Following a whistle-stop tour of Paris last weekend visiting the French Open, I feel it only fitting to write this fortnight’s reflection on some music of French descent. Wandering the streets of Paris, I felt that sense of artistic expression and exploration that so ensnared the composers of the early 20th century. To me, Debussy’s La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin most vividly captures that feeling.
This piece was published in 1910 and was contained in his first book of Preludes. The dreamy illusion seems to be underpinned by a sense of inherent instability. This subtle unease is, for me, a hallmark of Debussy’s most poignant works.
His use of traditional chords in a non-traditional context seems to fuel this effect. Bars 4 to 6 are an example of this. His harmonization uses traditional chordal shapes, yet does not relate them to each other functionally like we would expect. Instead, using them to add harmonic color to the melody above. Almost approaching harmony as a vertical endeavor as opposed to what we normally expect to be a horizontal process. Bars 8 and 9 reinforce his approach to harmonic freedom by using dominant 7th chords in non-cadential roles, instead opting to add unease to a development of his opening melody. My piano teacher described it as “a more painterly than architectural approach to harmony’. I find this remark quite insightful, as it captures the way that Debussy was more concerned with color and atmosphere than functional harmonic direction.
We often associate pieces from this era with scales that avoid tonal gravity, whole tone, pentatonic, modes, etc. These were cherished by composers like Debussy because they often eschew the minor second, which would jar a pedaled passage. However, in bars 10 and 11 we see not one but 2 minor second intervals. He further marks this section with a diminuendo. This combination invites the performer into a realm of interpretative choice. Should they subdue the dissonance so as to hide the clash behind the sonority of the piano? Or might there be an argument to highlight the clash? Perhaps this marks a moment of sorrow for the flaxen-haired girl, though admittedly this may be an artistic stretch…
Debussy’s exploration of rhythm has been a particular challenge for me when approaching this piece. Bars 16 to 18 are notated in simple time, which seems only fair as the piece is in 3/4 time. However, in listening to several recordings I noticed the rubato seems to almost push these bars to triplet feel. Rubato is a staple of music from this period, but the hat tip towards compound time seems to be to be particularly jarring. I’m sure Debussy was quite confident in his use of triplets, so I feel we should respect his decision to omit them. Later, in bars 19 to 21, when the ascending pattern seems to want to rest on the final semiquaver, however, when performing we must remember this this is only a semiquaver and must not be “rubatoed beyond recognition”. Im quite certain Debussy considered this when he composed this piece, perhaps attempting to push us gently onward to the piece’s tender closing.
In many ways, La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin feels like a musical sketch of Paris I walked through, fleeting, delicate and complex. It is a work that rewards sensitivity and poise over virtuosity. I find this piece invites me not just to interpret and perform, but to imagine.