Moreover, he favorably contrasts these instinctual musics with the
stifling conformism of contemporary French culture, which had come to be
epitomized by the deification of Wagner circa 1890:
There used to beindeed, despite the troubles that civilization has brought,
there still aresome wonderful peoples who learn music as easily as one learns
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to breathe. Their school consists of the eternal rhythm of the sea, the wind in
the leaves, and a thousand other tiny noises, which they listen to with great care,
without ever having consulted any of those dubious treatises. Their traditions
are preserved only in ancient songs, sometimes involving dance, to which each
individual adds his own contribution century by century. Thus Javanese music
obeys laws of counterpoint that make Palestrina seem like childs play. And if
one listens to it without being prejudiced by ones European ears, one will find
a percussive charm that forces one to admit that our own music is not much
more than a barbarous kind of noise more fit for a traveling circus.
The Indochinese [Vietnamese] have a kind of embryonic opera, influenced by
the Chinese, in which we can recognize the roots of the Ring. Only there are
rather more gods and less scenery! A frenetic little clarinet is in charge of the
emotional effects, a tam-tam invokes terrorand that is all there is to it. No
special theater is required, and no hidden orchestra. All that is needed is an
instinctive desire for the artistic, a desire that is satisfied in the most ingenious
ways and without the slightest hint of bad taste. And to say that none of those
concerned ever so much dreamed of going to Munich to find their formulae
what could they have been thinking of? 27
So how did Debussy marshal the natural musics of Java and Vietnam in his
assault upon the academy? Attracting some 875,000 visitors over the course of the
1889 Exposition, the dance performances staged at the kampong javanais, a
reproduced Sundanese hamlet erected along the Esplanade des Invalides, made a
particularly strong impression on the young composer. In his 1926 essay En Marge
de la marge, Debussys friend Robert Godet recalls the composers initiation into the
musical traditions of Indonesia:
Many fruitful hours for Debussy were spent in the Javanese kampong of the
Dutch section listening to the percussive rhythmic complexities of the gamelan
with its inexhaustible combinations of ethereal, flashing timbres, while with the
amazing Bedayas [female dancers] the music came visually alive. Interpreting
some myth or legend, they turned themselves into nymphs, mermaids, fairies
and sorceresses. Waving like the ears of corn in a field, bending like reeds or
fluttering like doves, or now rigid and hieratic, they formed a procession of
idols, or, like intangible phantoms, slipped away on the current of an imaginary
wave. Suddenly they would be brought out of their lethargy by a resounding
blow on a gong, and then the music would turn into a kind of metallic gallop
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with breathless cross-rhythms, ending in a firework display of flying runs. The

Bedayas would then remain poised in the air like terrified amazons questioning
the fleeting moment, the secrets of life and love.28
That Debussy and Godet would employ vivid nature imagery in their respective
accounts of Javanese music seems logical in view of the surroundings in which the
two companions first experienced it (Fig. 24). In her monograph Musical Encounters
at the 1889 Paris Worlds Fair, Annegret Fauser expounds upon the rustic setting of
the kampong javanais, which appears to have influenced Western descriptions of the
dance performances given there: A pastoral idyll, it [the kampong javanais] offered
a pre-industrial paradise where women crafted batiks and men wove straw hatsLike
any other pastoral construct, the Javanese village depended on the dual opposition
between city and country, artifact and nature, presenting a glimpse into an exotic
Arcadia while containing the Other within the primordial natural space.29
Although the pastoral rapture of the kampong javanais prompted one
anonymous critic to compare the adolescent Javanese dancers to the flower maidens
in Parsifal, the anhemitonic scales and clanging metallophones of the gamelan
opened Debussys ears to a sound world wholly independent of Wagnerian
mannerisms.30 In a letter to his friend Pierre Lous dated January 22, 1895, Debussy
recalls the fresh Javanese harmonies that he discerned at the 1889 Exposition
Universelle. Here the composer replies to an earlier letter from Lous in which the
poet raves about the Spanish music he had recently heard in Seville: The seorita
Paqua sings songs in C minor that begin with E-flat, D, C, all sung softly, and then a
rocket of czardas, without meter, in tempo rubato, appassionato, without pride. You
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would have had a good time, my old friend. These are real bohemian songsthey do
not finish on the tonic.31 Debussy counters, But my poor old fellow! Dont you
remember the Javanese music which contained every nuance, even those that we no
longer have names for, where the tonic and dominant were nothing more than vain
ghosts for the use of ill-behaved children?32
Though a recalcitrant procrastinator by nature, Debussy wasted no time in
incorporating the sounds of the kampong javanais into his own compositional idiom.
In October 1889, the composer began work on his Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, a
three-movement concerto that employs a cyclic theme in the manner of Debussys
erstwhile organ teacher Franck.33 Scholars remain divided on the extent to which this
composition adopts material from the dance performances at the kampong javanais,
but aspects of the Fantaisie nonetheless suggest the contemporaneous influence of
gamelan music. For example, Debussy evokes the slendro tuning of the Expositions
gamelan, which was initially perceived by many Westerners as a pentatonic/wholetone hybrid, through his extensive juxtaposition of the two collections, as in the four
measures preceding and following rehearsal T (Fig. 25). Indeed, the Fantaisie
represents something of a milestone for the composer in terms of these scales. While
Debussy was certainly familiar with pentatonic and whole-tone collections prior to
his visit to the kampong javanais, he used them sparingly in his pre-Exposition
compositions. In the Fantaisie, they occur with unprecedented frequency. As
Richard Mueller observes in his article Javanese Influence on Debussys Fantaisie
and Beyond, Both scale-forms play a more prominent role in the Fantaisie than in
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these two or, indeed, any other preceding work by Debussyor perhaps any other
composer.34
In addition to noting the novel juxtaposition of pentatonic and whole-tone
collections in the Fantaisie, Mueller contends that Debussy borrowed the concertos
cyclic theme from Wani-Wani, a melody that accompanied a sexually charged dance
performed at the kampong javanais. Both Roy Howat and Mervyn Cooke have
dismissed this claim in their respective studies on gamelan music by claiming that the
Fantaisies cyclic theme could have been derived from Russian or Western folk
music, thereby distancing the piece from Debussys experiences at the kampong
javanais. But both scholars fail to account for significant aspects of Muellers
thoroughly documented argument. Fauser offers a sensible compromise regarding the
matter in her study, one that acknowledges the affinity between the Fantaisie and
Javanese gamelan music while downplaying the notion that Debussy borrowed
material verbatim.35
Despite the fact that the Fantaisie remains one of Debussys lesser-known
works, the composers sole effort in the concerto genre constitutes an important step
forward in his quest to break through the Wagnerian wall. In fact, Debussy thought
the piece sufficiently original to warrant a performance at the Socit Nationale under
the direction of dIndy with Ren Chansarel as the pianist. The premiere was
scheduled for April 21, 1890, but at the final rehearsal dIndy decided that the concert
was going to be too long, as the program featured nine pieces, including sizeable
works like Francks String Quartet and Faurs incidental music to Edmond
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Haraucourts play La Passion. Consequently, dIndy unilaterally decided to perform

only the first movement of the cyclical Fantaisie. A purist to the core, Debussy
responded by silently removing the orchestra parts from their stands after the
rehearsal, thereby withdrawing his piece from the program. The last minute removal
of the Fantaisie was publicly blamed on Chansarel falling ill, but the following day
Debussy sent a letter to dIndy in which the junior composer explains his seemingly
rash behavior:
It seems to me that playing just the first movement of the Fantaisie is not only
dangerous but must inevitably give a false impression of the whole. On
reflection, I would rather have a passable performance of all three movements
than a fine performance of the first through your good offices.
It wasnt a rush of blood to the head or any kind of ill feeling that moved me to
take such drastic action. I hope anyway that you will agree with my point of
view. Please believe me when I say how sorry I am to have been so apparently
remiss in fulfilling my obligations towards you. You still have my gratitude, at
least, and my sincere friendship.36
Sadly, the Fantaisie would never see the light of day during Debussys lifetime,
although the composer intermittently toyed with the idea of having the piece
performed. In a letter to Godet dated February 12, 1891, Debussy predictably decries
Lamoureuxs exclusionary obsession with Wagner, which the composer perceived as
hindering his own efforts to secure a premiere for the Fantaisie. Carried away by
righteous indignation, Debussy apparently forgot to include a verb in the first clause
of his sputtering grouse, which underscores the composers predilection for nature
imagery:
The Fantaisie will see daylight shortly, when Lamoureux, whos impossible to
get ahold of, hes so busy cutting up Tristan and Isolde into bleeding chunks for
the delectation of his intellectual audiences. Oh! Those ridiculous mugs and
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their mysterious greetings: Are you going to Tristan on Sunday?

What right have they to go on like this? They should be utterly terrified, as
though theyd agreed to witness some forbidden Rite. If only this cubic
conductor could give way to an angel, forcing the mob to bow their heads like a
field of corn before an unseen wind!37
Put out by the Wagnerian preoccupations of the Concerts Lamoureux, Debussy
briefly entertained the idea of premiering the Fantaisie in New York under the
auspices of his wealthy friend Prince Andr Poniatowski, but this opportunity was
derailed by accidental delays in the two mens correspondence. 38 Debussy
subsequently planned to debut his troubled concerto at the Concerts Colonne, but
once again, the performance never materialized.39 Nevertheless, the composers
experience at the kampong javanais remained a fertile source of inspiration in later
years, as evidenced by celebrated works like Nuages from Nocturnes and
Pagodes from Estampes (more on these pieces momentarily). In their meditative
evocations of gamelan music, both of these compositions stand in stark contrast to
Wagners bombast.
Before moving on to Debussys exposure to Vietnamese music at the 1889
Exposition, it should be noted that the Fantaisie ultimately received a premiere
worthy of its historical import, albeit one year after the fatal conclusion of Debussys
long battle with cancer. On the same day in 1919, the eminent virtuosi Marguerite
Long and Alfred Cortot, who were arguably the most accomplished French pianists of
their generation, performed the work in Lyon and London, respectively.
No less significant than his experience at the kampong javanais, though
significantly less scrutinized by scholars, Debussys encounter with Vietnamese
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theater at the 1889 Exposition provided the composer with additional munitions for
his siege of the Wagnerian citadel. Assembled from various parts that had been
imported from Saigon and situated along the Esplanade des Invalides, the striking
Thtre Annamite housed performances of ht bi, i.e., Vietnamese classical theater,
by a group of thirty-four actors and musicians. Also known as hat bo or ht tuong, ht
bi dates back to Kublai Khans incursions into Vietnam during the late thirteenth
century. According to tradition, a troupe of Chinese actors and musicians attached to
the invading Mongol army was captured by the Vietnamese in 1285. In exchange for
their lives, the members of the troupe instructed the Vietnamese court in the ways of
Chinese opera, thereby giving birth to the unique cultural adaptation known as ht
bi. Over the course of the ensuing centuries, ht bi gradually became one of the
most popular and enduring theatrical genres in Vietnamese history.40 To say that it
was less well received by the Occidental spectators at the 1889 Exposition would be
an understatement of Wagnerian proportions.
In Musical Encounters at the 1889 Paris Worlds Fair, Fauser notes the glaring
disparity between the kampong javanais and the Thtre Annamite in terms of
audience reception during the six-month event. Whereas Western listeners were able
to relate the scales of the Javanese gamelan to similar pitch collections in their own
musical traditions with little effort (a phenomenon exploited by Debussy in his
Fantaisie), the soundscape of classical Vietnamese opera proved to be a bit too exotic
for most ears. To be sure, the visual trappings of the Thtre Annamite, such as the
interior dcor and the magnificent costumes worn by the actors, wowed Exposition-
130
goers, as evidenced by the 300,000 people who forked over cash to take in the
spectacle. But the aural component of Vietnamese opera, perceived as discordant to
Western sensibilities, prompted Parisian pundits to spurn the affair with the epithet
charivari annamite.41
What vexed them so? For starters, numerous commentators who attended
performances at the Thtre Annamite regarded the expressive vocal techniques of
ht bi, which differ dramatically from those of the Western operatic tradition, as
uncouth variations on the act of screaming. Pundits were additionally alienated by
the charged interplay between the actors pitched declamations and the accompanying
instrumental ensemble, a characteristic of ht bi that gives rise to a species of modal
heterophony unique to Vietnam. The Parisian critic Hippolyte Lemaire decried this
interaction as a primitive turf war: Then began a deplorable emulation between [the
actors] and the musicians. It is a fight: the former try hard to dominate the brouhaha
in screaming, with exasperated contortions, like animals being slaughtered, while the
latter furiously double their effort on their tam-tam and on their zebra-skins stretched
to the point of ripping apart. The result is an infernal racket.42
To bring some sense of fairness to Lemaires thinly veiled bigotry, the racket
that he perceived was due in large part to the wooden structure of the Thtre
Annamite itself, which amplified voices and instruments alike to a near-unbearable
dynamic level (to Western ears, at least). Compounding this acoustic problem, ht
bi features continuous instrumental accompaniment throughout the dramatic action,
an attribute that further inflamed Parisian journalists. As the film composer-cum-
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critic Gaston Paulin complained in the period guidebook Le Guide musical, During
the entire action, a bizarre orchestra would not stop making a horrible din on the
pretext of [providing] instrumental music.43 Paulins jab, while scathing, pales in
comparison to the invective of the noted literary critic Jules Lematre, who lambasted
the performances at the Thtre Annamite by playing on longstanding prejudices of
Oriental barbarism:
And what music! The most discordant charivari of lunatic amateurs would
seem like a celestial harmony after this. Heavy strokes on a piece of wood or
on pots; a kind of flute whose sound enters your ear like a rotary drill. It is
music for torturers, made to accompany the agony of prisoners under whose
fingernails one has forced sharp reeds, or whose head was put into a
hermetically sealed cage that contains a rata pretty rat with pointed teeth to
nibble on your lips, your nose, your eyes, slowly and with pauses.44
Obviously, Debussy was out of step with the Parisian cognoscenti in his
admiration for Vietnamese opera. As Godet later recalled, Numerous were the hours
that I spent in his [Debussys] company at the Thtre Annamite, whose select
audience he scandalized more than once with irreverent comparisons to Bayreuth.45
But what role did ht bi ultimately play in Debussys bid to exorcise the ghost of
old Klingsor? More than any specific musical appropriation, the composers
exposure to Vietnamese opera fanned his coeval desire to push the boundaries of
dramatic expression beyond the Wagnerian ideal. In an 1889 conversation with
Guiraud that was transcribed by Maurice Emmanuel, Debussy described his ideal
librettist:
[Someone who] only implies things and who would allow me to graft my dream
onto his, who would invent characters belonging to no particular time or place;
who would not despotically impose on me actions to be depicted and would
leave me free, here and there, to surpass him in matters and fill out his work
132
In opera, there is too much singingNothing must hold up the sweep of the
drama: every musical development not called for by the words is an errorI
dream of librettos which do not condemn me to perpetuate acts that are long and
heavy, but which give me scenes that are mobile and varied, as to both place
and character; in which the actors dont discuss things but are victims of life
and destiny.46
Debussy ultimately found his sought-after libretto in the form of Maurice
Maeterlincks Symbolist play Pellas et Mlisande, which the composer read upon its
publication in 1892. Debussy attended a matinee performance of the work the
following year and obtained Maeterlincks permission to set it to music in August
1893, one month before LIde libre announced On the Uselessness of Wagnerism.
In an essay entitled Why I Wrote Pellas, which was penned in 1902 at the behest
of the Opra-Comiques manager, Debussy discusses his early theatrical failures and
the lure of Maeterlincks enigmatic script. Note how the composer sharply contrasts
his nature-oriented approach with the Wagnerian formula:
For a long time I had been striving to write music for the theater, but the form in
which I wanted it to be was so unusual that after several attempts I had almost
given up the idea. Explorations previously made in the realm of pure music had
led me toward a hatred of classical development, whose beauty is solely
technical and can interest only the mandarins in our profession. I wanted music
to have a freedom that was perhaps more inherent than in any other art, for it is
not limited to a more or less exact representation of nature, but rather to the
mysterious affinity between Nature and the Imagination.
After some years of passionate pilgrimages to Bayreuth, I began to have doubts
about the Wagnerian formula, or, rather, it seemed to me that it was of use only
in the particular case of Wagners own genius. He was a great collector of
formulae, and these he assembled within a framework that appears uniquely his
own only because one is not well enough acquainted with his music. And
without denying his genius, one could say that he had put the final period after
the music of his time, rather as victor Hugo summed up all the poetry that had
gone before. One should therefore try to be post-Wagner rather than after
Wagner.
133
The drama of Pellaswhich despite its atmosphere of dreams contains much

more humanity than those so-called documents of real lifeseemed to suit my
purpose admirably47
Like the composers experiences with the traditions of Java and Vietnam,
Debussys contact with Russian music at the 1889 Exposition provided another
natural remedy to Wagnermania. Along with luminaries like Gabriel Faur,
Julien Tiersot and Andr Messager, Debussy attended concerts of Russian music at
the Trocadro on June 22 and June 29, respectively. Unlike the four concerts of
Russian music that had been given by Nikolay Rubinstein at the 1878 Exposition, the
1889 concerts were not well attended because they lacked a star performer. Nikolay
Rimsky-Korsakov, who conducted the 1889 concerts, evidently did not rate as such.
In his article Musique, which appeared in Le National on 2 July, Edmond Stoullig
laments the poor attendance at these concerts:
In spite of a rather well-organized publicity these past days, the second Russian
concert attracted barely more people than the first one, and nothing is as sad as
when the vast hall of the Trocadro is three-quarters empty. Why this
indifference of music-lovers with respect to these interesting performances,
which lacked only the star on the poster who would attract the big crowds. Ah!
If Rubinstein had been announced, for example.48
What the 1889 concerts lacked in star power, they made up for with stout
programming, as each concert featured a massive amount of music. Consider just the
first half of the concert on June 22, which featured the overture to Mikhail Glinkas
Ruslan and Ludmilla, Alexander Borodins In Central Asia, Pyotr Tchaikovskys
Piano Concerto in B-flat minor and Niklolay Rimsky-Korsakovs Symphony No. 2,
Antar. While there are no existing documents detailing Debussys thoughts on the
Russian concerts, Antar made a particularly strong impression on the composer,
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especially with respect to its rhythmic vitality and orchestration. In a review entitled
At the Concert Lamoureux that appeared in Gil Blas on March 16, 1903, Debussy
favorably contrasts the blossoming of Rimsky-Korsakovs second symphony with
the overture to Reyers opera Sigurd, which, it should be noted, shares subject matter
with Wagners Ring cycle:
For no apparent reason, this concert began with the Overture to Sigurd. I hope
that Monsieur Chevillard considered the occasion to be an attempt to prove
the superiority of his orchestra over that of the Opra. If so, he proved his
pointbut it doesnt make the overture to Sigurd any better! He made up for
it with a dynamic performance of Antar, the symphonic poem by RimskyKorsakovIt is a pure masterpiece of renewal, in which Rimsky-Korsakov
sends the traditional form of the symphony packing. Nothing can describe the
charm of its themes, nor the blossoming of the rhythms and the sounds of the
orchestra. I defy anyone to remain indifferent to the power of this music. It
makes you forget everything elseyour life, the person sitting next to you,
and even the correct thing to do, because you have an intense desire to shout
for joy. You dont even want to make that ridiculous noise with your hands;
certainly that is poor thanks to a man who has given one such genuine
moments of happiness.49
At the second concert on 29 June, Debussy had the opportunity to hear more
staples of the Russian repertoire, including Modest Mussorgskys A Night on Bald
Mountain. Despite much spilled ink, the exact date of Debussys first acquaintance
with the Russian composer remains a matter of conjecture; however, the concert on
29 June may very well mark the point of first contact.50 In the interim between this
date and the announcement of On the Uselessness of Wagnerism, Debussy became
increasingly familiar with Mussorgskys oeuvre, particularly Boris Godunov and the
songs. In a letter to Chausson dated June 4, 1893, Debussys writes,
You will know that Mussorgsky is almost contemporary with us. He was an
official, then he retired on a small income to a little village, living on the edge
of poverty. Not that he was well-groomed and that he would have preferred
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luxury, but it was for the sake of music that he condemned himself to
something approaching exile and fled from the ready pleasures of elegant
capital cities. Finally, he died at thirty-nine [sic], around 1880 or 1881. This
information comes to me from Jules de Brayer, from whose forehead shine,
one might say, prophetic rays when he speaks of Mussorgsky, whom he ranks
much above Wagner. He will be very useful for us for a particular project.51
Could this last sentence refer to On the Uselessness of Wagnerism? It
certainly seems feasible, but there is no way to be sure. In any event, Mussorgskys
music offered Debussy yet another route through the mire of Wagnerism, as
evidenced by aspects of Pellas et Mlisande, whose composition began in the
summer of 1893. Consider, for example, the French composers frequent
juxtaposition of C and F# to symbolize darkness and light, respectively. In his song
cycle Sunless, which Debussy knew and admired, Mussorgsky uses the inversion of
this formula, F# and C, to symbolize depression and hope. The mysterious, austere
opening of Pellas, which conjures up the ancient forests of Allemonde, also evokes
the Russian composers technique, to say nothing of the vocal parts, which exhibit a
speech-like character reminiscent of Boris. While Debussy resented the implication
that he had blatantly copied Mussorgsky in Pellas, he nevertheless acknowledged
the influence of the Russian composers music. As Debussys acquaintance Georges
Jean-Aubry recalled, I had to leave Debussy with unexpected haste, and I explained
to him that I was going to one of the first performances of Boris Godunov being given
at the Opra by the Diaghilev company [1908]. Debussy, on the doorstep, took me by
the arm, and looking at me with feigned seriousness, said, Ah! You are going to
Boris. You will find all of Pellas in there!52
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In a review of Mussorgskys song cycle The Nursery that appeared in La revue

