This art is more allied to that of Moussorgski
(though without any of his roughness) than that of Wagner, in spite of
one or two reminiscences of _Parsifal_, which are only extraneous traits
in the work. In _Pelleas et Melisande_ one finds no persistent
_leitmotifs_ running through the work, or themes which pretend to
translate into music the life of characters and types; but, instead, we
have phrases that express changing feelings, that change with the
feelings. More than that, Debussy's harmony is not, as it was with
Wagner and all the German school, a fettered harmony, tightly bound to
the despotic laws of counterpoint; it is, as Laloy[202] has said, a
harmony that is first of all harmonious, and has its origin and end in
itself.
[Footnote 202: No other critic has, I think, discerned so shrewdly
Debussy's art and genius. Some of his analyses are models of clever
intuition. The thought of the critic seems to be one with that of the
musician.]
As Debussy's art only attempts to give the impression of the moment,
without troubling itself with what may come after, it is free from care,
and takes its fill in the enjoyment of the moment.
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