Yale University Department of Music

Pentatonic Organization in Two Piano Pieces of Debussy

Author(s): David Kopp
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Autumn, 1997), pp. 261-287
Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of the Yale University Department of Music
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/843960 .
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PENTATONIC ORGANIZATION IN
TWO PIANO PIECES OF DEBUSSY

DavidKopp

I
The innovativeaspectsof Debussy'sharmonicpracticehavebeen commonly attributedto his use of nontraditionalscales and of familiartonal
materialin unfamiliarsuccessions. In this view, the characteristicresult
is an exotic andorder-independentharmonicvocabularybest describable
as color. This definition hinges on an implicit distinction between directed,colorless tonalityon one hand,and static,colorful successions of
in-the-momentharmoniesdrawingwhat coherence they display largely
from immediatecontext on the other.Harmonicfunction and harmonic
color are picturedas mutuallyexclusive, fundamentallyopposed qualities. Thus Arnold Schoenbergwrote of Debussy's "non-functionalharmonies,"operatingwithout reference to a single tonic; these, "without
constructivemeaning,often servedthe colouristicpurposeof expressing
moods and pictures"(Schoenberg 1984, 216). Debussy himself wrote of
the need to transcendthe stricturesof form andthe limits of conventional
harmonicprogressionin order to create music based more directly on
color and beautyof sound.I
But of course there are colors to the familiar tonal progressionsas
well. It is just that we are so inuredto them thatwe tend to perceive and
261

think of them as black and white. Debussy's colors may be lush, but it
may well be their complex and unusualaspect along with an attenuated
sense of goal-directedness,ratherthan any ultimatelack of orderedcoherence,thatpromptsthe conclusion thatthey act withoutreferenceto a
harmonic system. Systems may exist in which at least some of these
sonoritiescan be understoodto relatein coherent,meaningfulways. Perhaps the usage of the term color merely signifies the absence of names
and concepts by which to differentiatethese processes of change, or a
tendency not to ascribe coherence where familiarteleological qualities
are not easily felt. Schoenbergmay relate the diminishedperceptionof
conventionaltonic-centerednessto a lack of "constructivemeaning,"but
the latterneed not necessarily follow from the former.As ArthurWenk
has observed,"Debussysought to revitalizetonalityratherthanto abandon it" (Wenk 1983, 68).
Earlier studies of Debussy's use of the common alternativescales
(whole tone, octatonic,pentatonic),epitomizedby ConstantinBrailoiu's
exhaustive treatmentof Debussy's pentatonic music (Brailoiu 1958),
focused on purely melodic aspects of pitch organization.2More recent
work speculateson harmonicaspects. PhilippeCharru,drawingon theories of ClaudeBallif, has tracedthe interactionof the differentsourcecollections in Debussy'sPreludesby meansof analysespredicatedon invariant three-notemotives which, acting melodically and as harmonicfocal
points,underliedisparatesurfacemanifestationsof key andmode (Charm
1988, Ballif 1968).3Wenk(1983) has summarizedseveralacknowledged
aspects of Debussy's harmonic practice beyond the use of alternative
scales and modes: his "replacement"of harmonicprogressionby elaboration of static harmonies;his utilization of tritone relationshipsalong
with fifth relationships;his predilectionfor nonfunctionalparallel harmonies anddissonantjuxtapositionsof semitone-relatedchords.4Richard
Muellerhas tracedinteractionsof whole-tone and pentatoniccollections
in Debussy's Javanese-influencedmusic (Mueller 1986, 157-85).
Analyses based on set theory have more formally modeled ways in
which the collections definedby these scales may each serve as sources
for a complex of relatedsubsets.The smallersets, actingmelodicallyand
harmonically,may conversely be understoodto invoke their source collections, deriving contextual sense throughtheir relation to controlling
harmonicentitiesandtheircharacteristicsounds.Thus a type of harmonic
coherenceis demonstratedwithoutexplicitreferenceto tonalprocess.The
teleological aspect associated with tonal relationships is not strongly
evoked by this approach,in accordancewith the widely-recognizedlack
of goal-directednessin much of Debussy's music. This is not to say that
set relationshipsare presumedalways to operateindependentlyof tonality. Familiartonal relationshipsconsistentlycoexist with alternativeharmonyin Debussy,andit is commonknowledgethathe regularlyemployed
262

common subsets to mediate transitionsbetween different scale types.

Beyond this, though,analysis may show how the large degree of overlap
of subsetsamong differentscalarsource sets facilitatesthe simultaneous
presenceof multiplemodes of harmonicorganization.RichardParkshas
providedthe technical basis for this approachto Debussy's music in a
wide-rangingstudy (Parks 1989), identifying four genera of high-level
organization:diatonic,whole-tone,chromatic,andoctatonic.Anotherrecent study identifies music in Debussy whose foregroundis ostensibly
diatonic but whose backgroundorganization,its fundamentallevel, is
clearly octatonic(Forte 1991, 138).
I proposethatan analogoussituationobtainsin Debussy'sLes collines
d'Anacapri(The Hills of Anacapri),the fifthof the Prdludes,book I, written in 1909. While Les collines outwardlyremainsin diatonic B major
from beginningto end, there is considerableaudibleharmonicvarietyin
the piece. Two kinds of pitch organizationin this preludearereadilydiscernible:diatonicandpentatonic.My claim is thattwo differenttonalsystems are presentin the prelude,both operatingwithin a seven-note diatonic context. One system is familiarfunctionaltonality.The other is a
system of shifting pentatoniccollections whose medium of coherence
does not derivefromconventionaltonalrelationships.Ratherthanchanging tonalcentersover its coursefor the sakeof harmonicvarietyandinterest, Les collines alternatesbetween these two systems of organization
while preservingits tonal center.5
The standardmodel for pentatonicmusic operatingwithin a diatonic
frameworkentails a single anhemitonicpentatonicscale overlayingdiatonic scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6.6 This collection is used as the basis
for melody, while the remainingdiatonic pitches are supplied by subsidiarylines or chords,facilitatingfull-fledgedpresence of the common
tonal functions. Familiarinstances of this technique underlyingentire
pieces are Chopin's black key etude (op. 10, no. 5) and Debussy's prelude, Lafille aux cheveuxde lin. These so-called "pentatonic"workstake
place within a relativelyconventionaltonal context.7
In Les collines, however,pentatonicorganizationis complex and fundamental,encompassingthe bulk of the piece and involving all three of
the pentatoniccollections which are naturallyembeddedin any particular diatonic set.8The relationshipof these collections to the key and to
each otheris displayedin Figure 1, in which the membersof the diatonic
set arearrangedby fifth.The pentatoniccollection may be thoughtof not
just as a scalar grouping,but also as the set of pitches generatedby an
end-to-end series of five fifths.9Three such series, startinga fifth from
each other,yield three pentachordswhose collective pitch content is the
major-modediatonic set.
In addition,the diatonic and pentatoniccollections are complementary with respect to the total chromatic,informallyobvious throughthe
263

IL,

'

T I

I-I"

