Book Review
Dec. 12th, 2012 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Life of Debussy
by Roger Nichols
This biography is short and sweet. Oddly, Nichols seems much more focused on Debussy's struggles and labor than his triumphs and joys. Somehow it works, though. Or maybe it's just that I like seeing the nitty gritty of great composers' lives and careers because it cuts through all the later enshrinement. I also think this approach helped Nichols show Debussy's extremely ambivalent relationship with the music establishment of the time. Debussy was Conservatoire trained and a Prix de Rome winner, but his music and career were so clearly outside the conventions of the time.
by Roger Nichols
This biography is short and sweet. Oddly, Nichols seems much more focused on Debussy's struggles and labor than his triumphs and joys. Somehow it works, though. Or maybe it's just that I like seeing the nitty gritty of great composers' lives and careers because it cuts through all the later enshrinement. I also think this approach helped Nichols show Debussy's extremely ambivalent relationship with the music establishment of the time. Debussy was Conservatoire trained and a Prix de Rome winner, but his music and career were so clearly outside the conventions of the time.
