Debussy, (Achille-)Claude

Debussy, (Achille-)Claude , great French composer whose music created new poetry of mutating

tonalities and became a perfect counterpart of new painting in France; b. St.-Germain-en-Laye, Aug. 22, 1862; d. Paris, March 25, 1918. Mme. Maute de Fleurville, the mother-in-law of the poet Verlaine, prepared him for the Paris Cons.; he was admitted at the age of 10 and studied piano with Marmontel (second prize, 1877) and solfege with Lavignac (third medal, 1874; second, 1875; first, 1876). He further took courses in harmony with Emile Durand (1877–80) and practiced score reading under Bazille. In 1880 Marmontel recommended him to Mme. Nadezhda von Meek, Tchaikovsky’s patroness. She summoned him to Interlaken, and they subsequently visited Rome, Naples, and Fiesole. During the summers of 1881 and 1882, Debussy stayed with Mme. von Meck’s family in Moscow, where he became acquainted with the syms. of Tchaikovsky; however, he failed to appreciate Tchaikovsky’s music and became more interested in the idiosyncratic compositions of Mussorgsky. Back in France, he became friendly with Mme. Vasnier, wife of a Paris architect and an amateur singer.

Debussy made his earliest professional appearance as a composer in Paris on May 12, 1882, at a concert given by the violinist Maurice Thieberg. In Dec. 1880 he enrolled in the composition class of Guiraud at the Paris Cons, with the ambition of winning the Grand Prix de Rome; after completing his courses, he won the second Prix de Rome in 1883. Finally, on June 27, 1884, he succeeded in obtaining the Grand Prix de Rome with his cantata L’Enfant prodigue, written in a poetic but conservative manner reflecting the trends of French romanticism. During his stay in Rome, he wrote a choral work, Zuleima (1885–86), after Heine’s Almanzor, and began work on another cantata, Diane au bois. Neither of these 2 incunabulae was preserved. His choral suite with orch., Printemps (1887), failed to win formal recognition. He then set to work on another cantata, La Damoiselle elue (1887–89), which gained immediate favor among French musicians.

In 1888 Debussy visited Bayreuth, where he heard Parsifal and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for the first time, but Wagner’s grandiloquence never gained his full devotion. What thoroughly engaged his interest was the oriental music that he heard at the Paris World Exposition in 1889. He was fascinated by the asymmetric rhythms of the thematic content and the new instrumental colors achieved by native players; he also found an inner valence between these oriental modalities and the verses of certain French impressionist poets, including Mallarme, Verlaine, Baudelaire, and Pierre Louys. The combined impressions of exotic music and symbolist French verses were rendered in Debussy’s vocal works, such as Cinq poemes de Baudelaire (1887–89), Ariettes oubliees (1888), Trois melodies (1891), and Fetes galantes (1892). He also wrote Proses lyriques (1892–93) to his own texts. For the piano, he composed Suite bergamasque (1890–1905), which includes the famous Clair de lune. In 1892 he began work on his instrumental Prelude a I’apres-midi d’un faune, after Mallarme, which comprises the quintessence of tonal painting with its free modal sequences under a subtle umbrage of oscillating instrumentation. The work was first heard in Paris on Dec. 22, 1894; a program book cautioned the audience that the text contained sensuous elements that might be distracting to young females. It was about that time that Debussy attended a performance of Maeterlinck’s drama Pelleas et Melisande, which inspired him to begin work on an opéra on that subject. In 1893 there followed Trois chansons de Bilitis, after prose poems by Louys, marked by exceptional sensuality of the text in a musical context of free modality; a later work, Les Chansons de Bilitis for 2 harps, 2 flutes, and celesta, was heard in Paris in 1901 as incidental music to accompany recited and mimed neo-Grecian poetry of Louys. Between 1892 and 1899 Debussy worked on 3Nocturnes for orch.:Nuages, Fetes, and Sirenes.