B
C

Figure 1. Derivationof the three diatonicpentachords

A:Soft
A: Soft

B:Middle
B: Middle

C:Hard

C: Hard

Figure 2. The threepentachordsof Les collines d'Anacapri

sets' identities as the white-key and black-key collections on the keyboard.While it is true that Debussy exploits this complementationrelationship in other works, the embeddingproperty,in which differentsystems of organizationoverlaythe same harmoniclocus, takes precedence
in Les collines, as this study will demonstrate.'0
The three groups as an embedded system form a familiar configuration. In additionto the customarilyexploited pentatoniccollection situated at the tonic, anotheris found a fifthbelow the tonic, while a thirdlies
a fifth above the tonic." Since the terms tonic, dominant,and subdominant are tonally suggestive, I name the three pentachordsin homage to
the ancienthexachords.They are soft (on diatonic4), middle (on diatonic
1), and hard(on diatonic5). I avoid using the archaicterm "natural"for
the middlepentachordto guardagainstthe assumptionthatin this system
it is necessarily more naturalthan the others, or that it is inherentlythe
harmonicfocus. In Les collines, for example,harmonicmotion is largely
a matterof patternsof directed shifts between the three pentachordsin
which the middle pentachordis often an intermediateelement.12
The anhemitonicpentachordcan be understoodas a subsetof the diatonic set, overlayingscale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, and6 (Figure3). This subset
lacks scale steps 4 and 7, the two pitches forming the tritone, identified
with the dominant seventh chord, which motivates onward harmonic
motion to the tonic. Withina single pentachord,this results in a significant restrictionof the characteristictonal interplaybetween melody and
functionalharmony.13The absence of scale degree4 furthermeans that
the root of the subdominantis lacking.This absence of essential features
of bothdominantand subdominantdoes not precludeinternaltonal activity amongmembersof the pentachord,but it does considerablyconstrain
its harmonicrange. Thus the [1, 2, 3, 5, 6] overlay is a significantlyless
dynamic entity than the diatonic set, moreoverwith characteristicsdifferent from the other possible pentatonicmajor-scaleoverlay, [1, 2, 4, 5,
264

6].14 The otherthreeorderingsof the anhemitonicpentachordinvokedif-

ferent diatonic scales or modes, as shown in Table 1, which lists and

names the orderings and the scale overlays associated with each.'5 In
accordancewith this table, I will refer to the two major-scaleoverlays
describedabove as PT1 and PT2.16
Figure 3 clarifiesthis point by showing the extent to which the notes
comprisingthe threeprimarytriadsarecontainedin the PT1 overlay.The
tonic triad is complete. Dominantand subdominant,though, are representedonly by dyads lackingthe importantfunctionalelementsjust mentioned. As a result, PT1 is a highly stable, even static entity,reflectedin
a strongtonic component,and in less strong,less differentiateddominant
componentsthan normallyencounteredin diatonic music. Furthermore,
absence of the [4, 7] dyad also vitiates somewhatthe usual tonal weighting to the sharpside.17
Each of the three PT1 pentachordsembeddedin the diatonic set thus
defines a relativelystable harmonicareain which tension createdby dissonance is largely attenuated.Accordingly,harmonicactivityin this system does not come largely from contrapuntaltendencies inherentin the
pentatoniccollection itself which give rise to motion from one subgroup
to another.Harmonicmotionin this system morenaturallytakes place on
a higher level, as shifts from one pentatonicgroup to another,all taking
place within the same diatonic collection, as the three embeddedpentachordsdefinesimilarharmonicareasyet overlaydifferentscale degrees.'s
In the embeddedpentatonicsystem, along with the five nondiatonic
pitches, certainmembersof the diatonicset itself have the potentialto be
treatedas nonharmonictones.These pitchesmay takeon a dissonantcharacterwhen heardin contextsinvolvingpentachordswhich do not include
them. For example, in the B majorPT1 pentatonicsystem, the soft pentachordcontainsthe pitches E, F#, G#, B, and C#.The pitchA#, although
diatonicin B major,is not a memberof the pentachordon E. In a context
in which the soft pentachordis active, A# may therefore sound out of
place, as if it were a nonharmonictone (Figure4). Likewise, E and B may

23

Figure 3. Representationof the primaryfunctions

in the PT1 pentachordordering:
T: 1,3,5
S: 6, 1 (thirdand fifth)
D: 5, 2 (root and fifth)
265

Name

Interval content

Mode invoked

Scale degree overlay

PT1

2-2-3-2 [0, 2, 4, 7, 9] 1

Major

1, 2, 3, 5, 6

PT2

2-3-2-2 [0, 2, 5, 7, 9]

Major

1, 2, 4, 5, 6

PT3

2-3-2-3 [0, 2, 5, 7, 10]

PT4

3-2-2-3

PT5

[0, 3, 5, 7, 10]
3-2-3-2 [0, 3, 5, 8, 10]

Dorian
Natural minor
Nat. minor / Phrygian

1,2, 4,, ,
1,3,4, 5 ,
1,

34, 6, ,

Table 1. The five orderingsof the anhemitonicpentachordand their

associated scale overlays
sound out of place when heard against the hard pentachord.Melodic
diminutionand motion between pentachordsmay also, of course, implicate pitches from outside the diatonic collection. But it is not necessary
to introducechromaticismin orderto supply non-harmonicsound:there
will always be two diatonicpitches foreign to each pentachord.
By the same token,the soft andhardpentachordseach containexactly
one pitch which is foreign to both of the other two pentachords.These
tones can assume the role of identitypitches, distinguishingthe relevant
pentachordfromthe others(Figure4). Forexample,in B major,the pitch
A# is found only in the hardpentachord.A# may thus come to exemplify
the "hard"sound. Likewise, the pitch E, found only in the soft pentachord, may exemplify the "soft"sound. This propertyis evident in Les
collines. Conversely,thereare threetones which are common to all three
pentatonicgroups.These arethe diatonicpitcheslocatedon scale degrees
2, 5, and6. This collection has the potentialto workas a sortof tonal glue,
associatingthe threepentachordstogetherindependentlyof the tonic. In
Les collines, these common pitches ("glue tones"G#-C#-F#in B major;
Figure 5) do indeed act in this way.
II
These are some of the propertiesof an integratedpentatonic-diatonic
system. Over Les collines' three equally long sections, this type of pentatonicorganizationpervadesnearlyevery note of the firstand thirdsections, and forms an importantsecondaryelement of the middle section.
Pentatonicorganizationalso determines,in an importantand dynamic
way, the harmonic structureof phrases, sections, and the piece as a
whole. The following analysis will demonstratethe substanceof these
claims. Referencesto the first section are includedin Example 1.
At the outset of Les collines, six successive notes delimiting an anhemitonic pentachordrise and linger as a sustainedharmonicentity.19
While it will become clear that this pentachordis the soft pentachordof
266

the B majorsystem, its identityat this point is ambiguous.The fifth B-F#

which begins the piece could signal B major;however,the complete E
majortriadformedby the last threenotes could constitutean arrivaland
might itself imply a tonic. Or the entire sonoritymay define a single inverted seventh chord (the F# being dissonant) with multiple possible
meanings.The distributionof tones might suggest eithera PT2 or a PT1
ordering. All that is completely certain is the suspended pentatonic
sound.20
A quickerdescending gesture introducesone of the piece's principal
melodies. The descending melody also falls within the soft pentachord,
with the additionof whatmay sensiblybe called a nonharmonictone: D#,
rhythmicallyvery weak and of only minor significance as a necessary
passing tone.21 Defining the contoursof the melody are the notes occurring on strongbeats:F#, C#, and G#.These are the glue tones in the pentatonic system on B.
The rolled chord punctuatingthis melody also derives from the soft
pentachord,but contains one new nonharmonicpitch:A#, set off in the
highest register.In partbecause it was the only diatonic pitch absent in
the piece to this point, and in partbecause it is foreign to the soft penta-

=.

