Debussy's 'Ibéria'

Debussy's 'Ibéria'. By Matthew Brown. (Studies in Musical Genesis and Structure.) New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. [xv, 177 p. ISBN 0-19-816199-9. $85.] Music examples, bibliography, index.

One of Debussy's most significant works, the Images for orchestra have stood somewhat in the shadow of earlier masterpieces like Nocturnes and La mer. Matthew Brown provides us with an in-depth study of Iberia, the center trilogy of Images. His book has a double purpose: it explains the genesis of Debussy's work and provides an analysis, then moves beyond Debussy to place this analysis into a larger context, to be explained below.

The first part of the study deals with the compositional history and aesthetic context of Ibéria. For this work the composer uncharacteristically left a substantial body of sketches, and Brown carefully extracts the information they have to oiler. Through these sketches Brown observes that Ibéria, like most of Debussy's compositions, took shape over a long period (1903-10) and went through numerous revisions, some of them drastic.

Ibéria is the most substantial of Debussy's Spanish soundscapes, and the author asks what gives the piece the authentic flavor so praised by Manuel de Falla among others. Brown identifies its "Spanish" elements as idiosyncratic motivic formulae (though not actual folk themes); modal harmonies and pedal points; rhythms of regional dances, especially the sevillana and habanera; and the inclusion of native instruments (castanets) as well as suggestions of others (e.g., numerous orchestral "guitar" effects). Save for one brief jaunt across the border to watch a bullfight, Debussy never visited Spain, so he did not learn its music on-site. Brown shows, however, that Debussy had plenty of opportunities to absorb Iberian sounds in Paris, then home to Isaac Albéniz, Falla, Joaquín Turina, and Ricardo Vines. Spanish or Spanish-themed compositions regularly appeared on Parisian concerts.

In order to examine the thematic and tonal structure most effectively, Brown adopts a Schenkerian approach, which he finds illuminating despite Debussy's heterodox treatment of harmony and form. The composer's greatest challenge in Ibéria was to create a work of...