Debussy’s Speculative Idea: Orchestration and the Substance of Jeux

Clarke, Simon (2018) Debussy’s Speculative Idea: Orchestration and the Substance of Jeux. Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 143 (1). pp. 137-171. ISSN 0269-0403

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Abstract

This article seeks to determine the extent to which timbral and textural concerns inform the musical substance of Debussy’s Jeux. Of particular interest are passages in which foreground detail effaces itself in the interests of orchestral qualities, those where an overabundance of surface detail is preconfigured so as to maximize orchestral efficacy, and sections where a more traditional distinction between compositional content and orchestrational attributes seems to obtain. It is Hegelian substance ultimately that I have in mind, however, on which basis I seek to distinguish between unification and synthesis – I argue that Jeux’s immediacy is overcome through negating (orchestrational) activity, arriving thus at the objectively real (realized and posited) product. On this basis, Jeux’s substance, including its orchestral aspects, is best understood speculatively.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	M Music and Books on Music > M Music
Depositing User:	Thomas Wise
Date Deposited:	16 Apr 2018 14:47
Last Modified:	16 Apr 2018 15:19
URI:	http://repository.rncm.ac.uk/id/eprint/43

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