Claude Debussy

Books about Claude Debussy and his music

Lederer Victor Debussy: The Quiet Revolutionary (Unlocking the Masters Series No. 13) Amadeus Press, 2007-03-01; ISBN 1574671537; 148 pages Victor Lederer explores the sophistication, refinement and inspirations of Debussy's music, pointing out subtleties that otherwise could take years of careful listening to fully appreciate. Includes a full-length CD of the maestro's masterworks. Price indication: $ 12.99

Marie-Claire Rohinsky The Singer's Debussy Rosen Pub Group, 1987; ISBN 082390671X; 317 pages Price indication: $ 45.00

Elie Robert, Schmitz The Piano Works of Claude Debussy Dover Publications, 1966; ISBN 0486215679; 234 pages Part biography, part criticism and part analysis, this fascinating study of one of music’s greatest geniuses is above all an authoritative commentary on the entire corpus of Debussy’s work for solo piano. Written with special insights for the performer. Price indication: $ 9.95

Claude Debussy Prelude to "the Afternoon of a Faun": An Authoritative Score Mallarme's Poem, Backgrounds and Scores, Criticism and Analysis (Critical Scores) W. W. Norton & Company, 1970; ISBN 0393099393; 176 pages This is a study score plus a comprehensive body of tools for the study of the work. The book features: A score embodying the best available musical text Historical background A detailed analysis of the music Other significant analytic essays & critical comments Selective bibliography Music examples & charts illustrate the analyses and each essay is fully annotated by the editor. Price indication: $ 18.85

Paul Roberts Images : The Piano Music of Claude Debussy Amadeus Press, 2003; ISBN 1574670689; 372 pages Paris at the turn of the 20th century was obsessed with the interrelations of the arts. It was a time when artists and writers spoke of poetry as music, sounds as colors, and paintings as symphonies. The music of Claude Debussy, with its unique textures and dazzling colors, was the perfect counterpart to the bold new styles of painting in France. Paul Roberts probes the sources of Debussy's artistic inspiration, relating the "impressionist" titles to the artistic and literary ferment of the time. He also draws on his own performing experience to touch on all the principal technical problems for a performer of Debussy's piano music. His many suggestions about interpreting the music will be particularly valuable to performers as well as listeners. Price indication: $ 16.97

Paul Roberts Claude Debussy (20th Century Composers) (20th Century Composers) Phaidon Press Inc., 2008-04-23; ISBN 0714835129; 240 pages Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a great harmonic innovator and one of the most original musical voices of the twentieth century. He created fresh, new tonal perspectives without abandoning tonality itself. With a revolutionary sense of instrumental color and a fleeting, atmospheric sound world, he is often described, rightly or wrongly, as an 'Impressionist' composer. This book presents a clear narrative history of Debussy s life, work, and cultural context along with essential reference material and striking illustrations, making it a vital purchase for anyone interested in the composer. Claude Debussy is part of Phaidon's successful 20th Century Composers series, which presents authoritative and engaging biographies of the great creative musicians of our time, augmented by striking visual material and essential reference information. This edition of the book features a whimsical new cover by Jean-Jacques Sempé, the world-renowned illustrator and cartoonist. Price indication: $ 7.59

Roy Howat Debussy in Proportion : A Musical Analysis Cambridge University Press, 1986; ISBN 0521311454; 256 pages This is the first paperback edition of Roy Howat's stimulating and provocative study of Debussy's unorthodox use of musical form. Throught detailed analyses of the piano pieces Reflets dans l'eau and L'isle joyeuse and the symphonic poem La mer, Dr Howat shows how the pieces are built precisely and intricately around the two ratios of Golden Section and bisection so that the music is organised in various geometrical patterns which contribute substantially to its expansive and dramatic impact. The final chapter traces evidence of whether the proportional systems were designed consciously, and if so, where and why Debussy might have learnt such techniques. The evidence includes his involvement in the Symbolist movement and in esotericism. Price indication: $ 31.99

