Re: Debussy

[john burke <john.burke@mindspring.com>]

on 11/5/00 8:00 AM, Jim Morrison at jim_morrison@SPRYNET.COM wrote:

> "In Bach's music it is not the character of the melody that stirs us, but
> rather the
> tracing of a particular line, often, indeed, of several lines, whose
> meeting, whether by chance
> or design, makes the appeal.  Through this conception of ornament the music
> acquires an almost mechanical precision of appeal to which the audience
> reacts.  Let no one think that there is anything unnatural or artificial
> in this.  It is infinitely more 'true' than the wretched whimperings and the
> tentative
> wailings of lyric drama.  Above all, the music keeps its dignity..."
hi all?

I think this is interesting as a particular, context-specific view of
Bach?an essentially anti-Romantic, early Modernist view. It¹s of a piece
with the view that exalts the fugues, and especially Kunst der Fuge, above
everything else, and values counterpoint and (perceived) intellectuality
even in the less abstract works like the keyboard suites and concerti
grossi.

But what about, for example, ³Erbarme dich², or the duet from the cantata
BWV 140, or the opening ³Kyrie² of the B minor Mass? Surely what stirs us
here is, in part at least, the character of the melody? Surely the emotional
power of these pieces has something in common with ³lyric drama²?I suppose
Debussy meant chiefly opera?even if not with ³wretched whimperings² and
³tentative wailings²?

I don¹t mean to say that Debussy was ³wrong² while later admirers of Bach
are ³right,² only that Debussy¹s comments tell us more about him, and the
aesthetic climate of his time, than about his ostensible subject.

--best, jvb