CG8065 Degree Project, Bachelor, Classical Music, 15 credits

Degree of Bachelor in Music

2022
Department of Classical Music

Supervisor: David Thyrén

Examiner: Erik Lanninger

Herdís Ágústa Linnet

Reflets dans l‘eau

A reflection on a piano piece by Claude Debussy in
relation to impressionism

Till dokumentationen hör följande inspelning: xxx

Abstract
Claude Debussy was the first composer to be described as an impressionist. Impressionistic
artists and writers around fin de siècle were pioneers in their fields, creating new colours and
describing light in new and inventive ways. Scientists were equally amazed with water and
light and tried their best to describe it in a theoretical manner. Water and light are strong
symbols in art and is the basis for all life. The purpose of this thesis is to dive deep into
Debussy’s piano piece Reflets dans l’eau, in order to gain a better understanding of the
musical language and style, in relation to impressionism. Reflets dans l’eau is one of the most
significant pieces in the piano literature. Methodologically, articles and books were used to
gain a better understanding of the subject, as well as interviews with two piano professors,
that both have studied the piece in detail. Music analysis on the form of the piece and its
motives were conducted. The results of the thesis indicate that Debussy in the most
extraordinary way describes the law of nature and musically reflects on water and light in his
magnificent piano piece, Reflets dans l’eau. It is ‘narcissistic’ in the way that it mirrors its
own motives.

Keywords: Claude Debussy, impressionism, light, piano, reflections, Reflets dans l’eau, water
Table of contents

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Background ................................................................................................................ 2
1.1.1 Impressionism and Debussy ............................................................................... 2
1.1.2 Water and light ................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Reflets dans l’eau ....................................................................................................... 5
1.3 Purpose ....................................................................................................................... 6

2 Method ............................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Sheet music ................................................................................................................ 7
2.2 Literature .................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.1 Books .................................................................................................................. 7
2.2.2 Articles ............................................................................................................... 7
2.3 Practise methods ......................................................................................................... 8
2.3.1 Piano ................................................................................................................... 8
2.3.2 Metronome ......................................................................................................... 9
2.4 Recordings .................................................................................................................. 9
2.5 Interviews ................................................................................................................... 9
2.5.1 Stefan Bojsten .................................................................................................... 9
2.5.2 Anders Kilström ................................................................................................. 9
2.6 Ethical considerations ................................................................................................ 9

3 Analysis and results ......................................................................................................... 10

3.1 Analys....................................................................................................................... 10
3.2 Results ...................................................................................................................... 12

4 Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 13

References ................................................................................................................................ 14
1 Introduction
Around 1870, a new style began to emerge in France. Impressionism was gaining ground in
different types of art. The style was freer and more improvised than before, as well as the
material. Despite more freedom of the style, impressionism requires much technique and
precision. The realism of the eye, as Hjörvarð Árnason called it, explains the style well.
Artists wanted to describe natural phenomena, though with a narrow horizon, rather than
emotions, and the water was often prominent in that context. Impression is an idea or opinion
of what something or someone is like, and when speaking of impressionistic painters, it was
used about those who approached colours and light in a new way. Impressionists could imply
certain climates and time of their paintings, with their special colour experiments and
interpretations of light. The outlines of the paintings were foggy and the same could be said
about the music. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was one of the main pioneers of impressionism
in music, though in a good relationship with symbolic poets. Debussy was going affect
coming generations of composers. He used new scales and harmonics that had not been heard
in Europe before and the influences were often from the East. In this essay, Debussy’s piano
work Reflets dans l'eau will be used to gain a better understanding of the world of
impressionism. The title means reflections in the water, but light and water were common
subjects among impressionists. There are sudden changes in the music, between chapters, just
as water can change depending on weather and winds, and light, which is disturbed by a
movement, moves differently from one point to another.

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1.1 Background
In this background, I will first introduce impressionism in art in general. Then I will present
Claude Debussy, who is regarded as the first impressionistic composer. I will then introduce
the concept of water and light as symbols in art and how Debussy used it as compositional
tools in his music. Water and light will then finally be discussed in relation to scientific
knowledge gained in the early 20th Century.

