[+] Schmidt, Tracey. "Debussy, Crumb, and Musical Borrowing in An Idyll for the Misbegotten." In George Crumb and the Alchemy of Sound: Essays on His Music, ed. Steven Michael Bruns, Ofer Ben-Amots, and Michael D. Grace, 171-94. Colorado Springs: Colorado College Music Press, 2005.
In George Crumb's Idyll for the Misbegotten, quotations of Claude Debussy's Syrinx serve many functions. Crumb evokes the morbid mythology of Pan and Syrinx through the quotation, which strengthens his program for Idyll.Syrinx is also used as material upon which Idyll elaborates: Crumb explores pitch structure as implicated by Debussy, composes Idyll in an expanded version of the form of Syrinx, bases tonal functions on the prominent A-Eb tritone in Syrinx, and expands Debussy's exploration of flute technique with numerous special effects. All this leads to an intensification of the innovative elements found in the quoted passage.
Works: Crumb: Idyll for the Misbegotten (171-94).
Sources: Debussy: Syrinx (171-94).
Index Classifications: 1900s
Contributed by: Brent C. Reidy
