DEBUSSY: LA CHUTE DE LA MAISON USHER

MS 5550
MS Short Title DEBUSSY: LA CHUTE DE LA MAISON USHER
Text Claude Debussy: La chute de la Maison Usher, draft for the Prelude of an unfinished opera
Description MS in French on paper, Paris, 1909, upper part of 1 p 10x26 cm, ruled with 7 staves, short score draft notated on 3 staves, autograph.
Context After Debussy had finished his only complete opera Peliéas et Mélisande in 1902, Debussy worked on this unfinished opera from 1908 to 1916, when he gave up the work. Debussy actually was obsessed by Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" as well as Poe's "The Devil in the Belfry" already in 1889, according to his letters. This was the period when he composed his most successful works for piano, Préludes (1910 and 1913), including "La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin", and the Études (1915).
Provenance Sotheby's 28 May 2015:237.
Commentary Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was, with Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), foremost associated with Impressionist music, a controversial term, which both composers disliked. Edgar Allan Poe (1909-1842) wrote his short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher", in 1839 and it is among his most famous works of prose.
Place of origin Paris, France
Dates 1909 AD