1.1.1 Impressionism and Debussy

Impressionistic painters were obsessed with light and colours. As said before, they could
imply certain climates and atmosphere with their interpretation of light. Impressionists created
their own colours and painting technique1. Impression is an idea or opinion of what something
or someone is like, and impressionistic artists wanted to capture that. Imagery of the nature,
and special nature phenomenon; moving clouds and sunrise, to give an example, were painted
like people see and experience it. It is a realism of the eye, rather than logical and scientific
realism. Then first initiated, the term “impressionism”, based on a title of a painting by
Claude Monet, was a degrading expression used by art critics and colleagues. Impressionists
were being excluded from traditional artist gatherings. That is one of the reasons why
impressionist artists were mainly working outdoors. In the painting The Railway Station in
Saint Lazare by Monet, the artist is more concerned about showing light and climate in
colours than styling every detail of the stage as precisely as possible. This is an impression or
the appearance of this railway station, as it appears at a certain time of the day and under
special lighting conditions. (Árnason, 1945).

Figure 1. Monet : Impression, soleil levant – soluppgång, by Claude Monet

Figure 2. Monet: The Railway Station in Saint Lazare

1
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/impressionism/a/what-does-
impressionism-mean

2
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was the first impressionistic
composer. His works had figurative titles, describing
nature phenomenon, like; La mer (the sea), Clair de lune
(moonlight), and Reflets dans l’eau (reflections in the
water), which will be analysed and discussed more in this
essay. His musical style was different what people were
used to and he was not afraid of breaking old rules and
seek inspiration from other countries. Debussy received
much criticism for his compositions. He had clear visions
and opinions on composing and said: ‘It is nonsense to
speak of ‘simple’ and composed time. There should be an
interminable flow of them both without seeking to bury
the rhythmic patterns. Relative keys are nonsense too.
Music is neither major nor minor. Minor thirds and major
thirds should be combined, modulation thus becoming
more flexible’ (Lockspeiser, 1978). He avoided the
tension of tonic and dominant, and instead used modal,
pentatonic and octatonic scales. This creates a flowing
character, and the progress is not driven by leading tones
Figure 3: Claude Debussy
(cf. Mahler and R. Strauss) (Ingólfsson, 2016).
The harmonics were more in the foreground than before, just as colours in art had become
more important than clear outlines (Derkert, 1998). Critics said he lacked any sense of
melodic development and that he violated all fundamental music rules. When Debussy was a
student, one of his teachers approached him while Debussy was improvising on the piano.
The teacher said that the outcome was far away from formal musical theory, but Debussy
answered by saying: ‘you merely have to listen. Pleasure is the law’ (Ingólfsson, 2016).
Debussy says in one of his letters, of this period, when writing Reflets dans l’eau: ‘’By the
way, I am becoming more and more convinced that music is essentially not a thing which can
oared into strict traditional mould. It possesses colours and flowing measures of time…’’. (To
Durand on 23rd August 1907) (Klemm, 1970).
Today’s listeners can hear that he created a new world of sound, a special
character and music that was unpredictable. That bothered some conservative people. The
musical language was special, as well as the form of the works. Pierre Boulez said in 1956
that Debussy was a voluntary autodidact. Autodidact is someone who does not have full
knowledge of the rules and tradition but creates his own simple rules. Debussy was, however,
a volunteer autodidact, given that he knew the traditional way of writing, but despite that,
decided to use his own solutions (Derkert, 1998). It did not take people long to criticize
Debussy's compositional style, as they felt that it violated the ‘right way’ of writing music. He
was often compared to his contemporary, Richard Strauss, who was more traditional and
wrote a late romantic style of music. The term impressionism was first used about Debussy,
as people know, in Academic des Beaux Arts, department within Institut de France, 1887. It
was referring to the suite Printemps, one of the works that Debussy executed at the Prix de
Rome. (Ibid.). The term could not be understood as a compliment.

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 Herr Debussy syndar förvisso knappast medelst plattityd eller banalitet. Han har, tvärtom,
en mycket uttalad tendens att söka sig till det främmande. Han visar en känsla för färg och
poesi som när den går till överdrift lätt får honom att glömma vikten av precision i teck-
ningen och tydlighet i formen. Det skulle vara önskvärt att han höll sig på sin vakt gentemot
den vaga impressionism som är en av sanningens farligaste fiender i konstverk. (Derkert,
1998, p. 26). [Quotation from Lesure, 1994].