blanche on April 15, 1901, Debussy humorously indicates that Mother Nature herself
was displeased with both the Concerts Colonne and the Concerts Lamoureux for
programming all-Wagner concerts on the same day. He then characterizes
Mussorgsky as an inquisitive savage, whose instinctual music bears no allegiance
to rules and artificialities:
On the last Sunday in March (Palm Sunday) the two Sunday concerts were in
competitioneach played us Wagner! The result? No score on either side! At
Colonne it was a varied menu, at Chevillards only one disha slice of the
Ring. The heavens avenged themselves by causing all their reserves to come
pouring down on the unhappy dilettanti beneath
Mussorgsky is little known in France and for this we can excuse ourselves, it is
true, by remarking that he is no better known in Russia. He was born in Karevo
(central Russia) in 1839, and he died in 1881 in a bed in the Nicolas military
hospital at Saint Petersburg. So you can see from these dates that he had no
time to lose if he was to become a genius. He did not lose a moment and he
will leave an indelible imprint on the memories of those who love his music.
Nobody has spoken to that which is best in us with such tenderness and depth;
he is quite unique, and will be renowned for an art that suffers from no
stultifying rules or artificialities. Never before has such a refined sensibility
expressed itself with such simple means: it is almost as if he were an inquisitive
savage discovering music for the first time, guided in each step forward by his
own emotions. There is no question of any such thing as form, or, at least,
any forms there are have such complexity that they are impossible to relate to
the accepted formsthe official ones.53
Debussys Nuages further underscores the composers association of
Mussorgsky with nature. In a commentary that appeared in the program for the 1932
Festival Claude Debussy, the composer recounts his inspiration for this piece: Night
on the pont de Solfrino, very late. A great stillness. I was leaning on the railing of
the bridge. The Seine, without a ripple, like a tarnished mirror. Some clouds pass
slowly through a moonless sky, a number of clouds, not too heavy, not too light:
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some clouds, that is all.54 Suggesting the torpor of its stimuli, Nuages begins with
a listless series of alternating thirds and fifths that approximates measures 17-24 of
Mussorgskys song Finished is the idle, noisy day, the third movement of his cycle
Sunless (Fig. 26 and 26a). In light of the overcast imagery shared by the two pieces,
this paraphrase seems eminently apt.
After tenuously establishing B as the focal pitch in the opening measures of
Nuages, Debussy immediately obscures this already indistinct tonality by
emphasizing an F-B tritone in the pieces recurring English horn motive (mm. 5-10;
Fig. 27). Long considered the most tonally nebulous interval on account of its unique
property of evenly bisecting the octave, the tritone was evidently regarded by the
composer as the ideal sonority for his evocation of grey, amorphous clouds.
However, Debussy allays the widely perceived dissonance of this interval by
consistently harmonizing it with additional pitches drawn from an octatonic
heptachord on B (Fig. 27a), as in measures 5-10. Consequently, the prominent F-B
tritone in Nuages essentially functions as a consonance within a larger octatonic
field, thereby effecting a sense of placidity. Debussys extensive deployment of
octatonicism in Nuages clearly bespeaks the impact of Mussorgsky, who regularly
employs octatonic collections in works like Sunless, Tsar Saul and Boris Godunov.
The impression of stasis that characterizes the outer parts of Nuages' also
marks the pieces midsection. Here Mussorgskys influence gives way to that of
Javanese gamelan music. In measures 61-70, the muted strings and subdued
woodwinds of the opening dissipate into the background as Debussy evokes the aural
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atmosphere of the kampong javanais (mm. 61-68, Fig. 28). Note how the composer
realizes this extraordinary transition through the vertical presentation of two
augmented triads in measure 62, creating a whole-tone wash that vaporizes the
preceding octatonic tonality while anticipating the half-stepless pentatonicism that
follows (Fig. 28a). Initially, Debussys allusion to the gamelan may seem
incongruous in a paean to clouds, but as Rolf notes in her review of Arthur Wenks
book Claude Debussy and Twentieth-Century Music, the philosophical basis of
gamelan music, of course, espouses the Eastern concept of circularity, as opposed to
the Western concept of linear, goal directed composition.55 This feeling of
circularity is effected in part by the gamelans reliance on anhemitonic pitch
collections such as the five-tone slendro. In measures 64-70, Debussy imitates this
tuning system by presenting a minor pentatonic tune over a lightly embellished D#
minor drone in the strings. The composers utilization of a drone, a device that
permeates myriad Eastern musical traditions, combined with the pentatonic scale,
gives rise to a feeling of mystical inactivity. In summation, Nuages melds
Debussys affinity for the natural world with the streams of exotic music that he
encountered at the 1889 Exposition Universelle, resulting in a soundscape that is
decidedly post-Wagner.
Divine Arabesques
In addition to the bucolic atmosphere of the kampong javanais, Debussy
aligned Javanese music with nature because it typified his notion of the arabesque.
Writing to the editors of the Schott publishing house in 1910, Debussy enthuses,
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Javanese rhapsodies, instead of confining themselves in a traditional form, develop

according to the fantasy of countless arabesques.56 As anyone familiar with the term
will attest, arabesque, like nature, is an extraordinarily multivalent descriptor; it
can refer to art, music and dance from a wide spectrum of cultures and historical
periods. In its base definition, which proves to be the most germane to Debussys
oeuvre, the term denotes a geometric design that mirrors the entwining tendrils of
vegetation like acanthus, grape leaves and flowers. This distinctive approach to
ornamentation originated in Islamic art during the tenth century, as exemplified by a
stunning relief from the Great Mosque at Crdoba, Spain (Fig. 29). In Debussys era,
it attained further expression with the rise of Art Nouveau, which similarly
emphasizes the interweaving patterns of nature. mile Galls Par une telle nuit, a
crystal object dart, epitomizes this aesthetic (Fig. 30).
In applying the concept of the arabesque to sound, Debussy, who was familiar
with medieval Islamic art and a devotee of Art Nouveau, aimed to signify a gracefully
curving melody as well as the extensive juxtaposition and mutation of such melodies
that characterize the polyphonic textures of Palestrina, Bach and Javanese music. For
Debussy, music that actualizes the essence of the arabesque evokes the creative
processes of nature itself and therefore defies academicism. As the composer asserts
in his 1902 article The Orientation of Music,
We can be sure that old Bach, the essence of all music, scorned harmonic
formulae. He preferred the free play of sonorities whose curves, whether
flowing in parallel or contrary motion, would result in an undreamed of
flowering, so that even the least of his countless manuscripts bears the
indelible stamp of beauty. That was the age of the wonderful arabesque
when music was subject to laws of beauty inscribed in the movements of
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Nature herself. Rather our time will be remembered as the era of the
age of veneer.57
With its gong-like sonorities, temporal elasticity and extensive pentatonicism,
Debussys piano piece Pagodes reflects his sincere appreciation of Javanese
gamelan music. Since these features of the piece have been discussed at length in a
host of musicological studies, I would like to focus on the ways Pagodes illustrates
the composers ideal of the arabesque. After proposing the key of B major in the first
two measures with an alternating pair of B-F# dyads, Debussy introduces an
ornamented black-key theme in the treble that immediately circles back in upon
itself before unfurling into the upper range of pianos register (Fig. 31; mm.1-4).
Looking at the score, the curve of the first half of this arabesque (A1) manifests itself
plainly, but that of the latter half is obscured by the composers utilization of the 8va
abbreviation. Visualizing the third slur of bar 4 without this shorthand, one can
clearly see an arch that soars three and a half octaves before plunging down a 12th on
the last note eighth note of the measure, a dip that Debussy emphasizes with a
gamelan-inspired ritardando. In the following two measures, Debussy reharmonizes
A1 with a secondary dominant that implicates a move to E major, and indeed, the
composer presents an enriched E chord on the second-eighth note of bar seven (Fig.
31; mm. 5-7). Even if its claim to tonal dominion is partially thwarted by the
reiterated B-F# drone in the bass, this sonority marks the introduction of another
arabesque (A2), which not only proceeds contrarily to A1 but further distinguishes
itself by unfolding in strict stepwise motion (Fig. 31; mm. 7-10). If measures 3-6
illustrate Debussys notion of the arabesque as an undulating melody, then measures
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7-10 reflect the composers additional association of the term with the layering of
independent lines, a technique that characterizes much of Pagodes.
But what about the organicism and infinitude that Debussy describes in his
accounts of the arabesque? While several examples abound in Pagodes, the
mutation of the rippling triplets in bars 15-22 is perhaps the most remarkable (Fig.
32). Alternating between D# and C#, these triplets initially underpin a newly
introduced pentatonic theme that is harmonized chromatically. With the temporary
tonicization of G# at the Animez un peu, the triplets expand into octaves and
ornament a theme that was previously juxtaposed with a variant of A1 in measures
11-14. Although they drop out of the texture at the Toujours anim and are
conspicuously absent in the fortissimo climax in bars 41-44 (Fig. 33), they return with
a vengeance in bar 65, this time ornamenting the restatement of the pieces climactic
passage in measures 73-79 (Fig. 34). The last two bars of this segment are
particularly noteworthy because they present the triplets underneath a whirling thirtysecond note figure in which the oscillating D#s and C#s are embedded in retrograde.
In turn, this rotating pattern bursts into a particularly florid arabesque that
encompasses three octaves, all the while maintaining the germinal oscillation from
which it spawned (Fig. 34; mm. 78-79). Over the remaining nineteen measures of the
piece, Debussy juxtaposes this sweeping motif with A1, A2, the climactic theme first
heard in bars 41-44, and a descending line in the bass, creating a contrapuntal texture
that dazzles the imagination with its near-boundless flowering (Fig. 34; mm. 80-98).
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In her commentary on Debussys aural encounters at the 1889 Exposition,

Fauser acknowledges that the composers integration of exotic musics was more
profound than the appropriations of his contemporaries, who frequently traded in
superficial signifiers of a marginalized Other. Nevertheless, she situates Pagodes
within the well-established tradition of Western imperialism, thereby downplaying
Debussys status as an iconoclast. Drawing on the pioneering scholarship of Edward
Said, this interpretation not only highlights the various colonialist undertakings of
Debussys era but also provides food for thought in an age when the specter of
American imperialism looms large. At the same time, however, Fausers hermeneutic
approach to Pagodes overlooks the naturist ideology that informs it and so many
other pieces by Debussy. As the present chapter has demonstrated, the composer
believed that Western civilization had turned away from the beauty of nature in favor
of standardization, a phenomenon that he linked to the wider ills of industrialization.
According to his philosophy, music that operates outside the bounds of academicism,
such as Javanese music, shares a rapport with the natural world and hence transcends
the lions share of Western music. In light of this information, Pagodes not only
subverts the fundamental tenet of Western imperialism but also contravenes
environmental exploitation by glorifying the beauty of nature. With its vegetative
approach to composition, this remarkable work actualizes Baudelaires notion of the
natural world as a living temple.
Given Debussys association of nature with the arabesque, it is not surprising
that he lauded compositions that exhibited the flowing curves he so admired. In his
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article Good Friday, Debussy reviews Bachs Violin Concerto in G, which had
recently been given a performance by the Belgian virtuoso Eugne Ysae in
conjunction with the Concerts Colonne. Debussy was a great admirer of Ysaes
playing and had originally conceived his Nocturnes with the celebrated violinist in
mind. But after a few perfunctory remarks on Ysaes artful performance, Debussy
moves on to the topic that really interests him, namely, the arabesque, which he
regards as the fundamental essence of Bachs music:
This is a marvelous concertolike so many others inscribed in the notebooks of
the grand old Bach. Once again one finds that almost the entire piece is pure
musical arabesque, or rather it is based on the principle of the ornament,
which is at the root of all kinds of arts. (And the word ornament here has
nothing to do with the ornaments one finds in dictionaries).
The primitivesPalestrina, Orlando di Lasso, etc.had this divine sense of the
arabesque. They found the basis of it in Gregorian chant, whose delicate
tracery it supported with twining counterpoints. In reworking the arabesque,
Bach made it more flexible, more fluid, and despite the fact that the Great
Master always imposed a rigorous discipline on beauty, he imbued it with a
wealth of free fantasy so limitless it still astonishes us today
Perhaps we find it difficult to believe in anything so unnatural and artificial.
Well, it is a good deal more natural than all that silly wailing you find in
opera. Above all, such music preserves a sense of nobility: it never lowers itself
to the taste of those affected listeners who want only sensibilitythe ones
who say, We like music so much. Still more to its favor, it forces one to
respect if not to adore.58
Debussys rich commentary spotlights an important point. Note that the
composer carefully differentiates his conception of the arabesque from mundane
ornaments like trills, mordents and turns. For Debussy, as we have seen, the term
refers to the natural sense of contour achieved through the continuous elaboration of a
germinal musical idea. This spinning out of musical material characterizes much of
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Bachs output, but it is elegantly typified by the opening prelude of book one of The
Well-Tempered Klavier. In this well-known composition, Bach employs repetition,
sequences and intervallic transformation to extend the initial eight-note figure into a
poetic musical utterance.
Although Debussy regarded Bach as the paragon of arabesque, he recognized
the undulations of nature in the music of other composers. Consider the case of
Rameau, whom Debussy viewed as the last exponent of a legitimately French style.
In a tribute to the Baroque composer that appeared in 1912, Debussy alludes to the
arabesque in his description of Rameaus significance:
Rameaus major contribution to music was that he knew how to find
sensibility within the harmony itself; and that he succeeded in capturing
effects of color and certain nuances that, before his time, musicians had not
clearly understood.
Like Nature herself, Art changes: she moves in curved lines but always ends up
exactly at the point where she began. Rameau, whatever one may think, is
definitely a key figure in music, and we can follow in his footsteps without fear
of sinking into any pitfalls.
That is why he deserves out attention. We should treat him with the respect he
deserves as one of our ancestors. He may have been a little disagreeable, but he
was a man of truth.59
Debussy and Pan
As it happened, Debussys infatuation with natural curves went beyond the
phenomenal world into the realm of mythology, as the composer linked the arabesque
to the Greek god Pan. Known as Faunus in Roman mythology, Pan was the god of
shepherds, flocks and the wilderness. He had the hindquarters and horns of a goat but
the torso, arms, and head of a man (Fig. 35). Accordingly, Pan embodied the
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idealized union of man and nature espoused by Debussy, who evokes the god in
several compositions.
In addition to his hybrid anatomy, Pans legendary libido further augmented his
cultural cachet with the composer and his Symbolist contemporaries. In his pastel
canvas Scne mythologique, Karr-Xavier Roussel captures this aspect of the god by
depicting him lounging in the company of naked nymphs, one of whom offers grapes
for his delectation (Fig. 36). As Weber demonstrates in his monograph France: Fin
de Sicle, such erotic decadence was an enormously popular theme in Paris during the
waning decades of the long nineteenth century.60 Artists were attracted to the
numerous myths in which Pan terrorizes the nymphs of Arcadia, who often resort to
drastic measures to escape from his lecherous clutches. One of these unfortunate
creatures, Syrinx, transforms into a cluster of reeds, from which Pan fashions his
eponymous panpipes.61
Along with Apollo and Orpheus, Pan ranks among the great virtuosos of
Greek mythology. In his hymn to the god, Homer expounds upon Pans musicality,
which gives rise to arabesques of hyacinth and grass:
Then only at evening, he [Pan] shouts as he returns from the hunt and on his
pipes of reed he gently plays sweet music. In song he could even outdo that
bird which sits among the leaves at flower-rich springtime and, pouring forth
its dirge, trills honey-voiced tunes. With him at that time are the clear-voiced
mountain nymphs, dancing with swift feet and singing at some dark spring, as
the echo moans about the mountain peak. The god glides now here, now
there, and then to the middle of the dance, setting the pace with quick feet.
On his back he wears a bay lynx-skin as his heart delights in the shrill songs in
a soft meadow where the crocus and the fragrant hyacinth blossom forth and
entwine with the grass in fast embrace.62
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On account of his spellbinding pipes, Pan came to symbolize the power of

music, which was a central preoccupation of Symbolists like Baudelaire and
Mallarm. But for Debussy, Pan specifically represented the power of rustic music,
i.e., music borne of instinct as opposed to music informed by academicism. In his
1913 article Taste, the composer invokes the shepherd god to uphold the intrinsic
mystery of music, which in his view is threatened by over-scrupulous analysis:
We should constantly be reminding ourselves that the beauty of a work of art is
something that will always remain mysterious; that is to say one can never find
out exactly how it is done. At all costs let us preserve this element of magic
peculiar to music. By its very nature music is more likely to contain something
of the magical than any other art.
After the god Pan had put together the seven pipes of the syrinx, he was at first
only able to imitate the long, melancholy note of the toad wailing in the
moonlight. Later he was able to compete with the singing of the birds, and it
was probably at this time that the birds increased their repertoire.
These are sacred enough origins, and music can be proud of them and preserve
a part of their mystery63
In addition to classical texts, several coeval evocations of Pan informed
Debussys conception of the deity. French art of the late nineteenth century teems
with fauns, as evidenced by the art review Pan, in which they routinely crop up. In
most cases, these mythical figures are the spiritual descendents of the satyr in Victor
Hugos epic poem La Lgende des sicles, who rises up to overthrow the gods of
Olympus. Indeed, many of Debussys contemporaries associated the free-spirited Pan
with cultural upheaval. In a 1900 essay, the Belgian statesman mile Vandervelde
likens the rise of socialism to Hugos revolutionary faun:
Is not socialism the satyr of the legend of the centuries? Like him, weak at
first, dirty, and bristly. They scorn him when he appears. They fear him
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when he begins to grow up. But here he is, still growing: he seizes Mercurys
flute; he takes possession of Apollos lyre; he has recourse to all the prestige
of art, to all the weapons of science; he stands before all those who believed
themselves immortal, and soon, foot on their throne in the plenitude of his
force, he could cry to them in turn: All give way! I am Pan: Jupiter, on your
knees.64
In his play Pan, which received its Paris premiere in 1906, Vanderveldes
countryman Charles Van Lerberghe similarly casts the title character as a rebel. The
work may be synopsized thus: in the era of Pieter Breughel the Elder, the ocean tide
deposits Pan on the shore of a small town in Flanders. Accompanied by a retinue of
Gypsies and lesser fauns, he proclaims that all people are gods and urges the
townsfolk to sing and dance: I am the son of nature, and her laws are my laws. I
come to give you life, gaiety, healthy and pure loveI am Youth and ancient
Wisdom; I bring you new songs, or rather the songs of times past that your fathers
knew, but that you have forgotten.65 In an effort to bridle the radical god, the towns
civil and religious authorities declare that Pan must wear clothing, grow old and
renounce his beloved flute. The god revolts against this edict and, using his signature
power, sends the townsfolk into a panic. At this point, Pans consort Paniska, whose
role was created by Colette, rushes onstage with a jangling tambourine and screams,
He is God! He is Pan! He is All! He is Joy! He is Life! The curtain comes
crashing down as the god and his entourage light out for the wilderness.66 Those
familiar with Nietzsches ideology will discern a link between Pan and the German
philosophers thought, which increasingly influenced French culture in the years
bookending the dawn of the twentieth century. In fact, Van Lerberghe cites Also
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sprach Zarathustra in his notes for the play, stating, I would believe only in a god
who could dance.
On account of his rapport with nature and pronounced iconoclasm, Pan proved
an attractive subject to Debussy, who composed five works in the deitys honor. In
chronological order, they are: Prlude laprs-midi dun faune, La flte de Pan
from Chansons de Bilitis, Le faune from Ftes galantes II, Syrinx and Pour
invoquer Pan from Six pigraphes antiques. Not surprisingly, the common thread
that runs through these diverse works is the arabesque, which manifests itself in the
first few measures of each piece. In accordance with Pans unorthodox musicality, all
five of these incantatory melodies contravene traditional tonality. The respective
arabesques that initiate the Prlude laprs-midi dun faune and Syrinx feature
extensive chromaticism, thereby eluding any sense of tonal surety (Fig. 37 and 37a).
Achieving a comparable effect through different means, the Dorian melody that opens
La flte de Pan not only evokes the archaism of Lous poem but also blurs the line
between G# minor, the ostensible key of the piece, and its relative major (Fig. 38).
The Dorian mode similarly informs Pour invoquer Pan, but here the bucolic
character of the initial arabesque derives mainly from its marked pentatonicism (Fig.
38a). Last but not least, Le faune conjures up the shepherd gods nonconformist
noodlings with a sweeping octatonic plunge in bar 1 (Fig. 39).
In all five of Debussys hymns to Pan, the harmonic implications of the
germinal arabesque unfold organically over the remainder of the piece. As much as
any of its siblings, Le faune typifies this phenomenon. Displaying a rhythmic
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vitality that clearly distinguishes it from the composers other evocations of Pan, this
setting of Verlaines verse features a prominent bass ostinato that derives its two
pitches, G and D, from the octatonic plunge that initiates the song (Fig. 39; mm. 112). This open-fifth drone, whose infectious rhythm would have compelled
Zarathustra to kick up his feet, suggests the allure of Pans primitivist music.
Specifically emphasizing the gods nonconformist aesthetic, Debussy repeatedly
superimposes discordant triads over the recurring bass figure. Although these
sonorities are not exclusively gleaned from the arabesque in measure 1, many of them
reference octatonicism with conspicuous augmented fifths (Fig. 39, mm. 7-12).
Remarkably, the composer prolongs the strident interplay between the treble and bass
throughout the piece, which audaciously concludes with a G-D-F-C# sonority (Fig.
40; mm. 30-39).
In addition to Debussys five paeans to Pan, two commentaries on the
composers mannerisms attest to his affinity to the shepherd god. Recounting
Debussys enthusiastic response to Scheherazade in her 1949 memoir Mes
apprentissages, Colette likens the French composer to Pan:
Debussy, at the end of the concert, had not had his fill of Rimsky-Korsakov.
His lips hummed, he made reedy noises through his nose trying to recover a
theme on the oboes, he drummed with his fingers on the lid of the grand piano,
echoing the deeper notes of the kettledrums. Still pursuing, he jumped to his
feet, snatched up a cork and rubbed the window with it to imitate a pizzicato on
the double bass. So does the satyr, erect on his goat legs, his eyes fierce
between the twisted horns, pluck his favorite briar from the thicket. Debussy
had something of the followers of Pan. With the help of the piano I sang him
the passages he wanted, and his eyes lost their haunted look, glanced at me
humanely, as though he saw me for the first time. Good memory! Good
memory! he said, and my heart warmed.67
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A writer for the Hungarian newspaper Azest similarly invokes the god of shepherds in
his preface to an interview with the composer, which appeared in 1910:
His face is pleasant, with soft, velvety eyes, and his speech is friendly; his voice
seems caressing as it rises from the depths. His whole personality exudes a gay
satisfaction and extraordinary navet, sometimes resembling a satisfied faun,
sometimes an astonished child. While speaking he placed his hand on his
buttonholeon which was fastened his badge of officer of the Lgion
dHonneur.68
Revitalizing the Symphony
If Debussy was an avatar of Pan, as the above-cited descriptions propound, then
the symphony was the Jupiter he sought to overthrow. In the composers view, this
genre attests to the scourge of academicism more than any other. While Debussy
discusses the symphony throughout his criticism, the composers most thoroughgoing
treatment of the genre occurs in a lengthy article that appeared in S.I.M. on November
1, 1913. Here Debussy chastises contemporary symphonists for their insensitivity to
nature, which results in ersatz evocations: Our symphonic painters do not pay nearly
enough attention to the beauty of the seasons. Their studies of Nature show her
dressed in unpleasantly artificial clothes, the rocks made of cardboard and the leaves
of painted gauze.69 For the composer, such artificiality belies the expressive
potential of music, which enjoys a unique rapport with the natural world:
Music is the art that is in fact the closest to Nature, although it is also the one
that contains the most subtle pitfalls. Despite their claims to be true
representationalists, the painters and sculptors can only present us with the
beauty of the universe in their own free, somewhat fragmentary interpretation
They can capture only one of its aspects at a time, preserve only one moment.
It is the musicians alone who have the privilege of being able to convey all the
poetry of night and day, of earth and sky. Only they can re-create Natures
atmosphere and give rhythm to her heaving breast70
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According to Debussy, great symphonic music can only be produced through

