Claude Debussy Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien ~ Excerpts La Cour des Lys (The Court of Lilies) 00:00 – Prélude – Danse extatique de Saint Sébastien sur les charbons embrasés La Chambre Magique (The Magic Chamber) 09:02 – Prélude Le Concile des Faux Dieux (The Council of the False Gods) 13:24 – Prélude – Avez-vous vu celui que j'aime – Ah! Tu pleures le bien-aimé Le Laurier Blessé (The Wounded Laurel) 21:15 – Prélude – Ô Archers, il faut que je meure
Ensemble Vocal La Psallette de Lorraine Symphonieorchester Radio Luxemburg Louis de Froment, conductor
Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien is a five-act musical mystery play on the subject of Saint Sebastian, with a text written in 1911 by the Italian author Gabriele D'Annunzio and incidental music by the French composer Claude Debussy (L.124). The work was produced in collaboration between Gabriele D'Annunzio (at that time living in France to escape his creditors) and Claude Debussy, and designed as a vehicle for Ida Rubinstein. Debussy's contribution was a large-scale score of incidental music for orchestra and chorus, with solo vocal parts (for a soprano and two altos). […] Though the production was attended by scandal (the Archbishop of Paris requested Catholics not attend because the dancer playing St. Sebastian was a woman and a Jew), the work was not successful and did not enter the repertoire; thanks to Debussy's score, however, it has been recorded in abridged and adapted versions several times.