Simon Trezise and Jonathan Cross The Cambridge Companion to Debussy (Cambridge Companions to Music) Cambridge University Press, 2003; ISBN 0521654785; 348 pages Often considered the father of twentieth-century music, Debussy was a visionary whose influence is still felt. This Companion offers new insights into Debussy's character, his environment and his music, including challenging views of the roles of nature and eroticism in his life and music. While works in all genres are discussed, they are considered through the themes of sonority, rhythm, tonality and form, with closing chapters considering the performance and reception of his music in the first years of the new century. Price indication: $ 29.99

Jane Fulcher Debussy and His World (The Bard Music Festival) Princeton University Press, 2001; ISBN 0691090424; 350 pages 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. Price indication: $ 17.79

Roger Nichols The Life of Debussy (Musical Lives) Cambridge University Press, 1998-04-28; ISBN 0521578876; 196 pages The early music of Claude Debussy was influenced by the work of Wagner, for whom he had great admiration. However, soon Debussy's music became more experimental and individualistic, as is clear in his first mature work Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Debussy quickly moved away from traditional techniques and produced the pictures in sound that led his work to be described as "musical Impressionism." This new biography--the first in English in 30 years--offers new insights into the life of this enigmatic composer, revealing a figure more seminal and revolutionary than previously thought. Price indication: $ 34.96

Claude Debussy Debussy on music: The critical writings of the great French composer Claude Debussy A. A. Knopf, 1977; ISBN 0394481208; 353 pages Price indication: $ 6.67

Samuel Hsu and Sidney Grolnic and Mark Peters 'Claude Debussy As I Knew Him' and Other Writings by Arthur Hartmann (Eastman Studies in Music) University of Rochester Press, 2004; ISBN 1580461042; 361 pages Arthur Hartmann (1881-1956), a celebrated violinist who performed over a thousand recitals throughout Europe and the United States, met Claude Debussy in 1908, after he had transcribed 'Il pleure dans mon coeur' for violin and piano. Their relationship developed into friendship, and in February 1914 Debussy accompanied Hartmann in a performance of three of Hartmann's transcriptions of Debussy's works. The two friends saw each other for the last time on the composer's birthday, 22 August 1914, shortly before Hartmann and his family fled Europe to escape the Great War. With the publication of Hartmann's memoir Claude Debussy as I Knew Him, along with the twenty-two known letters from Claude Debussy and the thirty-nine letters from Emma Debussy to Hartmann and his wife, the richness and importance of their relationship can be appreciated for the first time. The memoir covers the years 1908-1918. Debussy's letters to Hartmann span the years 1908-1916, and Emma (Mme) Debussy's letters span the years 1910-1932. Also included are the facsimile of Debussy's Minstrels manuscript transcription for violin and piano, three previously unpublished letters from Debussy to Pierre Louÿs, and and correspondece between Hartmann and Béla Bartók, Nina Grieg, Alexandre Guilmant, Charles Martin Loeffler, Marian MacDowell, Hans Richter, and Anton Webern, along with Hartmann's memoirs on Loeffler, Ysaÿe, Joachim and Grieg. Samuel Hsu is a pianist and professor of music at Philadelphia Biblical University. He completed his Ph.D. in historical musicology at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1972 with a dissertation on Debussy. Sidney Grolnic has been a librarian in the Music Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia for over twenty years and serves as curator of the library's Hartmann Collection. Mark A. Peters is a Ph.D. candidate in historical musicology at the University of Pittsburgh and is currently completing his dissertation on J. S. Bach's sacred cantatas to texts by Mariana von Zi Price indication: $ 85.00

Claude Debussy Poetic Debussy: A Collection of His Song Texts and Selected Letters Northeastern Univ Pr, 1982; ISBN 0930350286; 318 pages This completely revised second edition of The Poetic Debussy contains the most recent discoveries in the composer's oeuvre, including a number of hitherto unknown songs. The texts of all Debussy's songs, both in the original French and with revised English translations on the facing page, are collected in chronological order, with notes and location of sources. In addition, Margaret Cobb has brought together a fascinating selection of Debussy's letters which have poetic refences, and has updated the notes on those twenty-six compositions based on or inspired by literary texts. This work will prove an invaluable aid to performers, scholars and students, as it contains the texts, with translations, of the full output of Debussy's songs, describes his works derived from literary sources, and includes important background material. Price indication: $ 19.67

