Richard Langham Smith
Publications

Books

• Debussy on Music: the Complete Writings of Debussy (London: Secker and Warburg/New York: Alfred Knopf, 1977; repr. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988). Edition and translation of François Lesure (ed.), Debussy: Monsieur Croche et autres écrits (Paris: Gallimard, 1971).
• (with Roger Nichols), Debussy: 'Pelléas et Mélisande' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
• (ed.), Debussy Studies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
• (ed., with Caroline Potter), French Music from the Death of Berlioz (Ashgate Press), 2006.

Current commissions

• Monograph on Carmen: publisher to be confirmed.
• Edition of Debussy's unpublished cantata Diane au bois for the Debussy œuvres complètes, (Durand, Paris) to include other youthful cantatas.
• Edition of Debussy's La Damoiselle Élue, also for the Debussy Œuvres Complètes
• Edition of Fauré's Prométhée for the Fauré œuvres complètes, Bärenreiter Edition, Kassel
• Article on Ravel: L’enfant et les sortilèges, for Ravel Studies ed. Deborah Mawer, (CUP).

Articles

• 'Debussy and the art of the cinema', Music and Letters (1973).
• 'Debussy and the Pre-Raphaelites', Nineteenth Century Music (1981).
• 'La genèse de la Damoiselle Elue', Cahiers Debussy (1980-1).
• 'Debussy et Théodore de Banville', Quaderni di Musica/Realtà 21 (1989).
• 'Un primo sguardo al Rodrigue et Chimène di Debussy', Quaderni di Musica/Realtà 21 (1989).
• 'Rodrigue et Chimène et le patrimoine musical français des années 1890-1920', in 150 ans de musique française (Actes-Sud: Arles, 1991).
• 'Ohana on Ohana' (interview with the composer): Music, Society and Imagination in Contemporary France', Contemporary Music Review (1994), pp.123-9.
• 'La jeunesse du Cid: a Mislaid Act in Debussy's Rodrigue et Chimène', in Richard Langham Smith (ed.), Debussy Studies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 201-28.
• 'Debussy on Performance: Sound and Unsound Ideals', in James Briscoe (ed.), Debussy in Performance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), pp. 3-27.
• 'Ravel's Spectacles: L'heure and L'enfant', in Deborah Mawer (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ravel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp.188-210.
• Francis Poulenc outre-manche: séjours, concerts, réception' in Francis Poulenc et la voix: texte et contexte (Publications de l'université de Saint-Etienne, 2002) pp. 11–22
• ‘Quelques aspects du langage musical d'Alfred Bruneau' in Le naturalisme sur la scène lyrique. Publiications de l'université de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, 2004) pp. 81–105
• Smith, Richard Langham French operatic spectacle in the Twentieth Century. In: Smith, Richard Langham and Potter, Caroline, (eds). French music since Berlioz. (Ashgate, 2006), pp. 117–159. ISBN 0754602826
• ‘Taming two Spanish Women: reflections on editing Opera.’ In Berlioz and Debussy: sources, contexts, legacies. (Essays in honour of François Lesure edited by Barbara L. Kelly and Kerry Murphy. pp. 83–102. Ashgate, 2007. ISBN 9780754653929

Dictionary entries

• Approx 70 articles for The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (London: Macmillan, 1992).
• Approx 30 articles and part-articles for the revised New Grove Dictionary of Music (London: Macmillan, 2001).
• Approx 20 articles for The New Oxford Companion to Music (2001).

Editions

• Critical Edition of Debussy's Rodrigue et Chimène, Œuvres Complètes de Claude Debussy, Durand et cie., Paris, 2003. This edition was subsequently issued in a CD available on the ERATO label (4509-98508-2, 1995). The performing material is currently available on hire only.
• 'Performance-urtext' edition of Bizet's Carmen, Peters Edition, London (currently on hire: publication scheduled for 2005–6). Based on newly discovered original sources, this edition has been recorded for the Opera in English Project series and is supported by a grant from the Peter Moores Foundation.

