This paper discusses the historical background of the Rapsodie for Orchestra and Saxophone by Claude Debussy and includes a comparison of two piano performance editions. Chapter I includes information on Elise Hall, her work with the Boston Orchestra Club and the circumstances of her commission of Claude Debussy which yielded the Rapsodie. Chapter II discusses the Editions Durand piano reduction and the reasons for its neglect by saxophone performers. This chapter includes a study of the techniques used by Eugene Rousseau to create his arrangement of the Rapsodie for saxophone and piano. The study concludes that the arrangement by Rousseau is more attractive to saxophonists and will be performed more frequently than the Durand reduction.

The main purpose of this study will be to analyze the impressionistic style and techniques of Debussy, how the idiom came to be, and the influence of this particular idiom on two American composers. For thorough understanding, the poetic and artistic backgrounds of impressionism must be brought out; the biography of the man who originated the idiom, as well as his aesthetic theories, must be briefly covered. More objectively, from biographies and various other studies the techniques peculiarly impressionistic will be listed, and analysis will be made of several of the Debussy songs from various periods of his composition.

The purpose of this study is to acquaint the reader with certain scales, not merely as they are used to provide the theoretical "building stones" of all music, but as they have been used as actual scale passages in the piano music of two twentieth century composers. This is a study of the use of various scales in the piano music of Debussy and Ravel. A list of the piano music of these composers which was available for the present investigation is given in the Bibliography. A careful analysis of the music has been necessary in order to determine: First, the types of scales the composer uses; second, the interpretation of the scale in its context; third, the ways in which some scale passages are employed to help project musical thought in the composition; and fourth, the frequency of occurrence of types of scale passages.