Beschreibung:

Wagner, Richard CLAUDE DEBUSSY'S MARKED-UP COPY OF WAGNER'S OPERA PARSIFAL, THE FIRST EDITION (1882), CONTAINING A TRANSLATION INTO FRENCH OF ACTS 2 AND 3, WRITTEN BY HIM INTO THE SCORE AND INCLUDING HIS MUSICAL ALTERATIONS TO THE VOCAL LINES TO ACCOMMODATE THE FRENCH WORDS, BEING: WAGNER, RICHARD. Parsifal, Ein Bühnenweihfestspiel, [vocal score], Mainz: Schott, [1882], first edition, Ernest Chausson's copy, with his bookplate, folio (c.34.3 x 27.5cms), plate number 23406 on the title, the music beginning on the verso of the cast list, contemporary quarter calf, gilt titles and initials ("E.C.") to spine, [Fuld, p.445; WWV 111 XI], corners worn, containing: Debussy's autograph "singing translation", dating from the mid-1890s, of the opening scenes in Acts Two and Three of Parsifal, written by him in pencil on about 80 pages, include some 120 alterations to the rhythms of the vocal lines, beginning with Klingsor's entrance in Act Two, and covering the opening scenes of both Acts Two and Three (pp.97-116, 130-157, 204-238 & 241), and a few passages in another hand (pp.123-137); the text taken from the libretto translated by Victor Wilder and published in 1886 This is an extraordinary association copy of Parsifal, linking Debussy and Wagner. It reflects the very complex and productive relationship that Debussy had with Wagner's music in general, and with Parsifal in particular. He saw Parsifal at Bayreuth in 1888 and again in 1889 and found the experience overwhelming (he also attended Die Meistersinger and Tristan und Isolde). Parsifal was not staged in Paris until 1914, when Debussy was again present, describing it as "one of the loveliest monuments of sound ever raised to the serene glory of music". During the 1890s, Debussy gave a number of recitals where he played and sang complete acts of Wagner's music dramas, and he may have made the present "singing translation", with alterations to the vocal line, for one such performance. This volume belonged to the composer Ernest Chausson (1855-1899), and bears his bookplate and initials on the binding. Chausson had attended the première of Parsifal at Bayreuth on 26 July 1882, and, as with Debussy, was strongly influenced by Wagner. Debussy most probably borrowed this score to prepare for his recitals at the house of Chausson's mother-in-law Madame Philippe Escudier in the spring of 1894. The first of these "séances" on 5 February included the first act of Parsifal, for which Debussy was paid a thousand francs (for a description of Debussy's performance, see the Correspondance, p.192n). He gave five such performances out of a planned series of ten; the series ended abruptly in March 1894, when Chausson broke off all relations with Debussy over his abandoned marriage to his protégée Thérèse Roger. Debussy continued to give other Wagner performances until 1896, and Pierre Louys wrote to him about precisely the scenes translated here in October 1896 (see Correspondance, p.331), although not apparently in connection with any performance. Debussy's relationship with Wagner's music was very complex. Although fascinated by the orchestral splendour, he quickly sensed that an obsession with Wagner posed a threat to French composers (including Chausson) and also to his own music. During the composition of his opera Pelléas et Mélisande, he strove at length to exorcise the influence of Wagner on his music . He wrote to Chausson on 2 October 1893 that he found it very difficult to avoid "the ghost of old Klingsor, alias R. Wagner" at every turn of phrase. Indeed, it was on that day that he tore up his work on Pelléas, and began a completely new draft of the opera. Nevertheless, Robin Holloway concludes that Debussy "must be recognized to be, within the limits of a subtle and specialized relationship, the most profoundly Wagnerian of all composers" (Holloway, p.21). "Of all the works of Wagner relished by Debussy, Parsifal had the deepest influence, and it was the work to which he responded more