I0w ,r,~,

,,

Soft
Medium

,H-d

.;

Hard

Figure4. Diatonic pitches which can be locally

nonharmonic(black notes)
-

IL

;II

"II

i,

Soft
i
if

Iediurn

irI

dp

1Hard
=_11

Hard

Figure 5. The glue tones (between double bars)

267

Vi

"

(=

en
quitte,
laissant rihrrr

soft -

En
Tres

rI
.

eerrant

mode6r6

40

__..-

of

14,,

I r- do"9

V3

Irr"d
-r-4Lrr_
middle -

(B drops out)

App
eu-ie
aproY

el
z,

i]

hard -

Example 1. Openingsection of Les Collines d'Anacapri,with shifting

pitch collections indicated
chord, this A# sounds particularlyisolated and dissonant.Normally,A#
would be the leading tone, full of tonic-directedness.Here the pitch conveys a differentsense, standingout as a goalless dissonanceagainstwhat
has precededit. This treatmentof A# begins to nullify a sense of diatonic
B majorearly on in the prelude,and to strengthenthe impressionof pentatonicharmonydespite the completionof the diatonic set.
268

IllM)

tI" -

id I

-- I

I "
II-

? (II

F?'-'

; I

.I

IJ

d A

IL I
-'-

hard & soft "

f
AD

141-

ppp

glue tones

soft ..

___

p expressij
octatonic

(dissonant D ii)
C~de~z/l

transition to diatonici
transition

to

_.

distonicism

Example 1 (continued)
After the returnof the opening music, which reinforcesthe soft pentachordsound,the rolled chordwith dissonantA# returnsto framean animatedtransformationin mm. 8 and 9, initiatinga shift to a new harmonic
area.22This shift entails the firstchromaticmotion in the prelude,limited
to exactly those two voices which can mediate a passage from the soft
pentachordto the middle pentachord.For this harmonicshift to happen,
269

E must disappear,while DOmust take its place. And this is what occurs:
in one voice, E moves throughE# to become F#, while in anothervoice,
C#, by way of Cx, becomes DO(refer to Example 1). Confirmingthis
process, the descendingmelody of mm. 3 and 4 returns,transposedup a
fifth.This time, E is the diatonicpitch excludedfromthe melody.E is the
identitypitch of the soft pentachord,the tone which belongs to no other
collection in this system, and its absence underscoresthe harmonicmotion of the last few measures.This appearanceof the descendingmelody
is followed not by a dissonant chord, but by a repeated falling-fourth
motive derivedfrom the pitches occurringon the melody's beats, all of
which lie in the tonic pentachord.23
At this point the opening music is
clearly understoodas other-than-tonic,taking place in the soft pentachord. This new pentachord,clearly based on B, confirms PT1 as the
ordering active in Les collines.

The achievementof m. 11 is short-lived.While the falling-fourthmusic

contributesto the sense of harmonicarrival,it also initiatesa shift to the
hardpentachord,for it lacks a B, conserving only those four notes (C#,
DO,F#,GO)whicharecommonto the tonic andhardcollections.The emergent ostinatoon D#and F#supportsa melody,beginningin m. 14, whose
tune is new but whose rhythmreiteratesthe patternof the descending
melody.This new melody takes place withinthe hardpentachord;B here
is nonharmonic,appearingalways in a rhythmicallyweak position as a
passing tone, and eventuallydisappearing.A#, on the otherhand,is quite
prominent,once again less a leading tone than an independentquality.
Like the earlierdescendingmelody, this one regularlyoutlines fourths.
Towardthe end of this passage, in mm. 18-20, the left handbegins to
projectwhat seems like diatonicB major.Froma pentatonicperspective,
though, what is happeningis motion from the hardpentachordback to
the soft pentachord.For this to occur, E and B must reappear,while A#
and D# must eventually disappear.To achieve a smooth transitionbetween the two, Debussy introducesthe E and B first,then withdrawsthe
other two pitches. The intermediatestage, in which the pitches of both
pentachordsare present, involves the entire diatonic set. The harmonic
shift to soft is carriedthroughin m. 21, duringwhich the righthandholds
the ostinato,now reducedto F#alone, while the left handbringsback the
opening melody, signallinga move back to the soft pentachord.The disconfirmsthe move away from hardto soft. Following
appearanceof AM
this, in m. 22, is a wash of F# surroundingthe fourthG#-C#.This is the
sound of the glue tones, the common groundbetween the hardand soft
pentachords,and in a way the emblem of the pentatonic system as a
whole. The glue tones give a sense of melding (which the complete diatonic cannotgive) and of arrival,since we are back where we started,in
the melodic territoryof the soft pentachord.These threenotes can also be
270

thoughtof as a general summing-upgesture, since the music is aboutto

move away from the pentachordalsystem.
Reviewing large-scaleharmonicmotionto this point:Fromthe beginning throughm. 17 there is one extended rise throughthe pentachords,
from soft (m. 1) to middle (m. 10) to hard(m. 14). This is followed by a
move directlyback from hard(m. 17) to soft (m. 21). The middle pentachordis underplayed:it is active for only two measuresduringthe rising
episode, and is bypassedcompletely at the returnto the soft pentachord.
Debussy is reservingit; he has managedto be technicallyin B majorall
this time and yet to have very little to do with the tonic in either its pentatonic or diatonic forms. Since the overall harmonic motion in mm.
1-24 is from soft back to soft, I consider "soft"to be the governingharmony of this first section.24
Measures24 through31 instigatea transitionalphase fromprimacyof
the soft collection to primacyof the tonic, andfrompentatonicismto diatonicism. The passage is invigoratedby an octatonic left-handmelody
drawingits main pitches from the diminishedseventhchordbased on A,
and its secondary ones from the upper neighbors to members of that
chord.25Its greatersignificancederives from mm. 8-10, which also involves a move from soft to tonic involving chromaticpitches. In this
light, we can understandchromaticismas an indicatorof transition,and
the octatonicism as an expansion of the earlier chromaticmaterial.Its
significance is not only as a collection of specific pitches but also as a
contrastingentity interveningbetween large areashaving differentkinds
of organization.
The foreignoctatonicsoundsits uneasily.It lasts for a merethreemeasures, at which point the music, as if in reaction, stops short in m. 28.
Debussy makes the dominantseventh configurationat this point sound
unusuallydissonantwithin the prevailingharmoniccontext. The D?, in
particular,stands out awkwardlyfor the following reasons. Within the
new octatonic context two notes appearingin the passage are nonharmonic: B and D? (Figure6). Since B is the tonic of the piece, its locally
dissonantquality enhances the foreign sound of the passage. D?, on the
other hand, is dissonant to everything:the tonic key, all three pentachords, and the octachord.It is also the only note in the chord of m. 28
which does not belong to the diminishedseventhchordon A. Moreover,
D? has a largerpurpose,for it is an importantchromaticpassing tone, the
transitionnote between the soft and middle pentachords.Here it fulfills
the identicalfunctionas the enharmonicallyequivalentCx in m. 9, leading to the DOthat signifies motion from the soft collection to the middle.
In fact, mm. 30 and 31 contain nothing but D#, concentratingthe evidence of harmonicmotion in the bare essential, suspendingall further
activity until the upbeatto the next section.
271

