A piece composed by Claude Debussy in exchange for coal receives its US premiere.
Debussy wrote the piece, titled “Les Soirs Illimines Par L’ardeur Du Charbon” (“Evenings Lit By Glowing Coal”), as payment for a supply of coal to last during the winter of 1917, i.e. during World War I. The score remained at the bottom of a trunk owned by the coalman for whom the piece was written.
The work was auctioned shortly after its discovery in 2001 and has since been performed in Europe.