Debussy's Paris

September 1, 2017
In this fascinating fusion of music, literature, and social history, Kautsky, a pianist and piano professor, transports us to the milieu of a composer whose music captured the spirit of the times. Her purpose, she writes, isn't to to provide a lengthy biography of Claude Debussy but rather to view him through the lens of his piano music and the city he so fully embraced. Debussy, the dreamy French composer par excellence, counted among his acquaintances luminaries of the worlds of art (Degas, Gauguin, Rodin); literature (Proust, Mallarme, Colette); and dance (Nijinsky, Diaghilev, Loie Fuller). Setting a number of his compositions in the context of the times, Kautsky explores a glittering world of music, dance, art, and poetry as well as its less appealing underside of racist minstrel shows, colonization, and nationalism. Her graceful and erudite prose is embellished with period illustrations and bolstered by a carefully selected bibliography. Kautsky has also recorded the complete Debussy Preludes (2014), a work that figures prominently in these pages. A treat for music lovers, Francophiles, and anyone who appreciates the arts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)