Music: Musical Aspects of

Symbolism
Francis Claudon
Notes by Wan Wong
History (pp 219
Does not exist in the history of Music Did symbolism really exist only for the
aestheticians, the literary historians, and the art
Grove Dictionary critics?

Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart Purpose of this is to show the interpenetration of
the arts which constituted it.
Le Dictionnaire de la musique

symbol, the sensible vehicle of spiritual content,

finds its most appropriate language in music.
Music would be the symbolic art above all
others.

Jean Moréas first defined it in Le Figaro

September 18th 1886.
Music of Symbolists: WAGNER case
Wagner aroused the enthusiasm of the
symbolists. He was renown in France--led to the
conception of the idea of symbolism in the art of
music.
First Wagnerian outpouring 1860-61 Paris.
Had three concerts, played excerpts of Flying
Dutchman, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, and prelude
to Tristan.
In program booklet, stated that Wagner aimed
more at the expression of sentiments than at
their description.
Baudelaire, direct ancestor of literary
Symbolism: wrote a poem April of 1861 to the
impressions which so happily characterized the
newborn aestheticism.
Lohengrin prelude, B said he had revelation of
space and depth, both material and spiritual. it
was a volupté-- so powerful and so terrible.
Mysterious intentions through the repetition of
the same melodic phrases.
B recalled- intent/ function of music was to
express the undefined part of feeling which the
word is too exact to be able to render.
Symbolism definitions of, Wagner Case con’t 220
Symbolism is about Speaking the Feeling.

Wagner: has hallmark of: ambition and grandeur, ‘the nervous intensity, the
violence of passions and of will’. B concluded: ‘by the impassioned energy of his
expression, he is currently the most faithful representative of modern nature.’

Catuelle Mendès: a Revue Fantaisiste -- “we long to know how the French public,
faced with this serious work which has to be followed with sustained interest, will
welcome the boldness of the innovator.

Wagner the first to understand ‘the duality of poetry and music, harmoniously
absorbed into the unity of drama’. his originality came from having shown that
‘musical drama had been desired and foreseen in france…..’
Wagner case 221
Wagnerism was still synonymous with modernism for the first Symbolists,

Tristan- of all Wagnerian masterpieces, the one most directly conquer French spirit, supreme marriage of love
and death. Tristan is a total work, and Symbolism in music is an extraordinary voice and an incantatory
language.

Sym- Aesthetics of the vague and imprecise, by the fact of its diversity, officially established these qualities on
a par with individual artistic techniques.

Concerns are with its enchantment and spellbindingness.

Parsifal is the most esoteric, most mythical. action is purely interior.

“It is undeniable that this imprecision of touch, this vague or confused pleasure, of sound for the sake of
sound, acts upon the soul, even more so when the subject of the drama marries eroticism to mysticism.
Beyond its grand and sonorous appearance, therefore, pointed out by Debussy, Parsifal bequeaths to
symbolism a special rhetoric and thematic.” 222
The influence of literature on musical forms 222
If you’re thinking at this chronologically, then you
can still say that “Wagnerism inaugurated
several musical fashions, or that it accelerated
the diffusion of certain processes.”
Some of the musical fashions include:
symphonic poem
birth of French melody
misuse of chromatism, hyper-refined treatment
of sound
Symphonic poem of the symbolists rested
always on an anti-narrative scheme.
Symphonic poem was heritage of the Romantic
programmatic music.
Liszt- precursor of Symbolist music. On one
hand, there is the grand narrative like that of
Mazeppa and Hamlet. Then there are his other
works, Orpheus and also the Preludes (1854),
which has symbolist inspiration
Liszt’s last works- philosophic and
contemplative. From the Cradle to the Grave
1882.
Liszt’s influence
Von der Weige bis zum Grabe (1882)

Coloring like chiaroscuro in painting, or Verlainian imprecision.

Under Liszt, influenced Wagner, Strauss (Death and Transfiguration, Ein

Heldenleben, Schoenberg Die Verklarte Nacht, Pelleas et Melisande).

Poème by Chausson 1913

Pelleas et Melisande Faure 1898

Psyche by Franck 1887

Poèmes of Scriabin, Debussy, especially Nocturnes 1899

Melody in France, demonstrated Symbolism in music
Of course, there is literary support. Symbolism leans on poetic texts. Symbolist
poets provided opportunity for it.

French melody is very distinguishable from German Lied. Very few Germanic
poets drew inspirations from Baudelaire, Rilke, and George. Schoenberg and Berg
treated them in a style too bold to be Symbolist.

Other musicians indulged in fin de siècle poetry (Richard Strauss), or you have
Hugo Wolf and Mahler go the exotic and folkoric route.

Lied is almost always dramatic (even when Wolf becomes the interpreter of
Morike).

