Monsieur Croche - antidiletantti

by Claude Debussy, Minna Pöllänen (translator)

Säveltäjä Claude Debussy kirjoitti kritiikkejä ja artikkeleja sanoma- ja aikakauslehtiin vuosisadan alussa. Alter egonsa, Monsieur Crochen suulla hän uskalsi esittää provosoivimmat ja vallankumouksellisimmat ajatuksensa. Monsieur Croche - Antidiletantti koostuu 25 Debussyn itsensä valitsemasta kirjoituksesta.

Kirjoituksissaan Debussy puhuu musiikista ja säveltäjistä, niin vanhoista kuin aikalaisistakin. Hän vastustaa porvarillista taidemakua, ulkokohtaisuutta ja ajan oopperan valheellista mahtipontisuutta. Kriitikkona hän oli tinkimätön, loistava sanankäyttäjä. Tarkkaavaiselle lukijalle Debussyn kirjoituksista löytyy tietoa, joka valaisee odottamattomalla tavalla myös hänen omaa musiikkiaan

Genres: Music, France, Nonfiction

155 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

Claude-Achille Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music, though he himself disliked the term when applied to his compositions. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in his native France in 1903. Debussy was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and chromaticism influenced many composers who followed.

Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of non-traditional tonalities. The prominent French literary style of his period was known as Symbolism, and this movement directly inspired Debussy both as a composer and as an active cultural participant.

Reviews

[Béatrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il a la dent dure, mais c'est souvent savoureux

[Gastjäle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading critical reviews written by the greats about their art is an extraordinary privilege. They are not suitable for didactic purposes, nor should they be read with any degree of religiousness, but rather I think they ought to be regarded as fine exercises in sensibility. With the likes of Debussy, that sensibility is most likely top-notch, and thus there is always hope that a glimpse of personality is detected in between the fluff.

Since these reviews were merely short musings to be published in La Revue blanche, they are not thorough or consistent in the least. So the main interest gravitates towards little vignettes Debussy says about art on the whole and about the art of the composers under criticism.

Debussy seems to champion a very typical attitude towards the music of his time: it's all too derivative (mainly of Wagner), it sacrifices emotion over technicality and it is superabundant in structure. Though a great admirer of some aspects of Wagner, Debussy seems to be veering towards the simple and honest, and in his eyes the only true way to achieve beauty is to connect with the true nature of Art. This cannot be achieved with perfectly machinated leitmotifs, incongruous relationships between the libretto and the music, or by way of imitation (either of other musicians or the nature). No, it has to be something more magical, something that Debussy thought genuinely to exist between the human souls and the boundless soul of Mother Nature, that only art can reveal. And he wanted everybody to be able to partake in this rapture, not simply those in the haute monde or in the know.

What Debussy also clearly thought was that music conveys the personality of the composer. He could write very engrossingly about how music exposes Beethoven's superb humanity, Mussorgsky's parsimonious exhilaration in discovery and Franck's simple Christian kindness. Or how it brings to light Gluck's staid compromises or Wagner's megalomaniac pomposity. These are the most fascinating tidbits of all, since they showcase the stellar sensibility that had graced Debussy in conjunction with his musical expertise. (I think part of what made him dislike so many "architectonic composers" was that he himself was so expert in figuring out patterns and techniques behind music, and, being the musical revolutionary he was, he wanted away from it all after too much familiarity.)

Debussy was also entranced by what he called "colour" in music, instancing the likes of von Weber and Richard Strauss as the ideal aural painters. I cannot quite put my finger on what is meant by this colour - only vagues ideas flit through my head - but it seems to be that Debussy himself was a master at this compositional brushwork. Everything he does is woven into this perfectly harmonious stream of sounds, where dissonance loses its ugliness and consonance its obviousness. His chords glisten solar-white and his harmonic progression undulates with its deep, dead blue; there isn't a hint of black in his masterpieces (very impressionistic of him, indeed!), for even the shades are merely of deeper chroma of the primary colours. So in Debussy's work, this "colour" would be harmonic richness joined with careful sensitivity and spellbinding uniformity of texture.

Though Debussy loved music and nature first and foremost, he was not blind to the extra-musical aspects of concerts. He was quick to notice the appearance and demeanour of the conductor and how his behaviour affected the orchestra. He mused on the importance of the milieu where the music is heard - and was ruing the fact that the great outdoors was not utilised to its full extent. Nor could he refrain from mocking those, who only came to these gatherings for their social import. Threadbare things, but it's somehow more insightful when they're said by a great composer who lived a century ago.

In sum, Monsieur Croche is an easy and inspiring read, but I can't say it catered to my expectations that well. I was expecting to hear a bit more about Debussy's method of working, instead of him complaining about his shabby contemporaries and the vanity fair that generally revolved around him. Still, he wrote well and lucidly, and the simple fact that one can read Debussy is enough to make it all worthwhile.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Posthuum verschenen verzameling columns over muziek uit 1901, 1903, 1906 en 1911-1913. Rameau, Gounod, Franck, Moessorgski, Dukas, Albéniz en de jonge Lili Boulanger mogen op zijn bewondering rekenen, maar hij heeft een duidelijke hekel aan Gluck, Meyerbeer en Wagner. Ambivalent is zijn mening over Berlioz, Massenet, Grieg en Beethoven en Debussy's lovende woorden over Richard Strauss zag ik niet aankomen. Ook is het interessant dat een componist met een zó andere stijl ook Bach en Mozart bewondert. Het is jammer dat Debussy niet méér heeft geschreven, want hij heeft een scherpe pen en steekt zijn mening niet onder stoelen of banken. Ik had graag meer van hem gelezen, zeker over zijn tijdgenoten. Al met al een vermakelijk boekje voor de klassiekemuziekliefhebber dat je door zijn geringe lengte zo uit hebt.

[Jonathan Collin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ses critiques pouvait parfois être assez dures et à certains moments à la limite du gratuit, mais la plupart du temps, elles avaient une certaine constructivité et du sens. Étant un grand fan de l'art impressionniste, j'ai adoré les nombreuses comparaisons aux phénomènes naturels. Je me sentais vraiment projeté dans le temps de son vivant et de ceux des compositeurs de cette même période dont il parle avec humour, sarcasme et sincérité.

[gio!! · Rating 3 out of 5]

prima metà degli scritti molto toccante, con passaggi al limite del sublime. le tre stelle sono dovute alla seconda parte, che si limita ad una mera e pragmatica critica ad autori e istituzioni, priva della sensibilità iniziale. la biografia di pierre boulez fa il suo dovere: illustra brevemente la “persona debussy” interpretandone la vita e riservando un’attenzione particolare alle sue composizioni e al suo ruolo di rivoluzionario nella storia della musica

[Mattia Agnelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Mi ero attardato nella campagna gonfia d’autunno, irresistibilmente trattenuto dalla magia delle vecchie foreste. Dalla caduta delle foglie d’oro che celebravano la gloriosa agonia degli alberi, dal tenue Angelus che ordinava ai campi di addormentarsi, saliva una voce dolce e persuasiva a suggerire il più perfetto oblio.”