[Footnote 287: From the Cévennes region whence d’Indy’s fam-
ily originally came.]
[Footnote 288: See the elaborate analysis by Mr. Mason in the
essay above referred to.]
We shall now comment briefly on one, only, of d’Indy’s com-
positions, the Symphonic Poem,Istar, which is a set of vari-
ations[289] treated in a manner as novel as it is convincing;
the work beginning with variations which gradually become less
elaborate until finally only the theme itself is heard in its simple
beauty. This reversal of customary treatment is sanctioned by
the nature of the subject, and the correspondence between dra-
matic logic and musical procedure is admirably planned. The
story of the work is that portion of the Assyrian epic Izdubar
which describes, to quote Apthorp’s translation of the French
version, “how Istar, daughter of Sin, bent her steps toward the
immutable land, towards the abode of the dead, towards the
seven-gated abode where He entered, toward the abode whence
there is no return.” Then follows a description of the raiment
and the jewels of which she is stripped at the entrance to each
of the gates. “Istar went into the immutable land, she took and
received the waters of life. She presented the sublime Waters,
and thus, in the presence of all, set free the Son of Life, her
young lover.” The structural novelty of the work is that, begin-
ning with complexity—typifying the gorgeously robed Istar—
the theme discloses itself little by little, as she is stripped of her
jewels, until at last, when she stands forth in the full splendor
of nudity, the theme is heard unaccompanied, like Isis unveiled
or, to change the figure, like a scientific law which has been dis-
closed. The work is based on three generative themes; the sec-
ond, derived from the first and of subsidiary importance, called
by d’Indy the motif d’appel. It plays its part, however, since
it introduces the work and serves as a connection between the
variations, seven in all. These themes are as follows:
- Principal theme:
[Music]
- Motif d’appel.
[Music]
- Subsidiary theme, in form of a march.