Through history, innovative people have faced a lot of criticism for their way of thinking, and
Debussy was not an exception from that. Like Chopin and Liszt, he revolutionised the
technique of piano-playing. Debussy affected many composers of the 20th century, like
Ravel, Messiaen, Bartók, Stravinsky, and even Bill Evans. (Klemm, 1970)
Early European music from the middle ages and the renissance, as well as music from
foreign countries, was a huge influence on Debussy. He first heard Javanese gamelan music at
the Universal Exposition in Paris, in 1889. The gamelan scales, melodies and rythms,
appealed to him, and those musical influences can be heard in some of his pieces, like in
Images, and Pagodes. ‚The gamelan is a collection of musical instruments, mostly metallic
and with gong- or bell-like sounds. The gamelan plays the traditional music of Java, a music
that has been passed down by oral tradition for well over a thousand years‘.2

1.1.2 Water and light

Water has always been a human area of interest, as it is one of the biggest parts of people’s
lives. The human body consists of around 60 percent of water. Humans need water to survive,
most cities are located by rivers, lakes and seas, and the water affects the weather. No wonder
that artists have tried to describe it visually, on paintings, and musically, with tones, just as
scientists tried to draw a conclusion about what it was. It has been said that we know more
about space than the ocean because we can see the space. It is a fact that around 80 percent of
the ocean remains unexplored.3 In the 19th century, human knowledge of nature and its laws
increased significantly and that led to inevitable specializations and research. The arts have
always been a good narration of prevailing attitudes and styles and somehow reflect and
mirror the society people live in (Árnason, 1945).

The theory, Special Theory of Relativity, which revolutionized our understanding of time and space, is
based on Einstein's astonishing recognition that light always travels at a constant speed, regardless of how
fast you're moving when you measure it. Einstein's explorations into the fundamental properties of light
also laid the groundwork for his most impressive achievement, the General Theory of Relativity.4

The light travels through a vacuum at an enormous speed, 300,000 km per second, which is many, many
times faster than we see in anything else around us. In glass, the velocity decreases to about two-thirds of
its value, while in water the velocity is about 3/4 of its value. This difference in speed causes what we call
refraction; a light beam breaks or bends rapidly when it enters water or glass.5

2
https://brenthugh.com/debnotes/gamelan.html
3
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ocean/
4
https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/einstein/light
5
https://www.visindavefur.is/svar.php?id=49615

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Water is a universal symbol for change. This can be seen in both literature and art. Water is
forever flowing and can take any shape. It symbolises positive aspects such as purity and
tranquillity but can also symbolise negative aspects like unreliability and turbulence.6
Light is sometimes used as a symbol of an idea or an emotion. Some artists use light to
highlight specific message of the piece, with exploring light´s many forms. , Symbolism was
a 19th-century art movement, and in that movement, light became the central motif of many
artworks, used not only as a symbol but as a force that forms the piece.‘7

1.2 Reflets dans l’eau

The piece Reflets dans l’eau, reflections in the water, was composed by Claude Debussy in
1905. It was one of Debussy´s most creative years, in which he also finished the symphonic
poem La Mer. Reflets dans l’eau is the first of three piano pieces, from the cycle Images,
Volume 1. The second movement is called Hommage à Rameau. It is a slow movement where
Debussy goes back to the style of Sarabande. The third movement is called Mouvement,
which is fast with a constant flow. Reflets dans l’eau is an impressionistic composition,
meaning that it has a sense of modality and non-functional harmony. One can also see that the
title is typical for an impressionist, describing water and light. The composer himself wrote to
his publisher about this set of works: ‘I think I may say without undue pride, that I believe
these three pieces will live and will take [their] place in piano literature… ‘
The piece Reflets dans l’eau creates an image of water being not quite still, then becoming
rapid, then decreasing in motion again’.8 In my opinion, Debussy was right in that the piece
really has become a standard in the piano literature. Some of the world’s most famous pianists
have recorded it: Arturo Michelangeli, Emil Gilels and Claudio Arrau, and the piece is
frequently performed and studied by piano students, all over the world.

