Climax as Orgasm: On Debussy’s ‘L’isle Joyeuse’

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship of musical climax and orgasm by considering the case of L'isle joyeuse, a piano piece that Claude Debussy (1862-1918) began in 1903, completing it in the Summer of 1904 soon after starting a sentimental relationship with Emma Bardac, nee Moyse (1862-1934), his second wife and the mother of his daughter Claude-Emma, alias 'Chouchou' (1905-1919). By exploring the genesis of the piece, I suggest that the creative process started as the pursuit of a solitary exotic male fantasy, culminating in Debussy's sexual encounter with Emma and leading the composer to inscribe their shared experience in the final, revised form of the piece. The erotic component of the piece has been stressed by, among others, Michael Klein, who speaks of 'undeniable sexual energy' close to the point where, he says, 'the music reaches orgasm.' 1 This description of the final climax seems justified and indeed throws new light on the ways in which music and sexuality are intertwined in the individuals' experience, including, potentially, the listener's. Now, while Klein's insights into the piece are stimulating, he does not justify the use of the word orgasm, which he takes only as a hyperbolic substitute for climax. By exploring the role of music in the actual life of the actors, this article makes a case for orgasm being more than a literary metaphor. At a theoretical level, an ecological approach to music perception suggests that music can afford sexual behaviour and representations in particular situations. I privilege here a discussion of analogies between climax and orgasm, not because I think that orgasm is the essence and purpose of sexual pleasure, as generally thought, but rather because it is well suited for a systematic analysis of the formal relationships between sex and music. 2