Who was Stéphane Mallarmé?
Stéphane Mallarmé—as he is known, although his birth certificate records his first name in its more usual French form of “Etienne”—was born into a middle-class family on March 18, 1842 in Paris. After an undistinguished school career he spent a year in London, from November 1862 to November 1863, to gain an English teaching certificate.
What did Charles Mallarmé write?
Besides undertaking these time-consuming tasks, Mallarmé also published in these years his translation of poems by Edgar Allan Poe, his poem L’Après-midi d’un faune, as well as a substantial article on his friend, the painter Edouard Manet. Mallarmé was also working on what he called his “Grand Oeuvre” (Great Work).
Why is Mallarmé a Fantôme à ce lieu son Pur éclat assigne?
Inspiration of the kind he wants has deserted Mallarmé, yet he refuses to yield, as he had done in “Las de l’amer repos” and “Les Fleurs,” to the temptation of writing verse of an easier kind; he thus remains a “fantôme qu’à ce lieu son pur éclat assigne” (pale ghost condemned to this fate by the purity of his ideals).
What is Mallarmé's contribution to music?
Mallarmé's poetry has been the inspiration for several musical pieces, notably Claude Debussy 's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894), a free interpretation of Mallarmé's poem L'après-midi d'un faune (1876), which creates powerful impressions by the use of striking but isolated phrases.
Stephane Mallarme The Afternoon of a Faun Translators note