As the 20th century dawned, Debussy found himself in a tangle of domestic relationships. A tempestuous liaison with Gabrielle Dupont (known as Gaby Lhery) led to a break, which so distressed Gaby that she took poison. She survived, but Debussy sought more stable attachments; on Oct. 19,1899, he married Rosalie Texier, with whom he made his first attempt to form a legiti-mate union. But he soon discovered that like Gaby before her, Rosalie failed to satisfy his expectations, and he began to look elsewhere for a true union of souls. This he found in the person of Emma Bardac, the wife of a banker. He bluntly informed Rosalie of his dissatisfaction with their marriage. Like Gaby 7 years before, Rosalie, plunged into despair by Debussy’s selfish decision, attempted suicide; she shot herself in the chest but missed her suffering heart. Debussy, now 42 years old, divorced Rosalie on Aug. 2, 1905. Bardac and her husband were divorced on May 4, 1905; Debussy married her on Jan. 20,1908. They had a daughter, Claude-Emma (known as “Chouchou”), born Oct. 15, 1905; she was the inspiration for Debussy’s charming piano suite, Children’s Corner (the title was in English, for Chouchou had an English governess). She survived her father by barely a year, dying of diphtheria on July 14, 1919.

With his opéra Pelleas et Melisande, Debussy assumed a leading place among French composers. It was premiered at the opéra- Comique in Paris on April 30, 1902, after many difficulties, including the open opposition of Maeterlinck, who objected to having the role of Melisande sung by the American soprano Mary Garden, whose accent jarred Maeterlinck’s sensibilities; he wanted his mistress, Georgette Leblanc, to be the first Melisande. The production of the opéra aroused a vio-lent controversy among French musicians and litterateurs. The press was vicious in the extreme: “Rhythm, melody, tonality, these are 3 things unknown to Monsieur Debussy, “wrote the doyen of the Paris music critics, Arthur Pougin. “What a pretty series of false relations! What adorable progressions of triads in parallel motion and fifths and octaves which result from it! What a collection of dissonances, sevenths and ninths, ascending with energy!…No, decidedly I will never agree with these anarchists of music!” Camille Bellaigue, who was Debussy’s classmate at the Paris Cons., conceded that Pelleas et Melisande “makes little noise,” but, he remarked, “it is a nasty little noise.” The English and American reports were no less vituperative, pejorative, and deprecatory. “Debussy disowns melody and despises harmony with all its resources,” opined the critic of the Monthly Musical Record of London. Echoing

such judgments, the Musical Courier of N.Y. compared Debussy’s “disharmony” with the sensation of “an involuntary start when the dentist touches the nerve of a sensitive tooth.” And the American writer James Gibbons Huneker exceeded all limits of permissible literary mores by attacking Debussy’s physical appearance. “I met Debussy at the Cafe Riche the other night,” he wrote in the N.Y. Sun, “and was struck by the unique ugliness of the man…[H]e looks more like a Bohemian, a Croat, a Hun, than a Gaul.” These utterances were followed by a suggestion that Debussy’s music was fit for a procession of head-hunters of Borneo, carrying home “their ghastly spoils of war.”

Debussy’s next important work was La Mer, which he completed during a sojourn in England in 1905. It was first performed in Paris on Oct. 15, 1905. Like his String Quartet, it was conceived monothematically; a single musical idea permeated the entire work despite a great variety of instrumentation. It consists of 3 symphonic sketches:De Vaube à midi sur la mer, Jeux de vagues, and Dialogue du vent et de la mer. La Mer was attacked by critics with even greater displeasure than Pelleas et Melisande. The American critic Louis Elson went so far as to suggest that the original title was actually “Le Mai de mer,” and that the last movement represented a violent seizure of vomiting. To summarize the judgment on Debussy, a vol. entitled Le Cas Debussy was publ. in Paris in 1910. It contained a final assessment of Debussy as a “deformateur musical,” suffering from a modern nervous disease that affects one’s power of discernment.

