Les Chansons de Bilitis: An Investigation of the Erotic as seen in Debussy’s Setting

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Les Chansons de Bilitis:

      An Investigation of the Erotic as seen in Debussy’s Setting
Text by Pierre Louÿs

The word erotic does not rest quietly on the page. It is a word that tempts and eludes us. It hides behind its dictionary definition – ‘of, devoted to or tending to arouse sexual desire' – which cannot begin to touch the numerous spheres that it encompasses. For this term is heavily laden with ideological baggage. It darts through our minds, drawing out questions; we want details. And always there is a tinge of excitement as we tread into a secret, forbidden land. Eroticism mingles with anticipation and imagination; it dangles possibilities before us. Eroticism's association with sex carries with it Parisian society's ambivalent attitude towards sex at the end of the nineteenth century.

      Crime and decadence were on the rise and society was perceived to be at an all-time moral low. As more and more people patronized commercial entertainments, fears of degeneracy, laziness, immorality and hedonism began to surface. Many identified the Republic and its advocacy of liberty as the source of the problem: 'To conservative moralists, the Republic was unleashing unprecedented license: divorce, pornography, alcoholism, nudity on stage, egoism, all seen as ever worsening symptoms of sickness and decline.' Together these elements generated a sense of social disorder and panic. It became clear that the cultivation of the family was the only path towards the survival of the nation. Thus women were expected to be wives, and wives were expected to be domestic, sexless and selfless. 'Maternity defined the essence of womanhood' and male sexual fantasies were saved for the brothel. But prostitutes were classic degenerates, even running the risk of becoming lesbians; they therefore represented 'a terrible threat to the sexual order'. Men had an irresistible pull toward prostitutes and subsequent remorse, and the interplay between fear and male desire ordered in a broader way many other aspects of the history of sexuality in the second half of the nineteenth century. (Trezise, 117)

      Within Claude Debussy’s compositions, links to symbolism and eroticism emerge not only from the texts but from the music itself.  For example, the symbolists’ interest in experimentation with the pure sounds of words finds a parallel in Debussy’s compositional techniques, such as chord streams and the use of non-diatonic scales. Additionally, Debussy’s music and Pierre Louÿs symbolist poetry convey a sense of uncertainty. Likewise, Debussy’s music often abandons traditional structure in its form, harmony, timbre, and rhythmic organization, creating a musical style that displays a subtlety corresponding to that of symbolist poetry.

      The initial step toward understanding Debussy’s setting of Les Chansons de Bilitis is an investigation of the texts by Pierre Louÿs. A discussion of the history between Debussy and Louÿs and Debussy’s ability to perfectly merge textual and musical concepts, with specific attention to the mindset and techniques of Louÿs, provides the background for this analysis. 

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