La Mer (1909 version)

La Mer was the second of Debussy’s three orchestral works in three sections. Although the composition of La Mer took him more than a year and a half, this was unusually quick progress by his standards. La Mer was premiered in Paris in October 1905 and was initially not well received. However, the work was performed in the US in 1907 and in Britain in 1908, and after its second performance in Paris, in 1908, it quickly became one of Debussy’s most admired and frequently performed orchestral works. This edition by Clinton F. Nieweg and Lawrence N. Halverson is based on the second published Durand edition of 1909 which included the composer’s revisions.