intuition. Those who really know the art of expressing themselves symphonically
are those who have never learned how to do it, the composer asserts. There is no
conservatoire or music school that holds the secret.71 Indeed, Debussy blames these
institutions for suppressing the originality of their students in the name of convention,
a tendency with which he was all too familiar:
Where did the symphonic music of our country come from? Who are those
ancestors who urge us toward this form of expression? First of all, our
musicians willingly allowed themselves to be inspired by the symphonic
poems of Liszt and of Richard Strauss. And note, furthermore, that any
attempts at emancipation were forcibly quelled. Each time anyone tried to
break free of this inherited tradition he was brought to order, crushed beneath
the weight of more illustrious examples. Beethovenwho ought really be
permitted to take a well-earned rest from criticismwas brought to the rescue.
Those severe old critics passed judgment and threatened terrible punishments
for breach of the classical rules whose constructionthey should have
realizedwas nothing less than mechanical. Did they not realize that no one
could ever go further than Bach, one of their judges, toward freedom and
fantasy in both composition and form?72
As this rant against symphonic standardization indicates, Debussy resented
Beethovens stultifying dominion over the genre. The French composer especially
begrudged the lionization of the Pastoral Symphony, hence M. Croches irreverent
contention that the beauty of the sunrise outclasses that of Beethovens Sixth.73
Debussys 1903 review of the Pastoral under Weingartner elucidates his objection to
the piece. In this critique, the composer finds fault with the mimesis that
characterizes the coda to the second movement, Scene am Bach. Here Beethoven
imitates the respective calls of the nightingale, quail and cuckoo, and goes so far as to
label the score accordingly (Fig. 41; mm 129-139). Debussy cheekily equates this
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mimicry to the automata of the French inventor Jacques de Vaucanson, who famously
created a mechanical duck that could eat, drink and defecate (Fig. 42). In the
composers view, the artificiality of Scene am Bach was enhanced by
Weingartners persnickety conducting:
Weingartner has for a long time known how to be certain of an enthusiastic
reception. First of all, he conducted the Pastoral Symphony with the care of a
meticulous gardener. Every weed, every caterpillar was painstakingly
removed! It was all done with such refinement that it seemed like one of those
glossy, finely detailed paintings where the gentle undulation of the hills is made
of two-penny velvet and the trees are formed with curling irons.
All in all, the popularity of the Pastoral Symphony rests upon the common and
mutual misunderstanding that exists between man and nature. Look at that
scene by the brook!...A brook where, apparently, the oxen come to drink. At
least, thats what the sound of the bassoons suggests to me. Not to mention the
wooden nightingale and the Swiss cuckoo-clock cuckoomore like the art of
M. de Vaucauson than drawn from natures book. All such imitations are in the
end uselesspurely arbitrary interpretations.74
By mocking Beethovens deployment of birdcalls in Scene am Bach,
Debussy comes off as something of a hypocrite. As it happens, the French
composers piano piece Jardins sous la pluie, which ironically dates from the same
year as his review of Weingartners Pastoral, engages in blatant mimesis as it
harnesses the repeated notes and mouvement perptuel of the French clavecin style to
evoke the pitter-patter of falling raindrops (Fig. 43; mm. 1-15). La flte de Pan
similarly resorts to mimicry in measures 22-24, in which Debussy uses a grace-note
figure to suggest the croaking frogs in Louss poem (Fig. 44).
Perhaps in recognition of his own posturing vis--vis mimesis, Debussy
advanced a more favorable impression of Beethovens Sixth when he reviewed
Gabriel Pierns 1912 performance of the work. Pierns uninhibited conducting,
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which evidently differed markedly from that of Weingartner, appears to have

facilitated this revision. In his critique, Debussy acknowledges the Pastoral
Symphony as a masterpiece, a standing that he did not accord the work in his 1903
assessment:
Of all the music played at the Concert Colonne the most modernwithout
being funnywas Ludwig van Beethovens Pastoral Symphony. It remains
one of the finest examples ever of expressive technique.To hear an orchestra
imitate the cries of animals certainly provides joy for the little ones as well as
the grownups. To be seated in a comfortable seat and be subjected to a storm is
pure Sybaritism. M. Gabriel Piern conducted it really well, and by that I mean
that he didnt try to encumber it with commentaries but merely allowed its
charm to speak for itself. Apropos of this symphony, has anyone ever thought
of how much a masterpiece has to be a masterpiece to be able to survive so
many interpretations? There is the respectful interpretation, where the fear of
disturbing the dust of centuries slows down all the movements and muffles all
the nuances.
Then there is the fantastic interpretation, which is just the opposite, giving
the impression that the piece has been submerged by a rainstorm. (Just because
Beethoven was a little awkward doesnt mean we should try to aggravate him!)
The reason this last performance was so pleasing? We really were in the
country; the trees were not dressed in white ties, and the stream beside which
these pure, most German idylls took place was cool and fresh. We could very
nearly smell the stables!75
Despite his change of heart vis--vis the Pastoral Symphony, Debussy never
wavered in his belief that modern symphonists like Saint-Sans and dIndy were
misconstruing the example of Beethoven. This contention is highlighted by a 1901
review of a symphony by the French composer Georges Witkowski. After
interrogating the continuing legitimacy of the genre, Debussy employs nature
imagery to communicate the true moral of Beethovens approach:
A Symphony by M.G.M. Witkowski was greeted with much enthusiasm. But it
seemed to me to be only further proof of the uselessness of the symphony since
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Beethoven. Certainly in Schumann and Mendelssohn it is merely a respectful

reworking of the same old forms with a good deal less conviction
Beethovens real lesson to us was not that we should preserve age-old forms,
nor even that we should plant our footsteps where he first trod. We should look
out through open windows into clear skies. Many people appear to have closed
them, seemingly for good; those successful so-called geniuses should have no
excuse for their academic contrapuntal exercises, which are called (out of habit)
symphonies.76
More than any other work in Debussys orchestral output, La Mer emulates the
pioneering spirit that the composer discerned in Beethovens symphonies. Since the
present dissertation has already highlighted the various novelties of Jeux de vagues,
it now turns to the ingenuity exhibited by the works opening movement, De laube
midi sur la mer. As evidenced by a letter to Messager dated September 12, 1903,
Debussy originally intended to call this movement Mer belle aux Illes Sanguinaires,
a title he borrowed from a short story by Camille Mauclair, who, as it happened,
aided the composer in securing the rights to Maeterlincks Pellas et Mlisande.77 In
her article Mauclair and Debussy: The Decade from Mer belle aux Illes
Sanguinaires to La Mer, Rolf provides a ready synopsis of the French poets tale:
[The story] depicts a fateful voyage at sea in a boat headed for three of the
Sanguinary Islands. The explorers stop at each island, which represents in an
allegorical way the passage of time, and eventually are left disillusioned and stranded
on the final island, never to return.78 Although the extent to which Mauclairs yarn
informs the first movement of La Mer remains an open question, both entities are
concerned with the passage of time on the open water. It is this preoccupation that
gives rise to the extraordinary formal design exhibited by De laube midi sur la
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mer. Defying textbook convention, the first movement of La Mer presents five
clearly articulated subdivisions, each of which features unique musical material,
thereby resulting in a highly unorthodox ABCDE structure (mm. 1-30; 31-83; 84-121;
122-131; 132-145). As the Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet observes in his crits,
De laube midi sur la mer possesses all the allure of a symphonic allegro, of
sonata form and satisfies the tonal conditions of the form as well, but its content is
quite different to an allegro in a classical symphony. It is quite different, above all,
because Debussy does not develop themesIf he repeats the first motif three times it
is to show it in a new light and base an argument on itWith Debussy the music is
always going on without going back on itself.79
To be sure, two passages in De laube midi sur la mer initially appear to be
indebted to symphonic norms. The first is the slow, enigmatic introduction, which
gives way to a faster section by way of an accelerando (mm. 1-31). This stock device
dates back to the time of Haydn, if not earlier, and was routinely employed by
Debussys contemporaries. DIndy, for example, uses it in both the first and last
movements of his Symphony No. 2 in B-flat. But the slow introduction of De laube
midi sur la mer differs from any previous iteration on account of its marked
pentatonicism, which arises out of the metaphorical mist in measures 3-5 (Fig. 45).
Although it is dispelled in measure 6 by a chromatic motive in the oboe and lies
dormant over the ensuing sixteen bars, the opening pentatonicsim returns at the onset
of the accelerando and leads directly into the next formal section (Fig. 46; mm. 2330). Note that this structural transition is not effected by a conventional cadence.
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The composer simply reinterprets the pentatonic collections G# as A-flat, which in

turns acts a tenuous dominant to the following D-flat tonality.
The second passage in De laube midi sur la mer that seems beholden to
symphonic tradition is the coda, which utilizes a chorale to evoke the midday suns
awe-inspiring brilliance (mm. 132-145). Like the slow introduction, this device
pervades the nineteenth-century symphony and was regularly deployed by Debussys
contemporaries to provide, in the words of Martin Cooper, a victorious affirmation
of positive faith, whose struggles with negation provide the programme of every
large-scale work issuing from Francks circle.80 But Debussy once again defies
tradition by forgoing the strong V-I cadence that customarily signals the introduction
of a chorale. Instead, the composer transforms the enriched A-flat dominant that
permeates the section before the coda into a G-flat triad by retaining common pitches
and altering the rest by a half or whole step (Fig. 47; mm. 122-132). As Trezise
remarks, Debussys alchemy changes what looks like a dominant-subdomiant
progression in D-flat major (a mortal sin in harmony textbooks) into a harmonic
example of vegetative circulation.81
Adorno Revisited
As the present chapter has illustrated, Debussys naturism not only explains his
numerous evocations of natural phenomena and avoidance of industrial imagery but
also accounts for other key facets of his oeuvre, including his assimilation of exotic
music, his deployment of the arabesque, his preoccupation with Pan and his
reconception of the symphony. In terms of Adornos theory, one might say that
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Debussys affinity for the natural world spurred his catechization of the
compositional materials and practices bequeathed to him by history. So how did the
German philosopher, who esteemed such modernist interrogation, come to overlook
the example of Debussy in the formation of his theory vis--vis art and nature?
Even if he did not accord the French composer the same attention that he
lavished on Schoenberg and Stravinsky, Adorno recognized Debussy as a seminal
figure in the formation of modernism. Admittedly, salient aspects of the French
composers aesthetic bothered the philosopher. Adorno tended to decry
compositional idioms that rely on the extensive juxtaposition of differentiated musical
material. For the philosopher, this technique frustrates the expression of the subject
and hence rejoices in the collective oppression of the individual. Although the
philosopher specifically attacks Stravinsky on such grounds, the following critique
from Philosophy of Modern Music seems equally applicable to Debussy, who, it
should be noted, exercised a considerable influence on the Russian composer:
Infantilism is the style of the worn-out and ruined. Its sound resembles the
appearance of pictures pasted together out of postage stampsdisjunctbut on
the other hand a montage which has been constructed with labyrinthine
density. It is as threatening as the worst nightmares. Its pathogenic
arrangement, which is at the same time hoveringly hermetic and disintegrated,
leaves the listener breathlessMusic must give up the attempts to design
itself as the picture of the good and virtuous, even if the picture is the tragic.
Instead it is to embody the idea that there is no longer any life.82
Charges of hermeticism similarly characterize Adornos trenchant critique of
Pellas, which appears in the closing pages of Aesthetic Theory. Here the
philosopher denounces Debussys opera on account of its uncompromising
mysticism, which, in his view, negates its ability to criticize culture:
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Without making the slightest concession, with exemplary purity, this lyrical
drama pursues its principium stilisationisThis damages the articulation, the
organization of form by subsidiary structures, that is so indispensable to a
work whose ultimate criterion is unity of form; here stylization ignores the
recognition that a unity of style must be the unity of a multiplicity. The
uninterrupted psalmody, particularly of the vocal line, lacks what older
musical terminology called Abgesang, a concluding phrase or section:
redemption, fulfillment, pouring forth. Its sacrifice in the interest of a feeling
for a past that is eons distant causes a rupture in the work, as if what had been
promised had not been redeemedThe works consummateness also leads to
the impoverishment of the technical means, the persevering homophony
becomes meager, and the orchestration, though devoted to the exploitation of
tone color, becomes grey on grey.These problems of stylization point to
problems in the relation of art and cultureIncontestably Pellas is culture
without any desire to denounce it. This is of a part with the speechlessly
mythical hermeticism of the subject matter, which precisely thereby neglects
what the subject seeks. Artworks require transcendence of culture if they are to
satisfy culture; this is a powerful motivation of radical modernism.83
Despite such misgivings, Adorno admired in Debussys music a powerful drive
towards the new. The philosopher paid Debussy the ultimate tribute by linking his
dissolution of tonality to that of Schoenberg, whom Adorno regarded as the paragon
of modernist innovation:
That the category of the new cannot be brushed off as art-alien sensationalism is
apparent in its irresistibility. When, prior to World War I, the conservative yet
eminently English music critic Ernest Newman heard Schoenbergs Pieces for
Orchestra, Op. 16, he warned that one should not underestimate this man
Schoenberg: With him it was all or nothing. Newmans hatred thus registered
the destructive element of the new with a surer instinct than that of the
apologists of the new. Even old Saint-Sans sensed something of this when,
rejecting the effect of Debussys music, he insisted that surely there must be
alternatives to it. Whatever shuns or evades those transformations in the
material that important innovations entail thereby shows itself to be
impoverished and ineffectual.84
While Adorno valued the traditionalist critiques proffered by Newman and
Saint-Sans for spotlighting the birth of modernism, he denigrated Heinrich
Schenkers dismissal of Debussy, which the philosopher considered baseless. In the
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preface to his edition of Beethovens Piano Sonata in A, Op. 101, Schenker blithely
states that he values the music of Debussy as an acoustic phenomenon, but certainly
not as art because it does not manifest the requisite Urlinie.85 This opinion was
doubtlessly informed by the theorists belief in the intellectual inferiority of the
French race, as evidenced by his contention that Debussy indulged the mediocrity of
French taste.86 Censuring Schenker in his essay On the Problems of Musical
Analysis, Adorno not only conveys his appreciation for Debussys interrogation of
long-established tonal procedures but also asserts that musical analysis must be
tailored to the unique features of a given composition; otherwise, it regresses to the
processes of instrumental reason:
The inadequacy of Schenkers approach can be seen very clearly in his attitude
to Debussy. As a Francophobe, Schenker repeatedly attacked Debussy in a
very shabby manner, and accused him (and others, including Richard Strauss)
of the destruction of the Fundamental Line, without being able to see that, in
Debussys case, there are criteria for inner consistency and musical cohesion
which are fundamentally different from the requirements of what he called the
Fundamental Line, essentially derived as it is from the harmonized chorale. But
it is possible to learn something from all which I consider to be central to the
whole idea of musical analysis: namely that analysis must be immanentthat,
in the first instance, the form has to be followed a priori, so that a composition
unfolds itself in its own terms. Or, to put it another way, one has to allow the
composition something in advance: that is, one must let it assert itself, in order
to be able to enter into its structure analytically. It never seems to have
occurred to Schenker that his accusing Debussy of the destruction of the
Fundamental Line could in any way have been connected with the crisis in
motivic-thematic composition (which Schenker had made total and absolute).87
As the above-cited commentaries on Schoenberg and Schenker demonstrate,
Adorno esteemed Debussy as an exponent of radical modernism. But none of his
writings indicate that he recognized nature as the primary impulse behind the
composers innovations. Following from his sweeping rejection of nature-oriented
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art, Adorno actually deemed Debussys naturism as a liability. In his essay On the
Social Situation of Music, the philosopher attacks what he sees as the composers
back-to-nature approach on the grounds that it evades confrontation with the present
by channeling the safe music of mainstream culture:
Even Debussy, an autonomous artist like the impressionist painters, whose
technology he transposes into music, can take with him into his highly
fastidious artistic method elements of bourgeois culinary music and even of
salon music in terms of sound and melody. Of course, just as in Strauss, the
diatonic emerges in Debussy, toobarren and archaic. This happens in his
theory as wellin the dogma of natural overtones and the resulting
Rousseauean diction, the consequence of the total sublimation of the primal
musical material of the bourgeoisie.88
This passage reveals that Adorno was gravely misinformed when it came to
Debussys aesthetic despite the fact that he acknowledged the composers importance
vis--vis modernism. To be sure, Debussy produced works in the salon music genre,
but this had nothing to do with his naturism; rather, it was a temporary matter of
economic necessity. After the expiration of his Prix de Rome fellowship, the
composer, who was not a virtuoso, had little choice but to rely on middle-class
consumerism for a steady stream of income, hence salon pieces like Petite suite and
Pour le piano. But Debussy loathed pandering to the tastes of the bourgeoisie and
stopped doing so after the successful premiere of Pellas afforded him a measure of
financial independence.
Adornos sweeping assertion that Debussy transposes the techniques of
impressionism into music proves equally untenable on account of the composers
sincere protestations to the contrary. Recall that the term impressionism originated
as a pejorative; consequently, Debussy resented its use in relation to his music in spite
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of the fact that he found some measure of inspiration in the colorful paintings of
Monet and his contemporaries. Adornos unqualified deployment of impressionism
in his accounts of the composers aesthetic bespeaks his excessive reliance upon
German musicological sources, which, as Jarockinski demonstrates in Debussy:
Symbolism & Impressionism, are overwhelmingly responsible for perpetuating the
fallacy of the composers quintessential impressionism.89
Last but not least, Adornos contention that Debussys theory merely rehashes
Rousseau further highlights his ignorance with respect to the composers aesthetic.
While Debussy shared Rousseaus affinity for the natural world and contempt for
academicism, he was far too concerned with innovation to embrace the Swiss
philosophers wholesale retreat into the past. An article that the composer published
in 1913 attests to this point:
The music of our time has learned how to free itself from the romantic fancies
of this literary view of things, but other weaknesses remain. During the past
few years we have seen it tending toward an indulgence in the mechanical
harshness of certain combinations of landscapes. We can certainly do without
the nave aesthetics of Jean Jacques Rousseau, but all the same we can learn
great things from the past. Nothing could ever make us forget the subtly
voluptuous perfume, so delicately perverse, that so innocently hovers over
[Couperins] Barricades mystrieuses. 90
Adornos ill-grounded remarks in On the Social Situation of Music patently
indicate that he was unfamiliar with Debussys biography and criticism. As a result,
the philosopher failed to recognize the extent to which naturism informed the
composers oeuvre. Debussy did not espouse a back-to-nature approach, as Adorno
alleges, but a forward-through-nature approach that extols the beauty of the natural
world through ingenuity. Indeed, Debussys aesthetic resonates with the branch of
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current environmentalism known as deep ecology, which not only emphasizes the
intrinsic value of nature but also demands that humanity recognize its dependence on
the greater ecosphere. According to literary critic George Sessions, Deep ecology is
concerned with encouraging an egalitarian attitude on the part of humans not only
toward all members of the ecosphere, but even toward all identifiable entities of
forms in the ecosphere. Thus, this attitude is intended to extend, for example, to such
entities (or forms) as rivers, landscapes, and even species and social systems
considered in their own right.91 As the ensuing chapter of this dissertation
demonstrates, Debussys nature-infused modernism was adopted by three subsequent
luminaries of twentieth-century music who similarly glorified the natural world
through innovation.
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Chapter 5
The Followers of Pan
There are no longer leaders of schools who can influence the work of musicians of
succeeding generations. To be the leader of a school implies a special techniquenot
just some procedures, but his own doctrinehis grammar. Now, the musician (or the
contemporary artist) who has achieved great notoriety is preoccupied with only one
thing: to produce individual works, works that do new things as much as possible. He
no longer has time to gather disciples or develop the grammar that allowed him to
gather them in the first place.
Claude Debussy, Une Opinion de M. Debussy, interview by Maurice Leclerq
Introduction
In the years following the successful debut of Pellas, Debussys music became
a point of vigorous contention among the Parisian cognoscenti. Capitalizing on this
phenomenon in 1910, C. Francis Caillard and Jos de Brys published an anthology
entitled Le Cas Debussy, which claims to settle once and for all the matter of the
composers significance. This book assembles a range of commentaries on
Debussys music but tends to favor those that are hostile. After all, Caillard and
Bryss primary motivation in publishing Le Cas Debussy was to boost circulation for
their journal Revue du temps prsent, and slamming the composer was more likely to
generate publicity than acclaiming him. Accordingly, Le Cas Debussy effectively
concludes that its subject is nothing more than a metaphorical flash in the pan.1
While Debussy took umbrage with much of Caillard and Bryss anthology, he
evidently did not mind its assertion that he would not exert a meaningful influence on
future generations of composers. In a statement to an Austrian journalist that was
made in response to Le Cas Debussy, Debussy happily avows his singular
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iconoclasm:
I am neither revolutionizing nor demolishing anything. I am quietly forging my
own way ahead, without any trace of propaganda for my ideasas is proper for
a revolutionary. I am no longer an adversary of Wagner. Wagner is a genius,
but geniuses can make mistakes. Wagner pronounced himself in favor of the
laws of harmony. I am for freedom. But freedom must be essentially free. All
the noises we hear around ourselves can be re-created. Every sound perceived
by the acute ear in the rhythm of the world about us can be represented
musically. Some people wish above all to conform to the rules; for myself, I
wish only to render what I hear. There is no Debussy school. I have no
disciples; I am for myself.2
Despite Debussys assertion to the contrary, several of the composers lesser
contemporaries consciously aped his style. In her paper Debussys Influence on
French Salon Music Composers, 1902-1930, which she delivered at the 2010 Annual
Meeting of the American Musicology Society, Jane Harrison demonstrated that
composers like Henri Woollett and Ernest Moret regularly appropriated elements of
Debussys idiom, including sequences of enriched chords and gamelan-inspired
textures, while retaining salon conventions such as periodic phrase structure and clear
authentic cadences.3 This pop Debussysme proved immensely attractive to the
bourgeoisie as it mimicked the scintillating effects of the composers music without
unsettling formal conventions.
But in light of their unabashed traditionalism, hacks like Woollett and Moret can
hardly be viewed as heirs to Debussys radical aesthetic. As it happened, Debussy
never knew the music of his three greatest descendents, namely, Bartk, Messiaen and
Takemitsu. As the remainder of the present dissertation illustrates, all three of these
composers venerated the natural world and strongly associated its beauty with both
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Debussy and innovation. In doing so, they gave rise to a dynasty of nature-infused
modernism that criticizes humanitys ongoing exploitation of the environment.
In the Name of Nature, Art and Science

