Claude Debussy: Reverie

Today I Listened to: Day 4

In a conversation with his former Paris Conservatoire Teacher Ernst Guiraud, an argument broke out, and Debussy found himself defending the legitimacy of his music. Debussy began explaining his music with these words: “The tonal scale must be enriched by other scales…modulation thus becomes more flexible.” After playing several chords to illustrate his point, Guiraud inquired about the music theory behind his playing. In response, Debussy simply said, “Incomplete chords, floating…one can travel where one wishes and leave by any door. Greater nuances.” “But When I play this it has to resolve,” challenged Guiraud as he played a very dissonant chord. Debussy meekly replied “I don’t’ see that it should. Why?” “Well, do you find this lovely?” challenged Guiraud again, playing a passage of parallel chords, breaking rules in Western tonal theory that deemed such chordal progressions as unrefined, crass, and incorrect. “Yes, yes, yes!” Cried Debussy. A third challenge came from Guiraud. “But how would you get out of this?” He plays and altogether bizarre chordal progression: 4 part harmony, parallel movement, dissonance; the likes of such would cause any truly studied music theoretician of the time to wrinkle their noses in disgust at the vulgarity of such a passage. “I am not saying that what you do isn’t beautiful,” offered Guiraud, “but it’s theoretically absurd.” Debussy replied, unphased, and steadfastly “There is no theory. You merely have to listen. Pleasure is the Law.”

Pleasure is the Law.

Such a truer phrase could not be said of Debussy’s music. With the recent success of great musical giants of the time such as Wagner, and Strauss, composing massive works of unparalleled complexity and length, such a novel idea was shocking to his colleagues, yet massively popular with listeners for the better part of a century and a half. Debussy’s music still remains a major staple of classical recording, broadcast collections, meditation playlists, and concert hall programs alike. Why does his seemingly simple music cause such a stir? Why such ridicule from his contemporaries, and yet such praise from the masses, withstanding the tests of time, and being adopted into the classical canon? His music was so controversial because of the lack resolution and direction. This is why in Reverie especially, it feels as if one is floating down a stream, eyes closed, perhaps even half asleep. The music seems to envelop the listener, rocking and gently pulling them to follow the musical journey. One has no clue where it will go, or why the music moves the way it does, but it is all so gentle and lulling that our musical ear has no objections to this unusual dance. This couldn’t be in greater contrast to Debussy’s more Germanic contemporaries such as Beethoven or Wagner. One only needs to listen to a great piece such as Beethoven’s immortal 5th symphony to see that he drives his listener from one point to another, clear, concise, without any doubt about where the music is going, or why it is going there. Any surprise is confined to but a moment but is quickly developed, further solidifying the need for a purpose in every note. In this one point alone does Debussy and his contemporaries agree. There is a point to every note, but a note is inconsequential by itself. Just as a single brushstroke of a masterpiece of Monet is blurry, colorful, and nonsensical, the true artistry is not in the individual, but in the whole. Each note is a point of color, a peddle of a flower, a blade of grass, all combining to make a landscape of sound: a soundscape.

Now back to Reverie: A complete departure of Wester Musical theory would be too jarring for the music ears of the time, so Debussy respects some of the more basic rules, such as form, but still manages to make it his own. The piece acts as though it is played twice through since repetition legitimizes, but in keeping with the dream-like quality of the piece, the second repetition is slightly different, as if the dream is back in a familiar place, but the actors of the dream are different. And what is that difference? The use of octave displacement in the now iconic melody slips us into a deeper trance, rocking us even more with the cascading melody. And as peacefully it began, the piece quietly and slowly slips away out of our grasp as the second minor theme appears only briefly enough to bid us goodnight as it leaves with the padded footsteps of a simple arpeggio up to the heavens.

Rating: 5/5- if there was a way to give this a higher rating I would do so. I would listen to this any day. The Ideal setting is when it is raining outside, and you wrap up in a warm blanket with a warm cup of coco to watch the storm. Or perhaps a bright sunny day, as you lay on the grass of an open meadow field. The imagery associated with this piece becomes so personal. I personally remember laying under our grand piano as my sister played this on Saturday mornings as the summer light streamed through our large living room windows.

For more music, be sure to check out my YouTube Page: Maucotel Music