Debussy Studies

Edited by Richard Langham Smith

Our knowledge of Debussy’s life and music has increased considerably during the last decade or so, largely through the efforts of those working on the long overdue complete edition of his music. Many of the contributors to this volume, first published in 1997, have worked on various pieces in the complete edition and the significance of their research is apparent here. Topics include an examination of Debussy’s working methods, his visual tastes and his response to literature, his reception in England, as well as aspects of performance practice. It also includes a close study of Debussy’s relationship to the poet Stéphane Mallarmé. An appendix reproduces a discarded scene from Maeterlinck’s ‘Pelléas’ for the first time, and the book is particularly rich in previously unpublished facsimiles and other little-known illustrative material.

Bibliographic Details

Contents

• 1. The definition of timbre in the process of composition of Jeux
• 2. Waiting for Golaud: the concept of time in Pelléas
• 3. Sirens in the labyrinth: amendments in Debussys Nocturnes
• 4. Debussys piano music: sources and performance
• 5. Portrait of the artist as Roderick Usher
• 6. The reception of Debussys music in Britain up to 1914
• 7. Debussy and Satie
• 8. Semantic and structural issues in Debussys Mallarmé songs
• 9. La jeunesse du Cid: a mislaid act in Rodrigue et Chimène?