The Rococo Aesthetics in Claude Debussy's “L’isle Joyeuse”: Communicative Component

Abstract

The concert piece “L’Isle Joyeuse” (1904) is an outstanding example of the piano literature of the 20th century. The main attention here is paid to the “homage” to the aesthetics and music traditions, typical for French culture, which are so brightly embodied in this piece and which give an opportunity to learn the communicative component of the interpretive work on the piece under the special angle. The “L’Isle Joyeuse” challenges the researcher and performer with its semantic and stylistic multilayer. A communicative component here is shown in the links to other forms of art: connections with the painting by A. Watteau “An Embarquement to Cythere” gives program content to the piece that refers to the rococo features of French harpsichord style. Also, an article specially hints at genre allusions (for example, habanera), pays attention to the composers’ techniques of various national music schools, exotic for the French of that time (for example, oriental, presented at the Paris World Exhibitions) and proclaims numerous composer ideas, which earned for С. Debussy the fame of being first composer-“impressionist” despite the conventionality of this term and of С. Debussy’s own objection for it. One of the areas, s fruitful for interpretive work with this piece, is the aesthetics of Rococo, embedded in the work at the level of the program source. That is why this paper provides information that contributes to the fullest understanding of the traditions that are reflected in the “L’Isle Joyeuse”. The circumstances, which directly influenced the emotional sphere of the piece, include the biographical context of its creating. The characteristic of the artistic context in which the work resides is given, to derive the piece from the sphere of pure piano performance to the wider art space. This gives an opportunity to create algorithms for the work with musical text based on the most detailed reading of the information submitted by the composer in the form of sheet music and literary commentary, in order to get as close as possible to the embodiment of the author’s intention. The article identifies new perspectives on the study and performance interpretation of the work; to demonstrate its interaction with the national and historical context, identify the features of the Rococo in the artistic context of the work and the communicative levels of their manifestations, which can be significant for the performing musicians, scholars, students.