25 - The Year of the Ballets: 1912

Summary

In 1912, the year during which he turned fifty, Debussy did not travel. It was also the year of the hundredth performance of Pelléas, which continued to make its way around the world: Nice (7 and 9 February), Geneva (8, 12, 21, 26 March), Boston (10, 13, 19, 22 January and 30 March), and as far as Buenos Aires (12 August 1911).

Debussy got back to work on Khamma, which, according to the terms of the initial contract, was about a year overdue, but which had been postponed by his work on the Martyre. The plot for this ballet-pantomime in three scenes had been conceived by the dancer, Maud Allan, and William Leonard Courtney, an English critic and academic. The action takes place in an ancient Egyptian temple dedicated to the sun god, Amun-Ra. The dancer Khamma sacrifices her life to persuade the great god to liberate the town, which has been besieged by invaders. She performs three dances before dropping dead and having her body blessed by the high priest. This subject hardly enthused Debussy, who had written to Godet that he “was hand-holding a child, without caring as much as he should have.” He repeated his opinion after having constructed the bulk of his score, writing to his publisher in January 1912: “Have you thought about the influence that a ballet libretto could have on the mind of a dancer? In looking at the libretto for Khamma —which I hope to play for you soon—a curious vegetation invades your brain and you [have to] forgive the dancers.” On 1 February, however, he appeared to be completely satisfied with his work: “When will you come to hear the new version of this curious ballet, with its trumpet calls, which signal a riot or a fire, and which send shivers down your spine?” The piano score of Khamma would go to the engraver and the process of orchestration would begin.

More and more frequently during this period, Debussy met with performers, and his works were being played quite regularly. Ricardo Viñes described a dinner with the Laloys and Alexandre Charpentier's widow: “Of course, we didn't play any music and we hardly talked about it, as happens among true artists (which is to say that true artists speak the least about their own profession).