To compose an evocation of “wind in the plain” for solo piano is no easy task, yet this is what Debussy has achieved - in just fifty-nine bars - and we have the analysis of it as our challenge. Perhaps the key issue is to judge how well the piece fits the title, or at least, how it is that such a title can be comfortably applied to this piece. In doing so one must consider in particular the structure of the work, making reference to rhythmic and textural motifs, and the use of dynamics and other performance directions to enhance the programmatic effect. In addition the work needs to be considered as a piece of its time: in examining the harmonic orientation we can conclude how the Prelude relates to works before it and how it is idiomatic of the work of Debussy and other composers writing at the dawn of the twentieth century.

 

Structure is one of the most important elements of ‘Le vent dans la plaine’. The piece is made up of a series of ‘blocks’ or sections comprising different rhythmic and textural motifs. The work opens monophonically with a two bar exposition of the sextuplet semi-quaver figure which is to underpin the work. Such is the rate of the tempo - the metronome marking suggesting 120 crotchets a minute - that the figure sounds like a ripple, an effect enhanced by the seamless join between the two hands. The tempo, a quick 4/4, is subtly defined by the slight accent on the Bb on each beat of the bar. The ripple continues for another six bars, apparently unifying the whole of the first eight bars into one block, or section, of material. However, an examination of the left hand writing shows that within the first section there are four different blocks: the two introductory bars, bars 3 and 4 featuring the dotted left hand melody, bars 5 and 6 with the ornamented left hand crotchet melody, and bars 7 and 8 where the ripple remains to dominate the texture. Therefore we see that the use of blocks of material creates both unity and variety in the opening section. 

 

The use of blocks continues to be important throughout, and is one of the principal features that creates interest in the music and drives it forward. At bar 9 a totally new section of material - a descending quaver figure in the right hand accompanied by sustained notes in the bass - is introduced and employed for a four bar duration, before the ripple motif returns at bar 13 with its much lighter texture. This time, though, the writing is not so periodic as not all of the blocks comprise two bar motifs. There is a two bar introductory motif (bars 13 and 14) but the dotted left hand motif is extended by one bar (bar 17) followed by a single bar of solo ripple (bar 18), then a two bar repeat of the dotted motif and a new crotchet motif in bar 21. The material in this third section is derived from the opening section but, despite the repetition, interest is maintained because of the irregular use of blocks. With the use of blocks as short as one bar the technique is even more pronounced.

 

A new section of material begins at bar 22. Debussy retains the sextuplet semiquaver rhythm but alters the pitches to create a trill-like figure in the right hand accompanied by parallel fifths of various durations in the bass, creating a light homophonic texture. This transitional section, lasting just six bars until bar 27, makes interesting use of block writing. As the phrasing would have it, bars 23 and 24 are a two-bar block, whilst all other bars in this section stand in isolation. However, the rhythm of the left hand part suggests two blocks of three bars each, again creating variety in the music.

 

Following a key change, another new section begins at bar 28. The sextuplet semiquaver figure is retained, this time providing a bass ostinato, and there is a series of strong chords of up to five parts moving inwards in contrary motion, possibly derived from the chordal quaver figure at bars 9 to 12. Again the phrases are short blocks, with the chordal and the ostinato figures alternated, as shown in the chart to be found at the end of this essay. Bar 34 is significant as it mixes blocks of material from two different sections: on beat one are the forte chords, while beat 2 returns us to the ripple material used in the opening section. As shown in the chart, the ripple, exposed in bar 34, continues throughout several repeats of the double-dotted quaver motif until bar 47, which has a prominent crotchet figure in the bass that grows to a chordal figure in bar 48 and 49. This heralds the return in bar 50 of the descending quaver figure from bars 9 to 12, which alternates with the sextuplet figure in bars 51 and 53 and appears alone in bar 52. Thus we see that the use of blocks can produce sections in which motivic ideas can be alternated, paired or dispersed in the music at random. This latter technique is particularly suitable to a piece about wind, capturing the uneven ebb and flow of the gusts upon the plains. Therefore the use of blocks to create contrasting sections and contrasts within sections is highly significant in the composition of this piece. As well as structural interest it creates a wealth of different textures which, when coupled with dynamic markings, are very effective in conveying programmatic effects. For example, the abrupt forte chords of Section 4 follow the pianissimo trills of Section 3, suggesting a sudden gust of wind following a light breeze. The use of blocks is also important historically. In a way the blocks are like the phrases of classical music, except that they are not arranged evenly and that there is often no definable melody. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that they are a twentieth-century adaption of classical themes, giving each section of the music its own identity, and creating the momentum for the piece to begin, continue, and end.

