post<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nI may be cracked, and mustn\u2019t arrive at premature conclusions, but I think I can exhaust and distinguish the styles of [William] Byrd, [John] Bull & [Orlando] Gibbons.\u00a0 Byrd is an intensely virile, straightforward composer: his rhythm is the most positive element in his style, and that has the slightly march-like swing of all good English music, even when written by a German like Handel or a Frenchified composer like Purcell. His forms are bare and intense: it\u2019s his immediacy that makes him fond of sharply outlined pictures\u2014he\u2019s more interested in programme music than the other two and does more with the lilting folk tunes.\u00a0 Bull is dreamy, sensuous, atmospheric, and early Debussy, with lovely & expressive melodic lines weaving through his harmonies.\u00a0 Like Debussy, too, he has a sharp wit, as in the King\u2019s Hunting Jigs.\u00a0 Gibbons is more Mozartian: he has great architectonic power & a much larger synthetic sense of form, and commands the full fortes in style of writing in a way which really puts him far ahead of Frescobaldi & his more conventional fugues: in fact, he\u2019s the 16th<\/sup> c. at its ripest.\u00a0 To him, as to Mozart, music is a mystery to be explored by a clear mind.\u00a0 He\u2019s a synthesis of Byrd\u2019s classic & Bull\u2019s romantic style. . . . Bull was the Debussy of his time, and his music has the same subtle, delicate, mysteriously ectoplasmic quality about it. (Notebook 5)<\/p>\nThe immensely increased range that modal harmony affords to music makes it incredible that it did not play a more active role in the art between 1600 and 1900 than is generally assigned to it.\u00a0 There are explicit examples of course: the Lydian movement in Beethoven\u2019s op. 132 quartet; the Dorian movement in Brahms\u2019 fourth symphony.\u00a0 But it would be interesting to examine the subject further, particularly in modern music.\u00a0 Recently I was reading through a volume of piano pieces by Sibelius, and came across one in a set of pieces with names of trees, I think op. 85, in G sharp minor with a four-sharp key sig\u00adnature and a flat supertonic throughout\u2014in other words in G sharp Phrygian.\u00a0 Debussy\u2019s Hommage a Rameau, also in G sharp minor, has the E sharped through the last half-dozen bars, and so ends in G sharp Dorian.\u00a0 Chopin\u2019s Prelude in F major, op. 28 no. 23, has a Mixolydian cadence, a fact which draws squeals of ecstasy from Huneker, who pre\u00adsumably never read Byrd, who did the same thing in every tenth piece he wrote. (\u201cModal Harmony in Music\u201d)<\/p>\n
When I start learning to compose I shall investigate modal harmony: I find myself quite baffled by the stupidity of musicians in ever dropping it.\u00a0 Arranged in order of sharpness, they are Lydian, Ionian or major, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian or minor, Phrygian, Locrian.\u00a0 Lydian is a shade brighter than major, Dorian a shade more majestic than minor, Phrygian & Mixolydian, Phrygian especially, gloomy and plaintive.\u00a0 I dare say a lot of Bach\u2019s minor music is really Dorian, a lot of Chopin\u2019s Phrygian, a lot of Beethoven\u2019s major Lydian, a lot of Mendelssohn\u2019s Mixolydian.\u00a0 You see, it\u2019s an interlocking scheme.\u00a0 A piece of B Lydian would have a key signature of 6#; in B major, of 5#; B Mixolydian, 4; B Dorian, 3; B minor, 2; B Phrygian, 1; B Locrian, none.\u00a0 I ran across a piece in G# by Sibelius (a set of tree-pieces op. I think about 85) with 4#\u2014G# Phrygian, in other words.\u00a0 Debussy\u2019s Hommage \u00e0 Rameau ends in G# Dorian.\u00a0 Wonder if a spectrum association would ever be made by some future Scriabine: Lydian red, etc.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got more notes on this in Elizabethan music somewhere. (Diaries)<\/p>\n
Of the universal rationalization of history to make the preceding age, the age of the father, an aberration from the great tradition (the second father or old wise man) which is now being carried on by the new people.\u00a0 Thus music does fine as far as Mozart, is just awful until modern times, & starts again with Debussy.\u00a0 How this affects Ruskin\u2019s championing of Turner & his denigration of the rococo & baroque. (Diaries)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tpOuSc9WApk Debussy’s “Hommage a Rameau”.\u00a0 Arturo Michelangeli, piano. Further to Michael’s earlier post I may be cracked, and mustn\u2019t arrive at premature conclusions, but I think I can exhaust and distinguish the styles of [William] Byrd, [John] Bull & [Orlando] Gibbons.\u00a0 Byrd is an intensely virile, straightforward composer: his rhythm is the most positive element […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bob-denham","category-music"],"yoast_head":"\n
