Given his state of health, it is hardly surprising there was no message from Debussy to Emma at the beginning of 1916. He did find the strength to write a long letter to Robert Godet on 4 January. It is significant that the House of Usher was once again at the front of Debussy's mind, as so often when he was in a black mood. He regretted not just the unpleasant effects of his illness and operation, but the interruption to the flow of this work, which he had been hoping to complete. We also learn that Stravinsky had visited him whilst in Paris to conduct his Firebird, and had expressed gratitude to Debussy for helping him to ‘climb a ladder from which he can hurl grenades which don't all explode’.

Four days later, Debussy had good reason to write to Emma, even though in the same house. Little wonder he identified himself with Roderick in The House of Usher. ‘Why am I being punished for a crime I have not committed?’ he exclaimed. His ‘punishment’ was not simply having to recover from his serious operation, but Emma had now retired to bed. He had not seen her in person for a while, surely a waste of whatever time was left to him. This letter is heart-rending.

Then there was a reminder of an earlier song, the Rondel ‘Pour ce que Plaisance est morte’, the third of the Trois Chansons de France which Debussy had dedicated to Emma in 1904, that song with words which seemed so ambivalent at a time of supposed bliss, ‘Because Plaisance [Pleasure] is dead I am dressed in black this May. It is a great pity to see my heart so unhappy.’