Spurred on by this interesting tit-bit, I started making inquires which revealed two versions to the story. One has a piano purchased in Jersey in ; the other in Eastbourne in Debussy was born in at St Germain-en-Laye, near Paris. He was one of the leading French composers, and at the heart of the changes that European music was undergoing at the turn of the century.
However, like Georges Bizet, Debussy was not only a composer but also a brilliant pianist who could have forged a career as a concert performer. His private life was tempestuous. Although Lilly was affectionate and popular with his friends, he became irritated by her lack of musical appreciation, and in June made up his mind to leave her for the mother of one of his pupils — Emma Bardac, an amateur singer and wife of a Parisian banker.
In the summer of , Debussy and Emma Bardac fled Paris and the scandal surrounding his desertion of Lilly. They travelled together to Jersey and arrived unannounced and incognito at the Grand Hotel de Jersey towards the end of July, where they stayed for some two weeks. The aliquot system involves the placing of an additional string above each note of the top three octaves. These aliquot strings are not struck by the hammers but vibrate in sympathy, thus adding to the richness of the tone.
However, in a well-researched article published in , Diane Enget, a professional translator and literary researcher, casts doubt on Jersey as the place of purchase. She explains that Dolly Bardac was 12 years old at the time of the trip to Jersey in , and that she did not accompany her mother and Debussy. He adds:. Then they didn't sell immediately, so dating a piano even to a year is unreliable. In later life, he had three pianos at his house: two were uprights - a Pleyel, which was a gift from the manufacturer, and a Bechstein.
It was kept in his salon until his death in , and when his wife died in it was inherited by her son, Raoul Bardac. When Raoul died in , his wife kept the piano, but on her death it was left to the family doctor. Debussy was a passionate pianist and felt the need to play and refine his compositions while in Eastbourne. The management of the Grand Hotel would surely have made a piano available, but he probably did not seek publicity.