Although Bartk extols the grandeur of the natural world throughout his letters
and criticism, his most explicit declaration of naturism occurs in his correspondence
with the violinist Stefi Geyer, who was the composers love-interest for a time. In the
summer of 1907, Bartk and Geyer exchanged several passionate statements on life,
love and, most pertinent to the current study, religion. Geyer appears to have been a
god-fearing Catholic, while Bartk described himself as an unbeliever. But in
spite of his professed atheism, the composer stressed the importance of actively
participating in the living universe, as evidenced by his missive of September 6:
In a thousand years, in 10 thousand years, I am sure that my whole work will
have been lost without a trace; and maybe the entire Hungarian people and their
language will have sunk into oblivion forever. Or if not by thenwell then,
some time later. The same fate awaits the work of every one of us. It would
not be a pleasant thing to work with only this depressing thought in mind. To
be able to work, one must have a zest for life, i.e. a keen interest in the living
universe. One has to be filled with enthusiasm for the Trinity about which you
write so eloquently in your letter; if I ever crossed myself, it would signify In
the name of Nature, Art and Science4
According to Bartk, the trinity of nature, art and science coalesces in the
phenomenon of folk music, which the composer viewed as a manifestation of the
natural world. In his 1931 essay Gipsy Music or Hungarian Music, Bartk not only
compares folklorists to scientists but also describes peasant music as a natural
force, one that is unsullied by urban culture:
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We Hungarian students of musical folklore have, as our colleagues in the

kindred branches of learning (general folklore and ethnography), weighty
reasons for restricting ourselves to the peasant class for source material. As a
matter of fact, we consider ourselves scientists not unlike the researchers in the
natural sciences, for we choose for our subject of investigation a certain product
of nature, peasant music. It should be known that the cultural products of the
peasant class originateat least here, in Eastern Europein a manner totally
different from those of other classes of society. They can be considered
products of nature because their most characteristic trait, the formation of
pregnantly unified styles, can be explained solely by the instinctive faculty of
variation in a like manner of large masses living in a spiritual kinship. This
faculty for variation is nothing short of a natural force.5
As fate would have it, Bartk became acquainted with Debussys oeuvre during
his early years as a folksong collector. Immediately, the Hungarian composer
perceived an affinity between Debussys music and that of Eastern European
peasants. In his 1921 essay Autobiography, Bartk recalls his first encounter with
the French composers output, which came through the prompting of his compatriot
Zoltn Kodly:
In 1907, at the instigation of Kodly, I became acquainted with Debussys
work, studied it thoroughly and was greatly surprised to find in his work
pentatonic phrases similar in character to those contained in our peasant
music. I was sure these could be attributed to influences of folk music from
Eastern Europe, very likely from RussiaIt seems therefore that, in our age,
modern music has developed along similar lines in countries geographically far
away from each other. It has become rejuvenated under the influence of a kind
of peasant music that has remained untouched by the musical creations of the
last centuries.6
In addition to his extensive use of pentatonic collections, Debussys fresh
harmonies and natural approach to vocal declamation captivated Bartk, who, like the
French composer, was anxious to break free of German hegemony. Commenting on
Debussy and Ravels impact on Hungarian music in a 1938 essay, Bartk indicates
that Teutonic composers held sway over his native land until the emergence of
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Debussy:
From the political and cultural viewpoint Hungary for four centuries has
suffered the proximity of Germany; this fact cannot be ignored. Nevertheless,
our intelligentsia always rebelled against this abnormal situation and
acknowledged that the Latin spiritabove all the French spiritis infinitely
nearer to the Hungarian genius than the German; and that is why this elite was
always oriented toward the French culture, considering it much more congenial
to its own character.
Regarding the field of music it is no less evident and, moreover, entirely
understandable that this trend collided with the absolute hegemony of German
music which prevailed for three centuries, until the end of the nineteenth
century. It was then that a turn occurred: Debussy appeared and, from that time
on, the hegemony of France was substituted for that of Germany.
From the beginning of this century the young Hungarian musicians, among
whom I belonged, already oriented themselves in other domains toward the
French culture. One can easily imagine the significance with which they beheld
Debussys appearance.7
Bartk wasted no time in harnessing Debussys innovations to counter the
musical dominance of Germany. In the closing eleven measures of his 1910 work
Virgzs (In Full Flower), the composer channels Debussy by effecting a sense
of ambiguity through the utilization of a whole-tone collection on D. With its harp
glissandos and string tremolos, the translucent scoring of this passage further
highlights the influence of the French composer (Fig. 48). Given Bartks
association of Debussy with the natural phenomenon of folk music, it seems logical
that he would reference the French composer in an evocation of blooming flowers.
Unfortunately for Bartk, his allusions to Debussy in Virgzs drew scorn
from the Budapesti Hirlap, which dismissed the work as a pallid copy of the French
composers idiom.8 Admittedly, this critique rings true as Virgzs, despite its
beauty, falls short of real originality. Sixteen years later, however, Bartk produced
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an irrefutably novel paean to nature entitled Az jszaka zenje (Music of the

Night), which synthesizes the composers passions for Debussy and folk music
while preserving his own unique voice. The fourth movement of his piano suite
Szabadban (Out of Doors), Az jszaka zenje constitutes the first example of what
is widely regarded as Bartks night music, a radical idiom that recurs in several
subsequent works, including Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta and the Third
Piano Concerto. Generally speaking, the composers night music evokes the
characteristic noises of a natural, nocturnal scene through the extensive
superimposition of variegated material la Debussy. This layering is comprised of
two main elements: a background drone that suggests the assorted chirpings of the
night and foreground motives that intimate birdsong. In Az jszaka zenje, a series
of sustained semitone clusters provides the backdrop over which several birdsong
motives appear. Bartk emphasizes the unity of nature through the respective pitchclass content of these two layers, which taken together yields a twelve-tone collection
(Fig. 49; mm. 1-16).
But this nocturnal harmony is suddenly disrupted by the introduction of an
erudite chorale in measure 17 (Fig. 50). In her article Natura naturans, natura
naturata and Bartks Nature Music Idiom, Maria Anna Harley convincingly
interprets this chorale as a signifier for humankinds alienation from the natural
world.9 After dominating the texture of Az jszaka zenje for eighteen bars, the
chorale vanishes, and the sounds of nature momentarily regain their initial
prominence (Fig. 50; mm. 35-37). Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a sprightly folk
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tune emerges in measure 38 (Fig. 50). As Harley demonstrates in her essay, this
melody exhibits not only features associated with peasant music such as variable
meter and a narrow range but also those linked to the song of the nightingale,
including rapid repeated notes and staccato articulation. In bars 49-58, Bartk
transposes fragments of the folk theme up an octave, further spotlighting its rapport
with birdsong. According to Harley, the avian character of the folk tune attests to the
composers conception of peasant music as a phenomenon of nature. In Bartks
view, this creative force bridges the gap between humankind and the natural world,
hence the remarkable climax of Az jszaka zenje, which daringly layers the
opening sounds of nature with the chorale and the folk theme, thereby suggesting a
rapprochement between humans and the environment through the intercession of
peasant music (Fig. 50; mm. 58-66).
The Birdman ofUtah?
Considering the naturist juxtaposition of music material that characterizes Az
jszaka zenje, it figures that the work elicited criticism from Adorno, who regarded
both its layering technique and nature imagery as manifestations of infantilism.
In his 1955 essay The Aging of New Music, the philosopher decries what he
perceives to be Bartks aesthetic regression, dismissing the entirety of Szabadban as
ersatz Debussy:
But even Bla Bartk, from whom such inclinations were very distant, began at
a certain point to separate himself from his own past. In a speech given in New
York, he explained that a composer like he, whose roots were in folk music,
could ultimately not do without tonalityan astounding statement for the
Bartk who unhesitatingly resisted all populist temptations and chose exile and
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poverty when the shadow of Fascism passed over Europe. In fact, his later
works, like the [Second] Violin Concerto, actually count as traditional music,
though indeed they are not cramped and narrow resurrections of the distant past,
but almost unabashed continuations of Brahms: they are late, posthumous
masterpieces, certainly, but domesticated, no longer heralds of the threateningly
eruptive, the ungrasped. The development of his work has a peculiar
retrospective effect. In its light many of his most radical compositions, like the
First Violin Sonata, appear much more harmless than their sound and
harmonies. What once seemed like a prairie fire ultimately reveals itself as a
Czardas, so that even the rather obvious piano composition Im Freien [Out of
Doors] sounds today like dried out Debussy10
But Az jszaka zenje won praise from another titan of contemporary musical
aesthetics, namely, Messiaen, who regarded the work as one of the few truly
inventive piano pieces populating the gulf between Debussy and mid twentiethcentury composers like Boulez, Stockhausen and Xenakis. Although Messiaen never
singled out specific facets of Az jszaka zenje for commendation, it is logical to
assume that he was attracted to the works invocation of birdsong, which the French
composer likely regarded as a novelty. In a series of conversations between Messiaen
and the French music critic Claude Samuel that was subsequently published in book
format, the composer observes that while several of his predecessors took an interest
in the natural world, they tended to overlook birdsong:
Its sad perhaps, but I believe Im the first composer to have taken an interest
in bird songs. Im not the first to have been interested in nature; before me,
after all, were Berlioz and Wagner, who loved mountains; and Debussy, who
was interested in wind, water, clouds, mists, and all the most beautiful and
poetic natural phenomena. But apparently composers forgot the birds. All the
same, Im the first to have made truly scientific and, I hope, accurate notations
of bird songs.11
In addition to highlighting Messiaens association of birdsong with innovation,
the composers remarks indicate that he was keenly aware of Debussys naturism.
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Unlike Bartk, who first experienced the music of Debussy as an adult, Messiaens
initial contact with his countrymans oeuvre occurred at the ripe age of ten. The
composers first harmony teacher, Jean de Gibon, gave his young pupil a score of
Pellas et Mlisande, a gift that changed Messiaens life. In a conversation with
Samuel, the composer reflects on his early exposure to Debussys opera, which,
according to multiple reports, he was able to play and sing from memory in later
years: For me, that score was a revelation, love at first sight; I sang it, played it, and
sang it again and again. That was probably the most decisive influence Ive
received12 Another one of Messiaens recollections vis--vis Pellas indicates
that he immediately connected Debussys music with the natural world: Debussys
music is like waterwater is still, unmoving, but immediately when you throw a
pebble in there is a shock wave around the pebble and the water is set in motion.13
It is no wonder that Messiaen instantly associated Debussys music with nature,
as his love for both entities emerged during his childhood. As a young boy, the
composer contemplated various manifestations of natural grandeur, from the
imposing French alps to the sun-dappled meadows of the Aube countryside. Like
Debussys oeuvre, nature provided a lifelong source of inspiration for Messiaen, a
point evidenced not only by his assimilation of birdsong but also by the abundant
nature imagery that marks his output. For Messaien, as for Debussy and Bartk, the
natural world was the paragon for musical ingenuity, as indicated by a 1958 paper
that he delivered in Brussels: There are a thousand ways of probing the futureI
only wish that they would not forget that music is a part of time, a fraction of time, as
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is our own life, and that Nature, ever beautiful, ever great, ever new, Nature, an
inextinguishable treasure-house of sounds and colors, forms and rhythms, the
unequaled model for total development and perpetual variation, that Nature is the
supreme resource.14
Despite the domineering attitude towards nature exhibited by many Christian
texts, Messiaen saw no conflict between his intense Catholicism on the one hand and
his appreciation of natural beauty on the other. As the composer explains to Samuel,
he adopted St. Franciss position that the majesty of nature attests to the benevolence
of a divine creator. As much as any other item in Messiaens output, the gargantuan
orchestral work Des canyons aux toiles, which occupied the composer between 1971
and 1974, reflects this conviction. In the preface to this compositions score,
Messiaen states his intention for the work:
From the canyon to the starsThat is to say elevating oneself from the canyons
up to the starsand higher, up to the resurrected in paradiseto glorify God in
all his creation: the beauty of the earth (rocks, birdsong), the beauty of the
physical sky, the beauty of the spiritual sky. Therefore, first and foremost its a
religious work, of praise and contemplation, but also astronomic and geologic.
A work of sound-colors, where all the colors of the rainbow circulate15
The American philanthropist Alice Tully commissioned Des canyons aux
toiles for a performance in the Lincoln Center hall that bears her name. In view of
these circumstances, Messiaen decided to seek inspiration for the work in the United
States, not in the shadows of the skyscrapers that he patently loathed but amidst the
splendor of Utahs celebrated Bryce Canyon, which he regarded as Americas
greatest natural treasure (Fig. 51). In a dialogue with Samuel, the composer thinks
back to his enchanting visit to the Beehive State:
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Going to Bryce Canyon is no simple matter!...Once in Salt Lake City, one has
to find an automobile to cover the two or three hundred kilometers to the
canyon. But when one is in the canyon, its extraordinary, its divine! Its
totally deserted and wildThe tour of the canyon must be made on footIts
not dangerous, and the marked trails keep one from getting lostSo we set off
alone, my wife and I, in the canyon. It was marvelous, grandiose; we were
immersed in total silencenot the slightest noise, except for the birdsong. And
we saw those formidable rocks tinted with all possible shades of red, orange,
and violet, those amazing formations created by erosion: the shapes of castles,
towers, bridges, windows, columns! We took walks in the canyon for more
than a week, and I transcribed all the birdsongs. I also took note of the
fragrances of the sagebrush (an aromatic plant growing there in great quantity),
the dizzying height of the chasms and the beautiful shapes and colors of the
canyon, while my wife recorded the birdsongs and took hundreds of photos.16
But in crafting a fitting encomium to the awesomeness of Bryce Canyon,
Messiaen had to overcome a significant logistical problem. It turns out that the
compact stage at Alice Tully Hall can only accommodate forty to fifty
instrumentalists, so the composer, who typically would have called for a hundred
performers in a work as ambitious as Des canyons aux toiles, had to get creative.
Instead of relying on massive sonic forces to evoke the majesty of his chosen subject,
Messiaen drew upon Debussys use of timbre to suggest the captivating hues of Bryce
Canyon. Ingeniously, Des canyons aux toiles deploys several unorthodox, spacesaving instruments, including a geophone and an eoliphone, to achieve its stated end.
The former was invented by Messiaen himself. It consists of a drum filled with
dozens of pebbles and is played by circulating it so that it suggests the sound of
shifting earth (Fig. 52). As one might expect, Messiaen developed an unconventional
notation for the geophone, one that uses inked-in wedges to convey the desired level
of sound (Fig. 53). Alternative notation also marks the eoliphone part in Des canyons
aux toiles. Here Messiaen utilizes swirling curlycues to indicate the intensity with
174
which the performer should crank the so-called wind machine (Fig. 54 and 55).
Along with his ample integration of birdsong, the composers employment of both the
geophone and the eoliphone renders Des canyons aux toiles one of the twentieth
centurys most timbraly unique compositions, one that reflects Messiaens notion of
nature as a wellspring of innovation.
Japonisme Reciprocated
In addition to natural beauty and the Catholic faith, the island of Japan
fascinated Messiaen, who paid his first visit to the nation in the company of his wife,
pianist Yvonne Loriod, during the summer of 1962. Conversing with Samuel some
twenty years later, the composer recalls the newlyweds happy sojourn: Yvonne and
I had just married, and in a way it was our honeymoon. I must say, we were
immediately won over: after that, we thought only of sleeping on a tatami and eating
sukiyaki and tempura; and Yvonne still prepares Japanese cuisine, which we eat
conscientiously with chopsticks.17 Of course, the food was not the only thing about
Japan that impressed Messiaen; equally admirable were the various sounds that he
encountered, from the harmonies of traditional court music (gagaku) to the warblings
of endemic birds like the narcissus flycatcher (kibitaki). The countrys natural
scenery, including the parks at Nara and the seascape of Miya-jima, also elicited a
sense of wonder in the composer. As a tribute to the sights and sounds that he
experienced during his month-long stay, Messiaen composed Sept hak, a series of
orchestral vignettes that celebrate the aural and visual splendor of Japan.
Messiaens fondness for the Land of the Rising Sun further links him to
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Debussy, who was a bona fide Japanophile despite the fact that he never traveled to
East Asia. As it happened, the composer of Pellas thrived during the heyday of
japonisme, an obsession with Japanese art that coursed through French aesthetics
during the latter half of the long nineteenth century. Although Japanese artworks
were obtainable in France before the 1854 signing of the Kanagawa Treaty, which
opened the island nation to trade with the West, their availability skyrocketed in the
wake of that momentous pact. In the years bookending 1860, French artists like
Monet, Manet and Degas began collecting the respective woodblock prints of
Katsushika Hokusai and And Hiroshige, which typically glorify the landscapes of
Japan. For the so-called Impressionists, the bold coloration and calligraphic contours
of these ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world) provided a welcome alternative to
the stifling academicism perpetuated by the Acadmie des beaux-arts. One can
readily discern the impact of Japanese printmaking on Impressionist canvasses by
comparing Monets Impression: Sunrise to Hokusais Fuji in Clear Weather, as both
images exhibit brilliant, contrasting hues and a sketch-like approach to composition
(Fig. 17 and 56). In fact, Monet viewed the likes of Hokusai and Hiroshige as his
spiritual forefathers: If you must find precedents, compare me to the Japanese
masters: their rareness of taste always intrigued me, and I approve of their aesthetic
sense, their powers of suggestion which evoke presence by a shadow, the complete
picture by a fragment.18 The influence of ukiyo-e on French art, however, was by no
means limited to the Impressionists. In the 1880s and 1890s, Gall, Gauguin and
Toulouse-Lautrec also harnessed Japanese prints to achieve their modernist aims, and
176
Matisse followed suit in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Given the enthusiasm with which ukiyo-e were received by the graphic avantgarde, it follows naturally that they found a great admirer in Debussy, who similarly
esteemed them as an antidote to French academicism. The composers induction into
the world of Japanese prints came through meetings with the sculptor Camille
Claudel during the early 1880s. According to Godet, the two artists stood in awe of
Hokusais miracles of composition and paradoxes of perspective.19 When Debussy
arrived at the Villa Medici in 1885, his nascent love of Japanese art caught the notice
of fellow Prix de Rome laureate Gabriel Piern, who recalled in 1926, He [Debussy]
went out a lot, spent his time with antique dealers and made a clean sweep of tiny
Japanese objects which enthralled him.20 A decade later the composer chose a
portion of Hokusais print The Great Wave at Kanagawa to serve as the cover art for
the first edition of La Mer (Fig. 57 and 57a). Hokusais famed depiction of a tsunami
also decorated Debussys study in the home he shared with Emma Bardac at 80
avenue du Bois de Boulogne, along with other Japanese delicacies such as a wooden
toad-cum-paperweight that the composer affectionately dubbed Arkel after the blind
king of Allemonde (Fig. 58).
Despite Debussys love for all things Japanese, none of his compositions
patently evoke Japan in the manner of Messiaens Sept hak. All the same, several
elements of the composers aesthetic resonate with ukiyo-e, including the veneration
of nature, the emphasis placed on tone color and the eschewal of Western norms with
respect to form and harmony. These affinities were repeatedly cited by Takemitsu,
177
who regarded Debussys japonisme as a reciprocal action thanks to the French