Another example of an impressionistic composer is Maurice Ravel. Many people

started to associate the term impressionist about Ravel. However, he did not look at himself as
an impressionistic composer (neither did Debussy), but he saw Debussy as one. Here is a
quotation of what Ravel said:

Debussy’s genius was obviously one of great individuality, creating its own laws,
constantly in evolution, expressing itself freely, yet always faithful to French tradition. For
Debussy, the musician, and the man, I have had profound admiration, but by nature I am
different from Debussy ... I think I have always personally followed a direction opposed to
that of [his] symbolism. (Wikipedia) [58]

Personally, I see Ravel as an impressionistic composer if I should put him ‘into a box’. Of
course, Debussy and Ravel are different, but had many things in common. Since Debussy
(1862-1918) was thirteen years older than Ravel (1875-1937), he is more likely to have

6
https://rosechristina.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2019/10/30/the-depiction-of-water-in-art/
7
https://perfectpicturelights.com/blog/symbolic-light-in-art
8
https://parisianmusicsalon.wordpress.com/the-music/february-2014/debussy-reflets-dans-leau-reflections-in-
the-water/

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influenced Ravel, than the other way around. Ravel had these figurative titles, describing the
nature, as well as the non-traditional harmonics and a special feeling for flowing rhythms, like
Debussy. Ravel’s music is more precise, while Debussy is more spontaneous, but in my ears,
they create a similar atmosphere. They both found their own way and sound, within their
composing, but were clearly aware of old forms and techniques, and due to that, able to break
the traditions. As Debussy said himself, ‘I feel free because I have been through the mill (To
undergo hardship or rough treatment), and I don’t write in the fugal style because I know it’
(Nichols, 1998).

1.3 Purpose
The aim of this written reflection within my examination work is to dive deep into Claude
Debussy’s piano piece Reflets dans l’eau, in order to gain a better understanding of the
musical language and style, in relation to impressionism.

Research questions

The following research questions will be addressed, to gain a better understanding of the piece
Reflets dans l’eau:

1. How to better understand the musical language and style regarding aspects such as
motives, impressions, metaphors, and reflections?

2. How to better understand why the term impressionism was used about Debussy’s
music and to understand what impressionism is?

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2 Method
In order to fulfill the aim of the project, it will be examined how different performers look at
the piece and what mental pictures they have of it. Some say that impressionism does not
describe the deepest feelings of humans, but it clearly affects people's feelings. It is the
realism of the eye. Books and articles on music history will be used to gain a better historical
understanding and to see the historical perspective. Anders Kilström and Stefan Bojsten,
KMH's piano teachers, who all have extensive experience on playing Reflets dans l’eau, will
be interviewed. All this will be done to gain a better understanding of the composition and
impressionistic music, as well the work will be performed at the author's final concert.

2.1 Sheet music

For my own practice and performance, I use the Debussy Klavierwerke Band IV, Images,
Urtext. Edited by Eberhardt Klemm on the Edition Peters. It was published in 1970.

2.2 Literature

2.2.1 Books

For the project, I used four different books. First, I read the Swedish musicologist Jacob
Derkert’s (1998) doctoral thesis on Debussy. I gained a better understanding from a music
analysis point of view but not the least about the harsh criticism that Debussy received during
his lifetime. In 2016, the first music history book written by an Icelandic scholar was
published. The book was written by Árni Heimir Ingólfsson. The book describes music
history in relation to society. I also read two biographies on Debussy ‘s life and background,
one book by Lockspeiser (1978) and another one by Nichols (1998) which both had
interesting quotes and information, from Debussy’s life.

2.2.2 Articles
9 different articles from the internet were read. An article written by Þorsteinn Vilhjálmsson,
was retrieved from the University of Iceland’s science-website. Hvernig ferðast ljósið? (How
does the light travel?) https://www.visindavefur.is/svar.php?id=49615, to gain a better
understanding on how light travels. In 1905 (the same year as Debussy wrote Reflets dans
l’eau), Albert Einstein came up with the Special theory of Relativity that revolutionized our
understanding of time and space. The article was retrieved from the web of American
Museum of Natural History, https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/einstein/light). One of the
most intresting articles was written by Hjörvarð Árnason in the year 1945, about art styles in
Europe and America. https://timarit.is/page/6023815?iabr=on#page/n59/mode/2up.

