Debussy and Symbolism An aesthetic definition of Symbolism that is not specific to music, and therefore does

not submit to the vague romanticised rhetoric that is usually found in that discourse,

would describe it as applying to art works that seek a relationship with an object or idea

that is absent, and cannot be directly depicted (see Kristeva 2166). As an approach to

music, it is exemplified by the mature works of Debussy, who saw himself consciously

breaking from earlier traditions (Debussy 161 and passim), and therefore needs to be distinguished from the more primitive notion of programme music, a compositional

approach that relies on depiction of scene or narrative, and which can be found

developing as a recognised form from at least the early-nineteenth century (Scruton 285).

As Debussy is considered the prime exponent of symbolism in music (Burkholder 790), it

is worth examining his mature works, such as Nuages and La Mer, to determine how we might differentiate symbolic representation, from that of mere depiction.

The ancient Greeks teach us that music is a temporal medium rather than a spatial one.

That is to say, temporal representation is natural in music, but any expression of spatial or geometric values is not natural, but the result of analogy. For example, if a musical work is to create a sense of increasing speed (a temporal value), it will do so by

increasing the speed of the music. However, if a musical work is to create a sense of, say,

increasing elevation, it may do so by presenting higher pitches; but these are not themselves intrinsically higher in a geometric sense. We have been taught to perceive

high notes as high chiefly through the representations of Western notation, where

pitches of a greater frequency (also a temporal value) are shown at a higher position on the visual staff. This is the same type of representation that has indoctrinated us into

thinking that north on the map is up and that south is down; it is not intrinsic, but

purely a matter of accepted convention.

We may be tempted to argue, then, that because a note is of a higher frequency, i.e. that

its number is higher than the number of a low-frequency note, that the notation is

merely expressing an intrinsic relationship through a geometric means as a direct

depiction of the numerical value. However, the calibration of pitch as vibrations-per-

second, where the higher pitch has the greater number, is also a convention, and could

easily be represented as seconds-per-vibration, in which case the lower pitch would

have the higher number. If we understand the nature of music representation in this way,

we come to realise that all the spatial relationships that can be found in interpretations of

music have no intrinsic relationship with the non-musical idea being described. This

basic understanding of musical representation becomes the starting point of symbolism.

In programme music the basic unit of communication is depiction. In its early form,

we encounter the matching of musical sound for depicted sound, such as Beethovens

depiction of birdsong in the flute in his Sixth Symphony, or their deferral as temporal values, such as the horse-riding rhythm of the last number of Berliozs The Lamentations of Faust. As the genre develops, it begins to assign more complex values, but these are usually associated with emotional or mental states, and which probably find their most

developed expression in Wagners deployment of leitmotiv as a device of psychological drama (Scruton 286). At the beginning of the new century, French composer Debussy,

who expressed his desire to break with the dominant German traditions (Debussy 12),

returns to representations of nature in order to explore the question of the symbolic in

more depth.

Debussys French background is probably more than merely circumstantial in this desire

for a new approach. His close influence by French poet Stephane Mallarme (Mertens

307) places the composer in direct genealogy with the literary movements that gave rise

to the linguistics of de Saussure in the early 20th century and the later principles of

structuralism (see Foucault 1626). It is these literary-linguistic conceptions that give us

our firm understanding of the role of the symbolic in language and the difficulties that

arise from a study of representation. As an early voice in the development of these

movements, we should consider Debussys contribution to be vital to their later

realisation.

If we examine the orchestral works Nuages (from Nocturnes) and La Mer, we see that a stronger orientation to the natural world takes place. These works are not oriented to the

somewhat artificial genre of pastoralism (although his earlier Afternoon of a Faun is

clear link to this tradition); rather his area of focus is more cosmic in scope. Both

Nuages (clouds) and La Mer (the sea) are bodies of water; they are opaque subjects largely devoid of life. In painting, these may be more associated with the backdrop of the

subject rather than the subject itself, and we may conclude from Debussys focus on these

elemental subjects that the essence of his symbolism is not representation but rather

exploring means of representation. To put it another way: the subject of Nuages is not the clouds, but the strategies by which the visual and spatial aspects of the clouds can

be represented in the aural and temporal world of music.

As suggested above, the primary focus of symbolist representation in music may be

regarded as the relationship between the temporal and spatial. These concepts are united

in the concept of movement, and we may read both Nuages and La Mer as representations of motion in the subject. While space cannot be directly depicted in music, it can be suggested through the illusion of spatial motion, the analogue of which can be detected in temporal motion. In La Mer, Debussy is comfortable using ideas of the high or low in pitch, but they are only made viable by their opposition. A downward

motion may be depicted by descent in pitch, but the composer understands that this

motion is relative, and can only be made representational by opposition to a

corresponding ascent in pitch. The precise values of up and down cannot be directly

depicted in isolation from one another, but the binary opposition of up and down can be

depicted by closely corresponding variations of pitch in both directions. This creates a

viable relationship with the visual object, for the surface of the sea is a constant flux of

upward and downward motion, and where the precise meaning of each space is not as

important as the motion that unites them.

In addition to these spatial values, the suggestion of a colour is present in both works, and

it is in this that Debussy identifies another viable method of symbolic representation. The

sounds of a violin or flute, although they are often referred to having tone colour, do not

have any direct relationship to colour in a literal sense. However, when their sounds are

juxtaposed, we are able to garner a sense of relativity that can be applied to photographic

colour in much the same way it can be applied to sonic colour. The photographic

requirement for representing the sea or an array of clouds may be a palette of three main

colours: say, blue, white and pink. The composer can create a sense of this palette by

emphasising small elements of the orchestral ensemble: in the case of La Mer this would seem to correspond to flute, cor Anglais and French horn, with the massed strings used to provide shape and shading. By opposing these sonic colours, we are given the sense of

relationship and distance between the colours of the natural world and this makes it easier

for us to consider the contrasts in tone as symbolised contrasts in colour.

So, we see that multiple strategies for creating a relationship between the visual realm of

nature and the sonic space of the orchestra have gone into the composition of these

works. The focus is not on methods of direct depiction, but the development of relative

elements in the musical work that can correspond, on a symbolic level, to the relative

elements of the visual world. Debussy uses various other musical devices to create

similar relations between the musical and the visual, and some of these, such as the

oscillation of dynamics to depict a contrast between calm and stormy conditions, should

be regarded as belonging to the realm of depiction rather than the symbolic, but in this

new context, the composer is demonstrating that the representations of sound, or the

representations of temporal values, are simply among the of the wide range of strategies

that may be employed in music towards the goal of symbolic representation.

Although many of his specific innovations were influential on the musical movements

that followed, Debussys symbolism never developed into an encompassing musical

movement in its own right (Mertens 311). Indeed, when we read Debussys own

reflections on the state of music in Europe at the turn of the century, many of the hopes

he expressed for the future of art music would prove be antithetical to later

developments.1 Although his music may be aesthetically satisfying, it is possible to argue

that his greater artistic legacy was not to music, but resides in his contribution to the

development of French intellectual thought. His explorations of symbolism through

1 How can we preserve our finesse, our spirit, if we insist on being so preoccupied with so many details of composition, for example, (Debussy 12).

music offer us insights into the functions of language and representation that would give

rise to the principles of structuralism, and which would therefore have a leading role in

defining the human intellectual process in the post-war era.

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Works Cited

Burkholder, J. Peter, et al. A History of Western Music. Eighth Edition. New York: Norton, 2010.

Debussy, Claude. Three Articles for Music Journals, in Source Readings in Music History: The Twentieth Century. Robert Morgan, ed. New York: Norton, 1998. 161 166. Print.

Kristeva, Julia. Revolution in Poetic Langauge, in The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York: Norton, 2001. 21692179. Print.

Mertens, Corneel. Debussy, Claude, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Volume 5. Stanley Sadie, ed. London: Macmillan, 1980. 292314. Print.

Scruton, Roger. Programme Music, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Volume 15. Stanley Sadie, ed. London: Macmillan, 1980. 285287. Print.

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