composers impact on subsequent Japanese musicians, most notably Takemitsu
himself. 21 Just as Debussy turned to Eastern muses in an effort to transcend what he
perceived as the stagnation of French culture, so Takemitsu drew on Western fonts of
inspiration to rise above the self-destructive nationalism of Imperial Japan, which
precipitated the wholesale devastation of his homeland in 1945. One year before
Japans unconditional surrender to the Allies, the fourteen-year-old Takemitsu was
conscripted into the Imperial Army, which was preparing for a U.S.-led invasion. In
his 1989 essay Contemporary Music in Japan, the composer recalls this harrowing
episode: Towards the end of the war, as the American forces were preparing to
invade Japan, the Japanese military constructed bases deep in the mountains. I
wasconscripted to work at one of these mountain bases. It was far from Tokyo and
all the young conscripts like myself lived in a kind of rough barracks. For me the
experience was an extremely bitter one.22
In the wake of Japans capitulation, Takemitsu rebelled against the supremacist
ideology of his mother country by cultivating an exclusive interest in Western music,
which had been banned by Emperor Hirohito during the war. Inspired by the tunes he
heard on the American forces radio network, Takemitsu, who had no musical
schooling of any kind, resolved to become a composer. Apart from some infrequent
lessons with Yasuji Kiyose, he remained self-taught for the duration of his career.
This is not to say, however, that Takemitsu lacked any sort of mentoring. At an early
stage of his development, the composer recognized Debussy as his principal aesthetic
178
guru. More than any other aspect of the French composers style, Debussys
innovative handling of timbre stimulated Takemitsu, who discerned in it a striking
affinity to traditional Japanese music. In fact, the French composers approach to
orchestration catalyzed Takemitsus reconciliation with the time-honored practices of
his homeland, which he had spurned in the immediate aftermath of World War II. In
his 1984 essay Dream and Number, the Japanese composer explicates Debussys
profound influence on his evolution as an artist:
When thinking of music, I see symbols on flat paper and grasp them as notes.
But in the case of my music, unless these notes are performed and take shape in
sound they have no significance. If only correct theory exists, then sounds do
not have their own being. For me, sounds are the essence, and all theoretical
systems exist with these sounds in mind.
In the fugal technique of Johann Sebastian Bach, structure is very important.
When played by any instrument, that musical structure remains essential and
will not be destroyed. In my case it is quite different. I learned much from the
music of Debussy. (Of course, I studied in my own way, but I think of him as
my great mentor.) While his music can be analyzed in different ways, his
greatest contribution was his unique orchestration, which emphasizes color,
light, and shadow. Unlike the orchestration of German composers, that of
Debussy has many musical focuses. Of course, he was a European with
sensibilities different from mine, yet he learned from both Japan and the West,
and his individuality created a unique sense of orchestration. And that is what I
learned from him
Traditional Japanese music has always been extremely sensitive to tone
qualityThe effort to perceive such minute differences characterizes both the
sensitivity of Debussy and of Japanese music.23
Clearly, Takemitsu esteemed Debussy above all other composers, but he also
revered the music of Messiaen, which he came to know through his colleague Toshi
Ichiyanagi. Lento in due movimenti, Takemitsus first performed work, plainly
evinces the influence of the Catholic composer with its modal melodies, dissolution
179
of regular meter and arresting timbral contrasts. Takemitsus affinity for Messiaens
music can be explained not only by the two composers shared passion for Debussy
but also by their mutual veneration for nature. Like Messiaen, Takemitsu produced
numerous writings on the relationship between music and the natural world. In a
series of diary entries that was subsequently published as an essay entitled Music
and Nature, the Japanese composer stresses the interrelation of art and the
environment:
As long as we live, we aspire to harmonize with nature. It is this harmony in
which the arts originate and to which they will eventually return. Harmony, or
balance, in this sense does not mean regulation or control by ready-made rules.
It is beyond functionalism. I believe what we call expression in art is really
discovery, by ones own mode, of something new in this world
I wish to free sounds from the trite rules of music, rules that are in turn stifled
by formulas and calculations. I want to give sounds the freedom to breathe.
Rather than on the ideology of self-expression, music should be based on a
profound relationship to nature24
Unlike Messiaen, Takemitsu does not point out Debussys naturism in his
critical writings; nevertheless, the Japanese composers music conveys an awareness
of the prominent role played by nature in Debussys oeuvre. Quotation of Dream for
two pianos and orchestra exemplifies this phenomenon. Composed in 1991 for the
pianists Peter Serkin and Paul Crossley, this work bears the subtitle Say sea, take
me!, which is borrowed from Emily Dickinsons poem The Outlet:
My river runs to thee:
Blue sea, wilt welcome me?
My river waits reply.
Oh sea, look graciously!
Ill fetch the brooks
From spotted nooks
180
Say, sea,
Take me!25
In addition to referencing The Outlet, Quotation of Dream incorporates several
passages from Debussys La Mer and Takemitsus earlier odes to the sea. In the
program notes that he penned for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Japanese
composer explains his piece thus:
This work is composed of twelve fragmented episodes similar to the shapes of
dreams. These shapes, while vivid in their details, describe an extremely
ambiguous structure when viewed as a whole. Say sea, take me! The subtitle
of the poem is taken from a poem by Emily Dickinson. I cannot recall the title
of the poem, but the phrase continually appears and disappears in the depths of
my memory. Quotations in this work are from Claude Debussys La Mer or
from works of mine devoted to the sea.26
While Takemitsu does not label his self-parroting in the score of Quotation of
Dream, he meticulously marks his citations of La Mer. According to musicologists
Yoko Narazaki and Masakata Kanazawa, these tagged quotations blend seamlessly
into the surrounding musical material on account of Takemitsus luminous
orchestration, which evokes that of Debussy.27 But this evaluation proves
problematic on two counts. First, the scoring of Quotation of Dream, though redolent
of La Mer in its scintillation, dwarfs that of Debussys seascape in terms of intricacy.
Using the instrumental forces of La Mer as a point of departure, Quotation of Dream
adds a vibraphone, three almglocken (frog-mouthed cowbells), three gongs, tubular
bells, a celesta and, most prominently, two pianos. Moreover, harmonics and muted
sonorities saturate Takemitsus composition, further distinguishing it from La Mer
with respect to timbre (Fig. 59). The second hitch in Narazaki and Kanazawas
181
assessment of Quotation of Dream is that the Debussyan quotations, far from

meshing with Takemitus material, effect an overwhelming sense of stylistic rupture.
Consider, for example, the Japanese composers citation of the opening measures of
Jeux de vagues in measures 6-9 of episode II. In their original context, the first
four bars of La Mers second movement give rise to a strong sense of tonal ambiguity
(see Chapter 1). But amidst Takemitsus serialistic harmonies, the initial measures of
Jeux de vagues bring about an impression of tonal surety, albeit a fleeting one (Fig.
60). This breach, along with several others in Quotation of Dream, ingeniously
emphasizes the singularity of Takemitsus idiom even as it spotlights his gratitude to
Debussy. On account of such ruptures, Quotation of Dream operates outside the
domain of Watkinss neo-romantic pastoral despite its flirtations with tonality.
Taking Yolandas Cue
In a published dialogue on Takemitsu between fellow composers Akira
Nishimura and Smei Satoh, the latter asserts that Quotation of Dream embodies the
entirety of Takemitsus thought.28 But since the work does not patently allude to
traditional Japanese music, which plays a conspicuous role in many of the composers
other pieces, this seems like an overstatement. All the same, Quotation of Dream
does represent the culmination of Takemitsus interest in water, a fascination that
inspired several earlier works like Water Music and Waterways. In Takemitsus
view, water is the natural phenomenon closest to the art of music on account of its
ever-shifting beauty. Not surprisingly, the composer was disturbed by humankinds
mistreatment of Adams ale, as evidenced by his 1980 essay From the Margin of the
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Music, in which he discusses the inextinguishable mystery of water:

Late last year we moved from the center of Tokyo to Higashi Murayama City.
Were are supposed to have a view of Lake Tama through the southeast window
of our new house, but the view is blocked by an old five-needle pine that has
been designated as a monument to be preserved. The distant deep lake exists
only in my imagination. The tips of the branches of that more-than-100-yearold pine shine in the sunlight as if completely covered with golden needles
quivering and transmitting the deep quiet murmur of the lake.
Originally called Murayama Reservoir, Lake Tama is an artificial lake
providing drinking water for Tokyo. With a turn of the faucet and through the
modern maze of technology, Lake Tama pours its water into city houses. The
water is already inorganic with a strong aftertaste of lime. But the source of this
water now so firmly in the grip of city management still has a quiet mystery
about it worthy of the name lake. Yes, humans cannot diminish the miracle
of water29
This commentary ranks among numerous others in which Takemitsu laments
humanitys corruption of the natural world. Elsewhere the composer denounces the
dehumanizing effects of urbanization and humankinds selfish destruction of trees. In
an effort to combat the environmental exploitation he so opposed, Takemitsu
accepted a 1981 commission from the Greenpeace Foundation for its Save the
Whales campaign. The result was Toward the Sea for alto flute and guitar, a
composition that the composer described as an homage to the sea which creates all
things.30 Seeking to increase the number of performances of Toward the Sea and
thereby maximize its environmental impact, Takemitsu rearranged the work for
different combinations of instruments, hence Toward the Sea II for alto flute, harp
and string orchestra. Recently, the eminent harp virtuoso and green activist
Yolanda Kondonassis has harnessed this incarnation of Takemitsus seascape to raise
awareness for global warming. Perceptively, she pairs Towards the Sea II with the
183
music of Debussy on her 2008 album Air, of which some of the proceeds benefit the
Environmental Defense Fund. As the present chapter has demonstrated, the
compositions of Bartk and Messiaen might be similarly utilized to counter
humanitys heedless dominion of nature.
But regardless of the naturist works harnessed, present day musicians in the
Western art tradition, whether performers, scholars, composers or educators, must
redouble Kondonassiss efforts if they want to recalibrate humankinds relationship
with the natural world. In the three years since I traveled to Paris to begin work on
this dissertation, the hope of alleviating humanitys wholesale exploitation of the
environment has grown ever fainter. December 2009 witnessed the spectacular
failure of the U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen, which was intended to
produce a legally binding agreement that would fortify and expand the mitigatory
measures enacted in the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Instead of demonstrating solidarity
in the face of an existential threat, the one hundred and ninety-two nations
participating in the event engaged in ineffectual finger-pointing. The United States
and China, which together emit approximately forty percent of the worlds
greenhouse gasses, squared off in a game of geopolitical chicken, neither side willing
to give ground.31 The Group of 77, a coalition of poor and developing countries,
expressed their resentment at the environmental despotism of longstanding
industrialized nations by employing a variety of tactics to derail the conference. The
rhetoric of Venezuelan president Hugo Chvez seemed to typify their outrage: The
rich are destroying the planet. Perhaps they think theyre going off to another one
184
after theyve destroyed this one.32 President Obama made an eleventh-hour speech
in the hopes of salvaging the affair, but all that emerged from the conference was a
non-binding accord" that effectively punts the hope of developing an enforceable
treaty into the distant future.33 Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev neatly
summarized the Copenhagen debacle in an Op-Ed piece for The New York Times:
We have a real emergency. Yet the gap between science and policy keeps widening,
as does the gap between the negotiations and the urgency of the issue.34
Mr. Gorbachev is right: the time to act is now. Surely the music of Debussy
and his spiritual successors has a role to play in moving the ball forward, even if it is
a modest one.35

by
Volume Two
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Figures
186
Fig.1 Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 1-8
187
Fig. 1 (cont.) Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 1-8
188
Fig. 2 Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 9-17
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
Fig. 8 Paul Signac, Opus 217: Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with
Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints, Portrait of M. Flix Fnon in 1890
207
Fig. 9 Cover of the first edition of Claudine lcole (1890)
208
Fig. 10 Cover of the inaugural issue of S.I.M. (1912)

Upon seeing the cover art, Debussy suggested to Vuillermoz that they scrap the
gentlemen, who, in silly costume, seems to be playing cello in the kitchen.
209
Fig. 11 Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 1-4; 81-84)
210
Fig. 12 Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 350-360)
211
Fig. 12 (cont.) Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 350-360)
212
Fig. 13 Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 365-371)
213
Fig. 13 (cont.) Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 365-371)
214
Fig. 14 Sketch of Marcel Baschets Le Printemps
215
Fig. 15 Claude Debussy, Printemps, mm. 1-49
216
Fig. 15 (cont.) Claude Debussy, Printemps, 1-49
217
218
219
Fig. 16 Claude Debussy, Prlude laprs-midi dun faune, mm. 1-31
220
Fig. 16 (cont.) Claude Debussy, Prlude laprs-midi dun faune, mm. 1-31
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
Fig. 17 Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise (1873)
228
Fig. 18 Gino Severini, Armored Train in Action (1915)
229
Fig. 19 Anonymous, Prussian troops marching past the Arc de Triomphe during the
Franco-Prussian War, undated illustration
230
Fig. 20 Claude Debussy, La damoiselle lue (piano reduction), mm. 1-9
231
Fig. 20 (cont.) Claude Debussy, La damoiselle lue (piano reduction), mm. 1-9
232
Fig. 20a Richard Wagner, Parsifal (piano reduction), mm. 1-44
233
Fig. 20a (cont.) Richard Wagner, Parsifal (piano reduction), mm. 1-44
234
235
236
Fig. 21 Claude Debussy, Cinq pomes de Baudelaire, La Mort des Amants, mm.
35-36
237
Fig. 22 Claude Debussy, Childrens Corner, Golliwogs Cakewalk, mm. 61-77
238
Fig. 23 Advertisement for rail transport to the 1889 Exposition Universelle
239
Fig. 24 Photo of the kampong javanais at the 1889 Exposition Universelle
240
Fig. 25 Claude Debussy, Fantaisie, 4 measures before and after rehearsal T
241
Fig. 25 (cont.) Claude Debussy, Fantaisie, 4 measures before and after rehearsal T
242
Fig. 26 Claude Debussy, Nocturnes, Nuages, mm. 1-4
243
Fig. 26a Modest Mussorgsky Sunless, Finished is the idle, noisy day, mm. 17-24
244
245
246
Fig. 28 (cont.) Claude Debussy, Nocturnes, Nuages, mm. 61-68
247
Fig. 29 Arabesque relief from the Great Mosque at Crdoba, Spain (10th Century)
248
Fig. 30 mile Gall, Par une telle nuit, crystal chalice (1894)
249
Fig. 31 Claude Debussy, Estampes, Pagodes, mm. 1-10
250
251
252
253
Fig. 34 (cont.) Claude Debussy, Estampes, Pagodes, mm. 65-98
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255
256
Fig. 35. Roman sculpture of Pan teaching music to Daphnis

(2nd century), copy of Greek original (1st century B.C.)
257
Fig. 36 Kerr-Xavier Roussel, Scne mythologique (ca. 1916)
258
Fig. 37 Claude Debussy, Prlude laprs-midi dun faune, mm. 1-4
259
Fig. 37a Claude Debussy, Syrinx, mm. 1-2
260
Fig. 38 Claude Debussy, Chansons de Bilitis, La flte de Pan, mm. 1-2
261
Fig. 38a Claude Debussy, pigraphes antiques, Pour invoquer Pan, mm. 1-3
262
Fig. 39 Claude Debussy, Ftes galantes II, Le faune, mm. 1-12
263
Fig. 40 Claude Debussy, Ftes galantes II, Le faune, mm. 30-39
264
Fig. 41 Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony in F, Op. 68, Mvt. II, mm. 129-139
265
Fig. 41 (cont.) Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony in F, Op. 68, Mvt. II, mm. 129139
266
Fig. 42 Jacques de Vaucanson, Duck (ca. 1734), photo of lost original
267
Fig. 43 Claude Debussy, Estampes, Jardins sous la pluie, mm. 1-15
268
Fig. 44 Claude Debussy, Chansons de Bilitis, La flte de Pan, mm. 22-24
269
Fig. 45 Claude Debussy, La Mer, De laube midi sur la mer, mm. 3-5
270
271
Fig. 46 (cont.) Claude Debussy, La Mer, De laube midi sur la mer, mm. 23-30
272
273
Fig. 47 (cont.) Claude Debussy, La Mer, De laube midi sur la mer, mm. 122-132
274
Fig. 48 Bla Bartk, Kt Kp (Two Pictures), Virgzs, mm. 79-89
275
Fig. 48 (cont.) Bla Bartk, Kt Kp (Two Pictures), Virgzs, mm. 79-89
276
277
278
Fig. 49 Bla Bartk, Szabadban, Az jszaka zenje, mm. 1-16
279
Fig. 49 (cont.) Bla Bartk, Szabadban, Az jszaka zenje, mm. 1-16
280
281
282
Fig. 50 Bla Bartk, Szabadban, Az jszaka zenje, mm. 17-71
283
284
285
286
287
288
Fig. 51 Photo of Bryce Canyon, Utah
289
Fig. 52 Photo of the geophone used in a 2008 performance of Des canyons aux
toiles at Oberlin College
290
Fig. 53 Olivier Messiaen, Des canyons aux toiles, Bryce Canyon et les rochers
rouge-orange, mm. 111-112
291
Fig. 54 Photo of an eoliphone produced by L.W. Hunt Drum Co., London
292
Fig. 55 Olivier Messiaen, Des canyons aux tolies, Bryce Canyon et les rochers
rouge-orange, mm. 108-109
293
Fig. 56 Katsushika Hokusai, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, Fuji in Clear Weather
(1831)
294
Fig. 57 Katsushika Hokusai, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, The Great Wave at
Kanagawa (1831)
295
Fig. 57a Cover of the first edition of La Mer, published by Durand & Fils (1905)
296
Fig. 58 Arkel, Japanese objct dart (19th century)
297
Fig. 59 Tru Takemitsu, Quotation of Dream, episode II, mm. 12-15
298
Fig. 60 Tru Takemitsu, Quotation of Dream, episode II, mm. 1-9
299
Fig. 60 (cont.) Tru Takemitsu, Quotation of Dream, episode II, mm. 1-9
300
Notes
Chapter 1: Reflections on Reconciliation
1
Claude Debussy, interview by Henry Malherbe, M. Claude Debussy and Le

Martyre de Saint-Sbastien, Excelsior, February 11, 1911, reprinted in Claude
Debussy, Debussy on Music, ed. and trans. Richard Langham Smith, intro. Franois
Lesure (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977), 248.
2
Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848 (London: Weidenfeld and

Nicolson, 1962); The Age of Capital: 1848-1875 (New York: New American Library,
1979); The Age of Empire: 1875-1914 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1987).
3
Cheryll Glotfelty provides a detailed history of the field in her introductory essay to
The Ecocriticism Reader. Cheryll Glotfelty, Introduction: Literary Studies in an
Age of Environmental Crisis, in The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary
Ecology, eds. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm (Athens, GA and London: The
University of Georgia Press, 1996), xv-xxxvii.
4
Glotfelty, Introduction: Literary Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis, xviii.
Ibid., xviii-xix.
See Greg Garrard, Ecocriticism, The New Critical Idiom (London and New York:
Routledge, 2004).
7
Alexander Rehding, Eco-Musicology, review article, Journal of the Royal

Musical Association 127 (2002): 305-306. Rehding reviews: Helga de la MotteHaber, Musik und Natur: Naturanschauung und musikalische Poetik (Laaber: Laaber
Verlag, 2000); Peter Schleuning, Die Sprache der Natur: Natur in der Musik des 18.
Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1999); Roland Schmenner, Die Pastorale:
Beethoven, das Gewitter und der Blitzableiter (Kassel: Biren- reiter, 1998).
8
In Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, Williams bravely attempts to

pin down this multivalent concept with three distinct definitions: (i) the essential
quality and character of something; (ii) the inherent force which directs either the
world or human beings or both; (iii) the material world itself, taken as including or
not including human beings. Raymond Williams, Keywords: A Vocabulary of
Culture and Society (London: Fontana, 1976), 219.
9
Rehding, Eco-Musicology, 306.
301
10
For a thorough overview of Critical Theory and the Frankfurt School, see the
following: James Bohman, Critical Theory, The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (Spring 2005 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL=
http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2005/; Fred Rush, Conceptual Foundations of
Early Critical Theory, in The Cambridge Companion to Critical Theory, ed. Fred
Rush (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2004), 6-39.
11
Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment:

Philosophical Fragments, ed. Gunzelin Schmid Noerr, trans. Edmund Jephcott
(Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002), xiv, 1. Dialectic of Enlightenment
first appeared in 1944 as a mimeograph entitled Philosophical Fragments. This
original title became the subtitle when the text was published in 1947 as Dialectic of
Enlightenment.
12
In their excursus on Homers The Odyssey, Adorno and Horkheimer argue that
Odysseuss heroic exploits exemplify humanitys drive to dominate nature. See
Adorno and Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 35-62. It should be noted,
however, that scholars have developed widely divergent readings of this excursus. In
the introduction to his selected collection of Adornos essays on music, Richard
Leppert writes, Instrumental reason, the determinate agent in dominationso they
[Adorno and Horkheimer] scandalously arguedetermines the primordial hero of
Western history, Odysseus himself, in essence the First Modern Man, the hero as
relentless Can-Do specialist of the ancient world. Theodor W. Adorno, Essays on
Music, ed. Richard Leppert, trans. Susan H. Gillespie (Los Angeles; Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press, 2002), 28. Julian Roberts advances an entirely
different reading of this excursus in his exegesis of Dialectic of Enlightenment:
Odysseus is not a marauding blond beast, subduing nature and his fellows to some
abstract obsession with power; he is a parable of that resourcefulness and cunning
which goes just far enough to ward off the perils of natural existence, but no further.
Julian Roberts, The Dialectic of Enlightenment, in The Cambridge Companion to
Critical Theory, 65.
13
As Lambert Zuidervaart notes in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The

means of destruction may be more sophisticated in the modern West, and the
exploitation may be less direct than outright slavery, but blind, fear-driven
domination continues, with ever greater global consequences. Lambert Zuidervaart,
"Theodor W. Adorno, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition),
Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming URL =
http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/adorno/.
14
Adorno and Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 2.
15
Ibid., 42-43.
302
16
An Inconvenient Truth, DVD, directed by Davis Guggenheim (2006; Hollywood,

