Since the decree of the first consul that in 1803 reorganized the Academy, eight Permanent Secretaries have succeeded one another: Joachim Lebreton [1760–1819], Quatremère de Quincy [1755–1849], Raoul-Rochette [1789–1854], Fromental Halévy [1799–1862], Count Henri Delaborde [1811–99], Gustave Larroumet [1852–1903], and Henry Roujon [b. 1853], who died in 1914.

The eminent architect of the Château de Chantilly, Honoré Daumet [1826–1911], had only deputized for Roujon during his long illness: “Gentlemen,” he told us in session, “I was replacing a patient, but my task is over; it is up to you to provide for his succession.” With that, without prior agreement, somewhat at random, and with a show of hands, my colleagues assigned to me the said succession. It was July 18, 1914; I would certainly have declined the great honor had I been able to foresee the threat of the hour, and the burdens and responsibilities it was about to impose.

At the Institute, the Music Composition Section has six members, who were then: Camille Saint-Saëns, elected in 1881, Émile Paladilhe (1891), Théodore Dubois (1894), Gabriel Fauré (1909), Widor (1910), and Gustave Charpentier (1912, succeeding Massenet). Appointed permanent secretary, I left the section where my chair became vacant.1 On July 23, I received this kind card:

To which I replied:

Alas, tomorrow was the mobilization, the war. In the arts as well as in politics, in the Chambers and at the Hôtel-de-Ville, life came to a standstill: no more candidatures, no more elections. Paris became depopulated. Almost the whole of 1915, Debussy spent at Pourville. In 1916, the first attacks of the illness occurred which were to prevail. In a letter of July 3, after being interested in Francis Planté's [1839–1934] concert, he speaks of his sufferings and desire to be healed.