Book contents
- Debussy in Context
- Composers in Context
- Debussy in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Preface
- Notes on the Text
- Abbreviations
- Part I Paris: City, Politics, and Society
- Part II The Arts
- Chapter 6 Debussy’s Impressionism Interrogated
- Chapter 7 Symbolism
- Chapter 8 Modernism
- Chapter 9 Wagnérisme
- Chapter 10 Japonisme, Collecting, and the Expositions Universelles
- Chapter 11 Cross-Currents in Debussy’s Creative World
- Part III People and Milieu
- Part IV Musical Life: Infrastructure and Earning a Living
- Part V The Music of Debussy’s Time
- Part VI Performers, Reception, and Posterity
- Recommendations for Further Reading and Research
- Index
Chapter 6 - Debussy’s Impressionism Interrogated
from Part II - The Arts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 May 2024
- Debussy in Context
- Composers in Context
- Debussy in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Preface
- Notes on the Text
- Abbreviations
- Part I Paris: City, Politics, and Society
- Part II The Arts
- Chapter 6 Debussy’s Impressionism Interrogated
- Chapter 7 Symbolism
- Chapter 8 Modernism
- Chapter 9 Wagnérisme
- Chapter 10 Japonisme, Collecting, and the Expositions Universelles
- Chapter 11 Cross-Currents in Debussy’s Creative World
- Part III People and Milieu
- Part IV Musical Life: Infrastructure and Earning a Living
- Part V The Music of Debussy’s Time
- Part VI Performers, Reception, and Posterity
- Recommendations for Further Reading and Research
- Index
Summary
The arts were loosely defined by a plethora of ‘-isms’ in the second half of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. None is more often associated with Debussy than Impressionism. Even recent scholarship is still disposed to position him as an Impressionist composer. Whilst much work has been done to disentangle Debussy from the tag and align him in relation to, among others, Hellenistic paintings (around the time of the Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune [it.]), Symbolist painting, and the English Pre-Raphaelites, it is important to understand what has been intended by the term ‘musical Impressionism’, how it came to be associated with Debussy, and his usually hostile response to being thus categorised.
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- Information
- Debussy in Context , pp. 59 - 68Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024