CA: Paramount Classics, 2006).
17
Gore thinks that the choice between material prosperity and a healthy planet is a
false one. He contends that green technology will generate sustainable wealth that is
environmentally friendly. Ibid.
18
George S. Evans, The Wilderness, reprinted in The Call of the Wild (1900-1916),
ed. Roderick Nash (New York: George Braziller, 1970), 77.
19
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Synthesis Report: Summary

for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007, http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessmentreport/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf.
20
Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from

observations of increase in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread
melting slow and ice and rising global average sea level. Ibid., 2. Global
atmospheric concentrations of CO2, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) have
increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and far exceed preindustrial values determined from ice cores spanning many thousands of years.
Ibid., 5.
21
Anthropogenic warming and sea level rise would continue for centuries due to the
time scales associated with climate processes and feedbacks, even if GHG
concentrations were to be stabilized. Ibid., 12.
22
See Jonathan A. Patz and others, Impact of Regional Climate Change on Human
Health, Nature 438, no. 17 (2005): 310-317.
23
IPCC, Synthesis Report: Summary for Policymakers, 7-14.
24
Andrew Simms, policy director of New Economics Foundation, claims that there
may be upwards of 150 million environmental refugees by 2050. Molly Conisbee
and Andrew Simms, Environmental Refuges: The Case for Recognition (London:
NEF Pocketbooks, 2003).
25
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Synthesis Report: Summary

for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007, 7-14.
26
The aporia which faced us in our work thus proved to be the first matter. We had
to investigate the self-destruction of enlightenment. We have no doubtand herein
303
lies our petitio principiithat freedom in society is inseparable from enlightenment

thinking. Adorno and Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, xvi.
27
Adorno and Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 94-136.
28
Adorno and Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 6.
29
J. M. Bernstein, The Dead Speaking of Stones and Stars: Adornos Aesthetic

Theory, in The Cambridge Companion to Critical Theory, 144.
30
Plato famously expelled the poets from his ideal republic because he believed that
the sensuousness of their art would inevitably undermine the dominion of reason
requisite for political order. See Plato, Republic, ed. G.R.F. Ferrari, trans. Tom
Griffith, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (New York;
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
31
2001: A Space Odyssey, DVD, directed by Stanley Kubrick (1968; Burbank, CA:
Warner Home Video, 2001).
32
Francis Bacon, In Praise of Knowledge, in Francis Bacon, ed. Arthur Johnston

(London, 1965), 15, quoted in Adorno and Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment,
1.
33
According to Nietzsche, [Anything which] is a living and not a dying bodywill

have to be an incarnate will to power, it will strive to grow, spread, seize, become
predominantnot from any morality or immorality but because it is living and
because life simply is the will to powerExploitationbelongs to the essence of
what lives, as a basic organic function; it is a consequence of the will to power, which
is after all the will of life. Friedrich Nietzsche, Basic Writings of Nietzsche, trans.
and ed. Walter Kaufmann (New York and Toronto: Random House, 2000), 393.
34
Roberts, The Dialectic of Enlightenment, 69.
35
See Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, trans. Walter Kauffmann (New
York: Vintage Books, 1967).
36
37
Roberts, The Dialectic of Enlightenment, 71-72.
In the introduction to his anthology of Adornos essays on music, Richard Leppert

comments on the generally unrecognized optimism of Dialectic of Enlightenment:
The driving theme of Dialectic of Enlightenment is the ironic regression of
enlightenment, reasons alleged goal, into myth, whose deadly consequences at the
level of the subject and society were so dramatically enacted in the Aryan myths of
304
the Third Reich. The books purpose was to produce a critique that made visible
enlightenments internal contradictions, the recognition of which would necessarily
constitute the first step in rescuing enlightenment from itselffrom its unrecognized
debased form. In this regard, for all its often cited pessimism, Dialectic of
Enlightenment is at heart utopian. Adorno, Essays on Music, 26.
38
Theodor W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, ed. and trans. Robert Hullot-Kentor

(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 1.
39
Ibid., 225-226.
40
Ibid., 74, 321, 227.
41
Ibid., 29.
42
Ibid., 237.
43
Ibid., 62.
44
Ibid., 61-62.
45
Ibid., 52.
46
For examples, see the following: Paul Alpers, What Is Pastoral?, (Chicago and
London: The University of Chicago Press, 1996); Lawrence Buell, The Future of
Environmental Criticism: Environmental Crisis and Literary Imagination (Malden,
MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005); Garrard, Ecocriticism; Terry Gifford, Pastoral,
The New Critical Idiom (London and New York: Routledge, 1999); Glotfelty and
Fromm, eds., The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology; James
McKusick, Green Writing: Romanticism and Ecology (New York: St. Martins Press,
2000).
47
John Muir (1838-1914) was a Scottish-born naturalist and one of the most
important advocates of forest conservation in U.S. history.
48
Quoted in Garrard, Ecocriticism, 68.
49
Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 66.
50
Ibid., 251.
51
As Raymond Guest observes in his essay Dialectics and the Revolutionary

Impulse, by the end of his life Adorno had maneuvered himself into a situation in
305
which he seems to have thought that any projects for action were compromised by
their implication in universal instrumental reason, and were thus evils to be avoided.
At this point his continued verbal appeals for a radical politics begin to ring hollow.
Raymond Guess, Dialectics and the Revolutionary Impulse, in The Cambridge
Companion to Critical Theory, 135.
52
Martin Jay, Adorno (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984), 55, quoted
in Adorno, Essays on Music, 18. For a more recent account of Adornos tumultuous
final years, see Stefan Mller-Doohm, Adorno: A Biography, trans. Rodney
Livingstone (Cambridge; Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2005), 448-480.
53
Roberts claims that the conflict between Adorno and his students hastened the
philosophers demise. See Roberts, The Dialectic of Enlightenment, 58.
54
Leo Marx, The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in
America (London: Oxford University Press, 1964); Raymond Williams, The Country
and the City (London: Chatto & Windus, 1973). Also, see Garrard, Ecocriticism, 37.
55
John Clare, John Clare: Selected Poetry and Prose, ed. Merryn and Raymond
Williams (London: Methuen, 1986), 212, quoted in Garrard, Ecocriticism, 46.
56
The Lake District National Park Authority, Understanding the National Park,
http://www.lake-district.gov.uk/index/understanding/facts_and_figures.html.
57
Lawrence Buell, The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and

the Formation of American Culture (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 1995).
58
See Adorno, Essays on Music, 13.
59
Richard Leppert, Paradise, Nature, and Reconciliation, or, a Tentative

Conversation with Wagner, Puccini, Adorno, and The Ronettes, ECHO 4, no. 1
(2002): 4, http://www.echo.ucla.edu/Volume4-Issue1/leppert/indFig.html.
60
Leppert extracts this phrase from the following excerpt: The unutterable depth of
all music by virtue of which it floats through our consciousness as the vision of a
paradise firmly believed in yet ever distant from us, and by which also it is so fully
understood and yet so inexplicable, rests on the fact that it restores to us all the
emotions of our inmost nature, but entirely without reality and far removed from their
painIts object is directly the will, and this is essentially the most serious of all
things, for it is that on which all depends. Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will
and Idea, trans. R. B. Haldane and J. Kemp (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,
1983), 341.
306
61
In the second volume of his autobiography Mein Leben, Wagner recounts the initial
inspiration for Der Ring des Nibelungen thus: After a night spent in fever and
sleeplessness, I forced myself to take a long tramp the next day through the hilly
country, which was covered with pine woods. Returning in the afternoon, I stretched
dead tired, on a hard couch, awaiting the long-desired hour of sleep. It did not come;
but I fell into a kind of somnolent state, in which I suddenly felt as though I were
sinking in swiftly flowing water. The rushing sound formed itself in my brain into a
musical sound, the chord of E flat major, which continually re-echoed in broken
forms: these broken chords seemed to be melodic passages of increasing motion, yet
the pure triad of E flat major never changed, but seemed by its continuance to impart
infinite significance to the element in which I was sinking. I awoke in sudden terror
from my doze, feeling as though the waves were rushing high above my head. I at
once recognized that the orchestral overture to the Rheingold, which must long have
lain latent within me, though it had been unable to find definite form, had at last been
revealed to me. I then quickly realized my own nature; the stream of life was not to
flow to me from without, but from within. I decided to return to Zurich immediately,
and begin the composition of my greatest poem. Richard Wagner, My Life, vol. 2
(New York: Dodd, Mead, 1911), 603, quoted in Leppert, Paradise, Nature, and
Reconciliation, or, a Tentative Conversation with Wagner, Puccini, Adorno, and The
Ronettes, 1.
62
See Leppert, Paradise, Nature, and Reconciliation, or, a Tentative Conversation

with Wagner, Puccini, Adorno, and The Ronettes, 8.
63
Ibid., 6.
64
Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections on Damaged Life, trans. E.F.N.

Jephcott (London: Verso, 1978), 25, quoted in Adorno, Essays on Music, 48.
65
66
Adorno, Essays on Music, 438, 442-443.
The lyrics to Paradise seem tailor-made for Adornos emotional listener. In

On Popular Music, Adorno links the emotional listener to a certain type of movie
viewer: The kinship is with the poor shop girl who derives gratification by
identification with Ginger Rogers, who, with her beautiful legs and unsullied
character, marries the boss[But] she does not immediately identify herself with
Ginger Rogers marrying. What does occur may be expressed as follows: when the
audience at a sentimental film or sentimental music becomes aware of the
overwhelming possibility of happiness, they dare to confess to themselves what the
whole order of contemporary life ordinarily forbids them to admit, namely, that they
actually have no part in happiness. What is supposed to be wish-fulfillment is only
the scant liberation that occurs with the realization that at last one need not deny
307
oneself the happiness of knowing that one is unhappy and that one could be happy.
The experience of the shop girl is related to that of the old woman who weeps at the
wedding services of others, blissfully becoming aware of the wretchedness of her
own life. Not even the most gullible individuals believe that eventually everyone will
win the sweepstakes. The actual function of sentimental music lies rather in the
temporary release given to the awareness that one has missed fulfillment. Adorno,
Essays on Music, 461-462.
67
In On Popular Music, Adorno writes, The details themselves are standardized

no less than the form, and a whole terminology exists for them such as break, blue
chords, dirty notes. Their standardization, however, is somewhat different from that
of the framework. It is not overt like the latter but hidden behind a veneer of
individual effects whose prescriptions are handled as the experts secret, however
open this secret may be to musicians generally. This contrasting character of the
standardization of the whole and part provides a rough, preliminary setting for the
effect upon the listener. Adorno, Essays on Music, 438-439.
68
Leppert, Paradise, Nature, and Reconciliation, or, a Tentative Conversation with

Wagner, Puccini, Adorno, and The Ronettes, 6.
69
For other examples of Spectors Wall of Sound, listen to the following tracks:
The Beatles, The Long and Winding Road, Let It Be, Capitol; The Crystals, Da
Doo Ron Ron and Then He Kissed Me, The Best of the Crystals, Abkco; The
Righteous Brothers, Unchained Melody and Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin,
Unchained Melody: Very Best of The Righteous Brothers, Polydor/Umgd; The
Ronettes, Sleigh Ride, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, Phil Spector
Records Inc.
70
Adorno, Essays on Music, 338.
71
According to Leppert, Puccini was mesmerized by the issue of vast untamed

physical spaceas it were, space remaining in the State of Natureand the challenge
to evoke it in soundIn La fanciulla del West he had to deal with the seeming
boundlessness of pristine western Nature for the better part of two and a half hours,
since everything that happens in the opera in one way or another is determined by its
overwhelming setting; indeed, the characters themselves are transformed by the
locale, which is largely foreign to them until, at the end, the setting metaphorically
morphs into the homeland which the lovers must leave, very much against their will.
Ibid., 9.
72
Ibid., 10.
308
73
As Adorno puts it, Nature, to whose imago art is devoted, does not yet in any way
exist; what is true in art is something nonexistent. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 131.
74
Brooks Toliver, Eco-ing in the Canyon: Ferde Grofs Grand Canyon Suite and
the Transformation of Wilderness, Journal of the American Musicological Society 57,
no. 2 (2004): 325-367.
75
Ferde Grof, "Story of the Grand Canyon Suite" (1938), reprinted in Arizona
Highways 71, no. 4 (1995): 14-16, quoted in Toliver, Eco-ing in the Canyon: Ferde
Grofs Grand Canyon Suite and the Transformation of Wilderness, 325-326.
76
Even the preservationist Aldo Leopold acknowledged the positive influence that
the conquest of the American wilderness had on the formation of a distinct national
character despite his sincere efforts to prevent environmental exploitation: Many of
the attributes most distinctive of America and Americans are [due to] the impress of
the wilderness and the life that accompanied itIf we have such a thing as an
American culture (and I think we have), its distinguishing marks are a certain
vigorous individualism, combined with ability to organize, a certain intellectual
curiosity bent to practical ends, a lack of subservience to stiff social forms, and an
intolerance of drones, all of which are distinctive characteristics of successful
pioneers. Aldo Leopold quoted in Roderick Nash, The Nervous Generation:
American Thought, 1917-1930 (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1970) 85, quoted in Toliver,
Eco-ing in the Canyon: Ferde Grofs Grand Canyon Suite and the Transformation
of Wilderness, 336. In the footnote to this citation, Toliver notes that Leopolds
comments were made early in his career and are not necessarily emblematic of his
mature ecology.
77
Ferde Grof, Carve Out Your Own Career, The Etude Music Magazine 56
(1938): 474, quoted in Toliver, Eco-ing in the Canyon: Ferde Grofs Grand Canyon
Suite and the Transformation of Wilderness, 326.
78
As the composer relates in his essay Story of the Grand Canyon Suite (1938),
Now followed On the Trail, which became the best-seller of the series, and
engaged my leisure when I was a member of the Whiteman band in Chicago during
1931. The theme of the burros, which struck the popular fancy so strongly, came to
me while wheeling my son along Sheridan Road. Five pile-drivers were thumping in
some building operation, and their peculiar broken rhythm at once suggested its
adaptability for musical use, a recollection of the metrical hoof-tap that I had heard so
often from the little beasts of burden in Arizona. Ferde Grof, Story of the Grand
Canyon Suite (1938), excerpts reprinted in Toliver, Eco-ing in the Canyon: Ferde
Grofs Grand Canyon Suite and the Transformation of Wilderness, 360-362.
79
Ibid.
309
80
In its initial usage, the descriptive term picturesque simply designated as in or

like a picture, but it has subsequently come to signify the landscape aesthetic
associated with the English essayist and printmaker William Gilpin (1724-1804) and
his contemporaries. See John Dixon Hunt, Picturesque, in Grove Art Online,
Oxford Art Online,
http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T067408.
81
As Stephen Copley and Peter Garside remark in their anthology The Politics of the
Picturesque: Literature, Landscape, and Aesthetics since 1770, widespread adoption
of Picturesque terminology in conversational use in the late eighteenth century, in
relation to a broad range of cultural practices, confirms the problematic nature of the
aesthetic: even in this period, it can seem so ill-defined as to be virtually
meaningless. Stephen Copley and Peter Garside, eds., The Politics of the
Picturesque: Literature, Landscape, and Aesthetics since 1770 (Cambridge; New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 1.
82
Joseph Addison, The Spectator 414, June 1712, quoted in John Dixon Hunt,
Picturesque, in Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online,
http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T067408.
83
Toliver, Eco-ing in the Canyon: Ferde Grofs Grand Canyon Suite and the
Transformation of Wilderness, 338.
84
According to Bate, In valuing art above nature whilst pretending to value nature
above art, the picturesque took to an extreme a tendency of Enlightenment thought
which has had catastrophic ecological consequences. Jonathan Bate, The Song of the
Earth (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), 132, quoted in Toliver, Eco-ing
in the Canyon: Ferde Grofs Grand Canyon Suite and the Transformation of
Wilderness, 339.
85
Noting that charred trees are less appealing to the average nature enthusiast than
lush foliage, Toliver attributes the National Park Services deleterious policy of fire
suppression to the influence of the picturesque aesthetic. He then links this sort of
intervention with efforts to offset the effects of anthropogenic climate change. While
naturally occurring fires play a crucial role in renewing the ecosystem, Tolivers
problematic formulation overlooks the fact that many wilderness fires are actually
caused by human activity. Accordingly, the NPS has adopted a policy of fire
management that differentiates between natural and human-made conflagrations. See
National Park Service, Fire Monitoring,
http://www.nps.gov/yell/parkmgmt/firemonitor.html.
86
See Marci Bortman, ed., Grazing on Public Lands, in Environmental
310
Encyclopedia (Detroit: Gale/Thomson Gale, 2003).

87
Jina Moore, With Green Ranches, Cowboys Mind the Environment, ABC News,
December 6, 2008, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/JustOneThing/
story?id=6403835&page=1.
88
Toliver, Eco-ing in the Canyon: Ferde Grofs Grand Canyon Suite and the
Transformation of Wilderness, 350.
89
Holly Watkins, The Pastoral After Environmentalism: Nature and Culture in

Stephen Alberts Symphony: RiverRun, Current Musicology 84 (2007): 7-24.
90
Ibid., 9.
91
Richard Dyer, Alberts Music Grew on You, Boston Globe, January 1, 1993,
quoted in Watkins, The Pastoral After Environmentalism: Nature and Culture in
Stephen Alberts Symphony: RiverRun, 11.
92
Watkins, The Pastoral After Environmentalism: Nature and Culture in Stephen

Alberts Symphony: RiverRun, 12.
93
Ibid., 18.
94
Debussy, A Consideration of the Prix de Rome from a Musical Point of View,

Musica, May, 1903, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 199.
95
Claude Debussy, Correspondance (1872-1918)), eds. Franois Lesure, Denis Herlin

and Georges Libert (Paris: Gallimard, 2005), 68.
96
Originally published in the periodical Les oeuvres libres, Peters remembrances are
composed as a series of literary portraits, most of which bear titles from Debussys
oeuvre. For example, Sirnes treats Debussys complex relationship with women,
while Jeux deals with the composers sense of humor. See Keith Spence, Debussy
at Sea, The Musical Times 120, no. 1638 (August, 1979): 640-642.
97
98
Ibid., 641.
Debussy was staying at his in-laws home in Bichain. Recalling the Texiers rustic
domicile during the Debussy centenary, Pasteur Vallery-Radot remarked, It was a
somewhat dilapidated dwelling, an ancient hostelry. On one side it was boarded by
the national road, on the other by a small wood of acacias and poplars, which has now
disappeared. He [Debussy] installed a piano there which he rented for 200 francs a
year. Allocution, Revue musicale, special issue Claude Debussy (1862-1918),
311
147, quoted in Simon Trezise, Debussy: La Mer, Cambridge Music Handbooks

(Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994), 13.
99
Debussy to Andr Messager, September 12, 1903, in Debussy Letters, eds. Franois
Lesure and Roger Nichols (London: Faber and Faber, 1987), 141.
100
Debussy to Jacques Durand, September 24, 1904, in Correspondance (1872-1918),

808.
101
Debussy to Jacques Durand, January 13, 1905, in Correspondance (1872-1918),

880.
102
For an overview of the formal schemata that have been applied to Jeux de
vagues, see Trezise, Debussy: La Mer, 60-61.
103
Douglass Green, Debussys Jeux de vagues and the Orchestral Sketch in the
Sibley Music Library, paper presented at the fortieth annual meeting of the
American Musicological Society, Washington, D.C., November 3, 1974, quoted in
Marie Rolf, Debussys La Mer: A Critical Analysis in the Light of Early Sketches
and Editions, (PhD diss., Eastman School of Music, 1976), 156-157.
104
Trezise, Debussy: La Mer, 75.
105
Ibid., 62.
106
Watkins, The Pastoral After Environmentalism: Nature and Culture in Stephen

Alberts Symphony: RiverRun, 8.
Chapter 2: An Itinerant Critic
1
Paul Dukas to Vincent dIndy, October 1, 1893, in Debussy on Music, xx.
See Debussy, Why I Wrote Pellas, April 1902, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on
Music, 74-75.
3
Henry Gauthier-Villars, Lettre de lOuvreuse, Lcho de Paris, October 28, 1901,

4, quoted in Didre Donnelon, Debussy as Musician and Critic, in The Cambridge
Companion to Debussy, ed. Simon Trezise (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2003), 43.
4
Donnelon, Debussy as Musician and Critic, 43-58.
312
Misia Sert, Misia and the Muses: The Memoirs of Misia Sert, trans. Moura Budberg
(New York: J. Day Co., 1953), quoted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 11.
6
Henri Mondor, Vie de Mallarm (Paris, 1941), quoted in Debussy, Debussy on

