Paul Valéry and Music A Study of the Techniques of Composition in Valéry's 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.

Part I. Valéry's Musical Environment; Part II. Music and Poetry: 1. Music as a language of the emotions; 2. Music as a language of the mind; 3. The theory of composition: Wagner and the universal mind; 4. Valéry and Stravinsky; Part III. Musical Techniques in Valéry's poetry: 5. Composition; 6. Melody; 7. Les Harmoniques; 8. Rhythm; 9. La musique verbale; 10. Recitative; 11. La Dormeuse; Conclusion; Appendix: the composition of La Pythie; Notes; Bibliography; Index.