Lilly sues La revue musicale; Falla in Paris

Ten years since Debussy's death, 1928 became an annus horribilis for Emma. It began with more rumblings about the case Lilly Texier had brought against La Revue musicale following the publication in 1926 of a photograph of the manuscript of Debussy's Nocturnes dedicated to her.

Lilly was determined to obtain full satisfaction for what she regarded as the usurpation of her rights. In June 1927 Comoedia published her original complaint as it had appeared in the journal Aux Écoutes, together with the riposte from the editor of La Revue musicale, Henry Prunières. Lilly believed she was being deprived financially as she could no longer claim the manuscript was previously unpublished. She had wanted to sell it as such and was therefore suing both M. Basset, to whom she had entrusted it, and La Revue musicale for ten thousand francs damages. Prunières pointed out that if the fact of reproducing a facsimile of an autograph reduced the value of the actual article, this would be disastrous for all dealers in autographs who reproduced them in their sales catalogues. What was more, publication of this photograph had not prevented the sale, for after its appearance Lilly Texier had managed to sell the manuscript at a higher price than her original one. It had gone to the Washington library. A few days later, not having known about this transaction, La Revue musicale had also passed on to Lilly the offer of one of its readers to buy the manuscript for an even higher amount. Her response had been to demand ten thousand francs in damages and interest.

The case was first heard by the Civil Court (tribunal). The tribunal found no case for prejudice of Lilly's rights as she had managed to sell the item between its publication and the trial. However, upon appeal the case was passed to the Third Civil Division, the troisième chambre, which did find in her favour, citing a law of 1793. Whilst there is no record of Emma's reactions, obviously she was all too well aware of the case. On 14 January Comoedia carried a report with the headline, ‘La revue musicale perd un procès contre Mme Debussy.’ (‘La revue musicale loses its case against Mme Debussy’).