Music, 7; Jean Paulhan, Introduction aux oeuvres de Flix Fnon (Paris, 1948),
quoted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 7.
7
In the wake of their ignominious defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the French
elected a new National Assembly to broker a peace with the occupying Germans.
Bespeaking the conservative ideology of rural France, the Assembly was primarily
constituted by right-wing royalists. Accordingly, the staunchly republican Parisians
worried that this fledgling institution would restore the dreaded monarchy. Aiming to
ensure lawfulness in Paris, Adolphe Thiers, who served as the executive head of the
provisional government, resolved to disarm the Parisian workers who had defended
the city from the German assault. In response, the Parisians held municipal elections
that led to the formation of the Commune government, which flouted the authority of
the Assembly and enacted social reforms like the establishment of a ten-hour
workday. The insurrection was short lived, however, as the Versailles-based
Assembly quickly crushed the Communards in Paris. Some 20,000 Parisians were
killed in the fighting, and an additional 38,000 were arrested. Debussys father
Manuel-Achille, who served as a captain for the Communards, spent one year in
prison for his participation in the affair.
8
Mondor, Vie de Mallarm, quoted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 8.
Debussy, Debussy on Music, Introduction, xvi.
10
See Christophe Charle, Debussy in Fin-de-Sicle Paris, in Debussy and His

World, ed. Jane Fulcher (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), 271-295.
11
Debussy, Debussy on Music, 8.
12
See Robert Orledge, Debussy and the Theater (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1982), 240-243.
13
Ibid., 242.
14
Ibid.
15
C.F. Caillard and Jos de Brys, La cas Debussy (Paris: H. Falque, 1910), 92-93.
16
Debussy, Conversation with M. Croche, La revue blanche, July 1, 1901,
313
reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 47-48. Much ink has been spilled over the
curious M. Croche even though he appears in just a handful of essays. In
Conversation with M. Croche, Debussy describes his critical alter ego thus: M.
Croche was short and wizened. His gestures were visibly cultivated for the purpose
of making points in metaphysical discussions, and you would best imagine his
manner if you were to think of a jockeyHis overall manner was as sharp as a razor,
and he spoke very softly and never laughed. Sometimes he would underline his
meaning with a silent smile, which would begin at his nose and gradually spread out
in wrinkles all over his faceas if someone had thrown a pebble into some calm
pool. It would last for ages and was quite intolerable. A number of scholars have
pointed out M. Croches resemblance to the character of M. Teste, who was created
by Paul Valry in his philosophical dialogue La Soire avec Monsieur Teste. See
Debussy, Debussy on Music, x-xii.
17
Ibid., 47.
18
Debussy, LOpra, La revue blanche, May 15, 1901, reprinted in Debussy,

Debussy on Music, 33.
19
Debussy to Flix Fnon, December 1901, in Correspondance (1872-1918), 628.
20
Ren Peter, quoted in Roger Nichols, The Life of Debussy (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1998) 108-109.
21
Debussy, Music in the Open Air, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 41.
22
See Debussy, Debussy on Music, xviii.
23
Claudine, Gil Blas, quoted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 65.
24
Debussy, La revue blanche, April 1, 1901, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on

Music, 13-14.
25
While Colette greatly admired Berlioz, Debussy was more ambivalent when it came
to the late composer. To be sure, Debussy praised works like Symphonie fantastique
and LEnfance du Christ, but he also took several shots at Berlioz, describing him as
the favorite of those who know little about music. Debussy was far more
complimentary towards Strauss, whom he regarded as practically the only original
musician of the modern German school. Colette found Strauss music much less
appetizing, dismissing it as a kind of cuisine [she] detested. See Debussy, Debussy
on Music, 67-69.
26
Colette, Claudine sen va (Paris, 1903), quoted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 66.
314
27
Ibid.
28
An anecdote involving Mallarm ably illustrates the Symbolist commitment to

mystery in the arts. When an editor complimented the celebrated poet for the clarity
of a recently tendered essay, Mallarm demanded, Give it back! I need to put in
more shadows. See Richard Taruskin, Getting Rid of Glue, in The Oxford History
of Western Music, vol. 4, The Early Twentieth Century (Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, 2005), 86.
29
Debussy, At the Concert Lamoureux, Gil Blas, February 23, 1903, reprinted in
Debussy, Debussy on Music, 126-128. It should be noted that Debussy himself was
victimized by a pre-concert pamphlet at the public dress rehearsal for Pellas on
April 28, 1902. Prior to the performance, the audience received a program that
provided an amusingly lurid synopsis of the operas plot: Pellas, Gloauds brother,
takes a walk with his little sister-in-law in the shade of the garden. Ho, Ho
Although the authorship of the pamphlet has never been definitively established,
Mary Garden believed the satire to be the work of Maeterlinck, who was bitter over
Debussys refusal to cast his wife in the role of Mlisande. See Nichols, The Life of
Debussy, 105-106.
30
Colette, quoted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 65.
31
See Eugen Weber, France: Fin de Sicle (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press: 1986), 117.
32
Debussy to Pierre Lous, June 17, 1903, in Correspondance (1872-1918), 743.
33
See the following: Andr Gauthier, Debussy: Documents iconographiques (Geneva,

1952), plate 104-105; Marcel Dietschy, A Portrait of Claude Debussy, eds. William
Ashbrook and Margaret G. Cobb (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), 126.
34
Debussy, Apropos of Charles Gounod, Musica, July 1906, reprinted in Debussy,

Debussy on Music, 223-225; Debussy, Mary Garden, Musica, January 1908,
reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 226-227; Debussy, Apropos of Hippolyte
et Aricie, Le Figaro, May 8, 1908, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 228231; Debussy, Massenet Is No More, Le Matin, August 14, 1912, reprinted in
Debussy, Debussy on Music, 252-253.
35
In his commendation of Garden, Debussy writes, At last came the fifth act
Mlisandes deatha breathtaking event whose emotions cannot be rendered in
words. Then I heard the voice I had secretly imaginedfull of a sinking tenderness,
and sung with such artistry as I would never have believed possible. Since then, it is
315
this artistry which has caused the public to bow in ever increasing admiration before
the name of Mary Garden. Debussy, Mary Garden, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy
on Music, 227.
36
Debussy, Apropos of Charles Gounod, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music,

224.
37
Debussy to Louis Laloy, April 21, 1905, in Correspondance (1872-1918), 904.
38
Debussy to Louis Laloy, May 2, 1905, in Correspondance (1872-1918), 906.
39
Debussy to Louis Laloy, September 13, 1905, in Debussy Letters, 160. It bears
mentioning that Debussy expressed admiration for one article that graced an early
issue of Le mercure musical, namely, Laloys Le drame musical moderne, which
presented a favorable critique of Pellas et Mlisande. As the composer states in his
letter to Laloy, While I was in Paris I saw an issue of the Mercure musical which
contained an essay on Pellas. In all humility, I found it remarkable; I dont see how
understanding of a work could go further. Reading it was a real pleasure and
comfort; the Pellas lovers were beginning to make me wonder a little what my
intentions had been, their comments were all so reductive and fatuously prosaic.
Ibid.
40
Nichols, The Life of Debussy, 117.
41
Debussy to Louis Laloy, March 10, 1906, in Debussy Letters, 167-168.
42
43
Donnellon, Debussy as Musician and Critic, 52.
44
45
See Jann Pasler, Pellas and Power: The Reception of Debussys Opera, in
Music at the Turn of the Century: A 19th-Century Music Reader, ed. Joseph Kerman
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), 142.
46
Andrew Thomson, Vincent dIndy, in Grove Music Online, Oxford Music

Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezp.lib.rochester.edu/subscriber/article/grove/mu
sic/13787?q=d%27Indy&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit.
47
Ren Peter, Debussy (Paris, 1944), quoted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 69.
316
48
Between 1902 and 1911, dIndy produced scholarly editions of three operas by
Rameau, including Hippolyte et Aricie.
49
Debussy, Vincent dIndys LEtranger, Gil Blas, January 12, 1903, reprinted in
50
Henri Mouton, Les Rapports Debussy-dIndy, Schweizerische Musikzeitung,

July- August 1973.
51
See Roger Nichols and Richard Langham Smith, Pellas et Mlisande, Cambridge
Opera Handbooks (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 149.
52
Vincent dIndy, S.I.M., February 1913, quoted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 263.
53
Debussy, S.I.M., November 1, 1913, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 298.
54
Debussy, Alone at Last!, LIntransigeant, March 11, 1915, reprinted in Debussy,

Debussy on Music, 322-323.
55
Camille Saint-Sans, Germanophilie (Paris: Dorbon, 1916).
56
Debussy, Preface in the Form of a Letter to Pour la musique franaise, 1917,

reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 324.
57
Consult the following for a survey of Debussys wartime compositions: Jane

Fulcher, Speaking the Truth to Power: The Dialogic Element in Debussys Wartime
Compositions, in Debussy and His World, 203-232; Marianne Wheeldon, Debussys
Late Style, Musical Meaning and Interpretation (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana
University Press, 2009).
58
Debussy to Jacques Durand, October 9, 1914, in Debussy Letters, 294.
59
Saint-Sans to Faur, December 27, 1915, in Correspondance, ed. Jean-Michel

Nectoux (Paris, 1994), 115, quoted in Nichols, The Life of Debussy, 156. Known as
the Parliament of the Learned, the Institut was created in 1795 to collect
discoveries and perfect the Arts and Sciences. It consists of five different societies:
the Acadmie franaise, the Acadmie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, the Acadmie
des scinces, the Acadmie des beaux-arts and the Acadmie des scinces morales et
politiques.
60
During the German siege of Paris, the pacifist Romain Rolland chronicled
Debussys death in his war journal: 26 March: Death of Claude DebussyOver a
period of two years the wretched artist has been devoured by cancer[He was] The
317
only creator of beauty in the music of our time. He was drained by voluptuousness,
success, good living, idleness and disillusionment. What will remain of him? A few
well-fashioned vases, a few small bas-reliefs of perfected workmanship soon to be
hidden under the grass of the Appian Way. Vestiges of the supreme elegance of
Athens in ruins. Romain Rolland, Journal des annes de guerre (Paris: 1952),
quoted in Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy: His Life and Mind, vol. 2 (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1965), 222.
61
Debussy to Jacques Durand, July 14, 1915, in Debussy Letters, 297.
62
Debussy to Jacques Durand, August 12, 1915, in Correspondance, 1920.
63
Maurice Boucher, Claude Debussy (Paris, 1930), 33, quoted in Dietschy, A Portrait
of Claude Debussy, 185-186.
64
Debussy to Louis Laloy, December 25, 1906, in Debussy Letters, 174.
65
Debussy to Georges Jean-Aubry, April 30, 1909, in Correspondance, 1175.
66
See Lesures commentary in Debussy, Debussy on Music, xxi-xxii.
67
mile Vuillermoz, Le Temps, December 16, 1921, quoted in Debussy, Debussy on

Music, xv.
68
Lon Vallas, The Theories of Claude Debussy, trans. by Maire OBrien (London:
Oxford University Press), 1929.
69
See Debussy, Debussy on Music, xv-xvi, fn. 4.
70
Debussy to Louis Laloy, April 3, 1904, in Debussy Letters, 144. As Lesure and
Nichols observe, this dubious interview features several of the composers oft-cited
quotes, such as music should humbly concern itself with giving pleasure.
Chapter 3: Reading Natures Book
1
Debussy, interview by Henry Malherbe, M. Claude Debussy and Le Martyre de

Saint-Sbastien, Excelsior, February 11, 1911, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on
Music, 248.
2
Lynn White Jr., The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis, in The
Ecocriticism Reader, 9-10.
318
Debussy, Conversation with M. Croche, La revue blanche, July 1, 1901, reprinted

in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 46.
4
Debussy, The Nikisch Concerts, La revue blanche, June 1, 1901, reprinted in

5
Ibid., 40.
Debussy, Concerts, Gil Blas, January 26, 1903, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on
Music, 104.
7
Debussy, F. Weingartner, Gil Blas, February 16, 1903, reprinted in Debussy,

Debussy on Music, 117-118. In his commentary on this article, Langham Smith
suggests that Debussy may have been consciously attempting to rebuff Berliozs
marked enthusiasm for the Pastoral Symphony by using the expression of a time
when one never saw the world of nature except in books. As the scholar points out,
Berlioz advanced an altogether different opinion of Beethovens Sixth in his travers
Chants: Let us understand that Beethoven was not concerned with the rose- and
green-garlanded shepherds of M. Florian, still less of Lebrun, author of Le Rossignol,
nor those of Rousseau, author of Le Devin du village. It is with Nature herself that he
is concerned here.
8
Debussy, Titania, Gil Blas, January 26, 1903, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on
Music, 101.
9
Debussy, interview by Georges Delaquys, The Ideas of a Great Musician,

Excelsior, January 18, 1911, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 245.
10
11
Debussy to Jacques Durand, March 24, 1908, in Debussy Letters, 188-189.
12
See Nichols, The Life of Debussy, 12.
13
Dietschy, A Portrait of Claude Debussy, 24.
14
15
In addition to Debussy, Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet and Massenet all won the Prix de
Rome, while Saint-Sans, Dukas, Ravel and Messiaen were unsuccessful in their
attempts.
319
16
Established in 1816, this Acadmie consolidated three preexisting ones: the

Acadmie de peinture et de sculpture, the Acadmie de musique and the Acadmie
darchitecture.
17
Marguerite Vasnier, Debussy dix-huit ans, Revue musicale 7 (1926): 21, quoted
in Nichols, The Life of Debussy, 19. Debussys contemporary Alfred Bruneau
similarly likened the Prix de Rome competition to prison life: We would bring in a
bed, a table, a chair, some ruled paper, a pen, and some ink, scanty furniture; we
would curse the church organ that would fill the little street with its triumphant fracas,
preventing us from working when we most felt like itOur brief recreations that
were granted to us in the morning and evening in the small courtyardThe passerby,
bewildered, stopped short at the exceptional spectacle of these ball players, comically
dressed, tumultuous and provocative, these strange prisoners furiously shaking the
bars of their cage. Alfred Bruneau, Souvenirs indits, Revue internationale de
musique franaise 7 (February 1892): 37, quoted in Clevenger, Debussys Paris
Conservatoire Training, in Debussy and His World, 351-352.
18
Charles Darcours, Notes de musique, Le Figaro, June 27, 1883, quoted in

Clevenger, Debussys Paris Conservatoire Training, 352.
19
20
Refer to the following: James Briscoe, To Invent New Forms: Debussys Diane
au bois, The Musical Quarterly 74, no. 1 (1990): 131-169; Robert Orledge, Debussy
and the Theater (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982); Eileen Souffrin,
Debussy lecteur de Banville, Revue de musicology 40, no. 122 (December 1960).
21
For a tonal and thematic outline of Debussys scene, see Briscoe, To Invent New
Forms: Debussys Diane au bois, 155.
22
Louis Laloy, Claude Debussy (Paris: Dorbon), 14, quoted in John R. Clevenger,
Debussys Rome Cantatas, in Debussy and His World, 13.
23
See Clevenger, Debussys Rome Cantatas, 53-54.
24
25
Henri Delaborde, Rapport sur les envois de Rome en 1886, Journal officiel 18
(1886): 6082, quoted in Clevenger, Debussys Rome Cantatas, 71.
26
Debussy to mile Baron, February 9, 1887, in Debussy Letters, 20.
320
27
Pierre Boulez, Notes to CBS Record 32 11 0056, quoted in Glenn Watkins,

Soundings (New York: Schirmer, 1988), 75.
28
Marie Rolf, Debussys Rites of Spring, in Rethinking Debussy, ed. Elliot

Antokoletz and Marianne Wheeldon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 24.
29
See Nichols, The Life of Debussy, 42
30
Delaborde, Rapport sur les envois de Rome en 1887, Journal officiel 20 (1888):
977, quoted in Clevenger, Debussys Rome Cantatas, 71.
31
The sardonic critic is generally credited with coining the term Impressionism
even though the appellation was used by other contemporary writers. See E.D.
Lilley, Leroy, Louis, in Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online,
http://www.oxfordartonline.com/
subscriber/article/grove/art/T050562 (accessed March 11, 2008).
32
Leroy failed to recognize that Monet was trying to capture his own sensuous
perception of the port at a particular moment in time. As the artist later explained,
Landscape is nothing but an impression, and an instantaneous one, hence this label
that was given us, by the way because of me. I had sent a thing done in Le Havre,
from my window, sun in the mist and a few masts of boats sticking up in the
foregroundThey asked me for a title for the catalogue, it couldnt really be taken
for a view of Le Havre, and I said: 'Put Impression. Robert Gordon and Andrew
Forge, Monet (New York: Abrams, 1983), 58.
33
Lilley, Leroy, Louis, in Grove Art Online.
34
Debussy, interview by Azest, December 6, 1908, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on

Music, 242.
35
Debussy to Jacques Durand, September 22, 1908, in Debussy, Debussy on Music,

235.
36
Debussy, On Respect in Art, S.I.M., December 1912, reprinted in Debussy,

37
Debussy, LOpra, La revue blanche, May 15, 1901, reprinted in Debussy,

38
Debussy, The Balance Sheet of Music in 1903, Gil Blas, June 28, 1903, reprinted
in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 215.
321
39
The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights (New York: The Museum of
Modern Art, 2004), 71.
40
See Ester Coen and John Musgrove, "Futurism," in Grove Art Online. Oxford Art
Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T030277
(accessed September 16, 2011).
41
In an article for S.I.M., Debussy contends that the only great composers of
orchestral music are those without training: Let us be frank: those who really know
the art of expressing themselves symphonically are those who have never learned
how to do it. There is no conservatoire or music school that holds the secret. The
theater offers a happy alternative however, in its resources of gesture, dramatic cries,
and movements; they come to the aid of many a perplexed musician. Pure music
offers no such easy way out: one should either have a natural gift for evocation or
give up the struggle. Debussy, S.I.M. November 1, 1913, reprinted in Debussy,
42
Debussy, Concerts Colonne, S.I.M., May 15, 1913, reprinted in Debussy,

Debussy on Music, 288-289. It merits noting that Debussys rejection of Futurism
distinguishes him from Ravel and Stravinsky, both of whom planned to use Russolos
newfangled instruments in their respective compositions.
43
Debussy, About a Few Superstitions of Ours, and an Opera, La revue blanche,

November 15, 1901, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 51.
44
Yves Lequin, Histoire de la France urbaine IV, 499, quoted in Weber, France: Fin
de Sicle, 67.
45
Michel de Lzinier, Avec Huysmans (Paris: A. Delpeuch, 1928), quoted in Weber,

France: Fin de Sicle, 32.
46
Michel Bernard to mile Guiiaumin, April 1905, quoted in Daniel Halvy, Visites
ay Paysans du Centre (1978), 63, quoted in Weber, France: Fin de Sicle, 50.
47
Eugen Weber, France: Fin de Sicle, 21-22.
48

49
Debussy, A Consideration of the Prix de Rome from a Musical Point of View,

Musica, May, 1903, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 199.
322
50
Debussy, Edward Hagerup Grieg, Gil Blas, April 20, 1903, reprinted in Debussy,
51
Ibid.
52
Debussy, Notes on the Concerts, S.I.M., February 1, 1914, reprinted in Debussy,

53
See endnote 120.
54
Paul Cambon, Correspondance I, 430, quoted in Weber, France: Fin de Sicle,

106.
55
Quoted in Weber, France: Fin de Sicle, 106.
56
Ibid.
57
Albert Malet, Histoire de France (1907), 500, quoted in Weber, France: Fin de
Sicle, 105-106.
58
Debussy, German Influence on French Music, Mercure de France, January 1903,

59
Robert Godet, Weber and Debussy, The Chesterian, June 1926, reprinted in
60
Debussy, F. Weingartner, Gil Blas, February 16, 1903, reprinted in Debussy,

61
Camille Saint-Sans, Anarchy in Music, in cole buissonnire: notes et

souvenirs (Paris, 1913), translated and reprinted in Stephen Studd, Saint-Sans: A
Critical Biography (London: Cygnus Arts, 1999), 297-299.
62
Studd, Saint-Sans: A Critical Biography, 218.
63
Camille Saint-Sans to Jules Ecorcheville, June 16, 1909, quoted in Arbie

Orenstein, ed., A Ravel Reader (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), 4.
64
Debussy, At the Concert Colonne: MM. C. Saint-Sans and Alfred Bachelet, Gil
Blas, March 16, 1903, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 142.
65
Ibid., 143.
323
66
Ibid.
67
Ibid., 144.
Chapter 4: Walking the Walk

1
Stefan Jarocinski, Debussy: Impressionism & Symbolism (London: Eulenburg

Books, 1976).
2
Charles Baudelaire, Correspondances, reprinted and translated in Richard

Taruskin, Getting Rid of Glue, in The Oxford History of Western Music, vol. 4, The
Early Twentieth Century, 84.
3
See the following: Elaine Brody, Paris: The Musical Kaleidoscope (1870-1925)
(New York: George Braziller, 1987), 21-59; Barry Millington, Tannhuser, in The
New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O905051.
4
Charles Baudelaire, Richard Wagner and Tannhuser in Paris, in Selected

Writings on Art and Literature, trans. P.E. Chavret (New York: Penguin Classics,
1992), 330-331.
5
Henry Roujon, Le Figaro, December 19, 1904, quoted in Brody, Paris: The Musical
Kaleidoscope (1870-1925), 44.
6
For an overview of this international debacle, see Frank Maloy Anderson and Amos
Shartle Hershey, Handbook for the Diplomatic History of Europe, Asia, and Africa
(1870-1914) (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1918), 128-129.
7
Both Edward Lockspeiser and Roger Nichols recount this anecdote in their
respective biographies of Debussy. Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy: His Life and
Mind, vol. 1 (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 31-32; Roger Nichols, The Life of
Debussy, 11. Lockspeiser acknowledges the memoirs of the French composer and
musicologist Maurice Emmanuel as his source for this story but does not furnish the
reader with a detailed citation.
8
Debussy to Henri Vasnier, 1885, in Debussy, Correspondance (1872-1918), 33. As

