Synopsis

Claude Debussy probably never saw the reviews his symphonic suite La Mer (The Sea) received after its American premiere on today’s date in Boston in 1907 — and that was probably for the best.

Musicologist Nicholas Slonimsky, who collected notably bad reviews in his notably excellent Lexicon of Musical Invective, says the 1907 Boston audience was a tough crowd, composed of — as Slonimsky put it — “easily discomfited dowagers, quiet academically minded New England music lovers, and irascible music critics.”

The Boston newspaper reviews of the 1907 audience’s reaction to Debussy’s La Mer included some real zingers like: “Frenchmen are notoriously bad sailors, and we clung like a drowning man to a few fragments of the tonal wreck.”    

An even more graphic critic said: “It is possible that Debussy did not intend to call it La Mer, but Le Mal de Mer, which would at once make the tone-picture as clear as day. It is a series of symphonic pictures of seasickness. The first movement is Headache. The second is Doubt, picturing moments of dread suspense … The third movement, with its explosions and rumblings, has now a self-evident purpose: The hero is endeavoring to throw up his boot heels!”

Music Played in Today's Program

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): La Mer; Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal; Charles Dutoit, conductor; London/Decca 430240