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.

Acknowledgments ix PART I THE EVOLUTION Introduction: Constructions and Reconstructions of Debussy by JANE F. FULCHER 1 Debussy's Rome Cantatas by JOHN R. CLEVENGER 9 Debussy, Gautier, and "Les Papillons" by MARIE ROLF 99 Bilitis and Tanagra: Afternoons with Nude Women by DAVID GRAYSON 117 Beyond the Illusions of Realism: Painting and Debussy's Break with Tradition by LEON BOTSTEIN I41 The Symphony in Debussy's World: A Context for His Views on the Genre and Early Interpretations of La Mer by BRIAN HART 151 Speaking the Truth to Power: The Dialogic Element in Debussy's Wartime Compositions by JANE F. FULCHER 2O3 PART II THE CONTEXT Debussy, Faure, and d'Indy and Conceptions of the Artist: The Institutions, the Dialogues, the Conflicts by GAIL HILSON WOLDU 235 Debussy, Mallarme, and "Les Mardis" by ROSEMARY LLOYD 255 Debussy in Fin-de-Siecle Paris by CHRISTOPHE CHARLE 271 PART III DOCUMENTS Debussy's Paris Gonservatoire Training COLLECTED, EDITED, AND INTRODUCED BY JOHN R. CLEVENGER 299 "Le Cas Debussy": Revisions and Polemics about the Composer's "New Manner" COLLECTED AND TRANSLATED BY BRIAN HART 363 Index 383 Notes on Contributors 394