Claude Debussy wrote Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison, for voice and piano, L 139 in 1915, on the eve of an operation in December. The composer also wrote the text, which asks that the German people not have an enjoyable holiday season. It is an angry poem, reflecting the French resentment of the attack upon their country. Debussy had repeatedly been obliged to relocate his family in order to avoid the fighting while succumbing to cancer. The costs of medical treatment and moving his wife and daughter out of harm's way were augmenting his already impossible debts. During this harsh period he found it almost impossible to compose. L 139 is an outburst of understandable frustration. It was also his last song.

Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison is an odd blend of art music and popular song; the accompaniment is lush and beyond the technical demands normally made on a dance hall musician. Melodically, it has many of the simpler aspects of popular song vocal writing. The setting is frequently anthem-like, rousing in the manner of a protest song, rhythmically enforcing key points in the vocal line that could easily be sung by an enraged mob. Protest songs from the popular/folk tradition are repetitive in order to stir a group's blood further with each heated repetition. This song is more of an assemblage of different ways to do this. Melodic fragments sound assembled under a consistent accompaniment, avoiding literal repeats and thus distancing the song from any crowd-chanting utility. As a collection of segments, Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison resembles some of Stravinsky's works from about the same period. His pre-war ballets frequently featured deceptively simple sections working together with a faux-disjunctive, archaic quality. Stravinsky was working with an ironically historical relationship to tonality. Debussy was not being ironic; he was full of French chauvinism and falling prey to the nationalistic rage that sometimes grips the instincts of people caught up in war. The genuine venom of the song's text is almost bizarre in its fervor, willing the children of Germany to become homeless in the dead of winter. As unpleasant as this may be, the text's setting is unique enough to merit repeated listening.

As a teen, Debussy had mastered every knowable genre of song. While in the employ of his patron Mme von Meck (1880-83), it was his courtier's duty to amuse her. He turned out an enormous array of distinct salon pieces that both amused her and added to her means entertaining parlor guests. They include styles of many different countries and popular genres as well, retooled for the heightened sensibilities and selective manners of the aristocracy. Many of these songs have been preserved in spite of Debussy's virulent attempt to suppress them. No protest songs from this period currently exist, and probably would not have been appropriate for the composer's intended audience. Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison is a composite of the populist protest genre, no doubt strengthened by his handling of various similar genres while serving von Meck. However, there is no known intended audience for the song, and no restrictions except the composer's own discretion. The result is specific to the circumstances of war, illness, and immutable artistic instincts. As fascinating as this blend may be, it is fortunate that this was not Debussy's final musical utterance. He went on to complete his piano studies and his violin sonata, which stand up among his finest and aesthetically uncluttered works.

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