Debussy

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani makes Debussy the central figure of French musical impressionism, which he links to Baudelaire and Mallarmé1. He places him after the Wagnerian dissolution of tonality: Tristan and the Mastersingers open the door for him, and he draws Le Martyre de saint Sébastien from Parsifal2. He stresses the whole-tone scale, the pentatonic scale and the modes that come from Russia or Spain: an innovation that goes back to an earlier stage, to the modal3. He reads the Préludes closely, where Debussy looks for an absolute chord to stop time, like Schubert, and to hold resonance still until it reaches silence4. He also reads the Suite bergamasque closely and connects it to the happiness and pleasure of the Belle Époque5. He also comments on scores in which everything is prescribed, on the titles placed at the end of the Préludes, and on several performances. Finally, he mentions several times his Nigerien students who fall in love with this music, which for him proves that music saves6.

1. 1Debussy27 Mar 2020 · 10:10
2. 29 #19 Le Crépuscule des dieux ou de la répétition à la libération • Partie 214 Apr 2021 · 40:32
3. 3De la voix perdue à la voie de la modernité • De la musique modale à la musique tonale • D Pagani23 May 2021 · 8:55
4. 4Musicosophie 3. Qu'appelle-t-on une musique moderne?3 Dec 2020 · 1:08:28
5. 5Musicosophie 8. Bonheur et malheur en musique11 Jan 2021 · 36:32
6. 6Le voyage de la fanfare - de Dominique Memmi6 Dec 2019 · 1:12:14

Summary produced automatically from 68 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.