The music and artifacts Verlaine left behind shed some light on one of the most important but least understood figures in New York rock. His sinuous, exploratory guitar playing in Television helped put a new downtown dive called CBGB on the map, and his sound in classic Television songs like “Marquee Moon” echoed through generations of bands from Sonic Youth to the Strokes. But Verlaine was almost secretive in his shunning of the spotlight, avoiding interviews, distrusting the industry and releasing only a small amount of music in the latter half of his career.