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 Valèry's interest in the relationship between music and poetry. The book is more of a survey of all that Valèry 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 Valèry'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 Valèry's theoretical consideration of the links between music and poetry. The third section studies the musical techniques in Valèry's poetry - melody, harmonics, rhythm, musique verbale, and recitative. This will be an important book for serious students of Valèry's poetry and all those interested in the relationship between poetry and music.