Chapter Three - Debussy and the Making of a musicien français: Pelléas, the Press, and World War I

Summary

This chapter explores the processes by which Claude Debussy's symbolist-inspired and potentially isolated innovations came to epitomize French musical qualities. By scrutinizing the press coverage of Pelléas from its première until the end of World War I, it examines the controversies surrounding the opera and Debussy's reputation at three distinct moments. First, it considers some of the issues to emerge during the first years of the opera's history; second, it considers the period 1908–10, when Debussyism was at its height and when Debussy's detractors published Le Cas Debussy; finally, it explores the period from Debussy's death until the end of 1920, when the special Debussy issue of La Revue musicale appeared. This study builds on Jann Pasler's work on the reception of Pelléas, Christian Goubault's on the French musical press, and Brian Hart's writing on the reception of Debussy's orchestral music. Moving beyond their groundbreaking work, I explore how the arguments were played out and partly resolved after Debussy's death. Crucial to the process is Debussy's own role and that of his principal advocates, particularly Louis Laloy, in shaping the debate and influencing its resolution.

The scandalous premiere of Pelléas launched the composer firmly into the public view. The press became the forum where the aesthetic debates about Debussy's significance and relation to tradition took place. Debussy had prepared for entering the public arena in a number of important ways. He began writing reviews in the press from 1901 on many aspects of contemporary music; he was concerned increasingly about the dangers of Wagnerism and developmental techniques, not only for himself, but also for the future of French music. He made his opposition to Richard Wagner explicit in the articles he wrote concerning Pelléas. His article “Pourquoi j’ai écrit Pelléas” ends with an important claim about the aim of Pelléas in relation to Wagner's music dramas: “I have tried to open up a way that others could follow, presenting alternatives that will rid dramatic music from the heavy constraint in which it has lived for so long.” In setting Pelléas against Wagner, he revived the debate about the direction of French opera and of the value and future of Wagnerism in France. Steven Huebner concurs in arguing that Debussy reset “the parameters of what was Wagnerian, derivative, and un-French.”