Debussy's Legacy and the Construction of Reputation by Marianne Wheeldon

Abstract

Reviewed by: Debussy's Legacy and the Construction of Reputation by Marianne Wheeldon Keith E. Clifton Debussy's Legacy and the Construction of Reputation. By Marianne Wheeldon. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. [x, 228 p. ISBN 978-0-19-063122-2. $44.95] 1918 was a significant year in the history of music in the twentieth century. Among other events, Stravinsky's L'histoire du Soldat, Holst's The Planets, and Puccini's Il Trittico received their world premieres, composer–conductor Leonard Bernstein was born, and jazz pioneer Joe "King" Oliver moved from New Orleans to Chicago, broadening the audience for a new style of American popular music. In France, the nation mourned the loss of over two million citizens and soldiers in World War I and the passing of Claude Debussy early in the year after a long and difficult battle with cancer. On the occasion of the 2018 centennial marking his death, Debussy's enduring influence was celebrated in the form of conferences, festivals, concerts, publications, and events sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture. Adding to her own distinguished series of publications on the composer, Marianne Wheeldon's most recent monograph represents both a compendium of new revelations concerning the composer's legacy and a continuation of previous work on his final years (see especially Debussy's Late Style [Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009]). Centered on the period between the wars as France grappled with the heritage of its best-known composer, Wheeldon begins with the 1932 inauguration of a sculpture near his Paris [End Page 67] home reflecting efforts by his supporters—the debussystes—to preserve his memory in the wake of complex, often contradictory circumstances. Encapsulating this fragile state of affairs, Wheeldon writes that "few scholars take note of the vitriolic backlash against the composer in the years after the first world war" where his music was often perceived as "outmoded, decadent, and even harmful for the future of French music" (p. 5). During this time, Debussy faced the twin challenges of the war and his own declining health, responding by exploring new styles and genres, including a proposed series of six chamber works of which three were completed—the Violin Sonata, Cello Sonata, and Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp. At the same time, supporters refashioned the earlier Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien (1911) into a final masterwork "at the expense of the remaining seven years of Debussy's compositional career" (p. 11). In Chapter 2, the author explores the role Debussy's champions—especially critics and performers—played in establishing his posthumous stature. Labeled "reputational entrepreneurs", a term coined by sociologist Gary Fine, this group generally remained supportive of the composer's music during his life and after his death. Clarifying the historical record, Wheeldon reminds us that the composer was the recipient of numerous honors beyond the early Prix de Rome and that the one-hundredth performance of Pélleas et Mélisande in 1913 was lauded in several ways, including a lavish banquet and commissions for commemorative statues, one of which remains at the Opéra Comique. Among a large group of devotees, critic Louis Laloy, author of Debussy's first French biography, sidestepped debates about the composer's artistic merit by focusing on personal recollections. Pianist Marguerite Long, on the other hand, exaggerated her connections to the composer. Unlike other authors, Léon Vallas, whose 1932 Claude Debussy et son temps remains an important source to this day, never knew Debussy and relied mostly on press excerpts in writing the book. The composer also had his share of detractors. By the early 1920s, a group of young composers influenced by Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie were redefining the French musical landscape. Dubbed "Les Six" by critic Henri Collet, they rejected impressionism, symbolism, and other traits perceived as decadent. Wheeldon posits their "return to Bach" and its emphasis on lean textures as a direct challenge to Debussy's example, now considered outmoded and passé. Works such as Honegger's Trois Contrepoints and Stravinsky's Octet replaced Debussy's florid titles with objective ones, focused on the drier timbre of winds, and exalted Baroque-style counterpoint. As a result, by...