but very keen ears will hear more of them. In Claude
Debussy's compositions, his system of harmony and tonality is
intimately connected with these laws of natural harmonics. His chords,
for instance, are remarkable for their shifting, vapory quality; they
seem to be on the border land between major and minor--consonance and
dissonance; again they often appear to float in the air, without any
resolution whatever. It was a new aspect of music, a new style of
chord progression. At the same time the young composer was well versed
in old and ancient music; he knew all the old scales, eight in number,
and used them in his compositions with compelling charm. The influence
of the old Gregorian chant has given his music a certain fluidity,
free rhythm, a refinement, richness and variety peculiarly its own.

We can trace impressions of early life in Debussy's music, through his
employment of the old modes, the bell sounds which were familiar to
his boyhood, and also circumstances connected with his later life.
As a student in Rome, he threw himself into the study of the music
of Russian composers, especially that of Moussorgsky; marks of the
Oriental coloring derived from these masters appear in his own later
music. When he returned to Paris for good, he reflected in music the
atmosphere of his environment. By interest and temperament he was
in sympathy with the impressionistic school in art, whether it be in
painting, literature or in music. In Debussy's music the qualities of
impressionism and symbolism are very prominent. He employs sounds as
though they were colors, and blends them in such a way as literally to
paint a picture in tones, through a series of shaded, many-hued chord
progressions. Fluid, flexible, vivid, these beautiful harmonies,
seemingly woven of refracted rays of light, merge into shadowy melody,
and free, flowing rhythm.

What we first hear in Debussy's music, is the strangeness of the
harmony, the use of certain scales, not so much new as unfamiliar.
Also the employment of sequences of fifths or seconds. He often takes
his subjects from nature, but in this case seems to prefer a sky less
blue and a landscape more atmospheric than those of Italy, more like
his native France. His music, when known sufficiently, will reveal a
sense of proportion, balance and the most exquisite taste. It may lack
strength at times, it may lack outbursts of passion and intensity, but
it is the perfection of refinement.

Mr. E