La Mer, Trois Esquisses Symphoniques

The Sea is Debussy's greatest orchestral composition, although it is labelled by the composer as "three symphonic sketches". The latter term refers not to fragmentation but to the relationship between music and painting, as occurs in other works by the composer. Unlike the three Nocturnes, which are completely independent, the 'three sketches' are parts of a unified whole and cannot be performed separately. Not surprisingly, some scholars consider the Sea to be a symphony that consists of a slow movement, a scherzo, and a finale. The concept of The Sea originated in August 1903. On 12 September Debussy wrote: "I am working on three symphonic sketches, entitled: the first, The Beautiful Sea at the Sanguiner Islands (near Corsica), the second, The Play of the Waves, and the third, The Wind Makes the Sea Dance." Pictorial associations, as always, played an important role in the birth of the music, but they were not only with the paintings of the French Impressionists, often inspired by the sea - Debussy also admired the colourful xylographic landscapes of the late 18^th and first half of the 19^th century Japanese painter and engraver Hokusai, whose famous engraving The Great Wave off Kanagawa adorned the composer's room. At Debussy's request, a copy of this engraving was printed on the cover of the score of The Sea. The creation of the work itself takes place to the sound of the waves, in a joyful sense of freedom and the beginning of a new stage in the composer's life, warmed by a late love. In late 1903 Debussy met the exquisite and sophisticated Emma Moise, wife of the wealthy financier Bardac, known in musical circles as an amateur singer. In July the following year they left Paris and spent several happy months on the Atlantic coast and the Channel. "The sea has treated me very well," Debussy wrote from Jersey Island, "it has shown me all its garments!". Under these immediate impressions, the composer abandoned the original title of the first movement relating to the Mediterranean, and in January 1905 proposed to his publisher the more generalized From Dawn to Noon on the Sea. The title of the third movement was also changed - it became Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea. Then the coda of the second part, The Play of the Waves, was revised for the last time. On 6 March 1905 Debussy announced that his composition had been completed. At the very beginning of the work, in 1903, the composer decided that Тhe Sea would be conducted by Camille Chevillard, who was also the first performer of the Nocturnes. But The Sea did not work out well for Chevillard. The premiere on 15 October 1905 in Paris, in the concert hall of the Lamoureux Society, was not a success and sparked discussion about the new work. It was not until three years later, after the work had already been performed in the United States and Great Britain, that The Sea was truly born on January 19^th 1908. It was performed under the baton of Debussy himself, for whom it was his conducting debut. And the following day was his wedding to Emma, to whom The Sea was dedicated. The first part, The Sea from Dawn to Noon unfolds slowly, without contrasts. From a single sound - the subtle tremolo of timpani and the pizzicato of double basses - the passages of waking waves are born. A distant call is heard (trumpets with a sur in unison with an English horn). The waves accelerate their flight and against this background the theme is proclaimed by French horns with a sur. Another theme - in free breath, at a more propulsive tempo - appears in 16 cello solos. In the last section, new melodies appear amid the incessant splash of waves. One of these - in the unusual combination in unison of English horn and cello solo in high register - forces the waves to silence. Finally, the noon hymn solemnly grows in the brass. The second movement, The Play of the Waves , like the first one, is devoid of contrasts; it too is dominated by a bright, serenely joyous mood, enhanced by the ringing timbre of the bells and triangle, silent until then. The short motifs literally dance in sunbeams, scattering in brilliant splashes. Debussy is indefatigable in orchestral effects, creating this impressionistic picture. The composer's beloved English horn enters with a brief motif reminiscent of The Clouds. Complementary dance-like, swirling passages serve to develop this theme and the next in the violins' light trills. Another melody, more fluid and tuneful, reappears in the timbre of the English horn. Powerful bursts of tutti are rare in the whimsical playing of the three themes. All the more vivid, therefore, are the few brief climaxes. However, the movement ends as it began, with muted references to the wind instruments amid bursts of harps and the subtle tinkling of bells and cymbals. The third part, Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea, is the most extended. Here, for the first time, dramatic images appear, the sea is presented as stormy and frightening. From the very first sounds (tremolos of timpani and a large drum beating on a tam-tam) a dark atmosphere reigns, in which the dialogue of the elements unfolds. Deafening passages of strings run through, juxtaposed by the howling chords of woodwinds and French horns. The trumpet's chimes of sur sound dramatically, in which the serene opening theme of the first movement is hard to discern; as it develops it takes on an eerie caracter. In sharp contrast is the middle episode, an island of blissful calm in the midst of the storm (a focused chorale on four French horns, a variant of the final hymn of the first movement). Now the theme of the wind, bright and calm, does not resist the violent gusts of the waves, but seems to sway to the softly swinging sounds of the harps, evoking associations with the enticing siren singing of the third Nocturne. The return of the anxious mood, again beginning with a dramatic dialogue of wind and sea, leads not to a violent climax but to a majestic anthem that resounds solemnly throughout the brass band. It is complemented by the joyful dialogues of French horns and cornets - thus transforming the tragic and ugly trumpet exclamations of the first episode. The picture of the sea ends with a jubilant apotheosis - a powerful tutti.