Additional publications

• 'The Parentage of Pelléas', Music and Musicians (September 1973).
• 'Pelléas et Mélisande', Henry Wood Promenade Concerts programme (1976).
• 'Debussy and Colette', Music and Musicians (August 1977).
• 'Debussy 120 Years On', The Listener (15 April 1982).
• 'Discovering the Undiscovered', City Plus (1988).
• 'Debussy and England', Manchester Tippett/Debussy Festival (1988).
• 'Music Inspired by Maeterlinck', The Listener (15 April 1982).
• 'The Path to Pelléas', English National Opera programme note (1990-1).
• 'More Fauré than Ferneyhough', Musical Times (November 1992), pp.555-7.
• 'Debussy's Atmosphere of Dreams', Royal Opera House programme note for Pelléas et Mélisande (1993).
• 'Debussy's other opera', Opera (May 1993).
• 'Rodrigue et Chimène: le travail du musicologue', Le monde de la musique (May 1993).
• 'Claude Debussy', BBC Music Magazine (July 1994), pp.37-40.
• 'Charles Gounod', Royal Opera House programme note for Roméo et Juliette (1994).
• 'Sister of Perpetual Indulgence: Cécile Chaminade', Musical Times (December 1994), pp.740-4
• 'Rameau's Platée', Opera House (Spring 1997).
• 'Sacred and Profane', programme note on Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites ENO/WNO (1998-99).
• 'Debussy: Pelléas and Mélisande ', BBC Proms programme book (1999).

Reviews

Various contributions to: The Musical Times, The Times Literary Supplement, The Times Higher Educational Supplement, Notes, Early Music, Music and Letters, The Strad, The Listener, Fontes Artes Musicae, Journal of the Modern Humanities Research Association, BBC Music Magazine. Also broadcast reviews on Radios 3 and 4.

(Selected list of recent reviews)

• François Lesure, Claude Debussy avant ' Pelléas ' où les années symbolistes (Klincksieck: Paris, 1992), Music and Letters, 75/1 (1994), pp.109-111.
• Pierre Guillot (ed.), Déodat de Séverac: Ecrits sur la musique (Mardaga: Liège, 1993), Music and Letters, 76/1 (1995), pp.120-1.
• Katharine Ellis, Music Criticism in 19th-century France: La Revue et Gazette musical de Paris, 1834-1880 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), Musical Times, (March 1996), pp. 23-4.
• Demar Irvine, Massenet: a Chronicle of His Life and Times (London: Amadeus Press, 1994), Music and Letters, 77/3 (1996), pp.476-8.
• Susan Youens, Schubert, Müller and Die Schöne Müllerin, Musical Times (April 1997), pp.36-7.
• Georges Masson, Ambroise Thomas (Editions Serpentoise: Metz, 1996), Musical Times (November 1997), p.32.
• Hervé Lacombe, Les voies de l'opéra français au XIXe Siècle, Musical Times (Autumn 1998), pp. 64–7.

Other work with research content

Among LP and CD notes containing original material are:

• Debussy, Préludes (Jean Rodolphe Kars), (Decca 1977).
• Gounod, 'Mors et Vita' [Toulouse Capitole/Plasson] (EMI 1992).
• Debussy, Schmitt, Caplet, 'd'après Edgar Poë' (EMI 1992).
• Jongen, Symphonie Concertante ; de Greef, Concerto pour piano ; Prêtre, Bartholomée (EMI 1994).
• Canteloube, Songs of the Auvergne ; Emmanuel, Folk-song settings (ERATO 1997).

I have researched, presented and made many programmes for radio. The following is a selected list:

• 'Debussy and Musica Ficta', Music Weekly, BBC Radio 3 (1986).
• 'La fête galante', Music Weekly, BBC Radio 3 (1987).
• 'Debussy, 'Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune', Music Weekly, BBC Radio 3 (1987).
• 'Rodrigue et Chimène', France-Musique (1987).
• 'Rodrigue et Chimène', BBC Radio 3 (1988).
• 'Rodrigue et Chimène', interview with BBC World Service (1988).
• 'Poulenc: Monk and Guttersnipe'. A 20-minute programme on Poulenc's reconversion to Catholicism. Submitted for Sony Award (1988).
• 'Southerly Winds'. A 45-minute documentary on the life and work of Maurice Ohana with the participation of the composer, Tristan Murail, Eugene Kurtz, Genevieve Joy and Henri Dutilleux (1989).
• 'Sounds of Revolution'. A 30-minute programme on Royalist cabaret and Revolutionary Music for a day of commemorative programmes on BBC Radio 3 (1989).
• Participant in a Table-Ronde from the Lyon Biennale of French Music. 'Désaccord parfait', France-Musique (1991).
• Documentary programme on the Biennale de Lyon, BBC Radio 3 (including interviews with John Eliot Gardiner and Bernard Duteurtre (1991).
• Interview with Pierre Boulez on his interpretation of Pelléas et Mélisande with the Welsh National Opera, BBC Radio 3 (1992).
• Four 20-minute programmes on 'Colette and Music', BBC Radio 3 (1992).
• 'Jean Françaix at 80' (including an interview with the composer), Music Weekly, BBC Radio 3 (1992).
• 'Promenade à Londres' (for the opening of the channel tunnel), France-Culture (1994).
• Contributor to a Table-Ronde on music in Kent, direct from the Institut Français de Londres (1994).
• Programme on the French tradition of organ improvisation with Naji Hakim, Jean Guillou et Olivier Latry, Music Matters, BBC Radio 3 (1994).
• Interval talk on Massenet for live broadcast of Manon from The Royal Opera House, BBC Radio 3 (1994).
• 'Mining the Archive'. A 60-minute programme examining historic recordings of Rameau, BBC Radio 3 (1997).
• Interval talk on Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc for Henry Wood Promenade Concert, BBC Radio 3 (1997).
• Live presentation of Rameau's Platée, Royal Opera House performance at the Barbican Centre (1997).
• Translation and adaptation for radio of Saint-Saëns's Opéra-Comique La princesse jaune . BBC Concert Orchestra recording for future transmission (1998).
• BBC Prom interval talk on Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Researched with Claude Noisette de Crauzat, BBC Radio 3 (1999).
• Regular interviewee for features on 'In Tune' (items discussed include Proust, Rimbaud, Maeterlinck and The Moulin Rouge), BBC Radio 3 (2000–1).
• May 2002: contributor to Radio 3 evening on the centenary of the first performance of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande
• 2003 ‘A room with a view', BBC Radio 4 programme on Debussy at the Grand Hotel Eastbourne.
• May 2003, contributor to Radio 3 evening for the centenary of the birth of Lennox Berkeley.
• 2004 Interval talk ‘The fortunes of Faust' for a live relay of Gounod's Faust from the ROH, London.
• 2005 Presentation of Massenet's Le roi de Lahore broadcast from La Fenice in Venice.
• 2005 Contributor to programme on Canteloube, Lyric FM, Eire.

Television

• Pelléas et Mélisande by Peter Brook, The Late Show, BBC 2 (1992).
• 'Opus Debussy: l'autre opéra' ARTE. Film de Catherine Zins. Main contributor with presentation of detailed methods of reconstruction. Broadcast in France, Germany and Switzerland and shown at several UK festivals (1994).
• Contributor to The magic of Carmen. BBC 2 programme to accompany a relay of the opera from the Royal Opera House, Autumn 2007.

