Chapter III: Preface: xi (3)

_La Mer_ (_trois esquisses symphoniques_) was composed in 1903-05. Debussy has supplied no programme other than that contained in the titles of the different movements. The music is broadly impressionistic, a tonal rendering of colors and odors, of voices imagined or perceived, no less than of moods and reveries. The comment of the French critic, M. Jean d'Undine, is suggestive: "How can any one analyze logically creations which come from a dream, ... and seem the fairy materialization of vague, acute sensations, which, experienced in feverish half-sleep, cannot be disentangled? By a miracle, as strange as it is seductive, M. Debussy possesses the dangerous privilege of being able to seize the most fantastical sports of light and of fluid whirlwinds. He is cater-cousin to the sorcerer, the prestidigitateur...."

And it has elsewhere been written of these pieces, by way of an indication of their mood:

"For Debussy the sea is wholly a thing of dreams, a thing vaguely
yet rhapsodically perceived, a bodiless thing, a thing of shapes
that are gaunt or lovely, wayward or capricious; visions that are
full of bodement, or fitful, or passionately insistent: but that
always pertain to a supra-mundane world, a region altogether of the
spirit. It is a sea which has its shifting and lucent surfaces, which
even shimmers and traditionally mocks. But it is a sea that is shut
away from too-curious an inspection, to whose murmurs or imperious
commands few have needed to pay heed; a sea whose eternal sonorities
and immutable enchantments are hidden behind veils that open to few,
and to none who attend without, it may be, a certain rapt and curious
eagerness."

FOOTNOTES:

[37] Debussy follows the sensible procedure of inscribing upon his scores the date of their composition, instead of their opus numbers.

[38] The tone of the horns and other brass instruments is sometimes muffled, for special effects, by the insertion of a pad in the bell of the instrument.

[39] Translated by Mr. Philip Hale.

[40] This third "nocturne" is scored for orchestra and a choir of women's voices. They sing no words, the eight soprano and eight mezzo-soprano voices being treated as part of the instrumental fabric.

[41] Translated by Mr. Philip Hale.

DUKAS

(_Paul Dukas: born in Paris, October 1, 1865; now living there_)

"THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE"[42]

_L'Apprenti Sorcier_, an "orchestral scherzo," is a paraphrase of Goethe's ballad, _Der Zauberlehrling_, beginning:

"Hat der alte Hexenmeister
Sich doch einmal wegbegeben!
Und nun sollen seine Geister
Auch nach meinem Willen leben!"

The story upon which the poem is based is contained in a dialogue of Lucian's, "The Lie-fancier." Eucrates, so runs the story, became the disciple of the wizard Pancrates, whom Isis had educated in the art of magic. "When we came to an inn," relates Eucrates, "he would take the wooden bar of the door, or a broom, or the pestle of a wooden mortar, put clothes upon it, and speak a couple of magical words to it. Immediately the broom, or whatever else it was, was taken by all the people for a man like themselves; he went out, drew water, ordered our victuals, and waited upon us in every respect as handily as the completest domestic. When his attendance was no longer necessary, my companion spoke a couple of other words, and the broom was again a broom, the pestle again a pestle, as before. This art, with all I could do, I was never able to learn from him; it was the only secret he would not impart to me; though in other respects he was the most obliging man in the world. At last, however, I found an opportunity to hide me in an obscure corner, and overheard his charm, which I snapped up immediately, as it consisted of only three syllables. After giving his necessary orders to the pestle without observing me, he went out to the market. The following day, when he was gone out about business, I took the pestle, clothed it, pronounced the three syllables, and bid it fetch me some water. He directly brought me a large pitcher full. 'Good,' said I, 'I want no more water; be again a pestle!' He did not, however, mind what I said; but went on fetching water, and continued bringing it, till at length the room was overflowed. Not knowing what to do, for I was afraid lest Pancrates at his return should be angry (as indeed was the case), and having no alternative, I took an axe and split the pestle in two. But this made bad worse; for now each of the halves snatched up a pitcher and fetched water; so that for one water-carrier I now had two. Meantime in came Pancrates; and understanding what had happened, turned them into their pristine form: he, however, privily took himself away, and I have never set eyes on him since."[43]

Goethe's ballad is thus translated by Sir John Bowring:

"I am now,--what joy to hear it!--
Of the old magician rid;
And henceforth shall ev'ry spirit
Do whate'er by me is bid:
I have watch'd with rigor
All he used to do,
And will now with vigor
Work my wonders, too.

