Ravel's Harmony

Ravel's Harmony Author(s): Alfredo Casella Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 67, No. 996 (Feb. 1, 1926), pp. 124-127 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/912946 Accessed: 06-11-2016 17:18 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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124 THE MUSICAL TIMES-FEBRUARY I 1926 workthe for music. Able to count on halls crowded 'Queen of Song,' or 'Colossus of Keyboard,' is of any value from the box-office view ? out of her hand, she with point devoteesof ready to eat It is more likely to be a drawback, arehundreds of fine songs. could for have there popularised not a few of us who, resenting the dragging down Instead she took the easy line and popularised a of the musical profession by such methods of handful of bad ones. And now she says 'It is sad.' advertising, resolutely stay away from recitals given True; but the cause for sadness is other than

by self-styled 'Kings' and 'Queens.' No other

the one she has in mind. However, better late

branch of art is degraded in this way. We do notthan never. The Dame thinks it is time her

find Sybil Thorndike announced as 'Britain's audiences were weaned from 'Good-bye' and the Queen of Tragedy,' or Seymour Hicks as 'Jewel Song'; and her farewell tour will give her ' England's Comedy King.' They would gain a chance of starting the process at once. Will she

nothing in appreciation from such announcements, take the strong line, and, for the first time in her

and they would certainly lose a good deal of prestige. career, be 'deaf to appeals for their favourite

songs '? As this 'farewell tour' is not the first of There are thousands of musicians no less jealous than painters and actors for the honour of their a series, but a really truly farewell, it is the Dame's last chance. What will she do with it ? profession, and I suggest to Dame Clara Butt, that

having set a bad example by adopting the title Not much, it seems, for at her concert at Glasgow 'Britain's Queen of Song,' she should now set a few days ago Tosti's 'Good-bye' was forth-

good one, and at the same time increase her prestige among musicians, by dropping it.

coming as usual. It is sad.

RAVEL'S HARMONY

Mention was made above of the limited reperBY ALFREDO CASELLA tory of stars. Sometimes it is bad as well as In order effectively to 'place' Ravel as a ha limited, and in this connection one cannot refrain from commenting on some recent utterancesitofmust not be forgotten that his musical stu Dame Nellie Melba. Her farewell tour has been carried on between the years 1890 and 1902, i.e., during a period that was extremely chaotic and well boosted, chiefly by means of interviews. In all unsettled. Wagner was then at the height of his of them Dame Nellie has attacked the taste of fame, exercising a proud autocracy over threeprovincial audiences, thus: quarters of the world. Some day, in all probability, Do you know that in the provinces musical taste there will be found to exist a certain analogy between has not developed at all in the last forty years? the ravages caused by the genius of Michael Angelo London has made great strides. I think that and those caused by that of Wagner. At all events, Manchester and Liverpool, thanks to Halle anditthe is henceforth manifest that Wagner was mainly

orchestral concerts, are rather in advance of the others;

for the profound and lamentable crisis in and Glasgow has made good progress, too. But inresponsible the the theatrical world, from which we are only now provinces generally they won't learn anything new. painfully beginning to emerge. We are also indebted They cannot get away from Tosti's 'Good-bye,' 'Down in the Forest,' and that awful song, the 'Jewel Song' to him for another crisis, equally grave, that through

from ' Faust.' It is sad.

which harmony has passed from the time of 'Parsifal' down to yesterday. Indeed, vertical And she says the same thing in her recently i.e., the abuse of harmony and chords, as published 'Melodies and Memories.' But rhetoric, who opposed has had a bigger share in creating the vogue of to the freedom of counterpoint, is the fundamental evil that assails the entire music of this

these songs than the Dame herself ? I turn up period, and was destined finally to lead to the the Musical Times of June, 1921 , and find quoted phenomenon of Sch6nberg-utter absence of tonality. an interview from the Daily Mail (which at that Both in France and in Italy there is now an entire time was campaigning on behalf of her 'Au Revoirgeneration of new musicians who are able to look

