top of page

The Musical French Style and the pianos at the turn of the 20th century

The stylistic environment in which Debussy lived in was established by the conventions of the previous generations. French Romanticism was characterized by the creation of short expressive pieces. Camille Saint-Saens, Chabrier, Fauré, and Franck composed short pieces which described nature, landscapes and colorful miniatures. The harmonic language of French music also underwent dramatic changes toward the end of the 19th century. As John Gillespie notes, “(Chabrier’s) fertile imagination created strange harmonic color effects.”[1] César Franck was known for his expressive diatonic melodies which made him create innovative harmonies, as well as “unexpected resolutions, series of seventh and ninth chords, parallel fifths, much chromaticism.”[2] Gabriel Fauré, Debussy’s contemporary, was known for his contribution to the development of French harmonic language. Constant modulations within the major and minor scales, modal scales, and chromaticism all appear in his music.[3]


The impressionistic movement started towards the end of the 19th century and embodied the artistic spirit in France. While this term was first applied to the visual arts, the major purpose of the movement of impressionism was to capture and reproduce a general impression of vision. As Gillespie explains, the visual artists of the time “concentrated on the manner in which a picture was painted and were completely unconcerned with subject matter. Their chief aim was to reproduce the general impression of the moment made by the subject on the artist.”[4] In literature and poetry a similar aesthetic became a target, under the stylistic rubric of “Symbolism.” The symbolists’ goal was to create a sense of fluidity and evocation rather than clear descriptions and strict verse structures. Roberts further explains that “Symbolism was concerned with what lay behind external appearances, with the intangible and ‘inexpressible.’”[5]


Impressionistic composers such as Debussy, Ravel, and Dukas used the orchestra to its fullest capacity, capitalizing on its vast palette of colors. The piano with its sustaining pedal served them as one more vehicle, rich in color: “Since music is essentially an abstract art, it was ideally suited to project Impressionism’s vague images. The impressionist composers had two favorite mediums: the orchestra because of its multihued tonal palette, and the piano because its damper pedal permitted vibrating harmonies to suspend in mid-air.”[6]


Pianos in France at the beginning of the 20th century


An important research tool for understanding the sound-world of Debussy’s Etudes lies in the surviving pianos of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century France. As stated by his family and friends, Debussy owned three pianos: a Blüthner grand piano, a Bechstein upright, and a Pleyel upright.[7] The Blüthner grand pianos had a special feature, the “aliquot system”; as Cyril Ehrlich explains, “the aliquot system, patented in 1873, by which upper notes had an extra string not struck by the hammer but allowed to vibrate sympathetically.”[8] Edwin M. Good notes that “the Blüthner generally had a lighter sound than the Steinway, partly because Blüthner used lighter hammers and felts as well as his own, lighter action.”[9] Andrew Clements notes that Blüthner and Bechstein “offered contrasting kinds of instrument, each with its band of adherents; the Blüthner, using lighter hammers and felts, was thinner, clearer of tone than the more sumptuous Bechstein.”[10] Good expands on the quality of sound of the Blüthner and shares his own experience: “I have played a good number of Blüthners, many made in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. Not one has been poor, and two have been, for sound quality and responsiveness of touch, among the best pianos I have ever played.”[11] Good notes that Bechstein instruments that were richer in sound: “Bechstein was felt to be in the front rank of German pianos, noted for its strength and what was frequently called a ‘velvety’ tone.”[12]

Even though Debussy did not own an Erard, this was one of the most popular instruments in Paris at the time and was used for widely in Debussy’s musical environment. Good discusses the Erard piano as well: “Unquestionably, some Erards were the equal in volume and richness of Steinways and Bechsteins. Nevertheless, the typical ‘Erard’ sound was lighter than that of its competitors, and French musical preferences may have had something to do with [that] fact…. Although Claude Debussy preferred the Bechstein, Maurice Ravel liked the glassy sound of the Erard.”[13] This point sheds important light on Debussy’s instrument preference and his preferred piano sound.

I have conducted research with the instruments in the Frederick Collection in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, where a Blüthner grand and multiple Erard grand pianos survive. Such instruments are valuable tools for research and clarify Debussy’s intentions and his aesthetics through reference to the mechanical vehicles that Debussy had at his disposal when composing his piano Etudes.


One important and distinct quality of these pianos is the coloristic differentiation between the registers. While the bass notes are very articulated and possess a clear spoken tone in these pianos the upper notes have a very sweet and bright sound quality. The different colors produced by the different registers allow the piano to resemble the sound of an orchestra, created through its various instruments and its vast coloristic possibilities.

A second quality that French pianos of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries apart from the contemporary grand pianos most often played in concert halls is the lightness of the keyboard. Depression of the keys is exceedingly easy, requiring none of the heavy arm weight or other special effort needed in playing most modern instruments. The keys are very sensitive to differentiation in touch and respond immediately to the quickness of the finger movements as well as to the position and angle of each finger on the keys. This mechanical quality allows great control and flexibility in producing a specific sound through the instrument. A pianist can produce various articulations within a great dynamic range even before taking the advantage of the pedal.

The striking of each key creates a rather short sound, and the vibration is likewise of short duration. The pedal sustains the bass notes almost exclusively while leaving the upper notes unsustained, letting them ring only for as much as the finger holds the key down. Each of these features allows for specific articulations; the combination of the two was probably what led Debussy to create the “third stance” writing technique. In this method, the different registers of the piano contain very different musical material which moves at very different paces. While the bass line might move in quarter and half notes, the soprano line moves much more quickly, at a pace of 32nd and 64th notes.


These aspects of Debussy’s pianos meant that he had a range of timbral effects at his disposal that are less obvious on modern pianos. An awareness of this timbral diversity can nevertheless help the pianist in bringing Debussy’s palette of colors to life, regardless of which instrument is used.


[1] John Gillespie, Five Centuries of Keyboard Music (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1965; repr. New York, NY: Dover Publications, 1972), 297. [2] Ibid., 299. [3] Ibid., 304. [4] Ibid., 328. [5] Paul Roberts, Images: The Piano Music of Claude Debussy (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1996), 18. [6] Gillespie, Five Centuries of Keyboard Music, 329. [7] Cecilia Dunoyer, “Debussy and Early Debussystes at the Piano,” in Debussy in Performance, 101. [8] Cyril Ehrlich, The Piano: A History (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), 75–76. [9] Edwin M. Good, Giraffes, Black Dragons, and Other Pianos: A Technological History from Cristofori to the Modern Concert Grand (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 2001) 247. [10] Andrew Clements, “The Piano Makers,” in Book of the Piano, ed. Dominic Gill (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981), 245. [11] Good, Giraffes, Black Dragons, and Other Pianos, 247. [12] Ibid., 251. [13] Ibid., 254.

Comments


Featured Posts
בקרוב יהיו כאן פוסטים ששווה לחכות להם!
שווה להמשיך ולעקוב...
Recent Posts
Archive
Search By Tags
Follow Us
  • Facebook Basic Square
  • Twitter Basic Square
  • Google+ Basic Square
bottom of page