• 1304
• Articles
• 30 Mar 2013

“I love music too much to speak of it otherwise than passionately.” DEBUSSY “Art is always progressive; it cannot return to the past, which is definitely dead. Only imbeciles and cowards look backward. Then—Let us work!” DEBUSSY It is difficult to learn anything of the boy-hood and youth of this rare French composer. Even his […]

• 1331
• Articles
• 30 Mar 2013

Jeanne Gerville-Réache (Alto) – Air de Lia – “L’Enfant Prodigue” – C. Debussy. Jeanne Gerville-Réache (March 26, 1882 – January 5, 1915) was a French operatic contralto from the Belle Époque. She possessed a remarkably beautiful voice, an excellent singing technique, and wide vocal range which enabled her to perform several roles traditionally associated with […]

• 1040
• Articles
• 30 Mar 2013

Montserrat Caballe – Air de Lia – “L’enfant prodigue” – C. Debussy – Live – 1969.

• 1143
• Articles
• 30 Mar 2013

Nina Stemme – Air de Lia – “L’enfant prodigue” – C. Debussy – Live – 1993. “L’enfant prodigue” (“The Prodigal Son”) is a scène lyrique or cantata in one act by Claude Debussy with a text by Edouard Guinand. The cantata premiered in Paris on 27 July 1884 to great success and Debussy won the […]

• 911
• Articles
• 30 Mar 2013

Pelléas et Mélisande Act I: “Prélude” and “Je ne pourrai plus sortir de cette forêt” Claude Debussy. Libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck. Orchestra and Chorus of Welsh National Opera. Conduction: Pierre Boulez. Staging and direction: Peter Stein. Golaud…….. Donald Maxwell Mélisande….. Alison Hagley “Pelléas et Mélisande” (“Pelléas and Mélisande”) is an opera in five acts with […]

• 902
• Articles
• 30 Mar 2013

Victoria de los Angeles and Theodor Uppman – “Mes longs cheveux descendent” – “Pelléas et Mélisande” – Claude Debussy (George London – Golaud) – Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House – Conductor M.° Jean Morel – New York, 16.I.1960. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8XQS_620tI

• 1323
• Articles
• 30 Mar 2013

It may come as a surprise to some (it did to me) that Claire Croiza, universally acknowledged as one of the high priestesses of French art song, dedicated the first half of her career to opera. It is difficult to imagine what this suave, perfectly modulated and intimate voice might have sounded like as La […]

• 963
• Articles
• 30 Mar 2013

Claire Croiza and Armand Narçon sing Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande” – I Act II Scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7xe6Yoooos

• 2152
• Articles
• 30 Mar 2013

The first performance of Pelléas et Mélisande in Paris, on April 30th,1902, was a very notable event in the history of French music ; its importance can only be compared with that of the first performance of Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione, Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, and Gluck’s IIphigénie en Aulide; and it may be looked […]

• 5523
• Articles
• 29 Mar 2013

Il rapporto tra Claude Debussy e Pierre Louÿs (1870-1925), è un rapporto innanzi tutto personale: “Tu sei certamente quello dei miei amici ch’io ho amato di più”, scriveva Debussy a Louÿs nel 1903. Louÿs affascinò anche Mallarmé, Gide, Valéry, sia in veste di poeta, sia come critico, sia come raffinato intenditore d’arte, peraltro sottovalutato in […]