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Article about the ocean was retrieved from the web of the national geographic resource
library. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ocean/. Information about Javanese
Gamelan music was retrieved from https://brenthugh.com/debnotes/gamelan.html, but
Debussy got fascinated by the sound at the Paris Universal Exposition. Program notes by the
pianist Alvaro Siculiana, supported my experience of the piece Reflets dans l‘eau and what I
have heard other pianists talk about and read, https://parisianmusicsalon.wordpress.com/the-
music/february-2014/debussy-reflets-dans-leau-reflections-in-the-water/. Article about
Maurice Ravel was used to gain a better understanding on the similarities between Debussy
and Ravel, as well as to see what they thought of each other,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ravel#cite_note-69. Two articles about water and light
as symbols in art, were read, and retrieved from
https://rosechristina.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2019/10/30/the-depiction-of-water-in-art/ , by Rose
Christina, as well as from https://perfectpicturelights.com/blog/symbolic-light-in-art, written
by Tea Fumić, who is a professional historian, writer, and an art enthusiast.

2.3 Practise methods

2.3.1 Piano
In the first few bars of the piece, I had a hard time finding the right atmosphere for my
interpretation, even though it sounded so clear in my mind. Sometimes I played fast,
sometimes slow, and I got a lot of different information from different teachers. I was
completely lost for some time. Improvising over a D flat major pedal point was the best way
of learning for me. It helped me finding a new and slower flow, like water. Fast passages need
a lot of specific and clear practise, using metronome, with focus on the fingers. The pedal use
differs from room to room, grand piano to grand piano, and you need to play the pedal ‘with
your ears’, not your foot. Noticing how Debussy reflects and mirrors certain motives of the
piece, can help one learning it. The motives often last for one bar and then the next bar
reflects on it. The feeling of gravitation towards the first beat of the bar and the use of bar
lines are different in Debussy´s music, than what we are used to. Imagine water drops,
forming a small wave on the water (capillary waves), or big waves that happen in a stormy
weather (gravity waves). Picturing, creating Images, of the nature, helps a lot. Try to get the
speed of light, and the resistance like the water, sounding in your music creation. As it says in
the sheet music: ‘The first ‘image’, Reflets dans l’eau is a transformation of the finest light
reflection into musical terms, movements of sounds break on the three thematic notes (A flat,
F, E flat)’. (Klemm, 1970)

Even though Debussy’s music sounds freer and more improvised, it is clearly written, and the
performer needs to respect that and read the score, like one would read and study a Beethoven
sonata. Signs and tones are written for a reason and need a clear meaning, in the
interpretation, as well as Debussy wants the performer to find his/hers/their inner voice.

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2.3.2 Metronome

Metronome is a good tool but should be used carefully. It is good to set a slow tempo, so you
can find your inner rhythm, meaning that you control the rhythm, instead of only following
the metronome. Having independent fingers is important, and when using metronome during
warmup, you clearly notice and hear, which finger is slower and weaker, or faster and
stronger. Each finger has its own personality, but they need to find work in harmony. In the
piece, Reflets dans l’eau, fast passages can be practised in a slow tempo, with metronome,
making the fingers play even.

2.4 Recordings
When I graduated from the Reykjavík Music School, my former piano teacher gave me a
score with Images, Book 1, by Debussy. She said that this was her favourite piece by
Debussy. I wanted to find a recording of the piece and started to listen to various recordings
on Spotify. Then I came back to piano lesson and told my teacher that I had a favourite
recording, with someone named Emil Gilels (1916-1985). She said, ‘that is one of my
favourite pianists’. After she had said that I started to learn more about him out and to listen
more to his playing. Today, Emil Gilels is my favourite pianist, and I think no other pianist is
as sensitive as he was, and no one has made me experience music like him. A link to
recordings by Emil Gilels will be available in the reference list (see below).

2.5 Interviews

2.5.1 Stefan Bojsten

Stefan Bojsten is a professor of piano at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. The
interview with prof. Bojsten took place at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm on April
20th, 2022. The length of the interview was about 40 minutes.

2.5.2 Anders Kilström

Anders Kilström is a professor of piano at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. The
interview with prof. Kilström took place at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm on April
27th, 2022. The length of the interview was about 15 minutes. A second interview was
conducted on the 11th of May 2022 and took about 30 minutes.

