Title

Claude Debussy's Trois Chansons de Bilitis: An Analysis

Document Type

Thesis

Comments

Honrs Thesis Presented to the Honors Committee of Texas State University-San Marcos In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For Graduation in the Mitte Honors Program, May 2007.

Abstract

Claude Debussy’s Trois chansons de Bilitis, as with many of his works, evade traditional tonal-harmony analysis. Unlike the composers of earlier years, Debussy’s works utilize scales containing modal mixture, strings of parallel fifths, and several other previously unorthodox techniques. The three songs, “La flûte de Pan”, “La chevelure”, and “Le tombeau des naiades” all contain several musical ideas unique to the impressionist age of composition, and the following analyses aspire to display directly these ideas as they appear within these pieces.