The 'Œuvres complètes de Claude Debussy' thirty years on
- Submitting institution
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Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 2860372
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
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- Book title
- Debussy’s Resonance
- Publisher
- University of Rochester Press
- ISBN
- 978-1-58046-525-0
- Open access status
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- Month of publication
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- Year of publication
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- In this chapter, I explore the impact of a new complete edition, the 'Œuvres complètes de Claude Debussy', asking two questions: Has the edition motivated perceptible shifts in performing and editorial practice? If so, are they desirable ones, and on what grounds do we decide that?
These questions are explored on various levels in the chapter, and, as a founding editorial member of the edition, editing various volumes over the past thirty years, I reflect on how the processes and principles of editorial work have evolved as a result of this work. I reflect particularly on the role of composer recordings as primary material in the creation of musical text, Debussy being one of the earliest composers to offer scholars this additional seam of material to inform their work (and the 'Œuvres complètes' being the earliest example of such an approach).
From these starting points, I go on to consider the questions for the wider project of editing music critically that arise from the example of the 'Œuvres complètes'.
In summary, co-opting Boulez’s evocative phrase, I argue that the 'Œuvres complètes' has helped to “burn off the mists” from Debussy’s music.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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