 

The ending of the piece also displays traditional features of composition but with modern adaptations. The final section, bar 54 to the end, again uses the ripple block, but with a prominent triadic figure moving chromatically upwards towards a chord split up the keyboard in bar 58, with a tied note held over into the final bar. Many classical elements of closure are apparent: the performer must “slow down a little”, the dynamics become “more quiet”, the semiquaver rhythm becomes augmented into quavers and therefore sounds less dense, all suggesting a gradual winding down towards a planned ending. One could even argue that the section from bar 54 acts like a classical coda. However, despite the final Bb being a semibreve, which, complete with pause, is one of the longest notes of the piece, there is still a feeling for the listener that the piece has been suddenly curtailed, that it has “just stopped” or petered out. Certainly there is no cadence in harmonic terms and perhaps the upwardly moving triads had led one to expect a more climactic ending. Nevertheless, the ending appropriately reflects the sudden fall of a gust of wind and is idiomatic to Debussy, even though it defies completely classical expectations for closure.

 

The harmony of the piece is vitally important to the evocation of the mood picture, creating exactly the right sounds to make the ripples and wind effects convincing. It also highlights Debussy as a 20th century composer because of his eschewing of the tonal system and use of harmony to create impressionistic colour. The key signature of six flats would suggest a tonality of G Flat Major or E Flat Minor, yet the piece neither begins nor ends in either of these keys, and much of the harmonic orientation throughout is defined in spite of this key signature rather than because of it. In fact just two sections appear to be completely tonal. Section four, beginning at bar 28, features strong chords in G Flat Major and an ostinato on the tonic G flat and dominant D flat in the bass, a clear sign of diatonic tonality. This, however, lasts for just a bar and a beat before we are thrown, on beat two of bar 29, onto a chord based on B double-flat which can be reckoned enharmonically as A Minor with an added 7th and 9th; certainly not an example of diatonic orientation. The A Minor chord returns on beat four after a diminished chord on D on beat three. G Flat Major returns briefly on beat one of bar 30, followed, however, by another double-flat chord, this time sounding as A Major. G Flat Major returns in full sonority in bar 31, but only to land on G Major and pass through B Major and into G# Major! This is highly chromatic writing and although G Flat Major is prominent in the section, it would be wrong to say the music was oriented towards this key.

 

Nevertheless, the harmonic orientation is clearer at bars 9 to 12 and 50 to 53, where there is a descending line of E flat minor chords. Here the writing appears carefully planned, as each quaver has either an added 6th or added 7th in a strictly alternating pattern. Discounting, for a moment, the bass pedal, we can see that each group of four quavers produces all four inversions of the chord in the right hand: fourth inversion on the first quaver, third inversion on the second, second inversion on the third and root position on the fourth, so that in each group of four the bottom notes of the right hand chords spell out a seventh chord on E Flat Major, further emphasising Debussy’s strong commitment to tonality in these short sections. Only the parallel fifths in the bass, implying whole-tone movement, detract from this. The welcome sense of tonality adds strength to the chordal texture and creates contrast with the undiatonic ripple close to it. To my ear this section sounds major compared to all the modality around it, until you actually analyse the chords and discover the G flat still in place. This is definitely my favourite part of the piece both in terms of sonority and ease of analysis!

 

These are the only examples of diatonic harmony in the entire piece, and between bars 22 and 27 the writing appears to be whole-tone, a clear indication of twentieth-century writing. Had the bass G in bar 22 been placed in the right hand, the bar would contain a complete whole tone scale on A:

 

 

At bar 23 the writing ceases to be strictly whole-tone because the C and D in the bass have been naturalised from Db and Eb in favour of creating parallel perfect fifths. The same is true of the bass E natural in bar 24 which would need to be flattened to stay whole tone. In the same bar the Db in the right hand is oddly notated as a C#, but perhaps this is for ease of reading. Bar 25 returns to whole tone writing, this time based on G flat, which is strict in bar 27 but again spoilt in bar 26 by flats (Db and Eb) which should be naturalised:

 

 

The rest of the tonality is less clear cut, one example being the opening ripple which, comprising just Bb and Cb, could be in any of a number of different keys. However, it does appear that much of the writing is based on the Phrygian Mode, which, at the opening, has been transposed onto Bb:

 

 

The Bb is predominant in the bass because of the ripple motif, appearing as a kind of “modal tonic”, and this mode works so long as the E double-flats in bars 5 and 6 can be taken as passing notes. The same mode returns at bar 13, although the presence of a B double-flat and the lack of an F from bar 17 makes the writing appear almost pentatonic:

 

 

Bar 17 contains interesting harmony with an Ebb and an Ab although the latter could be to add interest to the melody and the Ebb could be just a passing note. At bar 21 the six flat key signature is cancelled, but although it looks on the page like movement down a semitone, the enharmonic equivalents mean that no notes have moved in the right hand. In the bass are alternating D minor 6th and G major 9 chords followed by a chord which prepares for the Whole Tone writing by introducing Db. Again it seems that the six flat key signature is just for convenience of writing, not to indicate an orientation to that key, for the piece is more oriented towards Phrygian Mode on Bb. 

