Talk:Claude Debussy

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Horribly wrong

Its so depressing to see such a terrifyingly bad article attached to my favorite composer! something went terribly wrong and messed up the orginization in the article.

Time to remove the cleanup notice?

The article is better, but is it good enough?--Deadworm222 18:36, 10 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Influences?

The article says "Influences", but I always thought that influences meant that you are inspired by someone else's ideas. The things listed in the Influences-part seem more like stylistic characteristics to me. So I'm going to change the title, but if someone has a reason to revert or something, I won't object, of course.--Deadworm222 20:42, August 17, 2005 (UTC)

Further additions

yesterday i tried to fix up the page a little without insulting the previous editer. I have added a little orginization, and plan to continue... But in regards to the suggested reading or a debussy in pop culture... dont hesitate to add it yourself! I plan on adding this section about pop culture right away, i hope, Mr. Veil that you wont be offended if i use your words directly. (i cant give you credit, but i would if i could) anyway, if you want to edit it, do so... so long as you're confident you're improving the page.

Please pay attention to spelling: organization (Am. Eng. spelling), and editor. Myscha Aiken 15:41, 14 Dec 2005 (GMT)

Debussy in popular culture

It would be interesting to have a section on this topic. For example, the theme song to Jack Horkheimer's syndicated weekly TV series, "Star Gazer" (used to be called "Star Hustler") is a synth version of Debussy's "Arabesque #1", performed by Isao Tomita. --Thomas Veil 18:45, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

== Suggested reading == like whatever like totally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps add a Suggested reading section? Roger Nichols' Debussy Remembered (Amadeus Press, 1992, ISBN 0931340411 cased, 093134042X paper) contains some excellent character-portraits of the composer which also touch upon the music, to start with. Schissel : bowl listen 13:05, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

When I read the Debussy article just now, I felt like he wasn't done justice with the slightly rambling format of the article. It would be nice to see someone clean up the article and organize it into different sections with a table of contents, i.e. introduction; biography; music; style; presence in pop culture, etc.

I agree, the article is in dire need of re-structuring and adding more inforation, other than his music...--Deadworm222 19:27, July 25, 2005 (UTC)

Limitations of Debussy article

On the basis of other articles on musical matters, I had debated referring music students to wikipedia for introductions to composers and topics. Having just read the Debussy article I realise I was mistaken. It seems out of touch with scholarship on the composer. It happily throws around the compromised concept of 'impressionism' without acknowledging that it has been challeneged repeatedly by scholars over a long period. The material from Reti about musical style is so superficial as to be worthless. And the notion that Debussy developed his musical language free from Wagner is nonsense, as Holloway and others have demonstrated. The article is also pitifully short. It has a long way to go before it could replace even some of the most modest single-volume dictionaries of music.

You may wish to familiarize yourself more with Wikipedia. For one, please Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages. You may find more information at Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers. Hyacinth 09:36, 15 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Can you name two or three recent Debussy scholars or their works off the top of your head?
I find no criticism of the concept of impressionism in either the general article or the musical article. However, this article does note that "It is essential to note that the term "impressionist", widely applied to Debussy and the music he influenced, is a matter of intense debate within academic circles. It is widely held that the term is a misnomer, an inappropriate label which Debussy himself opposed." Can you name one source off the top of your head that does criticize the concept?
Re: Reti, superifcial is better than nothing.
Re: Wagner, this article notes that "With his visits to Bayreuth (1888, 1889) Debussy was exposed to Wagnerian opera, which was to have a lasting impact on his work" Of course, in the next section it appears to overstate that "Beginning in the 1890s, Debussy developed his own musical language largely independent of Wagner's style and heavy emotionalism." This is humurous since the point of the paaragraph is to show how Debussy's style was influenced by and a reaction to Wageners (and being reactionary is not independent).
How long should the article be?

Hyacinth 10:45, 15 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Look, there are a LOT of crappy, distorted, not well written articles on Wikipedia that don't reflect the latest research or the full range of discussion of the topic. AND Wikipedia was just peer-reviewed by Nature, one of the leading science journals, as being almost as good as the Brittanica with regard to science -- and their peer review found almost as many interpretive and factual errors in the Brittanica as in Wikipedia. AND many scholars and researchers haven't yet started to work on Wikipedia, because they don't yet know or understand what it is or because they won't get any academic recognition for contributing. So once a person recognizes the many real limitations and weaknesses of Wikipedia, either he/she can decide to forget about it on the ground of those limitations etc. and go elsewhere, or he/she can pitch in to try to improve it. One of the main ways that the latter course happens (speaking from my own experience) is that one discovers that some article is crappy and decides to improve it. Jeremy J. Shapiro 14:49, 15 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ocean's Eleven is mentioned twice

I have removed the latter small notice. —68.239.6.181 20:39 15 January 2006 (UTC)

There's no need to announce minor, uncontroversial edits; just mention it in the edit summary when you submit the change. Also please sign your posts; I added an attribution for you, but next time enter four tildes (~~~~) at the end of the post. Thanks for helping improve the article, though. —mjb 09:59, 10 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Proper pronunciation of 'Debussy'

What is the proper pronunciation of Debussy? Is it "deh-BOO-see"? "DAYB-yoo-see"? Something else? — mjb 09:59, 10 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The first one is correct. Graham/pianoman87 talk 11:15, 10 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, the emphasis is on the final syllable, as in every French name. David Sneek 11:54, 10 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]