2.6 Ethical considerations

Before conducting the interviews, I carefully considered ethical perspectives. I asked the
interviewees for their consent, and both prof. Bojsten and prof. Kilström agreed on being
interviewed and that their names were to be mentioned in the project. The interviews were

9
being recorded and then transcribed before they were analysed. My ethical considerations are
in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the Swedish Research Council (cf. vr.se).

3 Analysis and results

3.1 Analys

When analysing the piece, one can see that there are specific rhythmical motives
reappearing. Warm harmonics are played over D flat major pedal points. The tempo is
Andantino molto (tempo rubato). The form is A-B-A-C-A, like a small rondo. A pedal point
is a bass note that is sustained as the harmony changes above it. The use of pedal points is
common in all Western Music, but Debussy tends to use them more often in comparison to
previous composers, and his pedal points tend to be longer.9 The piece begins with a calm
opening but in bar 20 (Quasi cadenza) it starts to move, and the tempo accelerates, moving to
the B part. After the B part, the opening motives appear again, in the A 2 part in bar 36, (au
Mouvt). Then it starts to move again and reaches its highpoint in bar 57, after a long
development. After quite a stormy highpoint it quickly gets quieter, and the ending is very
peaceful, quoting the beginning in bar 72, A3, Tempo I (en retenant jusqu’á la fin). Lent (dans
une sonorité harmonieuse et lointaine).

Knowing how fast light travels, one could assume that the quick movement of the right hand
on the piano describes the light, and that the slower and deeper tones of the left hand,
describes the water, which has more resistance. It is though impossible to know exactly what
Debussy thought, while writing the piece, and it is only the imagination of the performer that
sets the limits.

From an interview with Anders Kilström:

Think of the nature, while playing Debussy’s music, is the approach that Anders Kilström has
for Reflets dans l’eau. There is a clear sign of reflections in the piece. When a four-tone scale
from the deep range moves
upwards, a four-tone scale
from the high range follows,
downwards. The same thing
happens in the rhythm later,
where six tones are reflected.
This can be seen as a
metaphor for reflection of
Figure 4
9
https://brenthugh.com/debnotes/gamelan.html

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light. Debussy tries to describe the reflection that our eyes see on water, with the tones in the
music. There are many motives of reflection throughout the work. Debussy describes a
raindrop falling on still water (capillary waves) in bar number 17 and 19. Reflets dans l’eau, is
one of the masterpieces of the piano literature, according to professor Kilström. The piece
describes the nature itself, and changes fast, like when the weather goes from stillness to
storm. The music is impulsive and unpredictable compared to what other composers have
written previously. Despite of the natural flow of the piece, every tone and figure has been
written down carefully and has a meaning. Debussy changed the way of how we see bar lines
and it is clear that he affected other composers, for example O. Messiaen and even spectral
composers. The piece is a bit ‘narcissistic’, meaning that it mirrors its own motives.

From an interview with Stefan Bojsten:

Stefan Bojsten was fascinated of piece and the title from the very beginning. Debussy
succeeded in describing nature phenomenon and is quite concrete. He builds the piece Reflets
dans l’eau on reflections and uses the thematic notes A flat, F and E flat, that have specific
overtones. Debussy’s world of sounds is beautiful and floating but also full of emotions and
this piece is very dramatic. It describes some deep feelings, more than only light and water,
building up from nothing to enormous passion. Even though Debussy is concrete, he is free in
his own way. He did, for example, not write clear pedal instructions or fingerings in his sheet
music. He wants the performer to find the best way, both with the storytelling, as well as with
the piano technique. Debussy wrote the titles in his piano preludes in the end of the piece, so
that the performers could make up their own minds, before seeing what it was about. Debussy
was close to the poetry and one of his big inspirations was Paul Verlaine, a symbolistic poet.
Debussy was an updated person with big interest in people and life in general and that is
reflected in his compositions. He was very independent in his ways of composing. According
to professor Bojsten, Debussy’s music needs to be practised with precision and detail, just like
any other piece. The water is a force in life, and everything we say and do, comes back to us,
just like the tones and motives in Debussy’s piece, Reflets dans l’eau.

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3.2 Results
When playing Reflets dans l’eau it is very relevant for the performer to understand Debussy´s
artistic intentions in relation to key aspects such reflections, light, and water. Musically, the
quick movements of the right hand on the piano illustrates light, and the slower and deeper
tones of the left hand illustrates water.

