Debussy in Proportion: A Musical Analysis - Hardcover

Howat, Roy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521232821 ISBN 13: 9780521232821

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1983

Synopsis

A study of Debussy's unorthodox use of musical form.

About this title

Review

'Roy Howat, in Debussy in Proportion, brilliantly dragoons every analytical and historical method at his command in his assault on the elusive question of Debussy's musical structures. Howat dispassionately assembles his evidence - biographical and historical matters, the analysis of duration, rhythm, harmony, motivic relationship, 'foreground' and 'background' hierarchical levels - into a virtually unassailable critical analysis of how Debussy's musical structures function as entities whose bases are those proportions expressed by the Golden Section or by Fibonacci and Lucus number series. The result, devoid of the analysis, is overwhelmingly convincing ... It is criticism at its best, intelligent and untiring in its efforts to bring the music into clear focus.' 19th Century Music

' ... it is impossible to resist the richness of detail supplied by Dr Howat; no sooner has a doubt occurred to one than it is resolved in the text, and the premise of the book seems inescapable.' Tempo

'To my mind, Roy Howat's book represents the most important advance in unravelling the mysteries of Debussy's music that there has ever been, and I confidently predict that its ramifications will be with us for a long time to come.' Robert Orledge, Music and Letters

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1983
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521232821
• ISBN 13: 9780521232821
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256