Claude Debussy's Paris was factionalized, politicized, and litigious. It
was against this background of ferment and change--which characterized
French society and music from the Franco-Prussian War to World War
I--that Debussy re-thought music. This book captures the complexity of
the composer's restless personal and artistic identity within the new
picture emerging of the musical, social, and political world of
fin-de-siècle Paris.
Debussy's setting did not simply mold his style. Rather, it challenged
him to define a style and then to revamp it again and again as he
situated himself simultaneously via the present and the past. These
essays trace Debussy's perpetual reinvention, both social and creative,
from his earliest to his last works. They explore tensions and
contradictions in his best-known compositions and examine lesser-known
pieces that reveal new aspects of Debussy's creative appropriation from
poetry, painting, and non-Western music.
The contributors reveal the extent to which Debussy's personal and
professional lives were intertwined and sometimes in conflict. Belonging
to no one group or class, but crossing many, Debussy abjured the
orthodox. A maverick who reviled all convention and searched for a music
that authentically reflected experience, Debussy balked at entering any
situation--salons, musical societies, or factions--that would categorize
and thus distort him. Because of this, music lovers still argue over the
degree to which Debussy's music is Impressionist, symbolist, or even
French. Aptly, the volume's editor reads Debussy's last works as a
dialogue with himself that reflects his inherently pluralistic,
paradoxical, negotiated, and ever-changing identity.
William Austin's description of Debussy as ''one of the most original
and adventurous musicians who ever lived'' is often repeated. This book
illustrates how right Austin was and shows why Debussy's unclassifiable
art continues to fascinate and perplex his historians even as it
enthralls new listeners. The contributors are Leon Botstein, Christophe
Charle, John Clevenger, Jane F. Fulcher, David Grayson, Brian Hart, Gail
Hilson-Woldu, and Marie Rolf.
