156 Lectures on Modem Music
expositions; in short, doing everything which seemed hu-
manly possible to fill in the gaps left by his insufficient
education. As a result of these efforts, he gradually ac-
quired a culture of extraordinary breadth and subtlety
which permitted him to move, and to feel at home, in the
most refined and intelligent circles of Parisian society.
The man had the rare knack of recognizing his spiritual
ancestors at first sight, of knowing just where to turn for
stimulus when stimulus was needed. The same infallible
instinct which perceived his artistic kinship with Mous-
sorgsky and which realized so clearly the dangers to a
Frenchman of the Wagnerian influence, led him with equal
insight to the symbolist and impressionist poets and paint-
ers. From about 1890 to 1895 Debussy was a frequent
visitor at Mallarme’s apartments in the rue de Rome where,
on Tuesday evenings, the great leader of the symbolists
received his ever widening circle of disciples and friends.
To these gatherings came: Jules Laforgue (for whom
Debussy had particular affection, though he never set any
of his poems), Gustave Kahn, Stuart Merrill, Henri de
Regnier, Pierre Louys (author of the “Chansons de Bili-
tis”), Degas, Whistler, Verlaine (sixteen of whose poems
were set to music by Debussy), and others; a choice but
heterogeneous company of spirits, held together, for a time,
at least, by their common admiration for Mallarme, by
the charm of his personality and the incomparable lucidity
of his mind and conversation.
“One entered the room”, writes André Gide, “it was
evening and you noticed first the extreme silence of the
place. The last faint noises of the street died away as
one crossed the threshold. Then Mallarme would begin
to speak in that low, musical, unforgettable tone of voice.
Strange to say, he thought before he spoke. In his presence