Concert'). Therein she says that she 'loves anupon music as purely devoid of tone, as young painters English audience as much as it loves her. To nowadays regard the defunct 'cubism.'

appeals for their favourite songs she is never deaf.'Nevertheless, while the good sense of the Latin race has preserved certain schools from the harmonic What were the 'favourite' songs she gave them so excesses of Vienna (which, indeed, were necessary readily ? I have not the complete programme, but and salutary in view of the final clarification), it from a newspaper report I find that at the 'Au must yet be admitted that no European musician, Revoir Concert' at the Albert Hall she sang the during the period extending from 188o to I920, has 'Jewel Song' from 'Faust,' Tosti's 'Good-bye,' succeeded in escaping from the great 'harmonic and 'By the Waters of Minnetonka,' the last- nightmare,' and that a feverish embellishment of named being a song which, judging from the harmony has been the main technical preoccupation sample of text and music quoted in the Musical of these musicians. Times of June, I92I, is surely one of the world's Consequently, Ravel could not evade the law of very worst. As these songs were deemed good his time. Indeed, we note that his music is enough for London in I92I, we may be characterised by harmonic refinement of extreme sure they were not too bad for the provinces atpreciosity and of absolute perfection. We have now to consider what are the more or

that time. In the face of these facts, the Dame'sless immediate origins of this harmony, and after lament over public taste is the sheerest humbug.wards of what it consists essentially. If thirty years ago she had realised the responsi- When the amazing personality of Maurice Ravel bilities of her position as one of the most giftedbegan to express itself, many critics thought it righ to dispute the existence in him of any originality and popular of singers, she could have done a great


THE MUSICAL TIMES-FEBRUARY I 1926 125 at all, and doubtless there are certain trustworthy entire musical language of the 19th century. Nor memoranda still extant consisting is of it less violent evident that articles the exploitation of this in which one of the most famous of Parisian critics chord reaches its culminating point in Debussy, and eloquently maintained that Ravel plagiarised afterwards rapidly dies away. Still, in conformity with the law of human evolution, Debussy. A like mishap has since befallen other musicians ; there are some even now whom criti- which governs the formation of successive cycles, a cism for long years has delighted in depicting asstudy of the 19th century shows us, along with the magnificent expansion of the chord of the major honourable successors of Stravinskyor of Sch6nberg, ninth in Wagner and Debussy, the gradual elaboration though manifestly quite different from them. of the following harmonic concept, i.e., of the Nevertheless there is no error-or even stupidity -that does not contain at least some element of

truth. And in the Debussy-Ravel affair we can eleventh harmonic the first traces of which now readily discern that while the personalities of both musicians are fundamentally divergent, and quite as impossible to confuse as those of Schumann are actually to be seen in Mozart. and Mendelssohn, it is nevertheless evident that Truth to tell, we find in Debussy frequent both had identical predilections as regards the allusions to this harmonic. Nevertheless, Debussy past. And the essential. trait that unites the two still remains the exponent of the major ninth. And creators is that they altogether repudiated the tireit is only in Ravel that the new chord is finally used some and ridiculous burden of a philosophico-in a constant, conscious, and spontaneous mannerfor while his early works still contain such rare musical Wagnerism, and, instead, returned to a more Latin conception ofmusic. Both revered Mozart examples of the major ninth as: and Chopin ; they were ardent admirers of the

Ex..'.

Russian influence and faithful friends of Chabrier.

In short, they remained stubbornly opposed to the post-Wagnerian Franckist movement, which, by reason of its Germanic and Flemish origins, was at the very antipodes to their aspirations, so French in

AliY

their clarity.

