Page 32 - SRMF 2024 Season Program Book

PROGRAM NOTES : WATER

On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Op. 314 Though we’ve come to associate Claude Debussy with Im-
Johann Baptist Strauss II pressionism in music, the composer himself despised being
(October 25, 1825 – June 3, 1899) labeled as an impressionist. He thought anyone that used
the term to describe music was an “imbecile,” and himself
An der schönen blauen Donau (On the Beautiful Blue took a somewhat more anarchist approach to describing
Danube) Op. 314, composed in 1866 and premiered in his and other’s music. Like many composers, Debussy had
1867 to supplement his income through other means, such as
Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bas- teaching and writing music criticism. Beginning in 1901, he
soons, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, percussion wrote a column for La Revue blanche; in his first column, he
(military drum, triangle, bass drum), timpani, harp, and described what his approach to criticism would be: “What
strings. you will be finding here are my own sincere impressions,
Duration: 9 minutes exactly as I felt them - more that than ‘criticism,’ which is
all too often no more than a brilliant set of variations on
Following the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, morale was the theme ‘you didn’t do it as I would, that’s your mistake’
low in the shining city of Vienna. The Austrians lost out to or even ‘you have talent, I have none, and that certainly
the Prussians, resulting in Austria losing land and being cannot go on’ …”
excluded from the German confederation. A year prior, the Regardless of his predilection for snark, Debussy forged a
Vienna Men’s Choral Society had attempted to commission unique style of composition at the turn of the 20th century.
Johann Strauss II for a new work, but his busy schedule He was an extremely skilled pianist and sightreader, fa-
prevented him from even starting the piece. After the so- mously performing one of the parts of a two-piano version
called Seven Weeks War, the Choral Society reapproached of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for a French music critic on very
Strauss in the hopes of getting a new piece to uplift the little rehearsal. Debussy wrote extensively for the piano in
public spirit in Vienna, and this time, Strauss delivered what a manner that rejected much of the harmonic and me-
would become one of the most popular pieces in the or- lodic tendencies of the late Romantic style. When he first
chestral repertoire. Inspired by a poem by Karl Isidor Beck encountered the music of Richard Wagner, he grew enam-
in which each stanza ended with, “By the Danube, beautiful ored of its harmonic language and command over form,
blue Danube,” Strauss quickly completed the new work, but later commented that Wagner’s music was “…a beauti-
which he supplied to the Choral Society’s poet, who added ful sunset mistaken for a dawn.” He sought a new approach
his own words to the music. to music making, and received a bolt of inspiration in the
The original choral work wasn’t particularly successful at form of Javanese Gamelan music at the Paris Exposition
the premiere in 1867, as the audience didn’t really enjoy Universelle in 1889. The intricate rhythmic nuance and new
the words in particular, but Strauss quickly made a purely melodic and harmonic language of this music appears to
instrumental version for the World’s Fair in Paris later that have changed the way Debussy approached his composing.
same year. This version became an instant classic that re- Works immediately after he first heard Gamelan have clear
quires little in the way of introduction. Though the tradition direct influence from the Indonesian orchestra of metallo-
of the Viennese waltz was well-established (largely by Jo- phones and gongs, and he eventually integrated Gamelan-
hann II’s father), Strauss gave new life to the genre, and the like concepts into a completely unique stylistic language.
enormous popularity of The Blue Danube played an outsized Among Debussy’s large output for piano is a two-volume
role in establishing the younger Strauss as an international set of 24 Prèludes written between 1909 and 1912, and
voice in dance music circles. Setting aside that the Danube among these works is one prelude in particular that cap-
is not particularly blue, nor did it even run through Vienna tures much of what makes Debussy's compositional voice
at the time the waltz was composed, Strauss captured a so singular: La cathédrale engloutie. This work depicts the
culture with simple tunes that continue to this day to bring mythical city of Ys, a Breton legend of a city lost to the sea,
smiles to audiences worldwide. and a shining cathedral that rises from the waves on a clear
day. The opening chords, which move in parallel octaves
The Sunken Cathedral and fifths, sound like the distant bells of a cathedral you
can’t quite see on a foggy day. The influence of Gamelan
Claude Debussy is apparent in these bell-like gestures that continue when
(August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918) the music shifts to something more melodic. As the scene
emerges from the mist, the chords become increasingly
La cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral), com- majestic, marked with quicker melodic gestures in the bass.
posed in 1910; orchestrated by Henri Büsser Things begin to wind down as the cathedral sinks back into
Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 the surf, leaving you wondering if it all was just an illusion.
bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, “Art is the most beautiful deception of all! And although
percussion (bass drum, suspended cymbals, tam tam, people try to incorporate the everyday events of life in it, we
triangle), timpani, harp, and strings. must hope that it will remain a deception lest it become a
Duration: 6 minutes utilitarian thing, sad as a factory.” -Claude Debussy

32 - 2024 SUNRIVERMUSIC.ORG