LDV84

So the very belated discovery of the piece he composed in 1917, as a gesture of gratitude to his coal merchant, 1 was all the more moving. In using as his title this line from Baudelaire’s Le Balcon , which he had set to music in 1887, and inserting the musical quotation from the prélude inspired by the same poet, Debussy seems to cast a tender and nostalgic gaze, not without a touch of irony, on a happy bygone era marked by Symbolism. And his true farewell to the world is bathed in voluptuous harmonies and seems shrouded in a soft, enveloping light. 1. The title translates as ‘Evenings illuminated by the glowof coals’: Debussy was too impoverished to buy enough coal in wartime, and the merchant supplied him free of charge. (Translator’s note)