La mer (The Sea)
Composed 1905; Duration 23:00
Debussy’s novel approach to music did not stem from an academic tradition, but from an avoidance of it. Wagner’s fluid approach to thematic manipulation was appealing to him, but he generally gravitated toward other art forms for influence. The music of the Far East on exhibition in Paris captured his imagination, while impressionist seascapes drew him into memories of his childhood by the sea. He admired symbolist writers who sought to liberate formal boundaries, and Camille Mauclair’s writings on the sea were a direct inspiration when he composed La mer.
The work is the middle of a group of three major orchestral works Debussy described as “symphonic sketches,” dodging the formal strictures of “Symphony.” Perhaps even an anti-symphony, theorists have clamored at the opportunity to evaluate the uniquely unrigged use of themes throughout his seascape. Debussy harnessed his artistic influences to paint a musical portrait of the sea, providing detailed titles to channel the scenes in his music.
A traditional symphony’s opening movement outlines an exposition, which through development, arrives in full circle to a moment of conclusion. Debussy’s vivid movement title instead infers the dramatic transformation of the sea from one state to another. “From Dawn to Midday on the Sea” opens with the deep, nocturnal rumbling of a timpani, with low strings awakening to a first oboe theme, and brass take over with a lethargic, submarine kind of fanfare. This introduction is replaced by a second section where the strings provide the current over which playful winds shape and reshape the movement’s melodies. The music subsides, only for the jolting surprise of a buoyant string melody announcing the warmth of the sun. For a moment, an English horn recalls a placid theme, but the sea becomes regal at midday.
The central movement, “Play of the Waves,” colorfully explores woodwind melodies that billow and crest on dancing strings and harp. The movement is chaotically episodic, as Debussy’s rich and imaginative orchestration rapidly crashes through textures and colors, which combine for a cresting climax of brass. A second climax led by the playful banter of strings and winds is followed by a calming descent. The strings hum while a twinkling harp accompanies straggling melodic fragments.
The boisterous finale, “Dialogue between the Wind and the Sea,” combines the volatile elements, first with angry low strings that lead to a trumpet warning. The fragments of recurring melodies appear in the winds over the anticipation-laden energy of the strings. After a clash of violence, the subsided chaos invites a nocturnal calm and the work’s various themes combine in an overflowing lyricism. Staccato trumpets enter, announcing the final strain of the movement’s dialogue that concludes with a ringing abundance of wonder.