Meanwhile, Debussy continued to work. To be mentioned is the remarkable orch. triptych, Images (1906–12), comprising Gigues, Iberia, and Rondes de printemps. In 1908 he conducted a concert of his works in London; he also accepted engagements as conductor in Vienna (1910), Turin (1911), Moscow and St. Petersburg (1913), and Rome, Amsterdam, and The Hague (1914). Among other works of the period are the piano pieces, Douze preludes (2 books, 1909–10; 1910–13) and Douze etudes (2 books, 1915). En blanc et noir, for 2 pianos, dates from 1915. On May 15, 1913, Diaghilev produced Debussy’s ballet Jeux in Paris. On May 5, 1917, Debussy played the piano part of his Violin Sonata at its premiere in Paris with violinist Gaston Poulet. But his projected tour of the U.S. with the violinist Arthur Hartmann had to be abandoned when it was discovered that Debussy had irreversible colon cancer. Surgery was performed in Dec. 1915, but there was little hope of recovery. The protracted First World War depressed him; his hatred of the Germans became intense as the military threat to Paris increased. He wrote the lyrics and the accompaniment to a song, Noel des enfants, in which he begged Santa Claus not to bring presents to German children whose parents were destroying the French children’s Christmas. To underline his national sentiments, he emphatically signed his last works “musicien franc, ais.” Debussy died on the evening of March 25, 1918, as the great German gun, “Big Bertha,” made the last attempt to subdue the city of Paris by long-distance (76 miles) bombardment.

Debussy emphatically rejected the term “impressionism” as applied to his music. But it cannot alter the essential truth that like Mallarme in poetry, he created a style peculiarly sensitive to musical mezzotint, a palette of half-lit delicate colors. He systematically applied the oriental pentatonic scale for exotic evocations, as well as the whole-tone scale (which he did not invent, however; earlier samples of its use are found in works by Glinka and Liszt). His piece for piano solo, Voiles, is written in a whole-tone scale, while its middle section is set entirely in the pentatonic scale. In his music, Debussy emancipated discords; he also revived the archaic practice of consecutive perfect intervals (particularly fifths and fourths). In his formal constructions, the themes are shortened and rhythmically sharpened, while in the instrumental treatment the role of individual solo passages is enhanced and the dynamic range made more subtle.

Works

CHORAL, DRAMATIC, AND LITERARY : Hymnis, cantata (1880; unfinished); Daniel, cantata for 3 Voices (1880–84); Printemps for Women’s Chorus and Orch. (1882; publ. as Salut printemps, 1928); Le Gladiateur, cantata (June 22, 1883); Invocation for 4 Men’s Voices and Orch. (1883; publ. 1957); L’Enfant prodigue, cantata for Soprano, Tenor, Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (Paris, June 27, 1884; reorchestrated 1905 and 1908); Printemps for Chorus (1884); Diane au bois, cantata (1884–86; unfinished);La Damoiselle elue, cantata for Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Women’s Chorus, and Orch. (1887–89; Paris, April 7, 1893); Axel, music for a scene to Villiers de 1’Isle Adam’s drama (1889); Rodrigue et Chimene, opéra (1890–92; piano score only, partially lost; reconstructed by Richard Smith and orchestrated by Edison Denisov; Lyons, May 14, 1993); Pelleas et Melisande, opéra (1893–95; 1901–02; Paris, April 30, 1902, Messager conducting);F.E.A. (Freres en art), play written with Rene Peter (1896–1900; unfinished); Esther et la maison desfous, text for a dramatic work (1900); Le Diable dans le beffroi, opéra after Poe’s The Devil in the Belfry (1902–03; unfinished; only notes for the libretto and sketch for Scene I extant);Trois chansons de Charles d’Orleans for Chorus (2 pieces composed in 1898 incorporated into score of 1908; Paris, April 9, 1909, composer conducting);Masques et Bergamasques, scenario for a ballet (1910); La Chute de la maison Usher, opéra after Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher (1908–18; unfinished; only sketches and final version of the libretto and incomplete vocal score extant);Le Martyre de Saint-Sebastien, incidental music to the mystery play by d’Annunzio for Soprano, 2 Contraltos, Chorus, and Orch. (Paris, May 22, 1911); Jeux, ballet (1912; Paris, May 15, 1913, Monteux conducting);Khamma, ballet (1912; Paris, Nov. 15, 1924, Pierne conducting);Ode a la France, cantata for Solo, Chorus, and Orch. (1916; completed from the sketches by M. F. Gaillard; piano score, 1928; orch. score, 1954). ORCH.:Inter-mezzo, after Heine’s Intermezzo (1882); Suite d’orchestre (1883–84); Printemps, symphonic suite for Orch. and Chorus (1887; full score destroyed in a fire; later reduction for Voices and Piano, 5-Hands, by Durand, 1904; definitive version reorchestrated by Biisser, 1913; Paris, April 18, 1913, Rhene-Baton conducting);Fantaisie for Piano and Orch. (1889; London, Nov. 20, 1919, Coates conducting);Prelude a I’apres-midi d’un faune (1892–94; Paris, Dec. 22,1894, Doret conducting);Nocturnes: Nuages; Fetes; Sirenes (the latter with wordless women’s chorus; 1892–99;Nuages and Fetes, Paris, Dec. 9, 1900, Chevillard conducting; first complete perf., Paris, Oct. 27,1901, Chevillard conducting);Danse sacree and Danse profane for Harp and Strings (1903; Paris, Nov. 6, 1904); La Mer, 3 symphonic sketches: 1, De I’aube a midi

