Bill Hopkins's Orchestration of Debussy's 'Lindaraja'Author(s): Nicolas HodgesSource: Tempo, New Series, No. 201 (Jul., 1997), pp. 28-31Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/944692Accessed: 19/01/2009 06:43

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Nicolas Hodges Bill Hopkins's orchestration of Debussy's 'Lindaraja'

In spring 1975 the British composer and writer Bill Hopkins completed an orchestration of Debussy's Lindaraja. Paul Griffiths has reported that Hopkins believed this to be 'the only one of Debussy's piano works which was intended as a sketch of an orchestral composition'1. As an expert on both French music and orchestration2, Hopkins was admirably qualified for the job. But as we have no written record of his ideas on the subject we need to analyze the musical evidence as it stands, to see what might justify his view of the piece.

Debussy's Lindaraja for two pianos was published posthumously in 1926 by the French publisher Jobert3. According to Leon Vallas4 the manuscript, dated April 1901, was discovered between the pages of an (unspecified) orchestral work, its existence having gone unnoticed during the composer's lifetime. The influence on Linda- raja of Ravel's Habanera (from Sites Auriculaires (1895-7) for two pianos) has sometimes caused Debussy's piece to be dismissed as derivative, but Noel Lee's sensitive discussion of this issue points out some fundamental musical differences which put the Ravel connexion into proportion5.

The original work for two pianos is rarely played. There may be many reasons for this, but

1 Quoted in Nicolas Hodges: 'The Music of Bill Hopkins - a preliminary approach', Tempo 186 (September 1993), p. 11 nl8. As Mr. Griffiths points out in a letter to the editor (Tempo 187, p.60) the orchestration was not completed after Hopkins's arrival at Birmingham University in September 1975, as erroneously stated in the above article. According to the composer's diary it was completed on 3 May 1975. 2 As G.W. Hopkins he contributed the Grove articles on Boulez, Dukas and Ravel, as well as sections 4 and 5 ('19th Century' and 'Impressionism and Later Developments') of that on Orchestration. He also taught orchestration at Birmingham and Newcastle Universities. The ascription of the Lindaraja orchestration in the Ms. to Bill Hopkins rather than G.W. Hopkins indicates a particular emphasis. He once said that 'G.W. ...never composed a note in his life'. 3 A transcription for solo piano by Roger-Ducasse was published simultaneously with the two-piano original. As the manuscript has been lost, these two publications form the only sources.

4 Leon Vallas, Claude Debussy et son temps, p.276. s Debussy Oeuvres Completes, Series I, volume 8 p.xviii-xix.

one is undoubtedly that it is not as pianistic as one expects from Debussy. Looking at Debussy's output for two pianos as a whole Noel Lee, a pianist with performing experience of all of these works, points out two important differences between En Blanc et noir and the composer's arrangement for two pianos of Prelude a l'apres- midi d'unfaune. Firstly, the former uses the classic two-piano resource of antiphony, whereas the latter does not, and secondly the orchestral piece is ineffectual on two pianos because it relies on sustained lines and changes colour6. This is in contrast with the piano duet arrangement of La Mer, where the medium brings out the contra- puntal complexity of the orchestral original, throwing a different but valuable light on Debussy's conception. Lindaraja's piano writing puts it into the same category, in this respect, as the Prelude: devoid of antiphonal effects or contrapuntal complexity, it proceeds through the repetition in different contexts of several simple motives (all based on the Habanera rhythm). A useful comparison can be found in La soiree dans Grenade of two years later, which shares the Habanera rhythm and the repetition of themes in different contexts. However, in this later example Debussy makes beautiful use of the piano's resources to give these repetitions direction and variety, however calmly; by contrast Lindaraja makes little use of the medium's possibilities, resulting in what is for Debussy a curiously static, airless texture which benefits greatly from orchestral colouring (see Ex. 1).

There are numerous details which suggest particular instrumentations, for example: i) The D-A fifths at the start (piano I bb.1-6) suggest the open strings of the violin: Hopkins bases this opening sonority on open strings and natural harmonics (see Ex.1 above). ii) Sustaining the melody in piano II at b.23 poses a problem in the original: Hopkins gives it to the oboe (doubled by the harp). iii) In the climaxes at b.35ff and b.78ff Debussy 6 Debussy Oeuvres Completes, Senries I, volume 8 p.xviii. Lee's recordings of Lindaraja are on Astree (with Bernard Ringeissen) and Arion (with Christian Ivaldi).

