Beschreibung:

DEBUSSY, CLAUDE la damoiselle élue. Poème lyrique d'après D.-G. Rossetti...Partition chant et piano réduite par l'auteur, Paris: Libraire de l'art indépendant, 1893 FIRST EDITION, no.89 (of 160 copies), SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY THE COMPOSER ("à Robert Brussel pour qu'il continue ClaudeDebussy"), in green crayon on the half-title 21 pages, folio (c.36 x 23.3cm), title in green and black, device to title, statement of limitation, dedication to Paul Dukas, lithographed music without plate number, FINE CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHED FRONT COVER BY MAURICE DENIS (bound in), half vellum gilt bound for the recipient ("R.B." to spine), silk marker, This is a fine Art-Nouveau musical production, inspired by Dante Gabriel Rossetti's pre-Raphaelite poem The Blessed Damozel (1850-1873). Debussy composed this cantata (or "Poème lyrique") in 1887-1888 and it was first performed in Paris at the Société nationale de musique on 8 April 1893. The celebrated cover illustration by Maurice Denis (1870-1943), in yellow, ochre, light pink and blue-black, shows the 'Damozel' of the title at her balcony, letting down her hair against the backdrop of a starry night sky. This image, reflected in Rossetti's words and Debussy's music, foreshadows the famous scene in Pelléas et Mélisande, where the heroine lets down her hair from her tower, encompassing Pelléas standing below. The female chorus intones "La Damoiselle élue s’appuyait sur la barrière d’or du ciel...Elle avait trois lys à la main et sept étoiles dans les cheveux...Ses cheveux qui tombaient le long de ses épaules, étaient jaunes comme le blé mûr" ...The blessed damozel leaned out From the gold bar of Heaven... She had three lilies in her hand. And the stars in her hair were seven... Her hair that lay along her back Was yellow like ripe corn.... (D.G. Rossetti, The Blessed Damozel) This limited first edition is uncommon in the major European libraries: WorldCat lists copies only in London, Paris, Hamburg and Geneva. More are found in America, but presentation copies are rare: one in the Morgan Library and Museum, New York, and two in the Harry Ransom Center at Austin, Texas. Two have appeared at auction, presented to Catherine Stevens (Sotheby's 23 May 2017, lot 217) and Blanche Marot (Bergé, 28 June 2017. lot 607). The present copy is inscribed to Robert Brussel (1874-1940), an influential music critic and at this time editor of the Revue d'art dramatique. LITERATURE: Lesure no.62; E.M. Garvey, The Turn of a Century, 1885-1910. Art Nouveau - Jugendstil Books (1970), no.52; P. Cailler, Catalogue raisonné de l'Oeuvre gravé de M. Denis (1968), no.30