sur la mer; 2, Jeux de vagues; 3, Dialogue du vent et de la mer (1903–05; Paris, Oct. 15,1905, Chevillard conducting);King Lear, incidental music to Shakespeare’s play:Pan/are and Sommeil de Lear (1904; Paris, Oct. 30, 1926, Wolff conducting; also notes in MS for 6 other pieces);Images: Gigues (1909–12); Iberia (1906–08); Rondes de printemps (1908–09) (orchestration of Gigues completed by Caplet;Gigues, Paris, Jan. 26,1913, Pierne conducting;Iberia, Paris, Feb. 20, 1910, Pierne conducting;Rondes de printemps, Paris, March 2, 1910, composer conducting).CHAMBER: Trio in G major for Piano, Violin, and Cello (1880); Intermezzo for Cello and Piano (1882); Scherzo for Cello and Piano (1882); String Quartet (Paris, Dec. 29, 1893); Chansons de Bilitis, incidental music for the poems of Louys for 2 Flutes, 2 Harps, and Celesta (1900; Paris, Feb. 7, 1901); Rapsodie for Saxophone and Piano (1903–05; unfinished; piano accompaniment orchestrated by Roger-Ducasse; Paris, May 14, 1919, Caplet conducting);Premiere rapsodie for Clarinet and Piano (1909–10; Paris, Jan. 16, 1911; orchestrated by the composer, 1910); Petite piece for Clarinet and Piano (1910); Syrinx for Flute (Paris, Dec. 1, 1913); Cello Sonata (1915; first confirmed perf., London, March 4, 1916); Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp (1915; Paris, Dec. 10,1916 [private perf.]); Sonata for Piano and Violin (1916–17; Paris, May 5, 1917, composer pianist, Poulet violinist).PIANO: Sol o Piano : Danse bohemienne (1880); Deux arabesques (1880); Reverie; Ballade; Danse (orchestrated by Ravel);Valse romantique; Nocturnes (1890); Suite bergamasque: Prelude; Menuet; Clair de lune; Passepied (1890–1905); Mazurka (1891); Pour le piano: Prelude; Sarabande (orchestrated by Ravel);Toccata (1896–1901; Paris, Jan. 11, 1902, Vines pianist);Estampes: Pagodes; Soiree dans Grenade; Jardins sous la pluie (1903; first complete perf., Paris, Jan. 9, 1904, Vines pianist);D’un cahier d’esquisses (1903; Paris, April 20, 1910, Ravel pianist);Masques (1904) and L’Isle joyeuse (1904; orchestrated by B. Molinari; Paris, Feb. 18,1905, Vines pianist);Images, first series:Reflets dans I’eau; Hommage a Rameau; Mouvement (1905; Paris, March 3, 1906, Vines pianist);Children’s Corner: Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum; Jimbo’s Lullaby; Serenade for the Doll; Snow Is Dancing; The Little Shepherd; Golliwog’s Cake-walk (1906–08; Paris, Dec. 18, 1908, Harold Bauer, pianist; orchestrated by Caplet);Images, 2nd series:Cloches a travers lesfeuilles; Et la lune descend sur le temple quifut; Poissons d’or (1907–08; Paris, Feb. 21,1908, Vines pianist);Le Petit Negre (1909); Hommage a Haydn (1909; Paris, March 11, 1911); Douze preludes, Book I:Danseuses de Delphes (Paris, May 25, 1910, composer pianist);Voiles (Paris, May 25, 1910, composer pianist);Le Vent dans la plaine; Les Sons et les parfums tournent dans I’air du soir; Les Collines d’Anacapri (Paris, Dec. 26, 1909, Vines pianist);Des Pas sur la neige; Ce qu’a vu le Vent d’Quest; La Fille aux cheveux de lin; La Serenade interrompue (Paris, Jan. 14, 1911, Vines pianist);La Cathedrale engloutie (Paris, May 25, 1910, composer pianist);La Danse de Puck; Minstrels (1909–10); La Plus que lente (1910; orchestrated by the composer, 1912); Douze preludes, Book II:Brouillards; Feuilles mortes; La Puerta del Vino; Les Fees sont d’exquises danseuses; Bruyeres; General Lavine—eccentric; La Terrasse des audiences du clair de lune; Ondine; Hommage a S. Pickwick, Esq., P.P.M.P.C.; Canope; Les Tierces alternees; Feux d’artifice (1910–13); La Boite a joujoux, children’s ballet (1913; Paris, Dec. 10, 1919, Inghelbrecht conducting);Berceuse hero’ique pour rendre hommage a S.M. le Roi Albert I de Belgique et a ses soldats (1914; orchestrated by the composer, 1914; Paris, Oct. 26, 1915, Chevillard conducting);Douze etudes, Book I:Pour les cinq doigts; Pour les tierces; Pour