La mer

La mer (The Sea) is today Debussy’s most widely performed orchestral work, and is regarded as one of his greatest masterpieces. But at its premiere—in Paris, soon after the score was completed in 1905—it generally puzzled both the press and the audience. Part of the reason may have been a lacklustre performance: compared to Debussy’s earlier orchestral music, the idiom of La mer is more deft and intricate, and therefore more exacting to play. The new work was also very different from the stylised seascapes of Romantic tradition. Debussy loved the sea and its constantly shifting water and light effects, but the “three symphonic sketches” (as he described them) comprising La mer also related to his interest in how the sea was depicted in paintings, especially those of Monet and Turner. The first of the three movements, “De l’aube à midi sur la mer” (From Dawn to Midday on the Sea), grows from shadowy beginnings into a beautifully varied sequence of changing orchestral moods and colours, with a final climax of sun-drenched midday splendour. “Jeux de vagues” (Play of Waves) resembles a centrally placed symphonic scherzo in its darting pace and needlepoint virtuosity. And the finale, “Dialogue du vent et de la mer” (Dialogue between the Wind and the Sea), is a superb storm-picture of rearing waves and shrill wind, with a central interlude of uneasy calm.