Hopkins and Debussy's 'Lindaraja' 29

Ex.1 Moder- (mals ,ans lenteur et dans un rythme tres soupl,e A W Be 1 0 !0 '

" PIA NO

2p PIA NO

Modere (mals sans lenteur et dans un rythme tres souple)

t^_ - . j1 as nn 4v - ^ ...^ r- -mr-i r -'r r"? pe,xp-esssfXn peu en deA rs

t ~'~, - I -

-

-

LINDARATA V

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apparently intended a contrast between the semi- detached chords of piano I and the sustained chords of piano II. This contrast is unclear in the original, which tends to sound percussive here: Hopkins gives the sustained chord to wind and strings. iv) Debussy demands that the phrase in piano I at bb.47-58 be played 'avec elegance': to facilitate this Hopkins gives it to violas (later oboes).

v) The sustained melody in piano II at bb.67-73 tends to be short-breathed in the original version: Hopkins gives it to the trumpet, then clarinet. The accompanying chords are unusually unsup- ported for Debussy (cf. En blanc et noir II, b.22): Hopkins gives them to the lower strings (see Ex.2). vi) Hopkins gives much-needed clarification to the syncopation at bb.74-77 through careful instrumentation. vii) The melody in piano I at b.1 19ff bears a

tWe , I ib ? t 'F i , IF , 6 r- I~ ~~FIF~I-1 I

30 Hopkins and Debussy's 'Lindaraja'

Ex.2

-W i . Fe , . .iJ ? A' i ,-

f. ffl P _ je- t'T r {- T f ^ JT r j^

^ r rr r r ___

2}f ;~

t pr = - ii /

(a) I - in , t . . - - - -

J ** ,

1 - "1 - 1 - i - i i- I ' i j- I I t-1 - I- I I - - 11 -1I '~ If ?!- I- X- . ....b -

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2' - 1 r'i'~'1 1 1 iJ J J -J -

ttn]8 nj r i' "'- I ' - - * ^1

Hopkins and Debussy's 'Lindaraja' 31

Ex.3 Pt.4 &ck Em" 4 r

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o -^ P'Low ...

9Jt - JA ,i^4f'fJ V71.47 ' - I - '- ti. ^- - \^ A , L l I It - j |i 's -w l

FJ - I i I-t I' - I I - I i ^ , I ,[Tl / J.^ '- It' l. t~,'l!.-*lr1AX,U I - I - I - I - i - I II

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"

Hopkins music examples ? copyright Clare Hopkins. The 'Lindaraja' orchestration is available from Schott & Co. Ltd. (0171-494-1487)

Article Contentsp.[28]p.29p.30p.31

Issue Table of ContentsTempo, New Series, No. 201 (Jul., 1997), pp. 1-72Front Matter [pp.1-52]Icarus Soaring: The Music of John Pickard [pp.2-5]The Panorama of Michael Finnissy (II) [pp.7-16]VW9 and the 'St. Matthew Passion' [pp.17-19]'Dark Fire': Simon Holt and His Music [pp.21-27]Bill Hopkins's Orchestration of Debussy's 'Lindaraja' [pp.28-31]First PerformancesJames MacMillan's Clarinet Concerto, 'Ninian' [pp.33-34]'The Max Factor': Teachers and Pupils [pp.34-35]Pfitzner's 'Palestrina' [pp.35-37]Lachenmann's 'Das Mdchen mit den Schwefelhlzern' [pp.37-38]Oxford Festival of Contemporary Music (13-20 April) [pp.39-40]Diana Burrell's 'Symphonies of Flocks, Herds and Shoals' [pp.40-41]Vasks and Hakola in Kaustinen [p.41]

Book Reviewsuntitled [pp.43-44]untitled [pp.44-48]untitled [pp.48-50]untitled [pp.50-41]

Record Reviewuntitled [p.53]untitled [pp.53-55]untitled [pp.55-57]untitled [p.57]untitled [pp.57-59]untitled [pp.59-60]untitled [pp.60-61]untitled [pp.61-64]Sony's Gyrgy Ligeti Edition [pp.64-66]untitled [pp.66-67]untitled [pp.67-69]untitled [p.69]untitled [pp.69-70]

News Section [pp.71-72]Back Matter