les quartes; Pour les sixtes; Pour les octaves; Pour les huit doigts (1915); Douze etudes, Book II:Pour les degres chromatiques; Pour les agrements; Pour les notes repetees; Pour les sonorites opposees; Pour les arpéges; Pour les accords (1915; both books perf. Dec. 14,1916, Walter Morse Rummel pianist).Piano D u e t : Symphonie en si (1 movement, 1880; intended for orch.; Paris, Jan. 27,1937); Triomphe de Bacchus (1882; intended as an orch. interlude; orchestrated by Gaillard, 1927); Petite suite: En bateau; Cortege; Menuet; Ballet (1889); Marche ecossaise sur un theme populaire (The Earl of Ross March; 1891; orchestrated by the composer, Paris, Oct. 22, 1913, Inghelbrecht conducting);Six epigraphes antiques: Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’ete; Pour un tombeau sans nom; Pour que la nuit soit propice; Pour la danseuse aux crotales; Pour I’Egyptienne; Pour remercier la pluie au matin (1900–1914; also for piano solo; orchestrated by Ansermet). 2Piano s : Lindaraja (1901; Paris, Oct. 28,1926); En blanc et noir (3 pieces; 1915; Paris, Dec. 21, 1916, composer and Roger-Ducasse pianists).SONGS (author of text precedes date of composition):Ballade a la lune (Alfred de Musset; 1876?);Beau soir (Paul Bourget; 1876?);Fleur des eaux (Maurice Bouchor; 1876?);Nuit d’etoiles (Theodore de Banville; 1876?);Fleur des bles (Andre Girod; 1877); Mandoline (Paul Verlaine);La Belle au bois dormant (Vincent Hypsa);Void que le printemps (Bourget);Paysage sentimental (Bourget; all composed 1880–83); L’Archet (Charles Cros);Seguedille (J.L. Vauthier);Les Roses; Chanson espagnole (for 2 voices);Rondel chinois; 3 songs on poems by Gourget:Regret; Romance d’Ariel; Musique; 6 songs on poems by Banville:Caprice; Aimonsnous; O floraison divine des lilas; Souhait; Serenade; Fete galante; 3 songs on poems by Leconte de Lisle:La Fille aux cheveux de lin; Jane; Eclogue (for soprano and tenor);II dort encore (from Banville’s Hymnis); Coquetterie posthume (Theophile Gautier);Plots, palmes, sables (Armand Renaud; all composed 1880–84); Zephyr (Banville; 1881); En sourdine (Verlaine; 1st version, 1882); Rondeau (Musset; 1882); Pantomime (Verlaine);Clair de lune (Verlaine);Pierrot (Banville);Apparition (Stephane Mallarme; all composed 1882–84); Cinq poemes de Baudelaire: Le Balcon; Harmonie du soir; Le Jet d’eau (piano accompaniment orchestrated by the composer);Recueillement; La Mort des amants (all composed 1887–89); Ariettes oubliees (Verlaine);C’est I’extase…; II pleure dans mon coeur…; L’ombre des arbres…; Chevaux de bois; Green; Spleen (all composed 1888); Deux romances (Bourget):Romances; Les Cloches (1891); Les Angelus (G. le Roy; 1891); Dans lejardin (Paul Gravolet; 1891); Trois melodies (Verlaine):La mer est plus belle…; Le Son du cor s’afflige…; L’Echelonnement des haies (1891); Fetes galantes (Verlaine), 1st series:En sourdine; Fantoches; Clair de lune (1892); Proses lyriques (composer); De reve; De greve; Defleurs; De soir (1892–93); Trois chansons de Bilitis (Pierre Louys):La Flute de Pan; La Chevelure; Le Tombeau des Naiades (1897); Fetes galantes (Verlaine), 2nd series:Les Ingenus; Le Faune; Colloque sentimental (1904); Trois chansons de France: Rondel: Le temps a laisse son manteau… (Charles d’Orleans);La Grotte (Tristan Lhermite; identical to Aupres de cette grotte sombre, below);Rondel: Pour ce que plaisance est morte… (Charles d’Orleans; all composed 1904); Le Promenoir des deux amants (Lhermite):Aupres de cette grotte sombre…; Crois mon conseil…; Je tremble en voyant ton visage (1910); Trois ballades de François Villon (orchestrated by the composer);Ballade de Villon a s’amye; Ballade quefeit Villon a la requeste de sa mere pour prier Nostre-Dame; Ballade des femmes de Paris (1910); Trois poemes de Stephane Mallarme: Soupir; Placet futile; Eventail (1913); Noel des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison (composer; 1915).