Frye's References to Debussy - The Educated Imagination<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Frye's References to Debussy - The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tpOuSc9WApk Debussy’s “Hommage a Rameau”.\u00a0 Arturo Michelangeli, piano. Further to Michael’s earlier post I may be cracked, and mustn\u2019t arrive at premature conclusions, but I think I can exhaust and distinguish the styles of [William] Byrd, [John] Bull & [Orlando] Gibbons.\u00a0 Byrd is an intensely virile, straightforward composer: his rhythm is the most positive element […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-03-27T03:13:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Denham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Denham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Denham\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/f0d6833dfde3f2793ecbbc6aacd83812\"},\"headline\":\"Frye’s References to Debussy\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-03-27T03:13:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/\"},\"wordCount\":721,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Bob Denham\",\"Music\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/\",\"name\":\"Frye's References to Debussy - The Educated Imagination\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-03-27T03:13:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/f0d6833dfde3f2793ecbbc6aacd83812\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Frye’s References to Debussy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\",\"name\":\"The Educated Imagination\",\"description\":\"A Website Dedicated to Northrop Frye\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/f0d6833dfde3f2793ecbbc6aacd83812\",\"name\":\"Bob Denham\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e142dc4b6eec3365c24a599621bb9d757dd5f86d31eb62d98586fead4050d33?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e142dc4b6eec3365c24a599621bb9d757dd5f86d31eb62d98586fead4050d33?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e142dc4b6eec3365c24a599621bb9d757dd5f86d31eb62d98586fead4050d33?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bob Denham\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/denham\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Frye's References to Debussy - The Educated Imagination","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Frye's References to Debussy - The Educated Imagination","og_description":"httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tpOuSc9WApk Debussy’s “Hommage a Rameau”.\u00a0 Arturo Michelangeli, piano. Further to Michael’s earlier post I may be cracked, and mustn\u2019t arrive at premature conclusions, but I think I can exhaust and distinguish the styles of [William] Byrd, [John] Bull & [Orlando] Gibbons.\u00a0 Byrd is an intensely virile, straightforward composer: his rhythm is the most positive element […]","og_url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/","og_site_name":"The Educated Imagination","article_published_time":"2010-03-27T03:13:44+00:00","author":"Bob Denham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bob Denham","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/"},"author":{"name":"Bob Denham","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/f0d6833dfde3f2793ecbbc6aacd83812"},"headline":"Frye’s References to Debussy","datePublished":"2010-03-27T03:13:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/"},"wordCount":721,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Bob Denham","Music"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/","name":"Frye's References to Debussy - The Educated Imagination","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-03-27T03:13:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/f0d6833dfde3f2793ecbbc6aacd83812"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/03\/26\/references-to-debussy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Frye’s References to Debussy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/","name":"The Educated Imagination","description":"A Website Dedicated to Northrop Frye","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/f0d6833dfde3f2793ecbbc6aacd83812","name":"Bob Denham","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e142dc4b6eec3365c24a599621bb9d757dd5f86d31eb62d98586fead4050d33?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e142dc4b6eec3365c24a599621bb9d757dd5f86d31eb62d98586fead4050d33?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e142dc4b6eec3365c24a599621bb9d757dd5f86d31eb62d98586fead4050d33?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bob Denham"},"url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/denham\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}