Debussy’s Tombeau des Naïades: The process of duplication

Abstract

The elaboration of a generative grammar appears particularly appropriate as an
approach of the process of duplication in Debussy’s work. After an attempt at
creating the broad lines of a generative system, we propose a practical application
and a demonstration based on a single melody for voice and piano, Le tombeau des
Naïades (1898). This approach unexpectedly leads to another interrogation: what
are the functions of the duplications identified in the musical discourse and what are
their links with the other aspects of the work, first of all the text and its dramatic
implications?