I
IIk+

r
L

ji

Figure6. The octachord(white notes) and locally nonharmonictones

(black notes); notes in bracketsdo not occur in the octatonicpassage
The interiorsection of the piece, mm. 32-65, is plainly andheartilyin
diatonic B major.The transitionto diatonicism is particularlysmooth
because it takes place by way of the tonic arrivaljust documented.The
middle pentachordremainsin clear evidence for a while, underlyingthe
melody of mm. 32-44. But therearedifferencesbetweenthis melody and
the earlier pentatonic melodies. First, its profile is markedlydifferent,
with frequentleaps andchangesof direction.Second,this leapingmelody
includes a strongdose of A# as leadingtone, while the D# ostinatois now
saturatedwith E as upperneighbor.Thus the sense of this passage is one
of pentatonicitytransformed,now operating wholly within a diatonic
framework.This feeling of integrationis heightenedduringthe repetition
of the melody in mm. 40-43, particularlyin m. 42, where the opening
soft pentatonic group smoothly introduces a dominant-toniccadence
whose goal is explicitly the middle pentachord.
By m. 49 the lingeringpentatonicpresencehas faded. Until the return
of the opening music in m. 63, the piece is dominatedby diatonic,scalar
melody and familiarfunctionalprogressions.While this middle section
of Les collines should be understoodas strictly diatonic, some of its
music displays propertiesassociatedwith the earliersection. One of the
more obvious continuities concerns the unresolvedA#. While A# does
move to tonic B initially in the pentatonic melody of mm. 32-44, it
comes back in contexts which begin to restoreits independencefrom B.
In m. 47, A#, a clear leading tone, is left hanging at the end of a phrase;
the next phrase,which startsanothersection, does begin with a tonic, but
the A# is not resolved in register.The unresolvedA#persists into m. 49,
wherethe pitch is still plainly associatedwith the dominant.Once again,
though, at m. 54, it is left hanging, and once again, in mm. 55-62, the
musical context deposits A# in a register higher than the rest of the
melody, such that it does not resolve directly to B (this happensonly in
an inner voice). The transitionarea, mm. 63-65, furtherreinforcesthe
separation of A# from its leading tone role, suggesting through its
modal/plagalcadences thatAM,not A#, be associated harmonicallywith
tonic B.
Measures63- 65 effect a transitionbackto the pentatonicmusic of the
firstsection. The opening gesturereturnswith a diatoniccast: it becomes
the firstelement in a plagal progression,the soft-to-middlemotion made
tonally explicit. The lowered leading tone (AM)in mm. 63 and 65 rein272

forces the impressionof an opening soft pentachordbased on E, imparting an even "softer"sound.26The firstof the two plagal progressions,in
mm. 63-64, looks behind to the diatonic music that precededit: it ends
on the tonic triad.The second, in mm. 65-68, looks ahead and breaks
back into pentatonicterritory:it ends on the middle pentachord,which
entersthe picturein the left handat mm. 66 while the soft pentachordis
still active above in the right.
This tonic episode is even more short-livedthan the one at m. 9. Immediately after its appearancein m. 68, the middle pentachordis supplantedby the hardpentachord,which revives the melody first heardin
m. 14. The first section's gradual rise through the pentachordsis recounted here at breakneckspeed. The anticipatedmove back to the soft
area begins in the left handat mm. 71-72, with the additionof B, while
E is approachedchromaticallydownwardthroughE#,and is arrivedat in
m. 73. Measures 73-74 continue the condensed reiterationof the harmonic process of the firstsection.The soft pentachord,as expected,reappears in the right hand. Simultaneously,the left hand highlights D?, a
pitch which is by now a familiar,strong signal of impendingchromatic
motion and a probablemove to diatonicmusic.
At this moment Debussy checks the headlong harmonicdrive. The
"hard"melody returnsin m. 74 and persistsall the way into m. 80. Meanwhile, the left hand, conserving the content of the previous measures,
alternatesbetween the opening "soft" melody and a simmering chromatic potentialitythatemerges with the upperhand in m. 77. This chromatic line eventuallytraces a fourth,moving from D? to G0. This is the
only appearanceof the pitch G0, which in this context is as highly dissonantas D?, in the entirepiece. Along with the thickly chromaticline, the
presence of these two dissonancesgives a heightenedsense of transition
and expectation,abettedby the dramaticseven-measuredelay, leadingto
the final expected step in the transitionto diatonic music, arrivalat D#.
This arrivalis truncatedinto a single octave in the middle of m. 80, at
which point the music plunges into the melody thatbeganthe middle section. This spot is a high point of the piece and the epitome of its dual harmonic nature.While the righthandplays a melody which, as in the middle section, is pentatonicin content yet diatonic in context, the left hand
underscoresthis dramaticallywith a descending B major scale. This is
followed by the V-I cadenceemployingpentachords,firstheardin m. 42.
It is a momentof sublime integration.
The closing section follows, consisting of yet anotherdirected rise
throughthe three pentachords.After a last flirtationwith diatonicismin
mm. 84-85, the opening soft pentachordmelodies return,bringingwith
them the AMacquiredin m. 63, impartinga particularlylow, even softer
sound. As if to directly portraythe upwardharmonicprocess, the music
twice literallyrises, then falls. On the thirdattemptit achieves the high
273

soft -

middle-hard-

meas.

soft -

middle- diatonic - - - - - - - - - - - - --

12

20

32

sof
m
64

-S---------------------------------------

CYCLE1--------------------------------------I------------

a: Threecycles of directedrise followed by diatonicism(cyc

soft -

middle-hard-

meas.

12

soft 20

middle * diatonic- - - - - - - - - - - - - -32

so
m
64

--------------------------------------B---------------------------I------------------A---------------

b: Alternationof rises with pentatonicand diaton

SOFT ------------- --------------------------meas.

