Monday, July 23, 2012
Debussy and Twilight
Claude Debussy- Clair de Lune (1890)
This song was composed by a french composer who was more concerned with making music the created a mood rather than an emotion or intellectual stimulation like those of the Romantic and Classical eras. He is one of the first composers in the Impressionist music movement, coming at a time when artsists such as Monet and Renior were painting impressions of images and colors. The music is considered impressionistic because it, like the art, deals with colors and impressions of melodies or focuses. The melodies are an interconnected part with the harmony and rhythm, meaning that one cannot easily sing the melody without it's accompaniment. It just is not the same, and the melody is not a simple eight note phrase or idea as it would be with Beethoven or Mozart. The melody instead flows from one idea to the next, never really having a concise line to draw between moments and phrases.
It is interesting that Stephanie Meyer, author of the popular "Twilight" saga, included Clair de Lune, a well known piece by Claude Debussy, in her novel. It is the male protagonist, Edward's, favorite song. He listens to it at night when he doesn't sleep (for those of you who don't know, it's because he is a vampire.) Why did she choose that song? Of all the possible songs I could think to fit with a vampire, this would not have been one of them. But her story is a little different than most vampire stories anyway: making the vampires wanting to be more human than monster, making them sparkle in the sunlight, and making them vegetarian by only eating animals. The song, Clair de Lune is about the calmness of night as it grows mystical and lovely. Although Debussy probably didn't imagine a vampire when he wrote it, he did write it to reflect the beauty of the night and instead of a shadowy scary place, it becomes this enchanting and calming place. That is what I think Stephanie Meyer was going for, helping to further her story and opinion that vampires are not evil or scary, but instead quite enchanting and smooth and possibly calming. I may have to disagree with her on a few of those things, but I can see where she is coming from in selecting a piece from Debussy over a grunge piece from Nirvana.
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