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Claude Debussy

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,500.00 - 3,500.00 USD
Claude Debussy

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Auction Date:2017 Jul 12 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
ALS in French, two pages, 5 x 6.75, April 29, 1895. Letter replying to a poor review of his String Quartet and referencing the work of Richard Wagner. In full (translated): "Comparatively speaking, I found you tough on a quartet whose gravest fault is to be more expressive than interesting—Excuse me this repudiation!—It seems to me that Wagner has too often been intoxicated by rather useless modulations for you to speak of my work with such distaste, and I consider that Vittoria is just about the only one entitled to be saddened at such indulgences. In short, an usherette at the Summer Circus may well uphold your judgment in full, and aggrieve me, but I shall retain from all this only the favorable view of H. Gauthier-Villars, which I value deeply." Double-matted with a portrait to an overall size of 21 x 11. In fine condition.

This letter dates to not long after Debussy’s String Quartet was debuted by the Ysaye Quartet on December 29, 1893. The piece initially received mixed reviews, with some criticizing it for its ‘orgies of modulation.’ Debussy’s correspondent seems to have shared this critique, and Debussy somewhat surprisingly aligns himself with Richard Wagner in his response. Although Wagner was at his peak in the 1880s when Debussy’s career began, Debussy was ambivalent about his work. With his own compositions increasingly challenging scale, harmony, and tonality, Debussy became one of the first, and most important composers to break with the Wagnerian tradition. The “Vittoria” he refers to is Tomas Luis de Victoria, a 16th-century composer in whose music Debussy was very much interested (he is known to have attended recitals of Vittoria’s work in 1893 in Paris). A fascinating, important letter with significant musical content.