Debussys la mer is an orchestral composition (L 109) by the French impressionist composer Claude Debussy. It was started in 1903 in France and finished in 1905 on the English Channel coast in East Bourne. The first performance was given by the Lamoureux Orchestra instructed by Camille Chevillard on 15 October 1905 in Paris.
Debussys la mer was not well appreciated at first because of insufficient rehearsal and partly because of Parisian anger over Debussy leaving his first wife for the singer Emma Bardac. But in a little while, it became one of his well-liked and one of Debussy's most admired and regularly performed orchestral works.
Debussys la mer is scored for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tam-tam, glockenspiel, 2 harps and strings. The first recording was made by Piero Coppola in 1928.
Debussys la mer is one of the greatest orchestral works far and wide. It is considered as a masterpiece of the twentieth century. It is the combination of suggestion and refinement which is unique with its daring impressionistic harmonies. Many authors are of the opinion that La Mer sounds like nothing before it. The work has proven very significant.
Debussys la mer is the three symphonic sketches. It has two powerful outer movements framing a lighter, quicker piece which acts as a scherzo. Author Jean Barraque defines La Mer as a work which has open form or sonorous becoming… a developmental process in which the very notions of exposition and development coexist in an uninterrupted burst.
Simon Trezise says that Debussys la mer looks down on evident devices relating to the sea, wind, and concomitant storm in favor of his own, highly individual vocabulary. Caroline Potter is of the view that Debussy's interpretation of the sea avoids repetitiveness by using a huge amount of water figurations that could be categorized as musical onomatopoeia.
The author, musicologist and pianist Roy Howatt has noticed, in his book Debussy in Proportion that the formal boundaries of Debussys la mer correspond exactly to the mathematical ratios called The Golden Section. Trezise discovers the inherent evidence remarkable, but warns that no written or reported proof puts forward that Debussy intentionally sought such proportions
In a book of interviews, the famous Ukrainian/ Soviet pianist Sviatoslav Richter called Debussys la mer A piece that I rank alongside the St. Matthew Passion and the Ring cycle as one of my favorite works. He also said It is the most beautiful in the whole history of the gramophone. The Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu compiled a work based on la mer called Quotation of Dream: Say Sea, Take Me!
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