Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • Chapter 26 - Chamber Music

  • from Part V - The Music of Debussy’s Time
  • Edited by Simon Trezise, Trinity College Dublin
  • Book:
    Debussy in Context
    Published online:
    23 May 2024
    Print publication:
    23 May 2024, pp 240-247

  • Summary

    Unlike operatic and orchestral music, chamber music, in common with song, thrived in the salons and the Société nationale. It was a rich period for chamber-music composition, with many works establishing a distinctively French style for genres like the string quartet (just as the French symphony came to distinguish itself from German models). Debussy was at his least idiosyncratic in his one published string quartet, which may be seen as an attempt to conform to expectations, at least in some aspects of the genre. Late in life he chose to distil the most personal features of his style in six chamber works, which pay tribute to remote French traditions, even though only three of these works were completed. The chapter concludes with a consideration of some of the attempts to complete Debussy’s incomplete set of six sonatas, of which he lived to complete only three.