Green

Verlaine’s poem “Green” opens with two ideas that only weakly hold together: Here are flowers, leaves, etc., and then here is my heart. Apart from the simple fact that the things of nature and the lover’s ardor are merely present (i.e., they exist), the connection cannot go further. Debussy uses cross rhythms (two versus three) between voice and piano to evoke a kind of giddy or slightly delirious animation—and that is one way to make sense of Verlaine’s non sequitur. There is an air of abstraction in the musical setting. Rather than goal-directed tonal movements we hear a gradual slide down from A-flat major at the start to a repeat of the opening bars on G-flat. Even more audible is the gradual slowing down over the middle section as the speaker mentions his “fatigue;” and even more languorous are the poignant sentiments about reposing on the beloved’s bosom. The careful listener will recognize the song’s opening material, but how different it appears as an Andantino rather than Allegro moderato! At the section marked “Plus lent” the melodic motion almost ceases. Tranquility rules the day, and Debussy’s final touch of brilliance is the contrary motion between piano and voice: the former gradually ascending to a peak as the latter “reposes” on a low D-flat.

(c) Jason Stell