A study of the performance style of Jane Bathori and other early interpreters of the solo vocal music of Debussy and Ravel.

Abstract

This study resulted from years of interest in the singer Jane Bathori and from a desire to blend the contrasting disciplines of scholarship and musicianship. To that end, this document is a study of music and performing style from the standpoint of an artist who participated in the early performances of selected literature. Bathori is unique in at least two aspects. She sang the first performances of well over one hundred melodies, by more than forty different composers, and she is the author of a book about vocal interpretation, Sur l'interpretation des melodies de Claude Debussy, 1953. This study seeks to examine her work and that of three of her singer colleagues from the standpoint of her book, appearing in its first translation into English in this document.