His condensed work, La Musique et les Musiciens, an overview of musical grammar and materials, continued to be reprinted years after his death. In it he characterised the particular characteristics of instruments[1] and of each
key,[2] somewhat in the way
Berlioz and
Gevaert (Traité d'orchestration, Gand, 1863, p. 189) had done:
His more popularized works discussed the music dramas of
Richard Wagner, summarised in Le Voyage artistique à Bayreuth.
Selected works
Lavignac edited the compendious Encyclopédie de la Musique.
Cours complet théoretique et pratique de dictée musicale (1882)
École de la pédale (1889)
La musique et les musiciens (1895). Translated into English, 1905
Le voyage artistique à Bayreuth (1897). An analysis of Wagner's leitmotifs
The Music Dramas of Richard Wagner and His Festival Theater in Bayreuth (New York, 1899)
Footnotes
^"The timbre of the trombone is in its nature majestic and imposing. It is sufficiently powerful to dominate a whole orchestra and produces an impression of superhuman power ... it can become terrible ... or mournful and full of dismay: or it may have the serenity of the organ ... It is a superb instrument of lofty dramatic power, which should be reserved for great occasions."