Parisian Intersections : Baudelaire's Legacy to Composers

234 Pages·2012·7.681 MB·English

by  Abbott, Helen, Baudelaire, Charles

Le Romantisme
et après en France
Romanticism
and after in France
The period from the 1850s to the 1890s in Paris marked a key turning point for
poets and composers, as they grappled with the new ways in which poetry and rs
e
music could intersect. Under the particular conditions of the time and place, both os
p
art forms underwent significant developments which challenged the status of each m
o
form. In both creative and critical work from this era, poets and composers offered C
tantalising but problematic insights into ‘musical’ poetry and ‘poetic’ music. o Helen Abbott
y t
c
a
The central issue examined in this book is that of what happens to poetry when g
e
L
it encounters music, especially as song. The author places Baudelaire’s famous e’s Parisian Intersections
sonnet ‘La Mort des amants’ at the heart of the analysis, tracing its transposition r
ai
into song by a succession of both amateur and professional composers, examining el
d
works by V illiers de l’Isle-Adam, Serpette, Rollinat, Debussy and Charpentier, as u
a
B Baudelaire’s Legacy to Composers
well as an extraordinary parodic song version by V alade and V erlaine. s:
n
o
A companion website offers recordings of each of the songs analysed in this cti
e
book. rs
e
nt
I
n
a
si
i
r
a
P
•
ott
b
b
A
n
e
Helen Abbott is Lecturer in French at the University of Sheffield. She specialises el
H
in relationships between poetry and music in nineteenth-century France and has
published widely on Baudelaire, Debussy, Mallarmé and V illiers de l’Isle-Adam.
She also promotes performance of French mélodie through regular collaboration
with professional pianists and singers.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0805-2
Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
Le Romantisme
et après en France
Romanticism
and after in France
The period from the 1850s to the 1890s in Paris marked a key turning point for
poets and composers, as they grappled with the new ways in which poetry and rs
e
music could intersect. Under the particular conditions of the time and place, both os
p
art forms underwent significant developments which challenged the status of each m
o
form. In both creative and critical work from this era, poets and composers offered C
tantalising but problematic insights into ‘musical’ poetry and ‘poetic’ music. o Helen Abbott
y t
c
a
The central issue examined in this book is that of what happens to poetry when g
e
L
it encounters music, especially as song. The author places Baudelaire’s famous e’s Parisian Intersections
sonnet ‘La Mort des amants’ at the heart of the analysis, tracing its transposition r
ai
into song by a succession of both amateur and professional composers, examining el
d
works by V illiers de l’Isle-Adam, Serpette, Rollinat, Debussy and Charpentier, as u
a
B Baudelaire’s Legacy to Composers
well as an extraordinary parodic song version by V alade and V erlaine. s:
n
o
A companion website offers recordings of each of the songs analysed in this cti
e
book. rs
e
nt
I
n
a
si
i
r
a
P
•
ott
b
b
A
n
e
Helen Abbott is Lecturer in French at the University of Sheffield. She specialises el
H
in relationships between poetry and music in nineteenth-century France and has
published widely on Baudelaire, Debussy, Mallarmé and V illiers de l’Isle-Adam.
She also promotes performance of French mélodie through regular collaboration
with professional pianists and singers.
Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
Parisian Intersections
Le Romantisme et après en France
Romanticism and after in France
Volume 22
a series founded by Alan Raitt
and edited by Patrick McGuinness
Peter Lang
Oxford •Bern • Berlin •Bruxelles •Frankfurt am Main •New York • Wien
Helen Abbott
Parisian Intersections
Baudelaire’s Legacy to Composers
Peter Lang
Oxford •Bern • Berlin •Bruxelles •Frankfurt am Main •New York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Abbott, Helen, 1979-
Parisian intersections : Baudelaire’s legacy to composers / Helen
Abbott.
p. cm. -- (Romanticism and after in France ; v. 22)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0805-2 (alk. paper)
1. Baudelaire, Charles, 1821-1867--Criticism and interpretation. 2.
Music and literature--France--History--19th century. 3. French
poetry--19th century--History and criticism. 4. Composers--France--19th
century. 5. Paris (France)--Intellectual life--19th century. I. Title.
PQ2191.Z5A528 2012
841’.8--dc23
2012013857
ISSN 1422-4896
ISBN 978-3-0343-0805-2 (print)
ISBN 978-3-0353-0304-9 (eBook)
© Peter Lang AG, European Academic Publishers, Bern 2012
Hochfeldstrasse 32, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
[email protected], www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net
All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.
Printed in Germany
Contents
List of Tables vii
Music Recordings ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Chapter 1
Parisian Intersections 1
Chapter 2
Liebestod 19
Chapter 3
Musical Theories 43
Chapter 4
Song 65
Chapter 5
Parody 133
Chapter 6
Legacy 157
vi
Appendices 171
Bibliography 203
Index 213
List of Tables
Table 1 Nineteenth-century settings of ‘La Mort des amants’ 71
Table 2 Vocabulary of ‘La Mort des cochons’ 144