La Mer Orchestre de Paris-Salone Elements of Style Texture Form VERY GENERALLY Debussy often uses the addition or subtraction of instruments and lines to contribute to crescendos and diminuendos. While writing La mer, Debussy recalled his father’s early plans for his career in a letter to a friend: “You perhaps do not know that I was destined for the life of a sailor and that it was only by chance that I was led away from it. Your email address will not be published. De l'aube a midi sur la mer II. Iniziata nel 1903 in Francia, la composizione de La Mer è stata terminata nel 1905 durante il soggiorno di Debussy sulla costa inglese della Manica a Eastbourne. shipping: + $3.99 shipping . The Critical Edition does, however, contain many important corrections (examples: the crescendo in 1st bassoon part on PDF page 4, bar 4 actually starts in bar 3, and what look like accents in the nearby trumpet phrases are actually decrescendos). The score is so vivid that you can almost smell sea salt and see the crests of the waves. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. This is part 1 of our 3 part series on Debussy's enchanting orchestral work, La Mer. In La mer, Debussy tells the story of the eternal odyssey of the ocean. He regarded the classical symphony as obsolete and sought an alternative in his "symphonic sketches", La mer (1903 [PDF] + Video - Orchestra - Romantic * License : Public Domain - 3 movements : I. And, as with a symphony, its three movements are intended to be performed together — a single sequence representing a day on the sea. Though some melodic ideas presented at the beginning of the movement recur near the end, most of the movement is a continuous development of fragmentary motifs and melodic phrases, which playfully explore strange and enchanting new sounds. La Mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre o semplicemente La Mer, è un componimento musicale, di Claude Debussy, di carattere impressionista. Members of the Académie des Beaux Arts famously condemned him, saying that “M. He sails through storm and calm, wind and rain, in music that rises and falls with the rhythms of the sea. Though Debussy never completed a symphony, La Mer challenges every section of the orchestra and is certainly symphonic in its scope. La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre (French for The sea, three symphonic sketches for orchestra), or simply La mer (i.e. Debussy’s highly original conception from this extended orchestral work would suggest new possibilities to composers for generations to come. Instead, it erodes these traditions by revealing alternatives, much as waves reshape even the rockiest coast. In this study, La Mer is considered in the context of Debussy's personal and musical development. La Mer was a Giulini signature piece, and this is his finest recording of it, capturing the music’s capricious sense of flow, perfect in transitions, and with climaxes that preserve the music’s clarity and balance without ever sounding excessively restrained. His music was to a considerable extent a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition. Debussy referred to La mer as “trois esquisses symphoniques” or “three symphonic sketches.” Though some have called La mer a symphony, it is perhaps more accurately an anti-symphony, as it deliberately eschews traditional symphonic form. What to Listen For. Debussy took one of those seaside holidays at the English Channel town of Eastbourne in 1905, two years after he began sketching La Mer, specifically to complete the work at the seaside. Claude Debussy’s La Mer (“The Sea”) is not a literal portrait of the ocean.There is no “program” or story, as we might hear in Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony or a Strauss tone poem. 33 RPM Vinyl Claude Debussy La Mer Supraphon Records LPV210 LP 040715SM. Debussy's La mer: a complete guide to the best recordings Rob Cowan Tuesday, September 18, 2018 Rob Cowan chooses his top recordings of Debussy’s seascape, which helped establish the composer’s reputation as the founding father of musical modernism French composer Claude Debussy’s major works included Clair de lune (“Moonlight”; in Suite bergamasque, 1890–1905), Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894; Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun), the opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1902), and La Mer (1905; “The Sea”). Tell us what you think in the comments below. La prima è stata eseguita a Parigi il 15 ottobre 1905 dall'Orchestre Lamoureux sotto la … The first recording was made by Italian Piero Coppola in 1928. One of Debussy’s most famous works is now a prog-metal, The one simple chord that shows Claude Debussy was a, This is the most beautiful musical depiction of the sea, This guy plays a Debussy classic on a theremin and it, Download 'Romeo & Juliet - Dance of the Knights' on iTunes. La mer Debussy began La mer in 1903 and completed it in March 1905. Ticciati has conducted La mer and Pelléas et Mélisande across Europe with the LPO, Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Budapest Festival Orchestra receiving excellent reviews. Claude Debussy's most concentrated and brilliant orchestral work, La Mer, is one of the supreme achievements in the symphonic literature. Often performed in concert, it is one of the composer's most famous and greatest works. Do you think it illustrates from dawn to noon on the sea? 1pm - 4pm, Romeo & Juliet - Dance of the Knights