Proceedings of the 2025 4th International Conference on Science Education and Art Appreciation (SEAA 2025)

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Analysing the Oriental Elements in Debussy’s Pagodes

Authors
Yuyang Wang1, *, Yiru Xiao2, Lichuan Yu3
1Higher Vocational Education College, Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
2College of Art, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China
3School of Music, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
*Corresponding author. Email: wangyuyang28@nua.edu.cn
Corresponding Author
Yuyang Wang
Available Online 31 July 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-452-5_16How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Debussy; Oriental Elements; Pagodes
Abstract

This study focuses on an in-depth analysis of the oriental elements contained in Claude Debussy’s piano work Pagodes, exploring its musical style and compositional qualities. Debussy, as a typical representative of Impressionist music, was deeply imbued with Eastern culture in his compositions. Pagodes is a work that demonstrates to the fullest extent his subtle grasp of the elements of Oriental music and his distinctive use of them. Through careful analyses of the score of Pagodes, an extensive review of relevant literature, and observation of videos of performers in action, this study reveals how Debussy incorporated Oriental elements such as the pentatonic scale and gamelan music into his musical compositions, and the role that these elements have played in the Western musical tradition. The research results show that Pagodes not only highlights the cross-cultural fusion characteristics of Debussy’s musical language, but also reflects his innovative use of Oriental music, which is of key significance in understanding the historical background and artistic achievements of the fusion of East and West at the beginning of the 20th century.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2025 4th International Conference on Science Education and Art Appreciation (SEAA 2025)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
31 July 2025
ISBN
978-2-38476-452-5
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-452-5_16How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Yuyang Wang
AU  - Yiru Xiao
AU  - Lichuan Yu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/07/31
TI  - Analysing the Oriental Elements in Debussy’s Pagodes
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 4th International Conference on Science Education and Art Appreciation (SEAA 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 124
EP  - 131
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-452-5_16
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-452-5_16
ID  - Wang2025
ER  -