Debussy - Pour le Piano: Sarabande (Pt. 1)
Tonality (Pt. 1)
Background
- not based on major or minor scales and has non-functional harmony
- MODALITY
- Aeolian on C# minor - same notes as the descending melodic minor
- we lack the A# of the ascending melodic minor and also the raised leading note (B#)
- TONAL AMBIGUITY
- bars 1-2 - could represent E major, whereas the harmonisation is closer to C# sharp minor
- BARS 1-22
- mainly in C# Aeolian minor
- clear tonal contrast in the middle, with A# often replacing A natural
- tonality in the middle is often ambiguous (suggesting G# Aeolian minor or D# Aeolian minor
Structure (Pt. 1)
- Composed in 1894 by Claude Debussy
- 3 movements in the Pour le Piano: Prelude, Sarabande, Toccato
- Neoclassical: reflects his interest in Baroque musical forms
- A sarabande was usually a slow dance piece, with emphasis on the second beat of the bar
- Does not fit any single traditional form (binary, ternary, rondo)
- BINARY
- Section A (1-22) - ending on C sharp with quite low passage
- Section B (23-72) - includes modified repeat of opening at 42-49 (characteristic of rounded binary)
- TERNARY
- Section A (1-22) - broadly ternary because the opening comes back towards the end (15-18)
- Section B (23-41)
- Section A^ (42-72) - this section is a varied repeat of the first section
Tonality (Pt. 2)
- BARS 23-41
- melody suggest C# Aeolian minor to begin with, together with the very low I-V-I outline (24-25)
- shift up a minor 3rd (bars 27-28), which suggests E Aeolian minor
- very strong tonal contrast in bars 29-30 (possibly A# Aeolian minor)
- Modal F# minor is featured later (very low outline C#)
- F# in bars 35-38
- BARS 42-77
- repeat of the opening (42-45) - could expect the key to be C# minor Aeolian again, but the D major chord doesn't help make it clear
- C# Aeolian minor is clearer (46-49)
- new material that follows is tonally complex and ambiguous (50-55)
- most of the music after that is in or close to C# Aeolian minor
Texture
Structure (Pt. 2)
- Almost entirely homophonic
- Bars 9-12: melody dominated homophony
- Homorhythm (chordal writing) throughout most of the piece
- Parallelism: where parts move in the same direction by the same intervals.
- 6 note chords at the beginning
- 4 note chords underlying the melody (bars 11-12)
- 8 note chord streams (bars 35-41)
- Three short octave passages provide contrast (bars 5-6)
- Piece sounds sonorous (full, heavy, deep)
- RONDO
- Theme A - variations at 1-8, 15-22, 42-49
- Section B - bars 9-14
- Section C - bars 23-41
- Section D - bars 50-55
- Rondo interpretation breaks down at 56 - instead of Theme A, B returns and leads on to a coda (63)
- Immediate repetition - characteristic of Debussy's approach to small-scale structure
- bars 1-2 are repeated in bars 3-4 with slight embellishment
- bar 9 is repeated as bar 10 (with slight variation)
- emphasize the sensuousness of the harmony
- Periodic phrasing - 2 bar units