Debussy : a painter in sound / by Stephen Walsh.
| Author/creator | Walsh, Stephen, 1942- author. |
| Format | Book |
| Edition | First United States edition. |
| Publication | New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2018] |
| Description | ix, 323 pages, 8 pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Prelude. A biography of sorts -- The prisoner and the prodigy -- Songs for Marie -- Up at the villa -- New rules, old morals -- Mallarmé and Maeterlinck -- Bilitis and other women -- Lilly versus the piano -- Taking to the water -- Images in name as well as fact -- A crumbling house and a sunken cathedral -- Theatres of the body and the mind -- War in black and white -- Indian summer, stygian winter -- What the modern made of him. |
| Abstract | Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was that rare creature, a composer who reinvented the language of music without alienating the majority of music lovers. The creator of such classics as La Mer and "Clair de lune," of Pelléas et Mélisande and magnificent, delicate piano works, he is the modernist everybody loves, the man who drove French music into entirely new regions of beauty and excitement at a time when old traditions--and the overbearing influence of Wagner--threatened to stifle it. As a central figure at the birth of modernism, Debussy's influence on French culture was profound. Yet at the same time his own life was complicated and often troubled by struggles over money, women, and ill health. Now, one hundred years after his death, the author turns his keen eye to both the composer and the unique moment in European history that bore him. Walsh's engagingly original approach is to enrich a lively account of this life with brilliant analyses of Debussy's music: from his first daring breaks with the rules as a Conservatoire student to his mature achievements as the greatest French composer of his time. |
| General note | This is a Borzoi book published by Alfred A. Knopf. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-311) and index. |
| LCCN | 2017058738 |
| ISBN | 9781524731922 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 1524731927 (hardcover) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.D28 W35 2018 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |