French Composer: Achille-Claude Debussy

Culture

Achille-Claude Debussy (also known as Debussy) was born in 22 August 1862, he also was a French composer. He also was associated with impressionist music. Debussy is the eldest among five children.

Debussy is one of the 20th century composer who continued to work in forms and musical language that derived from the 19th century. Debussy also experimented with forms, tonality, and orchestration.

There are several sections that made up Pagodes. Which is labeled letters A through C.

Gamelan

Gamelan is a traditional musical ensemble from Indonesia, especially gamelan from the island of Java and Bali, featuring variety of instruments such as metallophones, gong, kendang, xylophones, bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings, and also a

It’s the same with the bottom row of the Pagodes which also have a very short range note between C and D. so actually both of the music piece have a very large scale repetition and built around ostinato techniques with formal structures, also including some forms which are built on circular or symmetrical patterns. Mostly consist of the use of non-diatonic scales such as pentatonic, whole tone, etc. Which suggest slendro and pelog (gamelan instruments) tunning used in gamelan music, or at least the scale and tunnings which are different from the major and minor system.

The tone colors and the timbres evocative of the gamelan. The sound of the piano which is soft pedaled, staccato notes, soft seconds, high and fast, low fifth held in the pedal. Ostinato type figures all of are the aspects of the gamelan

Its pentatonic scales and reminiscent of the gamelan slendro tuning is more thoroughgoing rather than any other Debussy’s piano music composition. The introduction of fourteen bars illustrate this: measure one introduces the gong ageng gamelan instrument on the low B. During bar three it begin a pentatonic motive which is on the sixteenth notes and also the timbre of metallophone.

Then it follows by the cengkok gamelan pattern that moves between the notes and around the notes that proceeds by conjunct motion. Then at the bar seven the melody enters which may functioning as the balungan (which is called as the “core melody” of gamelan composition).

The contour which is kind of wavelike which produced smooth and quiet sound indirectly evoke the bowed string timbre of rebab instrument. Starting from bar eleven a melody enter which is almost the same as bar seven, but now in quarter notes and positioned higher in the pentatonic scale. Then along it appears another cengkok pattern but only now it plays in eight notes and not in sixteenth