Debussy Nuages

• In Debussy's music, chords (e.g. parallel dominant 7ths/9ths) were chosen for their sound rather than their function.
• Nuages was completed in 1899
• Dissonances such as 7ths and 9ths often strung together in long chains that move in parallel motion.
• Debussy makes use of the pentatonic and whole tone scales.
• Wind instruments are often performed in unusual registers and strings divided into many individual parts.
• Organisation of Nuages

  
• The direction "sur la touche" means "at the fingerboard".
• Rotation 1, X material is bar 1-4.
• Rotation 1, Y material is bar 5-10.
• Rotation 2, X material is bar 11-16.
• Rotation 2, interpolation is bar 17-20.
• Rotation 2, Y material is bar 21-28.
• Rotation 3, X material is bar 29-32.
• Rotation 3, interpolation is bar 33-42.
• Rotation 3, Y material is bar 43-56.
• Rotation 4, X material is bar 57-63.
• Rotation 4, interpolation is bar 64-79.
• Rotation 4, Y material is bar 80-93.
• Rotation 5, X material is bar 94-97.
• Rotation 5, interpolation is bar 98.
• Rotation 5, Y material is bar 99-end.
• Although the scoring at the beginning is sparse (Rotation 1, X) the choice of instruments (clarinets, bassoons and oboe) make the sonority quite rich.
• The X material, compared to Rotation 1, is presented much lighter and clearer in sonority when it returns on divisi violins in Rotation 2.
• High divisi violins provide the main accompaniment to Y material in Rotation 1.
• The use of the harp also adds to the overall impression that this music represents clouds floating through the sky.
• "con sourdines" means muted
• The whole-tone scale is particularly prominent from b. 33 (Rotation 3, interpolation).
• The pentatonic scale is particularly found in the Rotation 4 interpolation section (B).
• Debussy would have been familiar with the pentatonic scale through his experience of Gamelan music in the Paris exhibition.
• The Y material is mostly octatonic.
• In the X material from Rotation 1, the woodwind present the material in a two-part texture.
• The lower line of the initial X material suggests a tonality of B octatonic.
• The upper line of the initial X material suggests a tonality of B minor.
• The X material presents an ambiguity of time signature - is it 6-4 or 3-2?
• The Y material presents an ambiguity of time signature - it is presented in 4-4 but 6-4 is prevailing.
• The chord in bar 7 is a G7 in 1st inversion - this G7 sonority is present throughout.
• Rotation 2 is presented with a fuller texture - including strings this time.
• In bar 13, the harmony moves into 3 parts.
• Bar 14 (Rotation 2, X material) features a series of parallel descending dominant 9th chords with pentatonic hints (pre-empting later B material).
• Bar 15 introduces the new pizzicato perfect 5th material in the double basses.