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Abstract
Michael Holland presents an early and little-known article by Maurice Blanchot, whose subject is the memorial concert in honour of Claude Debussy which took place in Paris in June 1932, following the unveiling of a monument to the composer earlier in the day. Blanchot provides a detailed account of the concert, emphasising the international co-operation that lay behind the expression of national pride, and arguing, against the grain of contemporary opinion, that the pure art of music transcends any notion of national genius.
Notes
Translated from Journal des débats 19 June 1932: 5. Publié avec l’aimable authorisation de Cidalia Blanchot.
1 The full speech is printed in Comœdia 18 June 1932: 1.
2 Significant in this light is the homage that Blanchot pays to Gabriel Astruc, the theatrical impresario who founded the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 1913. Astruc’s father was the Chief Rabbi of Belgium, and during his early years at the theatre he was regularly pilloried as “the musical Jew” by Léon Daudet in L’Action française.
3 It is noteworthy, however, that Germanic culture was represented by Austria and Switzerland at the concert. No Germans took part.