Decaux's Dungeon

[greg]

anyone ever hear Decaux's Clairs de Lune? This guy is like a mystery, he only writes a few piano and organ pieces and that's it, for his entire "career".

here's his VERY short Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Decaux

the thing is, Clairs de Lune is mostly atonal. But when was it written? Between 1900 and 1907!
He started writing atonal music before Schoenberg and Scriabin, basically, but never got known.
Anyone else know of a composer who started writing atonal music before the year 1900?

[quintett op.57]

Franz Liszt

[greg]

Franz Liszt

oh yeah, Liszt....
i've never actually heard that one atonal piece he made, and i don't know if he made others that were truly atonal. Haven't explored that much of Liszt, really, besides all of his tone poems.

[Heather Harrison]

This does sound interesting; I have enjoyed atonal music since I first heard it years ago.  Thanks to this thread, I have just ordered a CD including Clairs de Lune.  I'll post something about it after I get the CD.

Heather

[greg]

This does sound interesting; I have enjoyed atonal music since I first heard it years ago.  Thanks to this thread, I have just ordered a CD including Clairs de Lune.  I'll post something about it after I get the CD.

Heather

Good move, Heather! It's actually kinda Debussy in flavor, so maybe he's not exactly the first to make any atonal music, just the first French composer. It's a unique blend between Debussy and Schoenberg's Book of Hanging Gardens, it's unique and makes me wish the guy composed a lot more. I have no idea why he didn't, it's all a mystery.....

[pjme]

In his little "Dictionnaire de la musique contemporaine" (Librairie Larousse, Paris 1970), Claude rostand writes:

(Freely translated ):Strangely and injustifyably, Decaux is forgotten now. Possibly, his own "sickly" modesty ("modestie maladive") may be the origin of that. He was organist at the Sacré Coeur de Montmartre ( 1903-1926), later traveled to the US where (Eastman School of Music /Rochester) he became a teacher/professor.
The abrupt end to his creativity remains a mystery. ...He can be seen, however, as some kind of an innovator ( like Mathias Hauer and Arnold Schoenberg) inhis Clairs de lune , inspired by Louis de Lutèce's poems . Where as Schoenberg practices a "violent" atonality, Decaux seemingly discovered -instictively- some kind of "impressionistic" atonality.

only a few lines...I can find nothing else in my other dictionaries.

Peter

[greg]

In his little "Dictionnaire de la musique contemporaine" (Librairie Larousse, Paris 1970), Claude rostand writes:

(Freely translated ):Strangely and injustifyably, Decaux is forgotten now. Possibly, his own "sickly" modesty ("modestie maladive") may be the origin of that. He was organist at the Sacré Coeur de Montmartre ( 1903-1926), later traveled to the US where (Eastman School of Music /Rochester) he became a teacher/professor.
The abrupt end to his creativity remains a mystery. ...He can be seen, however, as some kind of an innovator ( like Mathias Hauer and Arnold Schoenberg) inhis Clairs de lune , inspired by Louis de Lutèce's poems . Where as Schoenberg practices a "violent" atonality, Decaux seemingly discovered -instictively- some kind of "impressionistic" atonality.

only a few lines...I can find nothing else in my other dictionaries.

Peter

i can't find anything about him in my Oxford music dictionary, either.

such a shame, the guy was very original, and just wrote a few pieces...... sometimes modesty can be a bad thing.

[Chafing Dish]

Decaux' Claires de Lune is on the IMSLP, if you're keeping track. Totally bizarre music.

[greg]

Decaux' Claires de Lune is on the IMSLP, if you're keeping track. Totally bizarre music.

Oh yeah, they definitely have it there. What's striking is when it was written, and how the composer wrote virtually nothing else.

[ibanezmonster]

Carlo Farina (1600-1639), il Gato, in Cappriccio Stravagante
Wagner's Tristan Prelude.
And of course late Liszt, as was pointed out above.

I listened to the Farina, and noticed the wild sections. Ha! I wonder how that is actually written out. 17th century Penderecki! 
(reminds me of the baroque piece Luke posted that has a section played in multiple keys at the same time that sounds atonal)

[ibanezmonster]

Actually, I think someone (maybe he) mentioned that one, too! I remember that one.
The one I was think of was Biber's Battalia, written in 1673. Col legno, foot stomping, and a polytonal/atonal section.