Book contents
1 - Debussy: 1903–1905
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2009
Summary
Life
The sea's influence seems to have been with Debussy from his earliest years, for references to it recur like a leitmotif through his correspondence and writings. In 1889, as a young man a few years away from his first great successes, he was asked in a questionnaire what he would like to be if not himself, to which he replied, ‘a sailor’. René Peter, a friend, recounted this colourful portrait of the composer during a sea trip from St Lunaire to Cancale, described here by Keith Spence:
To get to Cancale by sea you have to round the dangerous headland of the Pointe de Grouin into the Bay of Mont St Michel, and the party was presumably at about this stage of the voyage (20 minutes from Cancale, says Peter), and feeling thoroughly miserable … A storm was getting up, and the boatowner and his mate were grumbling. First Germaine was sick, then the other passengers, except for Debussy and René himself. There was a cloudburst overhead, and in the midst of freezing rain the boat danced up and down ‘like a porpoise’. Debussy was thoroughly enjoying himself, but the boatman got furious and accused him of risking all their lives for the sake of ‘sensations fortes’. To which Debussy replied: ‘There is one powerful sensation I have never experienced, the sensation of danger! It is not unpleasant. You are alive!’
They recovered and had lunch in Cancale, after which all but Debussy went for a walk.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Debussy: La Mer , pp. 1 - 10Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995