Paul Valéry and Music

This 1984 book was the first to investigate the implications of Paul Valéry's interest in the relationship between music and poetry.

This 1984 book was the first to investigate the full implications of Paul Valéry's interest in the relationship between music and poetry. The book is more of a survey of all that Valéry had to say on music; it examines in detail the influence of such music upon his work as a poet. The structure of the book comprises three distinct phases of argument. In the first part Dr Stimpson details Valéry's contacts with the major developments in twentieth-century French music, and reveals particularly close relationshops with a number of outstanding composers and performers. Part II explores Valéry's theoretical consideration of the links between music and poetry. The third section studies the musical techniques in Valéry's poetry - melody, harmonics, rhythm, musique verbale, and recitative. This will be an important book for serious students of Valéry's poetry and all those interested in the relationship between poetry and music.