 

When the ripple returns at bar 43 there is a definite feeling of A major, one of the chords heard in the previous section, but again it is really Phrygian Mode on G#. After a chromatic descent through bars 38 and 39, the ripple resolves in bar 40 to the Phrygian Mode in its natural position on E, although this soon descends again to its opening position on Bb in bar 44. The left hand crotchet and chordal movement on bars 45 and 47 to 49 strengthen the sense of modality. The piece remains in the same key to the end, with a most unsettled ending produced by the triads on C flat, C major, Db major, and D major, creating interesting false relations with the ripple part and with no cadence to end. 

 

It is clear from this use of non-diatonic harmony that the writing could not have come from an earlier composer. The use of whole tone and modal writing, and even touches of pentatonic writing, makes the piece very much idiomatic to Debussy. However, I do not believe that he wrote the piece with contrived harmonic aims in mind. He hoped to escape the rigours of tonality, choosing the key signature, it seems, for ease of notation and for the mellow sound which characterises keys of many flats. Like the random nature of his block structure, his chords and harmonies have been chosen not for their status in a certain scale or mode, but in the name of expression, colour, and sonority.

  

 

Section	Bars	Left Hand Motif	Right Hand Motif	Harmony
1	1&2	Ripple	Ripple	Phrygian
	3&4	Double-dotted quavers	Ripple	mode on Bb
	5&6	Decorated crotchets	Ripple
	7&8	Ripple	Ripple
2	9&10	Sustained fifths	Descending quaver chords	Eb Minor triads with added 6ths
	11&12	Sustained fifths	Descending quaver chords	and 7ths
1	13&14	Ripple	Ripple	Phrygian mode on Bb
	15&16	Double-dotted quavers	Ripple	Bbb gives a
	17	Double-dotted quavers and crotchets	Ripple	pentatonic
	18	Ripple	Ripple	flavour.
	19&20	Double dotted quavers	Ripple
	21	Crotchet chords	Ripple	Beat 4 Whole Tone preparation
3	22	Semibreve fifth	Trill motif	Whole Tone
	23	Crotchet parallel fifths	Trill motif
	24	Minim parallel fifths	Trill motif
	25	Semibreve fourth	Trill motif
	26	Crotchet parallel fifths	Trill motif
	27	Semibreve fourth	Trill motif
4	28	Strong Contrary motion chords and sextuplet ostinato	Strong Contrary motion chords and sextuplet ostinato	Gb Major
	29	Sextuplet ostinato	Crotchet chords	Gb major, A min 7 and 9 and D dim
	30	Strong Contrary motion chords	Strong Contrary motion chords	Gb major and A Major
	31	Strong Contrary motion chords and sextuplet ostinato	Strong Contrary motion chords	Gb major
	32	Sextuplet ostinato	Crotchet chords	Gb major, A min 7 and 9 and D dim
	33	Strong Contrary motion chords	Strong Contrary motion chords	G major and B major
4/1	34	Strong contrary motion chords and ripple from section 1	Strong contrary motion chords and ripple from section 1	G# major chords into Phrygian Mode on G#
1	35	Ripple	Ripple	Phrygian mode on G#
	36&37	Double dotted quavers	Ripple
	38&39	Ripple	Ripple	Downward chromatic movement
	40&41	Double dotted quavers	Ripple	Phrygian mode on E!
	42&43	Ripple	Ripple	Downward chromatic movement
	44	Double dotted quavers	Ripple	Phrygian Mode on
	45	Ripple	Ripple	Bb
	46	Double dotted quavers	Ripple
	47	Crotchets	Ripple
	48&49	Single crotchets and crotchet chords	Ripple
2	50	Fifth sustained	Descending quaver chords	Eb Minor triads with added 6ths and 7ths
2/1	51	Fifth sustained (tied from previous bar)	Descending quaver chords . .    and ripple	Eb Minor triads with added 6ths and 7ths. . Phrygian Mode on Bb
2	52	Sustained fifth	Descending quaver chords	Eb Minor triads with added 6ths and 7ths
2/1	53	Fifth sustained (tied from previous bar)	Descending quaver chords . .   and ripple	Eb Minor triads with added 6ths and 7ths. . . Phrygian Mode on Bb
1	54, 55,56, 57	Ripple	Triadic figure and ripple	Phrygian mode on Bb with triads moving upward chromatically
	58	Broken chord	Broken chord	Phrygian Mode on
	59	Tied semibreve	-	Bb