Water has three different shapes (liquid, ice, and steam) and can appear to us in many ways.
Raindrops on the ceiling, waves on the beach, still or stormy lakes, to mention some
examples. Debussy seems to describe a still water with slowly moving motives, transparency
in the chords and soft dynamics (low points). With stormy water follows louder dynamics as
well as quicker scales and movements (highpoints). The music seems to follow the same laws
as the nature, just imagine how weather impacts the water.

Light is the fastest thing that exists. When light enters water, it changes is direction and speed
(refraction) and when a ray of light comes back after striking the surface, it is called a
reflection. When light reflects on water it changes a bit, and it is not a complete mirroring.
That is what Debussy uses in is composition technique, writing Reflets dans l’eau. Two bars
are connected, as the second bar always reflects on the bar before, becoming a little bit
different but keeping the core of the first bar. Mirroring and reversing are common with
composers.

When a four-tone scale from the deep range moves upwards, a four-tone scale from the high
range follows, downwards. The same thing happens in the rhythm later, where six tones are
reflected. Composers have always been inspired by inversion and mirroring techniques. The
pedal point in the beginning of the piece could describe the stability of the water and the quick
scales, the fast travelling of the light. As water and light are used as strong symbols in art, this
piece describes deep feelings and emotions.

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4 Discussion
Putting impressionist music in the context of impressionistic art was instructive. The
impressionists were pioneers in the field of art, as was Claude Debussy as a composer.
Atmosphere and impressions had become more important than just facts and pure accuracy.
Rules were broken and a new world opened, which has undoubtedly made it easier for other
artists to act and create their own techniques and methods. It was interesting to talk to
experienced musicians about the piece Reflets dans l’eau and the style of Debussy. This made
it possible to better understand how Debussy plays with his motives and where he reflects the
tones, as well as how he describes reflections and the movement of water. It was interesting to
hear from prof. Stefan Bojsten that the work reflects deep emotions and when listening to the
work, it is clear how dramatic the highpoint is. It may be too simplistic to define Debussy as
an impressionist, but at the same time it suits him well, given that new colours and freedom
was something that characterized impressionists. It helps the interpretation of the piece,
having read about Debussy’s life and the time he lived in. It made the learning process more
inspiring, as well as it created certainty and deep connection at the examination concert, with
the piece, having done this research. I really enjoy playing the piece and would like to work
even more with the interpretation, as well as the technical difficulties, in the future. The fact
that light and water are so impressive to artists and scientists is perhaps obvious, considering
that it is the basis of all life and change. For me, reflection is something that travels from one
point to another and changes, but always keeps its origin. This is the way Debussy has worked
with his motives. The aim has been fulfilled with this project but there is still a lot to
investigate. Scientific knowledge can clearly be an inspiring factor for one’s music creation
and never set your imagination a limit.

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References
Partiture

Klemm, Eberhardt [ed.] (1970) Debussy Klavierwerke Band IV, Images, Urtext. Frankfurt:
Edition Peters. Nr. 9078 d.

Literature

Derkert, Jakob (1998) Tonalitet och harmonisk artikulation i Claude Debussys verk: Om
reception, harmoniteori och analys. Stockholm University, Musicology [diss.].

Ingólfsson, Árni Heimir (2016) Saga tónlistarinnar – tónlist á Vesturlöndum frá miðöldum til
nútímans. Reykjavík: Forlagið.

Lockspeiser, Edward (1978) Debussy – His life and mind. Volume 1: 1862-1902. London:
Cambridge University Press.

Nichols, Roger (1998) The life of Debussy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Websites

Árnason, Hjörvarð (1945) Listastefnur i Evrópu og Ameriku. III. Þróunarferill

impressjónismans. Ásgerisson, Magnús, Gudmundsson, Tómas & Jónsson, Ragnar [eds.]
LISTIR. 01-11.1945. Retrieved 2022-04-08 from:
https://timarit.is/page/6023811#page/n55/mode/2up

Khan Academy, what does impressionism mean? By Dr. Charles Cramer and Dr. Kim Grant.
Retrieved 2022-03-18 from: http://www.khanacademy.org/

Vetenskapsrådet (2022) Retrieved 2022-05-05 from: www.vr.se

Recordings

Emil Gilels (1916–1985), https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8019874--emil-

gilels-plays-brahms-debussy-prokofiev

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