L'Isle Joyeuse
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L'Isle Joyeuse (The Joyous Isle) is an extended solo piano piece by Claude Debussy composed in 1904. According to Jim Samson (1977), the "central relationship in the work is that between material based on the whole-tone scale, the lydian mode and the diatonic scale, the lydian mode functioning as an effective mediator between the other two."
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[edit] Structure
[edit] Exposition, 1-98
The introduction creates a whole tone context. This changes to an A lydian context which, in bars 15-21, transitions, through the addition of G natural, to the whole tone context of a new motive at bar 21. This A lydian context serves to transition from the whole tone mode on A to the A major context, inflected by occasional lydian D sharps, of the second theme at bar 67.
[edit] Middle, 99-159
The other transposition of the whole tone scale, avoided in the outer sections, is used and provides further harmonic contrast.
[edit] Recapitulation, 160-end
The second subject appears in pure A major, the "ultimate tonal goal of the piece." The opening codas "louder and more animatedly until the very end". It ends with a loud tremolo and the A major chord rolled downwards, hitting the lowest A in the keyboard markedly.
[edit] References
- Samson, Jim (1977). Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900-1920, p.38. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-02193-9.
[edit] External links
- L'Isle Joyeuse was available at the International Music Score Library Project.
- Recording by Alon Goldstein in MP3 format
