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Debussy, Claude (1862-1918)
Monsieur Croche: Antidilettante.
Librairie Dorbon-Ainé: Paris, 1921. first edition. Quarto. 150 pp. No. 8 of 50, special edition on Japanese paper. Three-quarter purple calf. Raised bands and gilt tooling at spine. A very good, clean copy. Boards unevenly sunned and just a bit of wear to spine corners, but a handsome binding nonetheless.To supplement his income, Debussy wrote for the art and literary magazine La Revue Blanche under the pen name Monsieur Croche throughout 1901. He pithily expressed his negative views on a host of musical topics relating to performers, conductors, composers, and theater spectators. On the Paris Opéra, for instance, he remarked: A stranger would take it for a railway station, and, once inside, would mistake it for a Turkish bath.
BKS-13427$300Debussy collected all of Monsieur Croche's musings with intentions to publish them as a book. This collection was the result, though it was not issued until 1921, three years after the composer's death.
