| Variant title |
Extra-musical subtext in piano works by Ravel, Debussy, and Messiaen |
| Series |
Aesthetics in music ; no. 6
Aesthetics in music ; no. 6. ^A395722
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| Contents |
Preface -- Introduction. Word and image ; Music and word, music and image ; Music's representational capacities ; The composers ; The works -- Part I: Images and impressions. The representation of fictitious images -- Times of absorption: oracles, funerals and celebrations. Danseuses de Delphes (Debussy, Préludes, I, 1) ; Canope (Debussy, Préludes, II, 10) ; Feux d'Artifice (Debussy, Préludes, II, 12) ; Noël (Messiaen, Vingt regards, XIII) ; Regard de l'Esprit de joie (Messiaen, Vingt regards, X) -- Enchanted places. La cathédrale engloutie (Debussy, Préludes, I, 10) ; La Puerta del Vino (Debussy, Préludes, II, 3) ; La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (Debussy, Préludes, II, 7) ; La vallée des cloches (Ravel, Miroirs, no. 5) ; Les collines d'Anacapri (Debussy, Préludes, I, 5) -- Wind and water, fog and snow. Le vent dans la plaine (Debussy, Préludes, I, 3) ; Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest (Debussy, Préludes, I, 7) ; Voiles (Debussy, Préludes, I, 2) ; Une barque sur l'Océan (Ravel, Miroirs, no. 3) ; Brouillards (Debussy, Préludes, II, 1) ; Des pas sur la neige (Debussy, Préludes, I, 6) -- Flowers, insects and birds. Bruyères (Debussy, Préludes, II, 5) ; Noctuelles (Ravel, Miroirs, no. 1) ; Oiseaux tristes (Ravel, Miroirs, no. 2) ; Regard des hauteurs (Messiaen, Vingt regards, VIII) -- Comedians and other performers. Minstrels (Debussy, Préludes, I, 12) ; General Lavine, eccentric (Debussy, Préludes, II, 6) ; Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C (Debussy, Préludes, II, 9) ; La sérénade interrompue (Debussy, Préludes, I, 9) ; Alborada del gracioso (Ravel, Miroirs, no. 4) -- |
| Contents |
Part II: Tales and poems. The interarts translation of narratives -- Nymphs, fairies, and sprites. Ondine (Debussy, Préludes, II, 8) ; La danse de Puck (Debussy, Préludes, 1, 11) ; "Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses" (Debussy, Préludes, II, 4) -- Evening harmony, morning delight, and death. "Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir" (Debussy, Préludes, I, 4) ; La fille aux cheveux de lin (Debussy, Préludes, I, 8) ; Feuilles mortes (Debussy, Préludes, II, 2) -- Apparitions and visitations. Ondine (Ravel, Gaspard de la nuit, no. 1) ; Le Gibet (Ravel, Gaspard de la nuit, no. 2) ; Scarbo (Ravel, Gaspard de la nuit, no. 3) -- Part III: Spiritual concepts and divine attributes. The meditative transfiguration of imagery -- God's love. Regard du Père (Messiaen, Vingt regards, I) ; Regard du Fils sur le Fils (Messiaen, Vingt regards, V) ; Première communion de la Vierge (Messiaen, Vingt regards, XI) ; Regard de l'Eglise d'amour (Messiaen, Vingt regards, XX) -- The child. Le baiser de l'Enfant-Jésus (Messiaen, Vingt regards, XV) ; Je dors, mais mon coeur veille (Messiaen, Vingt regards, XIX) ; Regard de la Vierge (Messiaen, Vingt regards, IV) -- Incarnation and suffering. Regard de l'étoile (Messiaen, Vingt regards, II) ; Regard de la Croix (Messiaen, Vingt regards, VII) ; Regard des prophètes, des bergers et des Mages (VR, XVI) ; Regard de l'Onction terrible (Messiaen, Vingt regards, XVIII) -- The word. Par Lui tout a été fait (Messiaen, Vingt regards, VI) ; La parole toute-puissante (Messiaen, Vingt regards, XII) ; Regard des Anges (Messiaen, Vingt regards, XIV) -- The exchange of natures and the nature(s) of time and silence. L'échange (Messiaen, Vingt regards, Ill) ; Regard du temps (Messiaen, Vingt regards, IX) ; Regard du silence (Messiaen, Vingt regards, XVII) -- Appendix I: Les tierces alternées (Debussy, Preludes, II, 11) -- Appendix II: Messiaen's musical language -- Appendix III: Brief overview of Olivier Messiaen's cycle Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus -- Appendix IV: French performance indications. |
| Abstract |
In our visually-oriented society, music appears to stand apart from other arts. Yet just as a poet can write a poem whose focus is a painting, so musicians have composed scores based on poems, paintings, and other non-musical art forms. In instrumental music such reinterpretations are especially intriguing as the verbal or visual stimulus does not appear in performance but is rendered in musical form. In this study, The author investigates how three French composers of the twentieth century, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and Olivier Messiaen, express extra-musical subtexts in their piano works. She shows how the relation between the subtexts and the musical works can be broadly catagorized in terms of pictoriality and interiority. In all cases, she analyzes each musical piece and each source text in its entirety and in depth, drawing on her broad background in both literary and musical interpretation of the twentieth century. For pianists who seek to better understand an individual work, for scholars in the growing field of musical hermeneutics, and for lovers of music in general, this volume explores and makes explicit connections between music and other arts. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 417-422) and index. |
| LCCN | 97040215 |
| ISBN | 0945193955 |
