Pelléas and Mélisande

“Phonographic editions of this masterpiece are going to help make perceptible to a greatly broadened public those elementary truths that even many naïve and badly informed music-lovers do not yet suspect. Bu making this work of the theatre penetrate into the intimacy of the home, the long-playing record is once again going to fulfill its noble mission, which consists of dissipating misunderstandings, enlightening consciousness, and even sometimes correcting miscarriages of justice…”

This is absolutely beautiful prose.

“…the shades of the lime-tree and the rose in the darkness—these were living forces which made all nature participate in the action. This magic fusion of the visible and the invisible created an irresistible fascination that tyrannically seized on sensibilities tuned to this pitch.”

“Not very sociable, but dreamy and meditative, he had always surprised his companions—who had nicknamed him the Prince of Darkness—by his flashing harmonic discoveries and his obstinate non-conformism.”

Source: Émile Vuillermoz

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After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art | Exhibitions | National Gallery, London
Debussy plays Debussy | Clair de Lune (1913) (YouTube)
Frog-shaped memento which belonged to Claude Debussy (1862-1918) (Bridgeman Art Library)
Claude Debussy composed only in the company of his childhood porcelain frog (CSM)