(-7ex

Still, though undoubtedly Debussy and Ravel have one and the same ancestral spirituality, we must not lose sight of the immediate influences which largely

d'ea

from the period (1902-03) we mee makes of the eleventh harmonic: personalities. Whereas the indolent and voluptuous muse of Massenet manifestly entrances Debussy in his youth (see 'L'Enfant Prodigue,' ' Printemps,' &c.), the neo-classic spirit of Camille Saint-Satns-also

contributed to the ultimate formation of their

emphatically French-and of his disciple, Gabriel

Faur6, who was Ravel's master, finally and irrevocably

marks out the personality of the future author of

EX..2

Ti

o 4 Fl-R

:

'Ma M~re l'Oye.' The result is that the musician,

whom some regarded at most as a pale reflection of Debussy, appears before us to-day as diametrically

opposed to his proud rival. Whereas Debussy

-so personal even t harmonic style of R impressionism, Ravel remained faithful to classic the exploitat structures, renewing and rejuvenating them.But So comes profound is the abyss that separates the twowithin the category of 'physical' facts, seeing that it is based on the phenomenon of natural creators. resonance. There is also another very important One day Ravel confessed to me :' What a melodist I have become !' And indeed he is far more than a aspect of this question of harmony: the great use which polyphonist, he is both a delightful 'monodist' andRavel makes of the affoggiatura, and of its exceptional resolutions. an unrivalled harmonist. Not that, on occasion, he Ravel's early detractors disdainfully referred to his cannot also add melody to melody. As a rule, however, his supple lyricism is unsuitable to music as le culte de la note t ctM. There is much truth in this also. Ravel's marvellous sensibility, polymelodic dullness, and then, like Mozart, Scarlatti, eager or Chopin, all he requires is a melodic line, of rich and to create a special sound language of its own, was compelled to make him adopt and regularly subtle harmony, that is also both natural and light. employ a certain number of harmonic aggregations There is no harmonic language, however complex, that cannot be synthesised in a few fundamental which his predecessors had scarcely dared to created-and at the same time exhausted-musical

consider.

concepts.

Jean Marnold once said that the only musical Apropos of Ravel, much has been said of unre-

difference between romanticism and the 18th centurysolved affoggiature, thus exaggerating the importance of this artifice in his music. In most cases the

dwindled dqwn to a single chord: the dominant affoggiature of this harmony are resolved upo major ninth There is much truth in

other affoggiature. Genuine unresolved affoggiature however, are few in number.

Of Ravel's favourite afoggiatura chords, the

this, even though it seems to reduce a century of music to a purely technical problem. Assuredly

the chord of the major ninth, introduced by most important are which dates back to Weber, gave a totally different complexion to the


126 THE MUSICAL TIMES-FEBRUARY I 1926 the I8th century ; and

mention only the ' Gibet,' entirely built up round an inverted pedal for forty-eight bars, and containing this amazing passage Ex.7.

The former has supplied Ravel with splendid possibilities, as in the passage Ex. 3.

(Dafihnis et Chloe)

The 'Alborada del gracioso' offers us another

example :

The latter forms the basis of a host of valuable

Ex.8

examples, one of which is the following: Ex.54.

findin a chromatic succession of major seconds, the

combination of which with other elements has

suggested a host of savoury details, such as :

- ; -I F .....UI a U

and which he evidently borrowed from Chopin :

In 'Scarbo,' the same artifice is carried to such pianistic virtuosity as the following:

Ex.1O. s 2-' e " R

Here is a chord frequently exploited by Ravel Amongst other harmonic artifices we are constantly

finding, must be quoted the pedals, principally

inverted, which Ravel utilised in masterly style. I


THE MUSICAL TIMES-FEBRUARY I 1926 127 error tocases imagine like: that so refined and subtle It is interesting to note that profound in certain an art does not have an adequate re-awakening. And indeed we find that harmony, starting with ExxI, . 'Jeux d'Eau' (190o), gradually reaches a maximum of elaboration in 'Daphnis et Chlo6' (1910). Then a new style appears in the Trio (1914), and more than ever in the 'Tombeau de Couperin' (1916-17). In this style, without repudiating the past, Ravel EiE-" seems bent on simplification; it is then that his harmony becomes less overburdened. The sense of tonality also tends towards modification along the the use of this chord makes us momentarily connect Ravel with Puccini. A mere chance, doubtless, line of a synthetic permeation of divers scales (such

