Claude DEBUSSY and his music for the Ballets Russes.

Claude Debussy (1862.1918)

Autograph letter signed to Louis Barthou.

A page in-4° on blue paper with its number. November 20, 1913.

“You will find at the same time as this letter three melodies…”

Debussy is preparing for his trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, to promote Jeux , the Russian Ballet choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, for which he composed the music.

“My dear Mr. Barthou, I stopped by your house this morning, in the hope of being able to thank you myself for the kind letter you received from Mr. S. Pichon. This letter will be a valuable support to me among our agents in Russia, but it appears that for Russian officials it will have no effect. I am therefore going to obtain a regular passport through the usual channels... for said passport to become "taboo" it would need to be covered with a special stamp, of which Mr. Iswolsky [Alexandre Iswolsky, Russian diplomat in Paris] is the only one to have (sic) !!! As I don't want to bore you any longer with my trip, I will pass on. You will find at the same time as this letter three melodies that I took the liberty of addressing to Madame Louis Barthou. May she welcome them favorably. Always believe, my dear Mr. Barthou, in my affectionate devotion. »

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It was during a lunch with Diaghilev and Nijinsky, in June 1912, that the director of the Ballets Russes ordered a new ballet from Claude Debussy for the 1913 season. Debussy accepted this proposal and composed the music for the ballet during the summer of that same year, 1912.

Jeux was created by the Ballets Russes on May 15, 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, under the direction of Pierre Monteux.

Debussy toured Russia, in Saint Petersburg, at the end of November 1913. Despite the successes and tributes encountered, the trip was a test for the composer undermined by his cancer diagnosed in 1910.