Musicians who understanding nothing about poetry would not put it into music.
Symbolist Poetry, nonexistent in German composers
Debussy said, those who did not understand the poetry would not set it to msic
because they would only spoil it.

Paradox though: french melody is a symbolist form because it calls itself a

chanson grise (a title of Verlaine’s verses which Reyanaldo Hahn set to music).

Concerns are : enchanting and bewitching, not just attracting and suggesting.

“In this case, the melody wears a somewhat blurred charm, but achieves a
radiance which is completely analogous, although differently composed, to the
most beautiful of Schumann or Brahms lieder”
French Style melodies
All french composers conform to the purity of the melody and the motif.

Franck, Duparc, Chausson-- all set simple melodies to lied. Faure too. He was
particularly concerned with the magic formula, translating freely from shades of
sensibility. Simplicity of the melody enhances the distinction, the design of the
accompaniments.

Verlane “ music before anything else!!!”

 2nd criterion of symbolist melody is Harmonic
Boldness
Some German composers have same concerns, but from different spirit. They
aspire to color, to exterior iridescence. OR subordinate harmony to an
expressionism of the soul.

Debussy, on the other hand, concerned with experimentation purely for technical
study, gave rise to modernism.

Apparition (1885) debussy was only 22 when he wrote this. Atmosphere is

pre-raphaelism.

Chord construction: different from traditional. Connection of their functions remains

suspended, superimposed with half steps. Unexpected and expressive
modulations.
Debussy’s harmonic language
Debussy: “I shall always prefer something where, in some way, the action is
sacrificed to the long-pursued expression of the soul’s feelings… It seems to me in
that way music can become more human,, more lived, and that one can examine
and refine the means of expression.” 225

Superimposition of many tonalities without modulations or transition, replacement

of the tonal unity by a strict construction of themes, melodic line of complete
rhythmic and harmonic originality. Grammatical revolution.
New Vocabulary of Debussy
Baudelaire was a Wagnerian enthusiast

During 16 months of composition in Cinq Poemes de Charles Baudelaire (La Mort

des Amants 1887 and Jet D’eau 1889), Debussy arrived at his own aestheticism
and his own vocab.

Symbolism exist initially in regard to French lit, which contributed to the Wagnerian
phenomenon, all revolutions after in musical aesthetics can be explained.
Ambiguities of Symbolism- mystery and strangeness
Two facts of harmonic order characterized the
evolution of music in Western Europe (226).
1. Impoverishment of tonal system
2. Revival of Modality
In both cases, a purely technical evolution was
linked to poetic preoccupations, a harmonic
problem was likened to a question of a literary
and pictorial order.
Franck perhaps initiaied these processes with
Rebecca, Hulda, and La Chausseur maudit
Chabrier in his L’Etoile ((1877) integrated
modality with harmonic language of the French
School. Well before Javanese Gamelan of 1889
Paris expo.
Pentatonic scale eliminated the elements of
tension which the sensible note and its
modulation reserved for the diatonic regime.
Image in SOUND- Debussy’s tenent.
‘la mise en place sonore’
Debussy’s La Damoiselle élue
lyric poem for female voices, soli, choir, and orch. Started composing in Rome
1884

distant seraphic character. Chosen maiden is in paradise, angelic choir, agogic

and stereophonic.

Debussys Le Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1892)

D did not put the poem in the music, but as only a prelude to the text. Not the text
itself. Sensuality and grace. Harmonic treatment -- aphorism expressed by
Mallarmé in La Musique et les Lettres: Music and letters are alternating faces,
here widening towards obscure, there sparkling with the certainty of that
phenomenon, which I have called the Idea
Faune
Sound is a sound. clarity of the flute melody - the call of the Faun.

Call is widening towards obscure. Diffuse, insidious sensuality, not crushing like
that of Alberich in Das Rheingold.

We are used to the linear interpretation of harmony. It is the mode of thematic

thought from which even Schoenberg was hardly liberated. Debussy, concerned
with only how stand alone chords sound to him, achieved what Schoenberg called
the melodie des accords, or Klangfarbenmelodie.

Analogous to the pure poetry of Symbolism’s aims.

Tone scales and pure sound values- By modality and the cult of sound it was the
musicians who took from Poetry what was theirs! Charbrier, debussy, even Ravel.
Symbolism and Impressionism 227
Mallarmé said: “I am inventing a language which will necessarily erupt in a very
new poetry, which I could define in these two words: do not paint the thing, but the
effect it produces.”

There is the possibility of linking Symbolism to Impressionism; the main thing is to

specify its limits and to evoke the reasons for it.

