Sonata for Cello and Piano

In the summer of 1915, besieged by a virulent cancer from within and the German war machine from without, Claude Debussy optimistically planned a set of six neo-classical chamber sonatas. Only three were completed. Each attempts a kind of musical escapism, reverting to simple forms and a lean, sardonic style in open resistance to trends in contemporaneous non-French music. The first sonata, for violoncello and piano, required little more than a week to complete.

Debussy generally experiments more with tonality and texture than with form. For instance, an antique color emerges in the opening measure, with its prominent turn figure motive and modal harmonies; the careful listener may also note the lack of a C-sharp leading tone, suggesting less goal-directedness. Debussy seems intent on sampling music both from the distant past and his own compositional history. Consider the use of extreme high and low piano textures taken almost verbatim from his earlier impressionist prelude “La cathédrale engloutie” (The Sunken Cathedral). The second movement, labeled “Serenade,” inhabits the slightly mischievous realm of commedia-dell’arte. Debussy had initially considered adding the title “Pierrot fâche avec la lune” (Pierrot argues with the moon). Pervasive pizzicato and staccato gestures compete with fleeting moments of lyricism, which sound all the more expressive by virtue of the striking contrast. Touches of Spanish guitar spill over without break into the lively, folk-inspired finale. Overall Debussy achieves a measured balance between stasis and agitation, between echoes of his own musical past and a much longer history of modal-tonal composition.

(c) Jason Stell