Yareah Magazine

By Karen Haley

“The primary aim of French music is to give pleasure."
Claude Debussy wrote those words. He was intently interested in the sensuous quality of music. I read recently that, even as a student, he let his carnal concept of sound override many of the rules he was taught by his teachers (which probably really pissed them off).
"Extreme complication is contrary to art... Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our part."
Debussy's interest in the exquisite and sensual led him to adopt various scales he picked up from other cultures, enabling him to reach far beyond the traditional majors and minors. These are evident in his piano music, as are the distinctive floating qualities of his form and rhythm. Really erotic stuff, if you take the time to listen and use a bit of imagination.
I can't help but wonder whether his epicurean philosophies were manifested in the bedroom as well.
"I am more and more convinced that music is not, in essence, a thing which can be cast into a traditional and fixed form. It is made up of colors and rhythms."
Ahhhh... I couldn't agree more.

Read more:
http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/debussy.html

Karen Haley works as a technical writer in Northern California. Her passions include classical piano, interior design, and the San Francisco Giants. She is a mother to Niccole, a grandmother to Izic, and a girlfriend to Brian. Her interviews and stories have appeared in publications including The Pacific Union Recorder and The Gleaner. She has contributed how-to articles for the ezine TechTrax (http://www.mousetrax.com/). Read her blog, IMNSHO, at http://karen051793.blogspot.com/.

By Peter Rozovsky

I wrote during a recent discussion about Sherlock Holmes and English music that "I'd like see to how a Berlioz-loving consulting detective would go about his job. Berlioz ... might be the composer of choice for any number of hard-working but dissipated fictional detectives of a later time than his own."

"A Berlioz-loving detective would be great!" replied Lauren, who knows a thing or two about crime fiction and a thing or twenty-seven about music. "I can see the parallels between Paganini as Berlioz's benefactor and a glamorous celebrity hiring a private eye."

Lo and behold, here's the mystery-writer protagonist of L.C. Tyler's The Herring-Seller's Apprentice musing about a trait he tried to give one of his own protagonists:
"I once tried to give Fairfax an interest in Berlioz (I must have been reading too much Colin Dexter). Elsie had the blue pencil through that before you could say `Morse'. `Don't bother to develop his character,' she said. `Your readers aren't interested in character.' "

Read more:
http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/

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