Writings

Debussy contributed numerous critical articles to La Revue Blanche, Gil Bias, Musica, La Revue S.I.M. et al. A selection of these, some abridged, appeared as Monsieur Croche, antidilettante (Paris, 1921; 2nd ed., 1926; Eng. tr., 1927, as Monsieur Croche the Dilettante-Hater; 2nd ed., 1962; new ed. by F. Lesure as Monsieur Croche et autres ecrits, Paris, 1971; Eng. tr., 1977, as D. on Music: The Critical Writings of the Great French

Composer C. D.).

Bibliography

SOURCE MATERIAL : R Lesure has prepared a Catalogue de I’oeuvre de C. D. (Geneva, 1977). The Oeuvres completes began publication in 1986. Other sources include the following: A. Martin, C. D.:Chronologie de sa vie et de ses oeuvres (Paris, 1942); A. Gauthier, D.:Documents iconographiques (Geneva, 1952); Catalogue de la collection Walter Straram: Manuscrits de C. D. (Rambouillet, 1961); R Lesure, C. D., Catalogue de I’Exposition (Paris, 1962); C. Abravanel, C. D.:A Bibliography (Detroit, 1974); R Lesure, Iconographie musicale: D. (Geneva, 1974); J. Briscoe, C. D.:A Guide to Research (N.Y., 1990). CORRESPONDENCE : J. Duran, ed., Lettres de C. D. a son editeur (Paris, 1927); Correspondance de C. D.et P. /. Toulet (Paris, 1929); J. Andre- Messager, ed., La Jeunesse de Pelleas: Lettres de C.D. a Andre Messager (Paris, 1938); C. D.:Lettres a deux amis:78 lettres inedites a Robert Godet et G. Jean-Aubry (Paris, 1942); H. Borgeaud, ed., Correspondance de C. D. et Pierre Louys (Paris, 1945); E. Lockspeiser, ed., Lettres inedites de C. D. a Andre Caplet (Monaco, 1957); P. Vallery-Radot, ed., Lettres de C. D. a safemme Emma (Paris, 1957); R Lesure, ed., C. D.:Correspondance 1884–1918 (Paris, 1980; rev. ed., 1993) BIOGRAPHICAL : L. Liebich, C.-A. D. (London, 1908); L. Laloy, C D. (Paris, 1909; 2nd ed., aug., 1944); E. Vuillermoz, C. D. (Paris, 1920); R. Jardillier, C.D. (Dijon, 1922); A. Suares, D. (Paris, 1922; 2nd ed., aug., 1936);R. Paoli, D. (Plorence, 1924; 2nd ed., 1947); R Shera, D. and Ravel (London, 1925); R Gysi, C. D. (Zurich, 1926); R. van Santen, D. (The Hague, 1926; 2nd ed., 1947); C. Koechlin, D. (Paris, 1930); R. Peter, C. D. (Paris, 1931; 2nd ed., aug., 1944); L. Vallas, C. D. et son temps (Paris, 1932; 2nd ed., 1958; Eng. tr., 1973); E. Decsey, C.D. (Graz, 1936); E. Lockspeiser, D. (London, 1936; 5thth ed., rev, 1980); O. Thompson, D., Man and Artist (N.Y., 1937); H. Strobel, C D. (Zurich, 1940; 3rd ed., rev., 1948); L. Vallas, A.