Edward Lockspeiser Debussy McGraw-Hill, 1972; ISBN 0070382751; 303 pages Price indication: $ 2.59

Leon Vallas Claude Debussy: His Life and Works Dover Pubns, 1973; ISBN 0486229165; 366 pages Text extracted from opening pages of book: CLAtJDE DEBUSSY HIS LIFE AND WORKS Translated from the French by MAIRE and GRACE O BRIEN OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS London : Humphrey Milford 1933 L ; ; PREFACE - * * & amp; lt; w & quot; * IN this book on Claude & quot; Debussy I have avoided all biographical details the publication of which, fefight be deemed premature and indiscreet. The secrets of his private life belong to those who shared it and who bear his name. For the purposes of this book I have made use only of such documents as were originally intended for publication or which have by chance become public property. To my mind, the really interesting points in the life of a musician are his works, his activities, and his influence on his contemporaries. The book which I published in 1928 under the title of The Theories of Claude Debussy, musicien franfais, supplements the present work, revealing as it does the composer s ideas on music given to the public between the years 1901 and 1916. I have made frequent use of Debussy s published correspon dence : his letters to Vasnier and Ernest Chausson ( Revue Musicale, December 1925 and May 1926) and to the publisher, Durand ( Paris, Durand, 1927). I have also drawn on the reminiscences published by the Revue Musicale, in May 1926 ( articles by: Raymond Bonheur, Paul Dukas, Robert Godet, Andre Messager, Gabriel Pierne, Henri de Regnier, Marguerite Vasnier, Paul Vidal). I have likewise utilized the recollections to which Maurice Emmanuel refers in his study on Telleas et Melisande ( Paris, Mellotte, 1926). CONTENTS I. CHILDHOOD. THE CONSERVATOIRE ( 1862-83) . i II. THE PRIX DE ROME ( 1883-4) 22 III. THE VILLA MEDICI ( 1885-7); THE ENVOIS DE ROME ( 1885-90) 32 IV. RETURN TO PARIS ( 1887). INFLUENCES . . 49 V. THE FIRST COMPOSITIONS ( 1888-93) . . 66 VI. BEFORE PELLfiAS : THE QUARTET AND THE PROSES LYRIQUES ( 1892-9) . . .80 VII. & amp; lt; L APRfiS-MIDI D UN FAUNE ; THE NOCTURNES ; CRITIQUES ( 1894-1901) . . . .101 VIII. PELLfiAS ET MfiLISANDE ( 1892-1902) DEBUS SYISM 121 IX. CHAMBER MUSIC. C LA MER ( 1902-7) . . 152 X. VARIOUS COMPOSITIONS. LE CAS DEBUSSY ( 1907-10) ...... 181 XL IMAGES FOR ORCHESTRA; PRELUDES AND SONGS ( 1910-13) . . . . - 195 XII. DRAMATIC MUSIC, VARIOUS PLANS. LE MAR TYRE DE SAINT-SfiBASTIEN ( 1911) . . 217 XIII. JEUX. LA BOlTE A JOUJOUX ( 1913) . . 235 XIV. THE WAR. LAST YEARS ( 1914-18) . . .251 APPENDIX A ....... 274 B 274 C . . . - . . - 275 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Achille-Claude Debussy ( in 1867) . . . facing p. 2 Achille-Claude Debussy, while at the Conservatoire ( about 1874) ........ 10 New Year s Greetings to Madame Vasnier ( on the music of Mandoline) . . . . ,, 18 Music Facsimile ( from Le Gladiateur) . between pp. 24 and 25 Villa Medici ( 1885) ..... facing p. 32 Debussy at the house of Ernest Chausson, 1893 . . ,, 62 A few pages from the note-book of Maurice Emmanuel .... between pp. 84 and 85 Claude Debussy ( about 1895) .... facing p. 90 Claude Debussy ( about 1895) . . . - ,, 101 Letter to Pierre Louys . . . . ,, no Debussy at the house of Pierre Louys ( about 1895) . 112 Debussy at the piano ( about 1898) . . ,, 116 Claude Debussy ( about 1900) . . . ,, 121 Debussy and his first wife, Rosalie Texier ( about 1902) . ,, 124 At the time of Telleas et Melisande 138 Debussy, photographed by Pierre Louys ( about 1900) * ,, 15 Debussy, by Jacques-fimile Blanche ( 1903) - * 54 Letter to Jacques Durand ( August 1903) . . - ,, * 57 Debussy and his first wife, Rosalie Texier, at Bichain ( about 1902) ..... 158 Debussy at Pourville ( September 1904) . . - ,, 168 Debussy outside his home ( about 1910). . 212 Letter to Andr6 Halle& quot; ( 27 August 1913) - 240 One of the 363 themes in Roman de Tristan* Debussy s note for the Fourth of a projected Series of Six ^ Sonatas ..... Opening of the Finale of the Violin Sonata CHAPTER I CHILDHOOD. THE CONSERVATOIRE ( 1862-83) IN the heart of the tle-de-France, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, tjte, birthplace of Louis XIV, was Price indication: $ 101.08

Lockspeiser Debussy:Life & Mind V1 Cambridge University Press, 1979; ISBN 0521293413; 291 pages Price indication: $ 35.00

Jane Bathori On the Interpretation of the Melodies of Claude Debussy (Vox Musicae Series, No. 2) Pendragon Press, 1998; ISBN 1576470083; 101 pages Price indication: $ 30.00

Sheet music, libretti, etc.

Complete Preludes, Books 1 and 2 - Dover Publications
Here, in one volume, are two bodies of work that, perhaps more than any others, reveal the essence of Claude Debussy's extraordinary expressiveness and his innovative gifts for musical imagery. Each book contains 12 preludes for the piano, many of them well known to today's musical audiences because of their great popularity with pianists worldwide.

Debussy Children's Corner - Warner Bros Pubns
Advanced piano solo by Claude Debussy.

Favorite Piano Works (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics) - G. Schirmer
Many of Debussy's best-known pieces are assembled in this convenient, affordable collection. Includes: Children's Corner * Deux arabesques * Estampes * Hommage a Haydn * Images * L'isle joyeuse * Masques * Le petit negre * La plus que lente * Preludes, Books 1 and 2 (selections) * Reverie, Suite bergamasque (including "Clair de lune") * Suite: Pour le piano.

Images, Jeux and the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (Suite) in Full Score (Suite in Full Score) - Dover Publications
Authoritative full-score editions of three outstanding orchestral works—the orchestral triptych Images, which contains the highly popular Iberia; the ballet score Jeux, commissioned by Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes; and the orchestral suite excerpted from the vocal work The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian—all current repertoire favorites that richly reveal the distinctive new dimensions in orchestral sound Debussy brought to music.<br>

Pelleas et Melisande - Study score (French Edition) - Petrucci Library Press
Debussy's sole completed opera was given its premiere at Paris' Opera Comique on April 30, 1902. It was the culmination of an eight-year effort on the composer's part. Though not an immediate sensation like Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" two years later in Milan, the five-act lyric drama, after the identically titled play by Maeterlinck, enjoyed a successful run in the first two decades of the 20th century. Debussy's masterpiece of orchestral color is presented in a new, digitally-enhanced reprint of the full score first issued by E. Fromont, Paris, in 1904.

Pelleas Et Melisande in Full Score - Dover Publications
Debussy’s only opera is a perfect marriage of music and verse and one of the great landmarks in the history of the form. Reprinted from the E. Fromont (1904) edition, this volume reproduces the full orchestral-vocal score in a clear, modern engraving.<br>

Piano Music 1888-1905 - Dover Publications
The complete music for solo piano written by French composer Claude Debussy between 1888 and 1905. In each case the music as been reproduced photographically from original or early editions. Designed for years of use at the piano, the book features large and clearly printed noteheads and margins and spaces adequate for written notes. It opens flat and binding will not crack or split.

