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27 results

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  • Chapter 12 - Debussy and the Family in Third-Republic France

  • from Part III - People and Milieu
  • Edited by Simon Trezise, Trinity College Dublin
  • Book:
    Debussy in Context
    Published online:
    23 May 2024
    Print publication:
    23 May 2024, pp 117-125

  • Summary

    This chapter reflects on the class system and economic background of Debussy’s youth and the implications they had for his education. Given that he received little formal education until he entered the Paris Conservatoire, there is ample opportunity here to assess how typical this background was, or if it was shaped by the parents’ unusual circumstances. Arising out of this, there is a discussion of contemporary conceptions of the family, both at the time of Debussy’s childhood and in the twentieth century, when he became head of a small family and had to cope with the consequences (he apparently coped badly much of the time and resented the demands of family life). Despite his ardent desire to make up for everything he did not have as a child, Debussy struggled to reconcile the demands of his family with his professional aspirations at a time when men were increasingly expected to participate in and enjoy family life. Whether his struggles emanated from his artistic aspirations or his self-centred character, Debussy’s personal and professional choices were undoubtedly shaped by the circumstances of his upbringing and the increasing importance accorded to the family in French society during his lifetime.

  • Autobiographical Voices: Performing Absence in Singers’ Memoirs

  • Kimberly White
  • Journal:
    Cambridge Opera Journal / Volume 30 / Issue 2-3 / November 2018
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    13 September 2019, pp. 165-185
    Print publication:
    November 2018

  • This article explores the emergent genre of singers’ autobiographies in late nineteenth-century France. The moment singers took up the pen is telling, as it coincides with their dislodgement in the operatic marketplace from creator and collaborator to interpreter. In their life writings, Gilbert Duprez and Gustave Roger demonstrate a strong preoccupation with revising their public images and the histories that had been written about them. I argue that what critics felt was a flaw – the tenors’ predominant focus on relationships in their autobiographies, rather than on art – reveals how Duprez and Roger sought to reconstruct their artistic identities beyond the voice, locating their most profound contributions in their exchanges and actions within the musical community.

Female Singers on the French Stage, 1830–1848
  • Kimberly White
  • Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    24 May 2018
  • The study of singers' art has emerged as a prominent area of inquiry within musicology in recent years. Female Singers on the French Stage, 1830–1848 shifts the focus from the artwork onstage to the labour that went on behind the scenes. Through extensive analysis of primary source documents, Kimberly White explores the profession of singing, operatic culture, and the representation of female performers on the French stage between 1830 and 1848, and reveals new perspectives on the social, economic, and cultural status of these women. The book attempts to reconstruct and clarify contemporary practices of the singer at work, including vocal training, débuts, rehearsals and performance schedules, touring, benefit concerts, and retirement, as well as the strategies utilized in publicity and image making. Dozens of case studies, many compiled from singers' correspondence and archival papers, shed light on the performers' successes and struggles at a time when Paris was the operatic centre of Europe.

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