"Wander, wander
Onward lightly,
So that rightly
Flow the torrent,
And with teeming waters yonder
In the bath discharge its current!

"And now come, thou well-born broom
And thy wretched form bestir;
Thou hast ever served as groom,
So fulfil my pleasure, sir!
On two legs now stand
With a head on top;
Water pail in hand,
Haste and do not stop!
"Wander, wander
Onward lightly,
So that rightly
Flow the torrent,
And with teeming waters yonder
In the bath discharge its current!

"See! he's running to the shore,
And has now attain'd the pool,
And with lightning speed once more
Comes here, with his bucket full!
Back he then repairs;
See how swells the tide!
How each pail he bears
Straightway is supplied!

"Stop, for, lo!
All the measure
Of thy treasure
Now is right!
Ah, I see it! woe, oh, woe!
I forget the word of might.

"Ah, the word whose sound can straight
Make him what he was before!
Ah, he runs with nimble gait!
Would thou wert a broom once more!
Streams renew'd forever
Quickly bringeth he;
River after river
Rusheth on poor me!

* * * * *

"Oh, thou villain child of hell!
Shall the house through thee be drown'd?
Floods I see that wildly swell,
O'er the threshold gaining ground.
Wilt thou not obey,
O thou broom accurs'd!
Be thou still, I pray,
As thou wert at first!
"Will enough
Never please thee?
I will seize thee,
Hold thee fast,
And thy nimble wood so tough
With my sharp axe split at last.

"See, once more he hastens back!
Now, O Cobold, thou shalt catch it!
I will rush upon his track;
Crashing on him falls my hatchet.
Bravely done, indeed!
See, he's cleft in twain!
Now from care I'm freed,
And can breathe again.
"Woe, oh, woe!
Both the parts,
Quick as darts,
Stand on end,
Servants of my dreaded foe!
O ye gods, protection send!

"And they run! and wetter still
Grow the steps and grows the hall.
Lord and master, hear me call!
Ever seems the flood to fill.
Ah, he's coming! see,
Great is my dismay!
Spirits raised by me
Vainly would I lay!
"'To the side
Of the room
Hasten, broom,
As of old!
Spirits I have ne'er untied
Save to act as they are told.'"

FOOTNOTES:

[42] Without opus number.

[43] Translated by William Tooke ("Lucian of Samatosa": London, 1820).

DVOŘÁK

(_Anton Dvořák: born in Mülhausen (Nelahozeves), near Kralup,
Bohemia, September 8, 1841; died in Prague, May 1, 1904_)

OVERTURE, "NATURE"[44]: Op. 91

This overture is the first section of a tripartite work entitled "Nature, Life, Love," which was originally intended by Dvořák to be performed as a whole. The second division of this triple overture is known to-day as "Carnival" (Op. 92), the third as "Othello" (Op. 93). The three overtures were first performed at Prague, under the composer's direction, on April 28, 1892.

Dvořák is said to be responsible for the ideas embodied in the following description of the poetic scheme of the "Triple Overture," which was published in the programme of the concert at which Dvořák made his début in America (at Carnegie Hall, New York, October 21, 1892):

"This composition, which is a musical expression of the emotions
awakened in Dr. Antonin Dvořák by certain aspects of the three great
creative forces of the Universe--Nature, Life, and Love--was conceived
nearly a year ago, while the composer still lived in Bohemia....
The three parts of the overture are linked together by a certain
underlying melodic theme. This theme recurs with the insistence of
the inevitable personal note marking the reflections of a humble
individual, who observes and is moved by the manifold signs of the
unchangeable laws of the Universe."