1. Nature link, thematic or aesthetic links. Debussy’s Mer, Nocturnes, Jardins

sous la pluie, Brouillards, Vent, Feuilles…
2. Ravel: Noctuelles, Jeux d’eau, Ondine, Cloche engloutie. Wagner: siegfried
idyll, l’enchantement du vendredi saint. Liszt: feux follets, dans les bois,
nuages gris. Schumann; scenes de la foret.
Compared to Impressionism 227-8
Debussy: 1911 “All the noises you hear around
you can be interpreted. One can represent
musically everything which a fine ear can
perceive in the rhythm of the surrounding world.
Some people at first want to conform to the
rules; I myself only want to interpret what I
hear.” Interprets nature’s nuances, iridescence
of perception.
Impressionism can sometimes be confused with
symbolism through the actual intention of the
musician.
Nevertheless, if the treatment of nuance and
the cult of suggestion sanctions aesthetic
confusion, then this confusion does not last
more than a moment. Like a mystery. These
moments deceive the artists themselves to start
with.
Debussy was the first to defend the specific
mystery of music: “Who knows the secret of
musical composition? The sound of the sea, the
curve of the horizon, the song of a bird, leave us
with many impressions.
Sym and Imp
quote continued, “And, suddenly, without our least consent, one of these memories spills out
of us and expresses itself in musical language. It carries its own harmony in itself… I
abomiate doctrines and their impertinences. That is why I want to write my musical dream
with the most complete detachment from myself.

In Impressionism, the main concept is instantaneousness. Paintings can try to capture

instantaneousness, but music already is instantaneous par excellence.

Debussy’s not impressionist though. Only the titles have natural references. Does the title
make the style of the piece?

In Debussy’’s dislike of developments, in the moderation which he imposed on his melodic

invention, could be seen the effect of a sensualism at a time when his musical thinking (with
modality) was at the opposite extreme of the anecdote, and the Wagerized music.
 La Mer
regarding the procession of fifths and thirds in part III.

‘calm and white procession which slides across the night sky’

‘play of the light on the sea’

nevertheless, this image leads us to a different dimension. Nostalgia of another world, of a

universe as only the Symbolists could feel.

If image must be summoned, than not Monet, but Turner. Monet’s sea was never terrifying.
One can participate in the contemplation of the painter, himself in pantheist accordance with
nature.

La Mer- on a cosmic scale though. Last part of the polyrhythmic symphony, Le Dialogue du
vent et de la mer, wind does not evoke a corresponding picture. Hurricane pronounces death
and destruction. Debussy makes us aware of the romantics made us forget: true music does
not speak to the individuality of man, but to what is most profound in him.
Nationalism and its link to Symbolism
pp 230. Norway and Finland for Grieg and Sibelius. Ancient liturgical forms.

Use of Tone scale. Folklore literature like Ibsen and Bjornson- provides similar
themes to those of which French and German symbolists are fond of.

i.e. Swan of Tuonela by Sibelius.

Grieg- harmonic processes are symbolist. Floating tonality, passing notes,

chromatics, converge these many elements, albeit less perfectlyy, the Debussyist
doctrine of sound values. Peer Gynt (Ibsen)
Opera: cornerstone of symbolism
Reference to the personalities or the themes of Symbolist literature which makes
the opera. Lyric theatre of this trend if the fruit of a vast double influence: first,
poets and playwrights (for Wagner) and its contribution to Symbolist aesthetics.
Subtle convergent psychological or philosophic schemata. (231)
Symbolist temptation in other musical schools
Pagliacci- great affinity to symbolism, by way of three leitmotifs. Unhappy laughter, love and
jeaousy. Wagnerism was at the root of symbolist aesthetics, (but it branches out from there. )
Wagnerian recipe.

Russia: Rimsky korsakov. choice of subjects always from folklore, from fairyland, magic,
supernatural. too accidental though, because symbolism came as much from technique as
from a state of mind or the personal taste of its authors. The national rhythms, exotic quality
of some melodies, again remind us of the basic innovation of style, the modality of musical
Symbolism.Traces of it through Borodin, Mussorgsky, prokofiev, or Czech composers

Germany: Schonberg and Berg, Bartok-- original authetic symbolists. Subsequent modernity
came out more because it first confronted the indescribable and incantatory.
German Expresionism
Expressionism liked and took these subjects from Symbolist dramas and not the
reverse. Berg and Lulu. Schoenberg wanted to give a musical expression to
mythical ideas. Wilde in Salome. This distinguished Wagner from Verdi, Debussy
and strauss from Puccini or Stravinsky.