-C. D. (Paris, 1944); R. Paoli, D. (Florence, 1947; 2nd ed., 1951); G. Ferchault, C.D., musicien frangais (Paris, 1948); H. Harvey, C. of France: The Story ofD. (N.Y., 1948); R. Malipiero, D. (Brescia, 1948); J. van Ackere, C. D. (Antwerp, 1949); R. Myers, D. (London, 1949); W. Danckert, C. D. (Berlin, 1950); G. and D.-E. Inghelbrecht, C. D. (Paris, 1953); V. Seroff, D., Musician of France (N.Y., 1956); E. Vuillermoz, C. D. (Geneva, 1957); J. Barraque, D. (Paris, 1962; Eng. tr., 1972); E. Lockspeiser, D.:His Life and Mind (2 vols., London, 1962,1965; rev. ed., Cambridge, 1978); Y. Tienot and O. d’Estrade-Guerra, D.: L’Homme, son oeuvre, son milieu (Paris, 1962); A. Golea, D. (Paris, 1965); P. Young, D. (London, 1966); G. Gourdet, D. (Paris, 1970); R. Nichols, D. (London, 1973); C. Goubault, C. D. (Paris, 1986); L. Knodler, D. (Haarlem, 1989); R. Nichols, D. Remembered (London and Boston, 1992); R Lesure, C.D.:Biographie critique (Paris, 1994); R. Langham Smith, ed., D. Studies (Cambridge, 1997); R. Nichols, The Life of D. (Cambridge, 1998). CRITICAL , ANALYTICAL : L. Gilman, D.’s “Pelleas et Melisande” (N.Y., 1907); R Santoliquido, //Dopo-Wagner, C. D. e Richard Strauss (Rome, 1909); C. Caillard and J. de Berys, Le Cas D. (Paris, 1910); G. Setaccioli, D. e un innova-tore? (Rome, 1910); D. Chenneviere, C. D. et son oeuvre (Paris, 1913); C. Paglia, Strauss, D., e compagnia bella (Bologna, 1913); M. Emmanuel, Pelleas et Melisande (Paris, 1926); L. Vallas, Les Idees de C. D., musicien frangais (Paris, 1927; Eng. tr., 1929, as The Theories ofC. D.); M. Dumesnil, How to Play and Teach D. (N.Y., 1932); A. Liess, C. D. Das Werk in Zeitbild (2 vols., Strasbourg, 1936); H. Kolsch, Der Impressionismus bei D. (Diisseldorf, 1937);E. Lockspeiser, “D/s Unpublished Songs/’Radio Times (Sept. 23, 1938); A. Liess, C. D. und das deutsche Musikschaffen (Wiirzburg, 1939); A. Jakobik, Die assoziative Harmonik in den Klavier-WerkenC. D.s (Wiirzburg, 1940); G. Schaeffner, C. D. und das Poetische (Bern, 1943); A. Gauthier, Sous I’influence de Neptune: Dialogues avec D. (Paris, 1945); J. d’Almendra, Les Modes gregoriens dans I’oeuvre de C. D. (Paris, 1948); E. Decsey, D.s Werke (Graz, 1949);V. Jankelevitch, D. et le mystere (Neuchatel, 1949; 2nd ed., 1962);E. Robert Schmitz, The Piano Works of C. D. (N.Y., 1950; 2nd ed., 1966); J. van Ackere, Pelleas et Melisande (Brussels, 1952); A. Golea, Pelleas et Melisande, analyse poetique et musicale (Paris, 1952); H. Biisser, De Pelleas aux Index galantes (Paris, 1955); M. Long, Au piano avec C. D. (Paris, 1960; Eng. tr., 1972); M. Dietschy, La Passion de C. D. (Neuchatel, 1962; Eng. tr., 1990, as A Portrait of