I ."A " +. ' = - 4-w

as the the charming d6b^it of the Forlane in the though amusing enough, considering how slight 'Tombeau de Couperin'). And this tendency towards simplification is continued in the 'Valse' Apart from the traditional major and minor scales, for orchestra, and in the 'Duo' for 'cello and violin. Ravel fairly often uses the Greek scales-the Dorian, has been dubbed both scolastique by the Hypo-dorian, and sometimes also the Phrygian. Ravel In youthful compatriots of his, and tarabiscoti this he approaches Debussy, doubtless because,certain like by other fretful minds. There is much truth in both the author of 'Pell6as,' he had come strongly under definitions. Still, it is precisely because he succeeded the Russo-Byzantine influence. His polymodality, in in effecting a wonderful equilibrium between sane however, is essentially different from Debussy's tradition and an ardent thirst after novelty, that he that it never employs the hexaphonic scale (in wholehas proved himself the greatest musician in France tones) ; and it is this that clearly distinguishes Ravel since the death of Debussy. not only from Debussy, but also from d'Indy and At all events, only one thing in art is of from Dukas, musicians who have made considerable importance : that the creator attain to that mysterious use of this scale, which at one time was considered so opulent and was subsequently found to be so region where spirit and matter are one, where it becomes impossible to dissociate phantasy from deficient. The preceding may suffice to show how profoundlytechnique, because they are so intimately united. classic is this music which at first appeared And it is henceforth evident that Ravel belongs to that small band of the elect to whom it has been to be so revolutionary. The harmony of Ravel is deeply rooted in tradition. It contains no given to contemplate the serene visage of ultimat resemblance between the two musicians.

perfection. striving whatsoever after atonality, nor does it even attain to polytonality. Its power consists mainly in (Auth/orised translation by Fred Rowell//.) the fact that, far from being a perilous and empirical leap into the unknown, it is nothing else than a splendid embellishment, an amazing ornamental OPERA RECORDS 'variation' brought to the edifice of high tradition I.-LONDON, PARIS, AND DRESDEN by a fascinating craftsman, an artist of genius. The following bars, which have caused so much BY WAKELING W. DRY discussion in the past: Two interesting centuries of performances were reached during the last season at Covent Garden in the case of 'Tristan and Isolda' and 'The

4

Mastersingers.' This reminds us that in the cas of the more popular operas the number of tim

.

each has been performed is growing very large.

It is interesting to recall that Wagner began masterpiece 'Tristan and Isolda' in 1855, and th years later had completed the first Act. He fini

it at Lucerne, after having been robbed of a sum publishers, Breitkopf & H~irtel, advanced to him account of royalties. It is said that ?50 was the p paid for the copyright of this immortal work. 'Tri 4i 4 waited six years after its completion before it saw footlights, and was first played under von Btilo Munich, in I865, withthis Schorr von Carolsfeld an are I' '? r A simply his wife as the Tristan and the Isolda. It was

Ex.13. :q

first seen in London, in 1882, at a season of opera i

:q

German-then quite a new departure which Sir

I

Augustus Harris organized and Richter conducted Winkelmann being the Tristan and Rosa Sucher th Isolda. Later that same year these two went to Bayreuth when it first entered the Festival scheme.

These artists were also the Walther and Eva in the have sa initial performance of 'The Mastersingers,' which was

the case of Ravel. Ever since he concluded his

also first studies, this musician has been in possession ofdone so here during the same Drury Lane season. Neither opera seemed to attain much miraculously perfect a technique that, as happened success. to Bach, Mozart, or Chopin, the perfection of the In possithe case of others of the more fam instrument inevitably assigns limits to the 'Faust' reached its three-hundredth pe bilities of evolution. All the same, it would be a


Ravel's Harmony

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