TONIC(MIDDLE)------------------------------ HA
64
32

directed
rise
Onelarge-scale
c: One large-scaledirectedrise

Figure7. Three conceptionsof harmonicstructurein Les coll

register,intensifies and, in m. 94, is transformedinto a brightlyunfolding middle pentachord.At the very end, the dynamicclimax of the piece,
the rise is completed by three highly emphasizedpitches from the hard
pentachord,includingits identitypitch, A#. Here is the realizationof the
potential of the first A# in m. 4: this final A# is fully liberatedfrom its
accustomedrole as leading tone. Its appearancehere, while technically
within the compass of B major, is as a member of a harmonic group
which excludes the pitch B.
III
We arenow in a positionto look at the harmonicstructureof the entire
prelude. The foregoing discussion suggests at least three ways to conceive it. The first,shown in Figure7a, is a three-partcyclic organization,
in which each cycle grows progressivelyshorter.The initial cycle lasts
for the firsttwo thirdsof the piece, from measures1 to 64. It begins in the
soft pentachordand rises by way of chromaticmotion throughthe middle and into the hardpentachord.It then returnsto the soft pentachord
and, once again through chromatic motion, moves to the middle, this
time subsumedinto diatonic B major.This series of events is repeated
muchmorequickly in the second cycle, which extendsfrommeasures65
to 84. The thirdcycle, from measures84 to 96, is incomplete,consisting
only of the initial rise throughthe threepentachords.
Another,associated view, displayed in Figure 7b, identifies two distinct types of harmonicprocess operatingin the piece. The firstis the rise
from soft pentachordthroughmiddleto hard.The second is the shift from
pentatonicismto diatonicism,which happensas a move from soft pentachordthroughmiddlepentachordto diatonicscale. This view producesa
symmetricalrepresentationof Les collines. If we call the firstprocess A
and the second process B, the form of the piece is A B A B A, with pentatonicism framing diatonicism, and the rises throughthe pentachords
framingarrivalsto the tonic.
The third conception of Les collines' structureworks at the deepest
level, yet ironicallyframesthe piece in the threeequalpartsit displayson
the surface.It is shown in Figure 7c. Recall the conclusion that the first
section of the piece is governed primarilyby the soft pentachord.The
middle section, on the otherhand,is governedby the tonic, since it is in
diatonicB majorand only the middle pentachordappears.The final section can be seen to be governedmore by the hardpentachord.The "hard"
melody lasts for a significantamountof time (mm. 68-72 and 74-80);
moreover,the hardpentachordis the ultimategoal of the final, climactic
gesture.In this way the harmonicmotion of the piece as a whole can be
seen to mirrorthe process which repeatedlyguides the progress of its
275

pentatonicharmonyat the local level-namely, the rise from soft through

middle to hard.
Thus we havethe fascinatingcase of a tonalpiece which, at least from
one point of view, is not built aroundthe principleof departurefrom and
returnto the tonic-in fact, the piece never really modulatesaway from
B major.Instead,there is a system of pentachordaldifferentiationoperating completely within the diatonic set. As a result, anotherunifying
conceptof harmonicmotion and structureappears:the pentachordalrise.

IV
Coexisting with Les collines' pentatonicunderstructureis the apparent diatonicityof its surface.While the outer sections do not projectthe
straightforwardharmonicrelationshipsof the interiorsection, they have
a tonal sound. Conventionalanalysis can help to specify these different
tonal characters,and, further,to show how tonal and pentatonicaspects
of this music may fortify or undermineeach other.I will treatonly the
first section.
With the exception of m. 9, the first twenty-four measures of Les
collines arecompletelydiatonic,suggestinga circumscribedrangeof harmonic motion.HarmonicelementsareDebussy-typicalseventhchordsor
largerstacksof thirds,appearingeithercomplete or in part.In mm. 1-10,
harmonicactivityestablishesa plagalrelationshipbetweentwo pitchcollections:the majorseventh/ninthchordon tonic B, and the minorseventh
chord on neighboringC#. At the outset, the B collection is represented
only by the bare fifth B-F# at the beginnings of mm. 1 and 5, while the
C#collection is complete, controllingthe rest of the harmoniccontentup
throughm. 7. The balancebetween the two shifts over the course of mm.
8-10. Withthe B-F# intervalpersistingin registeras a pedal, the C# collection becomes the firstelement in a cadentialprogressionwhich leads
to and establishes the dominance of the B collection, both throughthe
directednatureof the cadence, and by providingit a D# for the firsttime.
This tonic arrivalis prolongedas a single harmonythroughmm. 11-17,
although the pitch B itself is relegated to passing-tone status in the
melodicline, leaving a D#minorseventhchordas the controllingelement.
In mm. 18-20, the C# collection is reintroduced,framinga local oscillation between membersof the two collections. This gives way to the C#collection melody in m. 21, now redefined:the F#, heardas a dissonance
in m. 3, becomes a pedal tone to which C#is heardto resolve by descending fifth. The presence of the F# fundamentalfrom here throughm. 24
would seem to signal an arrivalto the dominant,which has yet to figure
in the piece. But a clear dominantperceptionis underminedby two factors. First,the arrivalis a half cadence at best, since the C#minorseventh
chordcan signify only ii, not V/F#. Second, there is no thirdavailableto
276

ground the FK,only the open sound of the conjoined fifths F#-C#-G#.
Whatthis settlingon F#does seem to signify is neutralterritory,a respite
from the dramaof the shiftingdominanceof the B and C#collections. As
the music continues, the dominantsense of F# is furtherdiluted by its
redefinitionin mm. 25-28 as partof a dead-enddiminishedseventhchord
(brieflyas thirdof a relateddominant4), and by the reductionof the texture to an isolated D#. Only at the beginningof the middle section is the
F#is pickedup in registerandredefinedas dominant,usheringin a stretch
of conventionalharmonywhich lasts throughm. 62.
Most of the elements of the B and C# collections are sharedwith the
pentachords.The C# minor seventhchordcontainsfour pitches from the
soft pentachord,while the B majorninthchordcontainsfourpitcheseach
from the middle and hard pentachords.Thus tonal analysis may seem
simply to restate some of the observationsof the foregoing pentatonic
analysis in more familiarterms. However,pentatonicanalysis captures
essential aspects of the music which escape tonal analysis. First, it furnishes more meaningfulspecificity, differentiatingtwo differentcollections (the middle and hardpentachords)and their spheres of influence,
where tonal analysis can see only one (the tonic ninthchord). Second, in
doing so it allows for the importantconceptual separationof A# from
the harmonic field defined by the tonic. Third, it neatly explains the
F#-C#-G# collection as glue tones, whereas tonal analysis lacks the
means to characterizethe collection's non-dominantquality.Moreover,
pentatonicanalysis betteraccounts for more of the pitches in the music.
And while both approachescontributeto an understandingof the perception of change at the beginning of the middle section, tonal analysis
simply reveals the contrastbetween the total absence of the dominantin
the opening section and its preponderancein the middle section, which it
initiates at m. 32. Pentatonicanalysis shows why, disclosing the largescale switchoverbetween systems of harmonicorganization.
V
Since instances of extended pentatonicorganizationare rare in Debussy, it is doubtfulthat Debussy used this system with any regularity.
Charruhas identifiedthe three embeddedpentachordsin anotherpiano
prelude, Bruyeres, but their presence is intermittentand superficial.27
Anotherhighly pentatonicwork,the piano piece Pagodes, fromthe 1903
collection Estampes,book I, does employ an organizedapproachto pentatonic harmony.Like Les collines, Pagodes is in B major, and it also
involves subtle harmonic shifts occasioned by individual pitches. But
Pagodes is considerablymore static: a single pentachordbased on tonic
B controlsthroughoutthe piece. Harmonicvarietyandintereststemsfrom
progressionsoccurringwithinthe pentachordandfromotherpitches sim277

11
"-100"

11

soft

cI

so

TI
TIi

ar
hard

Figure 8. Generationof the extra-pentachordal

pitchesAV/E?(soft)
and A#/E#(hard)
ply addedto it. These addednotes are almost exclusively variantsof the
two diatonicpitchesnot includedin the pentachord:AW/#
As FigandEW/#.
ure 8 demonstrates,these pitches can be thoughtof as extensions of the
generatingcontinuumof perfect fifths in opposite directions,ratherthan
do give a
merely as versions of the same scale degree. In fact, E? andAM
distinctly soft or subdominant-leaningsound to the tonic pentachord,
while A# and E# give a distinctly hardor dominant-leaningsound. (The
tonal implicationsof these pitches are discussed below.) Figure9 tracks
the presence of the tonic pentachordand additionalpitches throughthe
course of the piece. It shows the pervasivenessof the pentachord:four of
its five pitchesappearin everymeasureof the piece, while tonic B is present nearly continuously.In this environmentthe impactof single added
pitches is quite palpable. Lacking the fluctuationbetween well-defined
pentachordswhich characterizesLes collines, harmoniceffect in Pagodes
stems fromchanges between long-heldbass notes, andfromthe implications of individualaddednotes. These latterfollow a roughlydefinedpattern. In the opening section, mm. 1-32, the early additionof E? and AM,
supersededat m. 15 by A#, creates a sense of motion from soft to hard,
counteractedby the brief reappearanceof E?at m. 20 and the restoration
of the unadulteratedpentachordat m. 21. The middlesection,mm. 33-52,
is more static, fixatedmostly on the basic pentachord,while punctuated
by the presenceof the occasional E#.The returnof the opening material,
mm. 53-77, replays the first section, although the motion towardhard
sound at mm. 65-68 is accentuatedby the absence of the pitch B, making for the temporaryascendenceof the hard(F#)pentachord.The final
section, mm. 78-98, is more fluid. Its first half involves the presence of
both soft and hardaddedpitches, accentuatedby a waveringpresenceof
tonic B. By the end of the piece, though, the tonic pentachordis again
firmly established.While the added pitches at times suggest functional
roles for theirchords,Pagodesclearlydoes not exhibitnor does it attempt
Les collines' multifacetedinteractionsbetween pentatonicand diatonic
organization.Neitherdoes Pagodes'one pentachordact as a melodic subset of diatonicharmonyoverall, as in Lafille aux cheveuxde lin.
Instead,Debussy adaptstonal process in Pagodes to reflect its more
restrictedpalette. Pagodes' harmonicstructuredepends on chords all or
most of whose principalmemberslie in the tonic pentachord.These are
278

At

meas.

5-6

FO

COt Gt

DO

A#

comments
B

S1-4basic
6pentachord

7-10

11-14
15-18

chromaticlines

19-26

27-28

tetrachord

29-32

33-36

37-45

46-52
53-54
55-56
57-60
61-64

hardpentachord
chromaticlines

65-68

69-77

78-79

hard pentachord

tetrachord+ A

80-81

82-83
84-85

full diatonic

86-87

88-98

Figure9. Subtly changingpitch contentof Pagodes with near-constant

presenceof the full B pentachord

-Y x

Y'

oil113

O o

eOo

*o4--

Figure 10a. Motives generatingmelodies in Pagodes

I
Z
.

..

19

11

-----------------------------

1...19
1

---

27

33 .................6
.
33 3.
46
37
53

6.
61

---

--

.........................................
69 73
80
88

98

Figure 10b. Occurrencesof the principalmelodies in Pagodes

'iJ

" ,"
meas.

* X4

11

27

53

"4
40

44

53

6v_0_7____0
61

70

75

80

98

Figure 11. Tonic and relativechordsas structuralharmoniesin Pagodes

tonic B major (complete triad present), G# minor (complete seventh
chord present), and D# minor (root, third, and seventh present). Thus,
besides the tonic, the relative-modechords are the most readily emphasized. B majorand G# minor define the harmonicpolarity of the outer
sections (mm. 1-32 and 53-98), while D# minoris importantin the inner
section (mm. 33-52) and the final section, as shown in Figure 11. The
fifth-relatedchords lack more importantelements (refer back to Figure
3). Debussy does supply these missing tones on occasion, but the result
generally falls short of strong functional impact. Rather, the added
pitches provide sonorous contrast,notably tritones,which are absent in
the pentachord.These tritonesoften include the local fundamentalpitch,
producinga Lydianeffect insteadof a dominantone.
Melody in Pagodes derives completely from the pentachord,with
none of the nonharmoniccontent of Les collines. The four principal
melodies in the preludearegeneratedlargelyfromtwo motives, as shown
in Figure 10a:x, an orderedpresentationof [0, 5, 7], andy/y', an ordered
presentationof [0, 3, 5] and its inversion.Figure 10b tracesthe melodies
throughthe piece. Melody o, appearingfirstin mm. 3-4, spansan octave
but excludes the tonic pitch; it begins with x, thenjoins y to its top note.
While this is the only appearanceof x as an importantmelodic motive,x
goes on to form the predominantelement of Pagodes' backgroundtexture for the remainderof the piece. All succeeding melodies contain the
complete pentachord.The P melodies are wholly generatedfrom y. P',
280