Total rejection of normal everyday reality, to the Dream, unreality stripped of

conventional taboos. Like Mallarmé’s ‘essential word” (232-233).
Highlighted Sections, about Symbol and Wagner 219
The Symbol: ‘the sensible vehicle of spiritual
content’/
Music seen in this perspective would be the
symbolic art above all others.
Then, there’s the movement. As defined in 1886
by Jean moréas.
Did symbolism really exist only for the
Aestheticians, the literary historian and the art
critics?
January 27, 1860- about Wagner by
Champfleury/ Wagner’s music aimed more at
the expression of sentiments than at their
description; thus Wagner’s art appears as the
start of play as opposed to the Romantic and
Realist tendencies of the time.
Prelude to Lohengrin, commented by
Baudelaire: Revelation of space and depth, both
material and spiritual.
Mysterious intentions through the repetition of
the same melodic phrases
Duality of poetry and music, harmoniously
absorbed into the unity of drama.
Wagner
Total work
Gratifies in us the double desire for Eros and
Thanatos; it is therefore an aesthetics of the
vague and the imprecise which, by the fact of its
diversity, officially established these qualities on
a par with individual artistic techniques.
1885- Parsifal
Certainly it could be confirmed that Symbolism,
because of its huge ambitions, had been like a
vast nebula, but nonetheless the paternity:
Wagner!
Debussy loved Parsifal:
The decorative part of Parsifal is of an
absolutely supreme beauty. One can hear
orchestral sororities which are unique and
unexpected, noble and strong. This is one of the
most lovely monuments which has ever been
raised to the serene glory of music.
Mythical, even esoteric, character of the libretto:
the action, even more than in Tristan, is purely
interior, and throws the spectator back on to the
single evocative power of sound, of harmony, of
chromaticism.
Sound for Sound sake
Parsifal: It is undeniable that this imprecision of touch, this vague or confused
pleasure, of sound for the sake of sound, acts upon the soul, even more so when
the subject of the drama marries eroticism to mysticism.

It is only the context which confers on the music the privilege, this time, of truly
being before anything else on that blurry frontier where the indecisive is joined to
the precise. (222)
Symphonic Poem
Genre which lent itself directly to the translation of states of soul, and this all the
better because the music, by its vague expressionism, suited the unutterable, the
half-aware, the incantatory.

Anti-narrative scheme.

Theme remains vague; impressions and not descriptions place the discourse in
the category of poetry rather than drama.

The music of the orchestra of Symbolism originated from the symphonic poem of
Liszt.
French songs
Enchanting and bewitching, and not only attracting and suggesting.

Purity of the melody and motif.

Texts prevent these melodies from being of totally symbolist construction

Simplicity of the melodies enhances the distinction, the design of the

accompaniments is of an intended moderation which brings out the precision. The
harmonies and chords are linked together in a sequence of rich and delicate
sounds. In these melodies, of which the most beautiful could be classed as states
of soul--- which is typically symbolist! --- the poems preserve all their expression,
and all their beauty.
Songs 224
Atmosphere of sound. Spread and echo.

Harmonic boldness.

Germans do it with different aspirations. Aspire to color to exterior iridescence, or

they subordinate harmony to an expressionism of the soul.

Debussy not like that; pure experimentation, technical study, which gave rise to
modernism.

Range: great vocal range and range reduced to recitative.

Different principle of chord construction

Songs 225
Connection of their functions remains suspended, sometimes because of the
superimposition of semitones, sometimes by the use of unexpected and very
expressive modulations, sometimes even by the introduction of successive
non-functional chords.

Action is sacrificed to the long-pursued expression of the soul’s feelings. Music

can become more human, more lived, and that one can examine and refine the
means of expression.

The superimposition of many tonal items without modulation or transposition,

replacement of the tonal unity by a strict construction of themes, or a melodic line
of complete rhythmic and harmonic originality.
Ambiguities of symbolism
Symbolism was born of mystery and strangeness. Inventing new langue. Art as
abstraction. Hard to place the exact time period. Between 1864 and 1888.

More honest and more illuminating to refer only to the desire for novelty-- but any
progress requires that. This affected music in 1880s.

This rebirth, therefore, United with the thinking of Mallarmé and Gauguin;
contributed to giving to musical symbolism those indefinite frontiers and those
ambiguities which its literary and pictorial counterparts could hardly have.

Two facts of harmonic order characterized the evolution of music: impoverishment

of tonal system, and revival of modality.
Character of evolution 226
Modal harmony, still known as sentiment from Rameau.

This was inaccurately called symbolism.

In other words, in both cases a purely technical evolution was linked to poetic
preoccupations, a harmonic problem was likened to a question of a literary and
pictorial order.

French discovery of pentagon if scale pre-dates Javanese gamelan 1889. Char

brier and young Debussy→ used it, eliminated the elements of tension which the
sensible note and its modulation reserved for the diatonic regime. The harmony of
the musicians is as free as air, with nothing in it which weighs or pitches.
La mise en place sonore
Setting of the sound

The word as a resonant material. - Baudelaire

Music and letters are alternating faces, here widening towards the obscure, there
sparkling with the certainty of that phenomenon, which I have called the Idea -
Mallarmé .