Presentations

• 1980: American Musicological Society, Denver, Colorado. Paper on 'Debussy and the Pre-Raphaelites'.
• 1982: American Musicological Society, Ann-Arbor, Michegan. Contributor to round table on Debussy studies.
• 1983: Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA: visiting lecturer.
• 1983-4: Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London: visiting lecturer on baroque interpretation
• 1985: Institute of Advanced Musical Studies, Kings College, London: lecture recital on Debussy's Rodrigue et Chimène.
• 1986: La Scala, Milan: two lecture-recitals on: 'Debussy e Théodore de Banville' et 'L'altra opera di Claude Debussy': Rodrigue et Chimène'.
• 1987: Concerts de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Salle Colbert, Paris: extracts from Debussy's Rodrigue et Chimène.
• 1988: Institut Français, London: lecture-recital on extracts from Rodrigue et Chimène presented with piano (also given at City University and the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester).
• 1989: University of Reading, Redlands Lecture on the reconstruction of Rodrigue et Chimène.
• 1989: Goldsmith's College, London, lecture on editorial principles in Rodrigue et Chimène
• 1989: Colloque international Claude Debussy, University of Geneva: paper given on 'Rodrigue et Chimèn, genèse, histoire, problèmes d'édition'.
• 1990: English National Opera: study day on Pelléas et Mélisande: lecture with play-readings organised and given by RLS
• 1990: Colloque des musicologues organised by the Lyons Biennale . Paper given on 'Rodrigue et Chimène et le patrimoine musical français des années 1890-1920'.
• 1993 Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London: organiser of and contributor to study-day on Pelléas et Mélisande.
• 1993: Organiser of the 'Journées Claude Debussy' at the Institut Français de Londres. Paper on the libretto of Rodrigue et Chimène.
• 1994: University of Oxford: post-graduate lecture on editorial methodology in Rodrigue et Chimène.
• 1996: Lecture on methodology in the reconstruction of Rodrigue et Chimène. Roehampton Institute, London.
• 1997: Lecture on English influences on Maeterlinck and Debussy at the Musée d'Orsay Saturday lecture series, Paris.
• 1998: 'The Midi Interface: Meridionalist Themes in Turn-of-the-Century French Music Criticism'. Paper given at the 19th-Century Music conference, University of Bristol.
• 1998: Lecture on new perspectives on Rodrigue et Chimène, University of Sheffield.
• 1999: Two lectures at Glyndebourne Opera on Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, one in collaboration with the University of Sussex.
• 1999: Pre-performance talk on Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande . BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall.
• 2000: Round table on 'Editing Opera'. RMA 19th-Century Music conference, Royal Holloway College.
• 2001: Colloque Francis Poulenc. Saint Etienne, France. Paper on 'Francis Poulenc outre manche'.
• Gerald Abraham memorial lecture on Bizet's Carmen, University of Liverpool.
• ‘The Englishman his wife and her lover' Research papers given at the Universities of Bangor and Sheffield.
• 2002 Research papers on Bizet's Carmen given at the Universities of Cambridge and Kingston and at the Birmingham Conservatoire.
• Paper on Ravel L'enfant et les sortilèges given for a study day on the opera held by the Harry Guntrip Psychotherapy trust and Opera North.
• 2003 Paper on Martinu Julietta given for a study day on the opera held by the Harry Guntrip Psychotherapy trust and Opera North.
• Three lectures on Carmen given as Visiting Professor at Gresham College, London.
• Paper “Le langage musical d'Alfred Bruneau' given at the biennial Festival Massenet at Saint-Etienne.
• 4 lectures on Carmen given for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, London and Glydebourne.
• Paper ‘The forgotten Englishman in Carmen' given at the International Conference in French Music, University of Melboune, July 2004.
• Lectures on Carmen given at the Universities of Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland and Griffiths Universities, July 2004.
• 2005 Presentation at Study session on Puccini Turandot, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
• 2 presentations at RMA study day at the University of Lancaster, May 2005, on Bizet's Carmen and Debussy's Rodrigue et Chimène.
• Paper on Carmen given at the RMA 19th Century Music Conference, University of Manchester 2006.
• Paper ‘Aimer ainsi: relighting the lamp in Debussy’s Pelléas’ given at the University of Texas at Austin given 2006.
• Papers on Carmen given at The University of Manchester, Queens University Belfast and the University of Wales, Bangor, 2006.
• Insight days on Bizet: Carmen, Massenet Thaïs and Ravel: L’heure espagnole given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 2006–7
• Pre-performance talk on Massenet: Thaïs given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 2007
• Pre-performance talk on Carmen given at English National Opera, 2007.
• Paper on Carmen given at The University of York and Kings College London, 2007
• Keynote lecture on ‘Carmen’: towards a performance-urtext, given at Brigham Young University, Hawaii, USA, 2007.

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