appearingfirstin mm. 11-14, consists of y' with a secondy'joined below

to span a seventh. 32, appearingfirst in mm. 37-40, also begins with y',
but adds y a step above the first to span a full octave. Melody y, appearing firstin mm. 33-36, altersone pitch of the pentachordby a semitone.
Replacing F# with E# creates a strikingwhole-tone tetrachord,z, which
overlaps with y' below.28This slight alterationis all that is necessary to
set off the middle section aurallyfrom its surroundings.
The near-constantpresenceof the complete B pentachordthroughout
the piece (Figure9) requiresthatharmoniceffect come about largely by
the revoicingandrecombinationof essentiallythe same groupof pitches,
with the occasional additions.Sixths, sevenths, and/orninths adornvirtually every significantchord. This constancy of pitch content dampens
the teleological effect of Pagodes' harmony;so does the primacyof diatonic third relations over fifth relations. This is evident from the start;
while fifth relationsoccupy the beginningof Pagodes, the firstimportant
harmonicmotion is from B major to G# minor at m. 11. A tonic pedal
underliesall of the previousmusic, from the establishmentof the tonic at
m. 5 to the gentle tonicizationof the subdominantat m. 7, afterwhich the
addedA# is heardagainstE as Lydianfourthratherthanas leadingtone.29
Throughoutthis opening passage, the omnipresentmotive x serves both
to unify and differentiateits componentchords.30At the beginning, the
pitches G#-C#-D# form the third,sixth, and ninthof the tonic harmony.
As the subdominantis tonicized, they become third, sixth, and seventh.
When G# minor is reached,they become root, fourth,and fifth, anchoring the entranceof melody 131.Thus as the phraseunfolds, the motive's
pitches become graduallymore integralto the controllingharmony.In
the absence of strong cadential motion, this gradualassimilationof the
motive providesforwardimpetusand a sense of arrival.
Measures 15-19 contain chromatic motion found nowhere else in
Pagodes. Against the D#minor2 chord framedin the outer voices, chromaticinnerlines producean oscillationbetweenalternatethirdsandfifths
which diffuseits dominanteffect. While its foreignpitch-contentsuggests
an analogy with the octatonic passages in Les collines, Pagodes' chromatic music has much less rhetoricaleffect, merely giving way to the
same G# minorit superseded.The bass line of mm. 19-23 descends diatonically from G# back to B, while the melody emphasizes membersof
the G#minor triad;dominanteffect is dulled by the bass line's missing
F#,while the C#in m. 22 projectsa passing-tonequality.Measures23-33
straightforwardly
prolongB, neverreachingoutsidethe pentachord.Thus
harmonic
motion in the opening section of Pagodes constilarge-scale
tutes an oscillation between B majorand G# minor,the two chords contained whole in the pentachord.
The middle section of the piece continues to undercutthe role of the
dominant.It is suggested at the outset by melody y, which traces a C#
281

to
dominant chord.The arrival
centrl
to the
the centralphraseof the section at m. 37
follows throughto an extent. F# finally appearsin the bass, while the 3
melody,returningtransposedup a fifth,furthersan effect of displacement
to the level of the dominant.31Nonetheless,F#supportsonly an open fifth,
failing to give a definitesense of F#major.Variationof the 3melody,producing 12, leads away instead to the plagal arrivalto D# in m. 40. The
ensuing repetitionof 12 with a new textureimmediatelyaddsA#, but the
now-completeF#majorchordacts as a secondaryharmonyon the way to
the arrivalat D# in m. 44.32The relegation of melody y to the bass at
mm. 46-52 transformsits harmoniceffect into an alternationbetween C#
majorandthe full B pentachord,both in root position,pavingthe way for
the dominantlesselided returnto the opening music at m. 53.33
The remainderof the piece revisits and rearrangesearlier material.
Measures53-72 recapitulatethe beginningbut halt the bass descent on
the antepenultimatenote, C#.This low C# facilitatesan elision into mm.
73-79, which interpolatethe 132melody and enhance its arrivalto D#
minor. Motion by another diatonic third at m. 80 introducesthe final
passage of the piece, anchoredby a gapped descendingbass line which
spans the octave defined by B, expanding the major-sixthdescent of
mm. 19-33. As at mm. 46-52, this passage begins with a repriseof the
openingmusic, exchanginga pedalpoint for a dynamicbass line. The expectedtonicizationof the subdominantis weakenedby the absenceof the
pitch B in mm. 82-83, in which context the added pitch AMin the bass
creates exceptional dissonance with the x motive ratherthan a sense of
to E introducesthe full diatonicset and the tritoneA#
V2/IV. Progression
as the highest pitch, promotinga sense of transitionthroughits dissonance.This deftly preparesa finalelision at m. 85: E as the subdominant
recalling m. 7 becomes E in a linearbass-descentrecalling m. 20. From
this point on the music is completely diatonic, containingfor the most
partthe pureB pentachordwith an occasionaladdedA#.34The 12 melody,
echoing throughthe middle of the texture,settles in with the arrivalof B
in the bass yet never terminates.This combinationof elements from the
principalsections of the piece reestablishesthe complete B majorpentachord with a root-positiontonic triad in the lowest voices, producinga
subtle yet comprehensivearrivalto end the piece.
In this way Debussy exploits the morerestrictedharmonicrangederivable from a single pentachord.The foregoing analysis demonstratesthat
the stronglydeterminedrelative-modechordsbased on G# and D# serve
as Pagodes' focal points of harmonicoppositionto the tonic throughout
the piece, while the less complete dominantsfunctionas subsidiaryharmonies. Addedpitches which could strengthenthe role of the dominants
are used sparinglyand often in neutralways. This reversalof the conventional roles of diatonic third relations and fifth relations is a direct
282

resultof the pentatonicorganizationof the piece, generatinga novel harmonic space from the traditionaldiatonic set.
Despite their structuraldifferences, Les collines and Pagodes show
similaritiesattributableto theirpentatonicism.Bothpieces remainin tonic
B majorthroughout,generatingharmonicactivity from shifts within the
diatoniccollection. Both relegatethe dominantto secondarystatus,using
otherchordsin primaryoppositionto the tonic-plagal harmoniesin Les
collines, relativemodes in Pagodes.But wherePagodesmodifiesthe tonal
hierarchy,Les collines goes beyond, delimitinga quintessentiallypentatonic system. Ultimately,both provide thoroughgoingexamples of Debussy's creative response to pentatonicism,respecting its limits while
fully realizing its potentials,yielding music whose distinctivecolors result from novel yet eminentlyquantifiableharmonicrelationships.

283

NOTES
1. Wenk (1983; 13, 19) quoting from letters of Debussy.
2. Brailoiu's dozens of examples invariably show melodies and melodic fragments
quoted without reference to even immediate musical context. He does briefly
describe chords built from the pentatonic collection, but true to his melodic focus
does not discuss pentatonic harmony nor the relationship between the pentatonic
and diatonic collections.
3. Charru borrows Ballif's term metatonality to describe a harmonic framework in
which the various scale systems may freely interconnect and alternate. His invariant trichords may occur at different pitch levels.
4. Rather than proposing a unified model of Debussy's musical style and harmonic
system, Wenk identifies distinctive "masks,"each having its own harmonic character.
5. Since the pentatonic scale is completely contained within the diatonic set, Parks
does not treat it as an independent genus. As an independent scale system with distinctive melodic and harmonic identity, though, pentatonicism shares the potential
of the other genera for interconnection and interrelation.
6. The term anhemitonic is usually used to identify the [0, 2, 4, 7, 9] pentatonic collection, owing to the absence of semitones in its interval content.
7. This model also informs Brailoiu's analytic approach.
8. This property of the diatonic set is well acknowledged-for example both by
Parks and Bryan Simms (1986, 46)-with reference to Debussy. However, neither
cites an actual instance in Debussy's music in which the three naturallyembedded
pentatonic sets operate in a diatonic context.
9. Ethan Haimo (1978, 4) has described the process of generating the pentatonic set
from the perfect fifth.
10. Parks' approach leads him to focus on the complement relationship between the
two collections, although he does mention in passing the three different sc 5-35
pentachords which are subsets of the complete diatonic. His comments on Les
collines (1989; 138,144,147) serve principally to furnish an instance of the complement relationship, and to bolster his claim of Debussy's preference for the allblack-key pentatonic set. While he notices appearances of the soft pentachord at
m. 1 and the hard pentachord (all black keys) at mm. 18-20, Parks, who does not
aim to treat the entire prelude, does not relate these collections to each other, nor
does he identify the presence of the middle pentachord, so melodically prominent
in the middle section and elsewhere.
11. Arnold Whittall (1975, 261-71) outlines a simpler, similarly configured system in
which two whole-tone collections at a distance of a fifth together comprise the total
chromatic. This system cannot interact with diatonic harmony to the degree possible with the pentatonic system I outline here, owing to the chromatic nature and
equal interval-content of whole-tone collections, but Whittall does align the fifth
relation in his system with a correspondence to diatonic processes.
12. Brailoiu documents single, fifth-related shifts from one pentachord to another
(1958, 419-20), but only with reference to their occurrence in specific melodic
passages, without any connection to the music accompanying these melodies, to a
governing diatonic collection, or to sections or pieces as a whole.
13. This property can also be seen as integral to the set's anhemitonic nature, since