C. D.); E. Lockspeiser, D. et Edgar Poe (Monaco, 1962); S. Jarocinski, D., a impresionizm i synmbolizm (Krakow, 1966; French tr., 1971; Eng. tr., 1976, as D.:Impressionism and Symbolism)-, P. Ruschenburg, Stilkritische Untersuchungen zu den Liedern C. D.s (diss., Univ. of Hamburg, 1966); E. Hardeck, Untersuchungen zu den Klavierliedern C. D.s (Regensburg, 1967);R. Park, The Later Style of C. D. (diss., Univ. of Mich., 1967); V. Jankelevitch, La Vie et la mort dans la musique de D. (Neuchatel, 1968); R Dawes, D. Piano Music (London, 1969); W. Austin, ed., D.;Prelude to “The Afternoon of a Faun” (Norton Critical Score ed., containing background, criticism, and analysis; N.Y., 1970);D. Cox, D/s Orchestral Music (London, 1974); C. Zenck, Versuch iiber die wahre Art D. zu analysieren (Munich, 1974); V. Jankelevitch, D. et le mystere de I’instant (Paris, 1976); A. Wenk, D. and the Poets (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1976); R. Holloway, D. and Wagner (London, 1979); M. Cobb, ed., The Poetic D.: A Collection of His Song Texts and Selected Letters (annotated; Boston, 1982); E. Lang-Becker, D. Nocturnes (Munich, 1982); R. Orledge, D. and the Theatre (Cambridge, 1982); R. Howat, D. in Proportion: A Musical Analysis (Cambridge, 1983); J. Trilling, Untersuchungen zur Rezeption C. D.s in der zeitgenossischen Musikkritik (Tutzing, 1983); A. Wenk, C. D. and Twentieth-Century Music (Boston, 1983); G.-P. Biasih, Montale, D., and Modernism (Princeton, 1989); R. Nichols and R. Smith, C. D.:Pelleas et Melisande (Cambridge, 1989); R. Parks, The Music ofC.D. (New Haven and London, 1989); R. Beyer, Organale Satztechniken in den Werken von C. D. und Maurice Ravel (Wiesbaden, 1992); R Lesure, C. D. avant “Pelleas” ou Les Annees symbolistes (Paris, 1992); J. Arndt, Der Einfluss der javanischen GamelanMusik auf Kompositionen von C. D. (Prankfurt am Main, 1993); idem, Einheitlichkeit versus Widerstreit: Zwei grundsatzlich verschiedene Gestaltungsarten in der Musik C. Ds (Frankfurt am Main, 1993); A Penesco, ed., Etudes sur la musique frangaise: Autour de D., Ravel et Paul de Flem (Lyons, 1994); V. Raad, The Piano Sonority ofC. D. (Lewiston, N.Y., 1994); P. Roberts, Images: The Piano Music ofC. D. (Portland, Ore., 1996); S. Bruhn, Images and Ideas in Modern French Piano Music: The Extra-Musical Subtext in Piano Works by Ravel, D., and Messiaen (Stuyvesant, N.Y., 1997); J.-R Gautier, C. D.:La musique et le mouvant (Aries, 1997); A. Boucourechliev, D.:La revolution subtile (Paris, 1998).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire