Bill Hopkins's Orchestration of Debussy's 'Lindaraja'

Author(s): Nicolas Hodges

Source: Tempo , Jul., 1997, New Series, No. 201 (Jul., 1997), pp. 28-31
Published by: Cambridge University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/944692

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 Nicolas Hodges
Bill Hopkins's orchestration of Debussy's 'Lindaraja'
In spring 1975 the British composer and writer
Bill Hopkins completed an orchestration of
Debussy's Lindaraja. Paul Griffiths has reported
that Hopkins believed this to be 'the only one of
Debussy's piano works which was intended as a
sketch of an orchestral composition'1. As an
expert on both French music and orchestration2,
Hopkins was admirably qualified for the job. But
as we have no written record of his ideas on the
subject we need to analyze the musical evidence
as it stands, to see what might justify his view of
the piece.
Debussy's Lindaraja for two pianos was
published posthumously in 1926 by the French
publisher Jobert3. According to Leon Vallas4 the
manuscript, dated April 1901, was discovered
between the pages of an (unspecified) orchestral
work, its existence having gone unnoticed during
the composer's lifetime. The influence on Linda-
raja of Ravel's Habanera (from Sites Auriculaires
(1895-7) for two pianos) has sometimes caused
Debussy's piece to be dismissed as derivative, but
Noel Lee's sensitive discussion of this issue points
out some fundamental musical differences which
put the Ravel connexion into proportion5.
The original work for two pianos is rarely
played. There may be many reasons for this, but
1 Quoted in Nicolas Hodges: 'The Music of Bill Hopkins - a
preliminary approach', Tempo 186 (September 1993), p. 11
nl8. As Mr. Griffiths points out in a letter to the editor (Tempo
187, p.60) the orchestration was not completed after
Hopkins's arrival at Birmingham University in September
1975, as erroneously stated in the above article. According to
the composer's diary it was completed on 3 May 1975.
2 As G.W. Hopkins he contributed the Grove articles on
Boulez, Dukas and Ravel, as well as sections 4 and 5 ('19th
Century' and 'Impressionism and Later Developments') of
that on Orchestration. He also taught orchestration at
Birmingham and Newcastle Universities. The ascription of
the Lindaraja orchestration in the Ms. to Bill Hopkins rather
than G.W. Hopkins indicates a particular emphasis. He once
said that 'G.W. ...never composed a note in his life'.
3 A transcription for solo piano by Roger-Ducasse was
published simultaneously with the two-piano original. As the
manuscript has been lost, these two publications form the only
sources.
4 Leon Vallas, Claude Debussy et son temps, p.276.
and Arion (with Christian Ivaldi).
s Debussy Oeuvres Completes, Series I, volume 8 p.xviii-xix.
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one is undoubtedly that it is not as pianistic as
one expects from Debussy. Looking at Debussy's
output for two pianos as a whole Noel Lee, a
pianist with performing experience of all of these
works, points out two important differences
between En Blanc et noir and the composer's
arrangement for two pianos of Prelude a l'apres-
midi d'unfaune. Firstly, the former uses the classic
two-piano resource of antiphony, whereas the
latter does not, and secondly the orchestral piece
is ineffectual on two pianos because it relies on
sustained lines and changes colour6. This is in
contrast with the piano duet arrangement of
La Mer, where the medium brings out the contra-
puntal complexity of the orchestral original,
throwing a different but valuable light on
Debussy's conception. Lindaraja's piano writing
puts it into the same category, in this respect,
as the Prelude: devoid of antiphonal effects or
contrapuntal complexity, it proceeds through the
repetition in different contexts of several simple
motives (all based on the Habanera rhythm). A
useful comparison can be found in La soiree dans
Grenade of two years later, which shares the
Habanera rhythm and the repetition of themes in
different contexts. However, in this later example
Debussy makes beautiful use of the piano's
resources to give these repetitions direction and
variety, however calmly; by contrast Lindaraja
makes little use of the medium's possibilities,
resulting in what is for Debussy a curiously static,
airless texture which benefits greatly from
orchestral colouring (see Ex. 1).
There are numerous details which suggest
particular instrumentations, for example:
i) The D-A fifths at the start (piano I bb.1-6)
suggest the open strings of the violin: Hopkins
bases this opening sonority on open strings and
natural harmonics (see Ex.1 above).
ii) Sustaining the melody in piano II at b.23
poses a problem in the original: Hopkins gives it
to the oboe (doubled by the harp).
iii) In the climaxes at b.35ff and b.78ff Debussy
6 Debussy Oeuvres Completes, Senries I, volume 8 p.xviii. Lee's
recordings of Lindaraja are on Astree (with Bernard Ringeissen)
 Hopkins and Debussy's 'Lindaraja' 29

