Claude Debussy - “Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison“ (audio + sheet music)

Claude Debussy wrote Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison, for voice and piano, L 139 in 1915, on the eve of an operation in December. The composer also wrote the text, which asks that the German people not have an enjoyable holiday season. It is an angry poem, reflecting the French resentment of the attack upon their country. Debussy had repeatedly been obliged to relocate his family in order to avoid the fighting while succumbing to cancer. The costs of medical treatment and moving his wife and daughter out of harm’s way were augmenting his already impossible debts. During this harsh period he found it almost impossible to compose. L 139 is an outburst of understandable frustration. It was also his last song. Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison is an odd blend of art music and popular song; the accompaniment is lush and beyond the technical demands normally made on a dance hall musician. Melodically, it has many of the simpler aspects of popular song vocal writing. The setting is frequently anthem-like, rousing in the manner of a protest song, rhythmically enforcing key points in the vocal line that could easily be sung by an enraged mob. Protest songs from the popular/folk tradition are repetitive in order to stir a group’s blood further with each heated repetition. This song is more of an assemblage of different ways to do this. Melodic fragments sound assembled under a consistent accompaniment, avoiding literal repeats and thus distancing the song from any crowd-chanting utility. As a collection of segments, Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison resembles some of Stravinsky’s works from about the same period. His pre-war ballets frequently featured deceptively simple sections working together with a faux-disjunctive, archaic quality. Stravinsky was working with an ironically historical relationship to tonality. Debussy was not being ironic; he was full of French chauvinism and falling prey to the nationalistic rage that sometimes grips the instincts of people caught up in war. The genuine venom of the song’s text is almost bizarre in its fervor, willing the children of Germany to become homeless in the dead of winter. As unpleasant as this may be, the text’s setting is unique enough to merit repeated listening. Here is an English translation of the lyrics: We have no more house nor home Enemies took all we had: all gone, all gone, even our own little bed! The school they burnt; then burnt out teacher too. They burnt the church and also the Lord Jesus Christ, The poor old beggar too who could not get away! We have no more house nor home! Enemies took all we had: all gone, all gone, even our own little bed! Surely, Daddy to fight has gone, Poor Mummy is in Heaven! Died and did not see all this. O! What shall we do now? Jesu! Infant Jesu! Do not go to them Don’t go back to them ever Punish them all! Avenge the children on France! The little Belgians, the little Serbians and the Polish children too! Yet should we some forget, pray forgive us. Noel! Noel! No toys! We want no toys! But may we please get back again our Daily Bread. We have no more house nor home Enemies took all we had: all gone, all gone, even our own little bed! The school they burnt; then burnt out teacher too. They burnt the church and also the Lord Jesus Christ, The poor old beggar too who could not get away! Jesu! Listen to us, Our wooden shoes we have no more; So please give Victory to the Child of France! (, ) Please take note that the audio AND the sheet music ARE NOT mine. Change the quality to a minimum of 480p if the video is blurry. Original audio: hmmm, it vanished... (Performance by: Elly Ameling, accompanied by Dalton Baldwin) Original sheet music: