" This is the very definition of Debussy's recitative.
[Footnote 201: We must also note that during the first half of the
seventeenth century people of taste objected to the very theatrical
declamation of French opera. "Our singers believe," wrote Mersenne, in
1636, "that the exclamations and emphasis used by the Italians in
singing savour too much of tragedies and comedies, and so they do not
wish to employ them."]
The symphonic fabric of _Pelleas et Melisande_ differs just as widely
from Wagner's dramas. With Wagner it is a living thing that springs from
one great root, a system of interlaced phrases whose powerful growth
puts out branches in every direction, like an oak. Or, to take another
simile, it is like a painting, which though it has not been executed at
a single sitting, yet gives us that impression; and, in spite of the
retouching and altering to which it has been subjected, still has the
effect of a compact whole, of an indestructible amalgam, from which
nothing can be detached. Debussy's system, on the contrary, is, so to
speak, a sort of classic impressionism--an impressionism that is
refined, harmonious, and calm; that moves along in musical pictures,
each of which corresponds to a subtle and fleeting moment of the soul's
life; and the painting is done by clever little strokes put in with a
soft and delicate touch.
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