284

scale steps 4 and 7 normally resolve by semitone to pitches contained in the tonic
triad.
14. This latter ordering was also used by Debussy; Simms (1986, 64) notes its presence in another prelude from book I, La Cathidrale Engloutie.
15. The five orderings can be considered either melodically, independent of context,
or (as here) as scale overlays. Wenk (1983, 101) describes three of the five overlay possibilities (PT 1, PT3, and PT4), calling PT 1 "the normal form of the pentatonic scale in major mode." Mueller associates the symmetrical PT3 overlay
(notably in the early song Clair de lune, in D# minor), as well as symmetrically
arrangedsubsets of the other orderings, with the influence of symmetrical Javanese
scale patterns on Debussy (Mueller 1986, 172-75).
16. Table 1 identifies PT1 and PT2 as major-mode overlays; they can overlay Lydian,
Ionian, and Mixolydian, the three white-key modes containing a major third. Both
pentachords are also triply embedded in each mode, though of course at different
locations. The right-hand column of Table 1 gives scale-degree overlays for Ionian, the mode of Les collines.
17. In contrast, the PT2 ordering is vaguer and less centered: it contains a complete
subdominant major triad, but only open fifths for tonic and dominant.
18. This multiple-embedding property is special to PT1 and PT2; PT3, PT4, and PT5
can only overlay at the tonic of their associated modes.
19. This suspended, ambiguous melody exemplifies the monophonic formula for opening lines identified in Debussy's music by James Hepokoski (1984, 45).
20. Compare this with the accompanied opening theme of the Tarantelle styrienne of
1890, which employs exactly the same pitches and register, but is clearly a PTI
overlay in E major (see Mueller 1986, 173).
21. Brailoiu also recognizes this pitch as a passing tone.
22. This A# is, of course, soon taken up and momentously resolved in register. But this
event cannot erase the original impression of A# left hanging in m. 4, which remains available for later exploitation.
23. The arrivalto B can be perceived multivalently, both as arrivalto the middle pentachord and, behind that, to tonic B major, since the pentachord contains the complete tonic triad.
24. Charru's metatonal analysis of this prelude (1988, 77) presents another view of
this section, tracing an alternation between pentatonic and diatonic modes every
few measures. Charru does not identify the different pentachords, though, nor
does he show how the different systems interact, as he does in his more detailed
analyses.
25. This one of the three possible octatonic collections is named "Collection I" by
Pieter van den Toorn (1983, 50-51).
26. While AMcould conceivably serve as the root of a fourth, "extra soft" pentachord
located a fifth below the soft pentachord, this does not occur here. The entire soft
pentachord is always present and active when AMappears, so I prefer to think of
theAMas a nonharmonicinflection of the soft pentachord,helping to set it off aurally
from the other pentachords. This is similar to Debussy's method in Pagodes; see
below, section V.
27. Charru's analysis of Bruyeres (1988, 82), from book II, identifies the presence of
all three pentachords embedded in the piece's diatonic set. Indeed, Bruyeres's
opening is similar to Les collines: a monophonic pentatonic line, drawn in this case

285

from the hard pentachord. But Bruyeres's pentatony is more superficial than Les
collines's. Pentatonic episodes either temporarilydisplace the prevaling diatony or
reinforce it. With the exception of the opening, the three pentachords usually act
as added-sixth versions of the three primary diatonic functions. Bruyeres's interaction of pentatonic and diatonic organization more closely resembles that of La
fille aux cheveux de lin than Les collines, despite its full complement of embedded
pentachords.
28. The scalar line heard against melody a at mm 7-11 and 57-60, reappearingalone
in an inner voice in mm. 84-87, is an accompanimental figure at most.
29. Both tonic B (m. 5) and goal G# (m. 11) are approached locally by bass motion of
a descending fifth. At m. 5, F#, along with the notes above it, does give a brief
impression of dominant ninth above a tonic pedal. At m. 11, though, D# is less
forceful as a dominant. The third above it is minor, and its harmonic potential is
compromised by the presence, at the end of the measure, of all seven diatonic
pitches. Instead, the arrivalto G# exhibits a modal quality, the result of the first real
bass motion away from B and the local harmonic motion from E.
30. Although these are not the glue tones of the B minor pentatonic system, they
define the same [0, 2, 7] set. This set, which can also be generated non-contextually as the result of two conjoined fifths, is triply embedded in the anhemitonic
pentachord,just as the pentachord (four conjoined fifths) is triply embedded in the
diatonic set (six conjoined fifths). Its availability at multiple pitch levels and its
non-triadic sound make [0, 2, 7] a hallmark of pentatonic harmony. [0, 2, 5], the
source of the y motive, is of course also multiply embedded in the pentatonic set,
as its many transposition levels in Pagodes's melody demonstrate.
31. The appearance of F# would also counterbalance its conspicuous absence in the
earlier bass descent at mm. 19-33.
32. The overall harmonic effect throughout mm. 37-44 is less definite than before; a
diffuse pentatonic sound permeates the texture, overshadowing individual events.
The relative incompleteness of most of the focal chords promotes this effect. There
is, however, a strong structuralcorrespondence between this section and the opening. The opposition of relative mode chords F# major/D# minor recounts, at the
transposition of a fifth, the earlier opposition between relative chords B major/
G# minor. The added tones E# and A#, on the hard side of the B pentachord, further contribute to the dominant character of the section. Despite this, the teleological sense invoked by prominent harmonic fifth relations and leading tone resolution is largely absent.
33. This alternation between C#and B recalls the similar process at the outset of Les
collines.
34. The presence of A# as the highest note invites comparison with its role at the end
of Les collines. Here, though, the pitch gives way to G# in the highest register at
m. 87, well before the end, and disappears completely from the last three measures
of the piece; thus it serves to reinforce the centricity of the tonic pentachord.

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