More than most people, the composer Claude Debussy, who died 100 years ago this week, could be said to have gone out with a bang. It quickly dawned, however, that the explosions were from shells, and that the gun was behind German lines, far to the northeast. And that it could hit Paris from there was yet another war-time breakthrough in the science of killing. On the other hand, the arrangement did allow Debussy that great classical music tradition – an encore – even in death. Then came November 2015, during another war on Paris, after which the Offenbach farce, Ba-ta-clan, would never sound the same again.

Source: The Irish Times March 28, 2018 00:00 UTC