Paul Valéry and Music: A Study of the Techniques of Composition in Valéry's Poetry - Tapa dura

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.