ABSTRACT
Debussy’s death in 1918, as Paris was being bombarded by Big Berthe, the Germans’ long-range supergun, was seen as part of France’s national sacrifice. Jean Chantavoine’s obituary in La Revue hebdomadaire (May 1918) made the connection between Debussy, the war and ‘la patrie’. 1 By 1920 Debussy’s achievements were revered in quasi-religious tones in all sectors of the press. 2 His preoccupation with the French musical past of Rameau and Couperin, and his writings on tradition, had contributed to consolidating his heroic posthumous status. 3 His propagandist stance on the front page of L’Intransigeant, in which he insisted on a return to the French musical qualities of Rameau, lay alongside reports of German military treachery, thereby reinforcing the link between national musical values and the war effort.
