analysis of danseuses de delphesdebussy

DANSEUSES DE DELPHES
Debussy has chosen "Danseuses de Delphes" as his opening prélude. For ancient Greeks, Delphi was the center of the world. The temple at Delphi was dedicated to the god of Apollo, the god of music, poetry and prophecy, and leader of the Muses.[15]
Debussy is said to have seen the column with three bacchantes in the Louvre which was a symbol for the designation of the Greek temple site of Delphi.[16] (see picture 1) This temple was famous throughout Greek antiquity for its oracle. The mythological character Pythia, a priestess with extrasensory powers, sat over a fissure in a rock from which vapors emanated and gradually entered into a trance. [17] Debussy’s tonal language and texture reflect this gradual clouding of the mind and the subsequent entry into trance of the priestess at Delphi. This graveness and the gravity of the music which is provided by the prolongation of the Bb in the bass (except for ten measures in the middle) is enveloped by a lightness of...