May 6, 1905.
My dearest Elizabeth,
I write to you from a restaurant overlooking the port of Le Havre! Never have I seen anything quite as beautiful as this – the rising sun has possessed my soul, the crashing waves have soothed my aching heart, the arching hedgerows of Normandy have sealed me off from the intrusive world. Oh, my dear, how I miss you so. How I wish you could be here with me. Can you believe that it was from this very spot that Claude Monet painted Impression, soleil levant? Monet is the one who gave rise to our magnificent Impressionist movement! I was fortunate enough to see the painting first-hand at the Exhibition of the Impressionists last month in Paris! It is indubitably the most ravishing painting I have ever laid eyes on. Let me describe its unyielding charm and elegance to you.
Impression, soleil levant beautifully portrays the port of Le Havre at sunrise. The ocean is calm and you can see the rising sun’s reflection on the dark blue ocean water. You can almost feel the radiating heat of the deep red rising sun as you look into the sun’s reflection – I feel its warm embrace now, as I write. The two small rowboats in the foreground and the red sun are the focal elements of the painting. In the middle ground, there are more fishing boats, and in the background on the left there are ships with tall masts. Behind those ships are the symbols of France’s industrialization – tall smokestacks and the haze of industrial production. Monet conveys a sense of French renewal – the revitalization of its economy and the renewal of its strength.
If I could, I would sit here and admire the beauty of Le Havre’s port all day, but I must go back to Paris after lunch. I took this one day respite to relax and rest – for I have never been as busy as I have been since I last wrote to you. I continue to work as an editor for the publishing industry, with a specialization in musical compositions. I myself have composed a few orchestral Impressionist works – but none of them have been grandly received and so I must continue to work as an editor while I am a part-time musician, though my dream is to one day dedicate my entire life to musical composition. I just finished publishing Claude Debussy’s La mer – which is, in my humble view, the most moving orchestral work ever composed. However, a lot of these arrogant Parisians do not seem to agree – it has also not been well received. What do these Parisians want? Bah, their taste in music is blasphemous!
But rest assured, despite my career difficulties, I am still well-paid and I will continue to send you money. I hope all is well. Let me know how my ill mother is holding up and whether my sister has come back from Brazil. Write to me hence – I look forward to hearing from you.
With much love,
John
