In the garden of
harmonies it selects the most beautiful flowers; for sincerity of
expression takes a second place with it, and its first idea is to
please. In this again it interprets the aesthetic sensualism of the
French race, which seeks pleasure in art, and does not willingly admit
ugliness, even when it seems to be justified by the needs of the drama
and of truth. Mozart shared the same thought: "Music," he said, "even in
the most terrible situations, ought never to offend the ear; it should
charm it even there; and, in short, always remain music."
As for Debussy's harmonic language, his originality does not consist, as
some of his foolish admirers have said, in the invention of new chords,
but in the new use he makes of them. A man is not a great artist because
he makes use of unresolved sevenths and ninths, consecutive major thirds
and ninths, and harmonic progressions based on a scale of whole tones;
one is only an artist when one makes them say something. And it is not
on account of the peculiarities of Debussy's style--of which one may
find isolated examples in great composers before him, in Chopin, Liszt,
Chabrier, and Richard Strauss--but because with Debussy these
peculiarities are an expression of his personality, and because _Pelleas
et Melisande_, "the land of ninths," has a poetic atmosphere which is
like no other musical drama ever written.
Pages:
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319