...dans l'air du soir

Measures 37 to 40:

1. Back to the A major key signature.
2. The theme.
3. Three chords follow the theme.
4. The first and third chords are one half step above the chord from the theme.
5. A series of chords leads to the next section.

Measures 41 to 44:

1. Debussy uses mode II of the minor melodic scale (related to B minor). Jazz theory name this mode Phrygian #6 because it is similar to a Phrygian mode with a sharp VI degree. This mode starts with the half step motive.
2. The sixteenth notes motive is based on the half step motive.
3. The theme in measure 44.
4. The passage ends with an A# minor chords with an added sixth.

Final measures:

1. Varied repetition of bar 44.
2. A dominant chord with minor ninth (Bb) and thirteenth (F#) from measure 46 to 49.
3. Fourth motive.
4. Half step motive.
5. We arrive at the dominant chord of A (E) in measure 49.
6. The dominant chord resolves to the tonic in measure 50 for the final coda.
7. The D# adds the sharp eleventh and the F# the major thirteenth extensions.

Measures 37 to 53:

Paavali Jumppanen, piano
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0

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© 2020 José Rodríguez Alvira. Published by teoria.com