Songs of Claude Debussy - Volume II : The Vocal Library (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics) - Hal Leonard Corporation
A major new critical edition of important standard repertory with 61 songs in 2 volumes. All songs are presented only in the original key, with no transpositions. All the song cycles and groupings appear in one of the two volumes. Years in preparation, this edition is based on the most reliable sources available in the world, with most of the research centered at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Each song is presented with a line-by-line translation and full critical notes citing the research as it applies to specifics in the songs. Also includes a glossary of French terms. Contents: Deux romances (Romance: L'eme evaporee; Les cloches) * Les angelus * Trois melodies de Paul Verlaine (La mer est plus belle; Le son du cor; L'echelonnement des haies) * FEtes galantes, serie I (En sourdine; Fantoches; Clair de lune) * Proses lyriques (De rEve; De greve; De fleurs; De soir) * Trois chansons de Bilitis (La flte de Pan; La chevelure; Le tombeau des Naiades) * Dans le jardin * FEtes galantes, serie II (Les ingenus; Le faune; Colloque sentimental) * Trois chansons de France (Rondel: Le temps a laissie; La grotte; Rondel: Pour ce que Palisance) * Le promenoir des deux amants (Crois mon conseil, chere Climene; Je tremble en voyant ton visage) * Trois ballads de Francois Villon (Ballade de Villon a s'amye; Ballade que Villon feit a la requeste de sa mere; Ballade des femmes de Paris) * Trois poemes de Stephane Mallarme (Soupir, Placet futile, Evantali) * Noel des enfant qui n'ont plus de maisons.

Songs of Claude Debussy : The Vocal Library (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics) - Hal Leonard Corporation
A major new critical edition of important standard repertory with 61 songs in 2 volumes. All songs are presented only in the original key, with no transpositions. All the song cycles and groupings appear in one of the two volumes. Years in preparation, this edition is based on the most reliable sources available in the world, with most of the research centered at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Each song is presented with a line-by-line translation and full critical notes citing the research as it applies to specifics in the songs. Also includes a glossary of French terms. Contents: Nuit d'etoiles * Fleur des bles * Zephyr * Aimons-nous et dormons * Jane * Pierrot * Rondeau * FEte galante * Beau soir * FEtes galantes pour Madame Vasnier (Pantomime; En sourdine; Mandoline; Clair de lune; Fantoches) * Apparition * Recti et Air de Lia * Ariettes oubliees (C'est l'extase langoureuse; Il pleure dans mon coeur; L'ombre des arbres; Chevaus de bois; Green; Spleen) * Cinq poemes de Charles Baudelaire (Le balcon; Harmonie du soir; Le jet d'eau; Recueillement; La mort des amants) * Trois melodies (La beele au bois dormant; Voici que le printemps; Paysage sentimental).

Suite Bergamasque (Alfred Masterwork Edition) - Alfred Publishing

The Great Piano Works of Claude Debussy - Duxbury Resource Center
This volume in our new series features 29 compositions by Claude Debussy, including such famous pieces as 'Clair de Lune,' 'Reverie,' 'The Girl with the Flaxen Hair,' 'Golliwogg's Cake Walk,' and others. It includes pieces from the French master's wealth of piano compositions, including the 'Arabesques,' PETITE SUITE, CHILDREN'S CORNER SUITE, both books of 'Preludes,' and individual pieces. A wide variety of music from the French impressionistic genius! 29 titles on 160 pages.

Three Great Orchestral Works in Full Score : Prelude A L'Apres-Midi D'Un Faune, Nocturnes, La Mer - Dover Publications
Complete scores of three orchestral favorites by vastly influential modern composer. Among the most popular, most recorded, most performed works in the repertoire. Innovation, texture, shimmering impressionism. Reprinted from early French editions. New Contents, Glossary of French musical terms.<br>