Ex.1
Moder- (mals ,ans lenteur et dans un rythme tres soupl,e

tWe
I~ ,~~FIF~I-1
I ib ? t 'F i , IF , 6 r-
A W Be 1 0 !0 '
I

" PIA NO

Modere (mals sans lenteur et dans un rythme tres souple)

2p PIA NO

t^_ - . j1 as nn
4v - ^ ...^ r- -mr pe,xp-esssfXn peu en deA rs

t ~'~, - I - - -

LINDARATA V

Mca4 w ~ 4 mC04 fA-

apparently intended a melody

v) The sustained contrast
in piano II at bb.67-73 betwee
detached chords tends to
of be short-breathed
piano in the originalIversion:
and the
HopkinsThis
chords of piano II. gives it to the contrast
trumpet, then clarinet. is un
original, which The accompanying chords
tends to are unusually
sound unsup- percu
Hopkins gives theported forsustained chord t
Debussy (cf. En blanc et noir II, b.22):
strings. Hopkins gives them to the lower strings (see Ex.2).
iv) Debussy demands that the phrase in piano I vi) Hopkins gives much-needed clarification
at bb.47-58 be played 'avec elegance': to to the syncopation at bb.74-77 through careful
instrumentation.
facilitate this Hopkins gives it to violas (later
oboes). vii) The melody in piano I at b.1 19ff bears a

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30 Hopkins and Debussy's 'Lindaraja'

Ex.2

-W i . Fe , . .iJ ? A' i ,-
f. ffl P _ je- t'T r {- T
f ^ JT r j^ ^ r rr r r ___
2}f ;~ t pr = - ii /

/,n (a) I - in

, t . . - - - - J ** ,
I

'I

1 - "1 - 1 - i - i i- I ' i j- I I t-1

i

- I- I I - - 11 -1I '~ If ?!- I- X . ....b -

4*t i-- -C-n - -

ql

2' - 1 r'i'~'1 1 1 iJ J J -J -
ttn]8 nj r i' "'- I ' - - * ^1<1n -I - , - -

family resemblance to many such melodies beautifully in

sensitive colouring (see Ex.3).
Debussy (the best known being the flute These
soloexamples
at offer a few points where
the opening of Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune):is of most obvious help in heighten-
orchestration
Hopkins gives it to the cor anglais, latering the characterization
joined by of Debussy's material:
the flute. overall Hopkins's realization gives to Lindaraja
viii) The high melody in piano II at b.142ff the kind of Debussian translucency which the
cannot be sustained on the piano: Hopkins gives original is sometimes thought to lack. Judging
it to solo violin. from his openness to sensitive orchestrations of
ix) The ending returns to the repetitive progress his work, I am sure Debussy would have been
of the opening to attain its slow dissolution: delighted at Hopkins's efforts on his behalf.
Hopkins's orchestration gives these last moments

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 Hopkins and Debussy's 'Lindaraja' 31

Ex.3
Pt.4 &ck Em" 4 r

'...

o -^ P'Low ...

9Jt - JA
ti. ^- - \^
FJ - I i I-t I' - I I - I i ^ , I
,[Tl / J.^ '- It' l. t~,'l!.-*lr1AX,U I - I - I

h! 1" " " "

Hopkins music examples ? copyright Clare Hopkins.

The 'Lindaraja' orchestration is available from Schott & Co. Ltd. (017

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