THE COMPLETE WORKS OF CLAUDE DEBUSSY

March 2018 marks 100 years to the day since Claude Debussy passed away, the hallmark French composer whose music, even a century after his death, continues to live on in musicians’ hearts, minds and repertoires across the globe. In addition to the extensive composition collection amassed over his lifetime, he is seemingly by no means finished, with some of his previously undiscovered works now made available with the Complete Works of Claude Debussy.

One could assume that the entirety of Debussy’s manuscripts have been identified and organised in libraries and research centres worldwide: though this is true for the majority of cases, there are still works which continue being revealed. This can arguably be attributed to Debussy himself – he only catalogued his work once in his life, that being in 1894 upon admission to the Société des Auteurs, and even then, he had difficulty in recalling when he composed each of his pieces. Various publishers have made major contributions towards defining a chronology of Debussy’s work.

At first, Debussy worked alongside various publishers, however it was at the turn of the XXth century that his relationship with Durand began. In 1903, Éditions Durand began to regularly publish Debussy’s works; two years later he signed an exclusive contract with one Jacques Durand, an old friend from Debussy’s time spent at the Conservatoire de Paris and founder of the Durand company.

Since then, Debussy and Durand have always been inextricably linked; an extensive catalogue of Debussy’s works have remained at the heart of Editions Durand for over one hundred years. This includes Debussy’s first editions from his lifetime, which cements Durand’s reputation as the definitive Debussy publisher. Éditions Durand has compiled a list of his works since 1910; in 1962 a catalogue of Debussy’s works was published in acknowledgement of his 100th birthday, and in 1977 Francois Lesure released the Catalogue de l’Œuvre de Claude Debussy. This has been used to help build the Complete Works set, an exclusive edition which spans a grand total of 36 volumes.

The edition of The Complete Works of Claude Debussy was founded by François Lesure alongside an elite editorial committee including some of the most prominent and renowned musicians and scholars of French music: Denis Herlin, Edmond Lemaître, Pierre Boulez, Myriam Chimènes, Roy Howat and Marie Rolf.

Once, Debussy was asked the question, « What is your favourite motto? »; he simply replied with «Toujours plus haut! » (Always aim higher!). This is a core component of the Éditions Durand ethos, a publisher which, as Debussy’s original publishing house, constantly continues to strive towards providing customers with the most superior version of the works of Claude Debussy: simply one of the finest musical geniuses this world has ever seen.