Editing Orchestration (section)

===Debussy===

Apart from Mahler and [[Richard Strauss]], the major innovator in orchestration during the closing years of the nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth century was Claude [[Debussy]].  According to Pierre [[Boulez]] (1975, p20) "Debussy's orchestration… when compared with even such brilliant contemporaries as Strauss and Mahler… shows an infinitely fresher imagination."  Boulez said that Debussy's orchestration was "conceived from quite a different point of view; the number of instruments, their balance, the order in which they are used, their use itself, produces a different climate."  Apart from the early impact of [[Wagner]], Debussy was also fascinated by music from Asia that according to Austin "he heard repeatedly and admired intensely at the Paris World exhibition of 1889".<ref>Austin, W. (1966, p. 20) ''Music in the 20th century''. London, Dent.</ref>

Both influences inform Debussy's first major orchestral work, ''[[Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune]]'' (1894).  Wagner's influence can be heard in the strategic use of [[silence]], the sensitively differentiated orchestration and, above all in the striking [[half-diminished seventh]] chord spread between oboes and clarinets, reinforced by a [[glissando]] on the harp. Austin (1966, p.&nbsp;16) continues "Only a composer thoroughly familiar with the [[Tristan chord]] could have conceived the beginning of the ''Faune''."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Turner |first=Thomas |date=Jan 22, 2011 |title=Claude Debussy, Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYyK922PsUw |website=YouTube}}</ref><ref>Austin, W. (1966, p. 16) ''Music in the 20th century''.  London, Dent.</ref>[[File:Prelude a l'apres midi opening.png|thumb|center|600px|Debussy, Prelude a l'apres midi d'un faune, opening bars]]

Later in the ''Faune'', Debussy builds a complex texture, where, as Austin says, "[[Polyphony]] and orchestration overlap...He adds to all the devices of [[Mozart]], [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]], [[Berlioz]] and Wagner the possibilities that he learned from the [[heterophonic]] music of the Far East.... The first harp varies the flute parts in almost the same way that the smallest bells of a [[Java]]nese [[gamelan]] vary the slower basic melody."<ref>Austin, W. (1966, p. 20) ''Music in the 20th century''.  London, Dent.</ref>[[File:Prelude a l'apres midi, from Fig 7- short score version.png|thumb|center|700px|Debussy, Prelude a l'apres midi d'un faune, Figure 7, bars 11-13]]

Debussy's final orchestral work, the enigmatic ballet ''[[Jeux]]'' (1913) was composed nearly 20 years after the ''Faune''.  The opening bars feature divided strings, spread over a wide range, a harp doubling horns with the addition of the bell-like [[celesta]] in the 5th bar and the sultry voicing of the [[whole tone scale|whole tone]] chords in the woodwind:[[File:Jeux opening bars.png|thumb|center|500px|Debussy, Jeux opening bars<ref>{{Cite web |last=Queen Cure Sky |date=Jun 5, 2014 |title=BOULEZ, Debussy JEUX 　1966 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8qP_2i3HYA |website=YouTube}}</ref>]]

Jensen (2014, p.&nbsp;228) says "Perhaps the greatest marvel of ''Jeux'' is its orchestration.  While working on the piano score, Debussy wrote: 'I am thinking of that orchestral colour which seems to be illuminated from behind, and for which there are such marvellous displays in ''[[Parsifal]]''{{'}}  The idea, then, was to produce timbre without glare, subdued... but to do so with clarity and precision."<ref>Jensen, E.F. (2014) ''Debussy''.  Oxford University Press.</ref>