Nichols notes, Between 11 November and 25 February 1887 the Hberts entertained
him [Debussy] no fewer than fourteen times Nichols, The Life of Debussy, 38.
9
Debussy, Impressions of a Prix de Rome, Gil Blas, June 10, 1903, reprinted in
324
10
Debussy to Ernest Hbert, 1887, in The Life of Debussy, 46.
11
In his mixed review of Camille Saint-Sans opera Henry VIII, Debussy writes,
Now is the time for us to pay our respects to the revival the Opra has just given of
Henry VIII. It is, perhaps, the last historical opera of all time. At least, we must hope
so. In any case, it would be difficult to outdo Meyerbeer. That is not to suggest that
M. Saint-Sans was wrong to write Henry VIII, but he does lack that grandiloquent
bad taste so characteristic of Meyerbeers genius. Debussy, Saint-Sans Henry
VIII, Gil Blas, May 19, 1903, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 196.
12
Letter to the directors of the Paris Opra, 1887, in Frdrique Patureau, Le Palais
Garnier dans la socit parisienne: 1875-1914 (Liege: Mardaga, 1991), 243, quoted
in Nichols, The Life of Debussy, 47.
13
For a brief overview of Debussys consumption of arts periodicals, see Barbara

Kelly, Debussys Parisian Affiliations, in The Cambridge Companion to Debussy,
25-42.
14
Robin Holloway, Debussy and Wagner (London: Eulenburg Books, 1979), 22-23.
15
Ibid., 43.
16
See Katherine Bergeron, The Echo, the Cry, the Death of Lovers, 19th-Century
Music 18, no. 2 (1994): 149.
17
Lockspeiser, Debussy: His Life and Mind, vol.1, 95n.
18
This according to dIndy, who added, To his friends who enquired whether he
[Chabrier] was ill, he could only reply, Oh that open A on the cello! Fifteen years
Ive been waiting to hear it. Ibid.
19
Mark Twain, At the Shrine of St. Wagner, in The Complete Essays of Mark
Twain, ed. Charles Neider (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2000), 68-69.
20
In his posthumously published biography of Debussy, Franois Lesure casts some

doubt on the authenticity of this letter, but the subsequent critical edition of the
composers complete correspondence, edited by Lesure and his protg Denis Herlin,
judges it worthy of inclusion. Franois Lesure, Debussy: Biographie critique (Paris:
Fayard, 2003), 106.
21
Brody, Paris: The Musical Kaleidoscope (1870-1925), 55-56.
325
22
Lockspeiser, Debussy: His Life and Mind, vol.1, 90.
23
Debussy to Ernest Chausson, May 7, 1893, in Debussy Letters, 44-45.
24
Debussy to Ernest Chausson, May 22, 1893, in Debussy Letters, 46.
25
On February 14, 1887, the Parisian newspaper Le Temps printed an open letter of
protest against the construction of Gustave Eiffels iron edifice. This complaint was
addressed to Charles Adolphe Alphand, the minister of public works, and signed by
numerous cultural luminaries, including Gounod and Alexander Dumas fils. It begins
thus: Writers, painters, architects, passionate lovers of the heretofore intact beauty of
Paris, we come to protest with all our might, with all our indignation, in the name of
betrayed French taste, in the name of threatened French art and history, against the
erection in the heart of our capital of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower, which
the public has scornfully and rightly dubbed the Tower of Babel. Letter to Charles
Adolphe Alphand, 1887, reprinted in Joseph Harriss, The Tallest Tower
(Bloomington, IN: Unlimited Publishing, 2004), 15.
26
Exposition de 1889: Guide Bleu du Figaro et du Petit Journal avec 5 plans et

31 dessins (Paris: Le Figaro, 1889), 12, quoted in Annegret Fauser, Musical
Encounters at the 1889 Paris Worlds Fair, Eastman Studies in Music (Rochester,
NY: University of Rochester Press), 5.
27
Debussy, Taste, S.I.M., February 15, 1913, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on

Music, 277-278.
28
Robert Godet, En Marge de la marge, Revue musicale 7 (May 1926), quoted in

Lockspeiser, Debussy: His Life and Mind, vol.1, 113-114.
29
30
Fauser, Musical Encounters at the 1889 Paris Worlds Fair, 166-167.
As the French musicologist and folklorist Julien Tiersot notes in his memoir of the
1889 Exposition, The little Javanese dancers at the Exposition really turned heads.
Everyone in Paris who has some feeling for art went to contemplate their slowly
rhythmical dances, their supple and rare movements, and the harmonious grouping of
their hieratic poses. According to his literary preferences, each observer compares
the dancers to some fictional heroine of his choice: one thinks about Salammb,
another thinks about the little Queen Rarahu. One of our colleagues in the musical
press even declared that these sacred dances reminded him of Parsifal on account of
their contemplative character and near motionlessness! Julien Tiersot, Musiques
pittoresques: Promenades musicales lExposition de 1889 (Paris: Librairie
Fischbacher, 1889), 31, quoted in Fauser, Musical Encounters at the 1889 Paris
Worlds Fair.
326
31
Pierre Lous to Debussy, January 16, 1895, in Correspondance (1872-1918), 236.
32
Debussy to Pierre Lous, January 22, 1895, in Correspondance (1872-1918), 237.
33
Residing in the Robert O. Lehman Deposit of the Pierpont Morgan Library, the
autograph score bears the date October 1889-April 1890. For an overview of the
chronological difficulties surrounding the Fantaisie, see Lesure, Claude Debussy:
Biographie critique, 110-111.
34
Richard Mueller, Javanese Influence on Debussys Fantaisie and Beyond, 19thCentury Music 10, no. 2 (1986): 161.
35
See the following: Roy Howat, Debussy and the Orient, in Recovering the
Orient: Artists, Scholars, Appropriations, eds. Andrew Gerstle and Anthony Milner,
Studies in Anthropology (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1994), 45-82;
Mervyn Cooke, The East in the West: Evocations of Gamelan in Western Music,
in The Exotic in Western Music, ed. Jonathan Bellman (Boston: Northeastern
University Press, 1998), 258-280; Annegret Fauser, Musical Encounters at the 1889
Paris Worlds Fair, 195-206.
36
Debussy to Vincent dIndy, April 20, 1890, in Debussy Letters, 30.
37
Debussy to Robert Godet, February 12, 1891, in Debussy Letters, 32.
38
During his trip to the United States in 1892, Poniatowski approached the
conductors Anton Seidl and Walter Damrosch about performing Debussys music in
New York. As the affluent industrialist later recalled, I had spoken to both of them
about Claude Debussy, boasting of his talent, and one of them, Seidl, seemed willing
to put on a fantasy for piano and orchestra that I knew was entirely finished. My idea
was that, if this work was successfully performed in New York, I might convince
someone like [Andrew] Carnegie to take an interest in Debussys career and to
provide him with the material and spiritual tranquility that he wholly lacked in Paris.
None of his works had seen the light of day, and the piano lessons at five francs an
hour, thanks to which he was able to keep living, kept him in a state of exasperation,
which, even before I left Paris, was leading him into a depression of which the letters
that he was writing to me were each time marked. Andr Poniatowski, Dun sicle
lautre (Paris: Presses de la Cit, 1948), 304.
39
Writing to the French painter and art collector Henri Lerolle, whose two daughters
were immortalized in Pierre-Auguste Renoirs canvas Young Girls at the Piano,
Debussy references the Fantaisie as he apologizes for his tardy reply, I was
intending to answer your kind letter straight away, but that terrible Hartmann
327
[Debussys publisher at the time] has forced me to work night and day on the
Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, which Pugno [pianist Raoul Pugno] is going to play
at Colonnes concerts this winter, if the latter is not too appalled by my music. Im
due to see him on Tuesday. Debussy to Henri Lerolle, September 23, 1895, in
Debussy Letters, 81.
40
For an overview of ht bi, see the following: Trn Vn Kh and Nguyen Thuyet
Phong, Vietnam, in Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/29340; Don Rubin
and others, eds., World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theater: Asia/Pacific
(London: Routledge, 1998), 467-472; R. Anderson Sutton, South-east Asia, in
Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/43742; Southeast
Asian Arts, in Encyclopedia Britannica Online, http://search.eb.com/eb/article29547.
41
Ibid., 184.
42
Hippolyte Lemaire, Thtres, Le Monde illustr, June 15, 1889, 398-399, quoted
in Fauser, Musical Encounters at the 1889 Paris Worlds Fair, 189.
43
Gaston Paulin, A lExposition, Le Guide musical 35 (1889): 173, quoted in

Fauser, Musical Encounters at the 1889 Paris Worlds Fair, 190.
44
Jules Lemaitre, Le Thtre Annamite, Le Figaro, July 8, 1889, quoted in Fauser,

Musical Encounters at the 1889 Paris Worlds Fair, 189-190.
45
Godet, En Marge de la marge, quoted in Fauser, Musical Encounters at the 1889

Paris Worlds Fair, 200.
46
Debussy, quoted in Nichols, The Life of Debussy, 58.
47
Debussy, Why I Wrote Pellas, April 1902, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on

Music, 74-75.
48
Edmond Stoullig, Musique, Le National, July 2, 1889, quoted in Fauser, Musical

Encounters at the 1889 Paris Worlds Fair, 43.
49
Debussy, At the Concert Lamoureux, Gil Blas, March 16, 1903, reprinted in
50
See Dietschy, A Portrait of Claude Debussy, 59-65.
328
51
Debussy to Ernest Chausson, June 4, 1893, quoted in Dietschy, A Portrait of

Claude Debussy, 63.
52
Georges Jean-Aubry, quoted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 24.
53
Debussy, La revue blanche, April 15, 1901, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on

Music, 20-21.
54
Claude Debussy, Thtre des Champs-Elyses, 17 juin 1932FestivalClaude

Debussy loccasion de lrection de ses deux monuments Paris et SaintGermain-en-Laye. Programme et livre dor et des souscripteurs (Paris, 1932), quoted
in Nigel Simeone, Debussy and Expression, in The Cambridge Companion to
Debussy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) 104.
55
Marie Rolf, review of Claude Debussy and Twentieth Century Music, by Arthur
Wenk, 19th-Century Music 8, no. 3 (Spring, 1985): 281.
56
Debussy to Schott Publisher, in Debussy, Correspondance (1872-1918), 13151316.

57
Debussy, The Orientation of Music, Musica, October 1902, reprinted in Debussy

on Music.
58
Debussy, Good Friday, La revue blanche, May 1, 1901, reprinted in Debussy,

59
Debussy, Jean Philippe Rameau, November 1912, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy

on Music, 255.
60
Eugen Weber, France: Fin de Sicle (Cambridge, MA; London, England: Belknap
Press, 1986), 9-26.
61
The myth of Pan and Syrinx is recounted in Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. A.D.
Melville (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 21-22.
62
Homer, The Homeric Hymns, trans. Apostolos Athanassakis (Baltimore, MD:

Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), 55-56.
63
Debussy, Taste, SIM, February 15, 1913, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on

Music, 279.
329
64
mile Vandervelde, Le collectivisme et lvolution industirelle (Paris, 1900), 270,

quoted in Margaret Werth, The Joy of Life: The Idyllic in French Art, circa 1900
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 154.
65
Charles Van Lerberghe, Pan (Paris, 1906), 118-119, quoted in Werth, The Joy of
Life: The Idyllic in French Art, circa 1900, 215.
66
My summary of Pan is based on that of Margaret Werth. See Werth, The Joy of
Life: The Idyllic in French Art, circa 1900, 215-216.
67
Colette, Mes Apprentissages; ce que Claudine na pas dit (Paris: Ferenczi, 1949),
quoted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 148-149.
68
Debussy, interview by Azest, December 1910, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on

Music, 241.
69
Ibid.
70
Debussy, SIM, November 1, 1913, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 295296.

71
Ibid., 296.
72
Ibid., 296-297.
73

74
Debussy, Monsieur F. Weingartner, Gil Blas, February 16, 1903, reprinted in

75
Debussy, Notes on the Months Concerts, S.I.M., November 1912, reprinted in

76
Debussy, At the Socit Nationale: Orchestral Concert on 16 March, La revue

blanche, April 1, 1901, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 15-16.
77
78
Debussy to Andr Messager, September 12, 1903, in Debussy Letters, 141.
Marie Rolf, Mauclair and Debussy: The Decade from Mer belle aux Illes
Sanguiaires to La Mer, Cahiers Debussy 11 (1987).
330
79
Ernest Ansermet, crits (Paris, 1962), 206, quoted in Trezise, Debussy: La Mer,
53.
80
Martin Cooper, French Music (London, 1951), 159, quoted in Trezise, Debussy: La
Mer, 47.
81
Trezise, Debussy: La Mer, 59.
82
Adorno, Philosophy of Modern Music, trans. Anne G. Mitchell and Wesley V.

Blomster (New York: Continuum, 2002), 180-181.
83
Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 308-309.
84
Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 20.
85
Heinrich Schenker, Erliuterungsausgabe der Sonate Op. 101, Ludwig van

Beethoven (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1921), 23, quoted in David Paul Goldman,
"Esotericism as a Determinant of Debussy's Harmonic Language," The Musical
Quarterly 75 (1991): 146, fn. 20.
86
Heinrich Schenker, Das Meisterwerk in der Musik, vol. 3 (1930), 108, quoted in
Matthew Brown, Tonality and Form in Debussys Prlude laprs-midi dun
faune, Music Theory Spectrum 15, no. 2 (Autumn, 1993), 128-129.
87
Adorno, On the Problems of Musical Analysis, in Essays on Music, 166.
88
Adorno, On the Social Situation of Music, in Essays on Music, 424-425.
89
Jarocinski, Debussy: Impressionism & Symbolism, 11-21.
90
Debussy, S.I.M., November 1, 1913, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on Music, 296.
91
George Sessions, ed., Deep Ecology for the Twenty-First Century: Readings on the
Philosophy and Practice of New Environmentalism (Boston: Shambala, 1995), 270,
quoted in Garrard, Ecocriticism, 21-22.
Chapter 5: The Followers of Pan
1
For a detailed treatment of Le Cas Debussy, see Brian Hart, Le Cas Debussy:
Reviews and Polemics About the Composers New Manner, in Debussy and His
World, 363-382.
331
Debussy, Statement to Austrian Journalist, reprinted in Debussy, Debussy on

Music, 243.
3
Jane Harrison, Debussys Influence on French Salon Music Composers, 19021930, paper presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Musicology
Society, November 6, 2010.
4
Bla Bartk to Stefi Geyer, September 6, 1907, in Bla Bartk Letters, ed. Jnos
Demny (New York: St. Martins Press, 1971), 82.
5
Bartk, Gipsy Music or Hungarian Music, 1931, reprinted in Bla Bartk Essays,
ed. Benjamin Suchoff (London: Faber & Faber), 221.
6
Bartk, Autobiography, 1921, reprinted in Bartk, Bla Bartk Essays, 410.
Bla Bartk, The Influence of Debussy and Ravel in Hungary, 1938, reprinted in
Bartk, Bla Bartk Essays, 518.
8
Emil Haraszti, Budapesti Hirlap, February 27, 1913, quoted in David E. Schneider,
Hungarian Nationalism and the Reception of Bartks Music, in The Cambridge
Companion to Bartk, ed. Amanda Bayley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2001), 180.
9
Maria Anna Harley, Natura naturans, natura naturata and Bartks Nature
Music Idiom, Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 36, (1995):
329-349.
10
Adorno, The Aging of New Music, in Essays on Music, 184.
11
Messiaen, Music and Color: Conversations with Claude Samuel, trans. E. Thomas
Glasow (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1994), 97.
12
Olivier Messiaen, Music and Color: Conversations with Claude Samuel, 110.
13
Alan Benson, The South Bank Shoe: Olivier MessiaenThe Music of Faith,
London Weekend Television film broadcast on Good Friday, April 5, 1985, quoted in
Christopher Dingle, The Life of Messiaen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2007), 10.
14
Messiaen, Confrence de Bruxelles, prononce lExposition Internationale de

Bruxelles en 1958 (Paris: Alphone Leduc, 1960), 14, quoted in Dingle, The Life of
Messiaen, 137.
332
15
Messiaen, Preface to Des canyons aux toiles, quoted in Pre Jean-Rodolphe Kars,
The Works of Olivier Messiaen and the Catholic Liturgy, in Olivier Messiaen:
Music, Art and Literature, eds. Christopher Dingle and Nigel Simeone (Burlington,
VT: Ashgate, 2007), 329.
16
Messiaen, Music and Color: Conversations with Claude Samuel, 161.
17
Ibid., 99.
18
Claude Monet, quoted in Paul Roberts, Images: The Piano Music of Claude
Debussy (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1996), 45.
19
Robert Godet, quoted in Roberts, Images: The Piano Music of Claude Debussy, 53
20
21
See Noriko Ohtake, Creative Sources for the Music of Tru Takemitsu (Aldershot,
England: Scholar Press, 1993), 6.
22
Tru Takemitsu, Contemporary Music in Japan, ed. John Rahn, Perspectives of

New Music 13, no. 2 (1989), 199, quoted in Ohtake, Creative Sources for the Music of
Tru Takemitsu, 1.
23
Tru Takemitsu, Dream and Number, in Confronting Silence: Selected Writings,

eds. Yoshiko Kakudo and Glenn Glasow (Berkeley, CA: Fallen Leaf Press, 1995),
106, 110.
24
Tru Takemitsu, Nature and Music, in Confronting Silence: Selected Writings, 3,
4.
25
Emily Dickinson, The Outlet, in Poems by Emily Dickinson, eds. Mabel Loomis
Todd and T.W. Higginson (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company), 54.
26
Tru Takemitsu, Program notes for Quotation of Dream, Melbourne Symphony

Orchestra, quoted in Barry Conyngham, Takemitsus Place: A Personal Journey
Through Takemitsus Music, in A Way a Lone: Writings on Tru Takemitsu, eds.
Hugh de Ferranti and Yko Narazaki (Tokyo: Academia Music Ltd., 2002), 216.
27
Yoko Narazaki and Masakata Kanazawa, Takemitsu, Tru, in Grove Music

Online, Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/27403 (accessed
October 21, 2011).
333
28
Akira Nishimura and Smei Satoh, A Dialogue on Takemitsu, in A Way a Lone:

Writings on Tru Takemitsu, 225.
29
Tru Takemitsu, From the Margin of the Music, in Confronting Silence: Selected
Writings, 132.
30
See Ohtake, Creative Sources for the Music of Tru Takemitsu, 26.
John M. Brooder and James Kantar, China and U.S. Hit Strident Impasse at
Climate Talks, New York Times, December 14, 2009.
31
32
John M. Broder, Poor and Emerging States Stall Climate Negotiations, New York
Times, December 16, 2009.
33
See the following: Andrew C. Revkin and John M. Broder, A Grudging Accord in
Climate Talks, New York Times, December 19, 2009; Philip Bowring, Acting
Alone on Climate Change, New York Times, December 27, 2009.
34
Mikhail Gorbachev, We Have a Real Emergency, New York Times, December 9,

2009.
334
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Complex Impressions: Nature in the Music and Criticism of Claude Debussy

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

Complex Impressions: Nature in the Music and Criticism of Claude Debussy

vagues, a work that problematizes Adornos negative assessment of nature-oriented

Volume One (pages 1-184)

Reading Natures Book

Walking the Walk

The Followers of Pan

Volume Two (pages 185-344)

Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 1-8

Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 9-17

Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 18-27

Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 28-59

Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 249-261

Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 62-68

Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux de vagues, mm. 184-215

Paul Signac, Opus 217: Against the Enamel of a Background

Cover of the first edition of Claudine lcole (1890)

Cover of the inaugural issue of S.I.M. (1912)

Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 1-4; 81-84)

Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 350-360)

Claude Debussy, Diane au bois (mm. 365-371)

Sketch of Marcel Baschets Le Printemps

Claude Debussy, Printemps, mm. 1-49

Claude Debussy, Prlude laprs-midi dun faune, mm. 1-31

Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise (1873)

Gino Severini, Armored Train in Action (1915)

Anonymous, Prussian troops marching past the

List of Figures (cont.)

Claude Debussy, La damoiselle lue (piano reduction),

Richard Wagner, Parsifal (piano reduction), mm. 1-44

Claude Debussy, Cinq pomes de Baudelaire,

Claude Debussy, Childrens Corner,

Advertisement for rail transport to the 1889 Exposition

Photo of the kampong javanais at the 1889 Exposition

Claude Debussy, Fantaisie, 4 measures before and after

Claude Debussy, Nocturnes, Nuages, mm. 1-4

Modest Mussorgsky Sunless, Finished is the idle,

Claude Debussy, Nocturnes, Nuages, mm. 5-10

Claude Debussy, Nocturnes, Nuages, mm. 61-68

Arabesque relief from the Great Mosque at Crdoba,

mile Gall, Par une telle nuit, crystal chalice (1894)

Claude Debussy, Estampes, Pagodes, mm. 1-10

Claude Debussy, Estampes, Pagodes, mm. 15-22

Claude Debussy, Estampes, Pagodes, mm. 41-44

List of Figures (cont.)

Claude Debussy, Estampes, Pagodes, mm. 65-98

Roman sculpture of Pan teaching music to Daphnis

Kerr-Xavier Roussel, Scne mythologique (ca. 1916)

Claude Debussy, Prlude laprs-midi dun faune,

Claude Debussy, Syrinx, mm. 1-2

Claude Debussy, Chansons de Bilitis, La flte de Pan,

Claude Debussy, pigraphes antiques, Pour invoquer Pan,

Claude Debussy, Ftes galantes II, Le faune, mm. 1-12

Claude Debussy, Ftes galantes II, Le faune, mm. 30-39

Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony in F, Op. 68, Mvt. II,

Jacques de Vaucanson, Duck (ca. 1734), photo of lost original

Claude Debussy, Estampes, Jardins sous la pluie, mm. 1-15

Claude Debussy, Chansons de Bilitis, La flte de Pan,

Claude Debussy, La Mer, De laube midi sur la mer,

Claude Debussy, La Mer, De laube midi sur la mer,

Claude Debussy, La Mer, De laube midi sur la mer,

List of Figures (cont.)