Mrs. Truman, ladies and gentlemen:

I have the pleasure of being here today because of a certain chain of circumstances.

A few months ago, my book about the sea was published - an intimate portrait or profile of the whole history of the ocean.

A short time after that happened, RCA Victor asked me if I would write a commentary for the Toscannini-NBC Symphony recording of Debussy's beautiful composition, La Mer.

They asked me to do this, not because I had any special knowledge of music, but because I had a certain feeling for the sea. It is chiefly because of these facts that I have been asked to be present today.

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There are certain connections between the sea and music, and I should like to point them out very briefly. I have been interested recently in recalling the great composers who have been influenced by the sea.

One thinks of certain works of Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Wagner. But especially one remembers Debussy, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Sibelius.

Debussy was profoundly influenced by the sea, and at first intended to enter the Navy. He felt a very strong emotional attraction for the sea. Yet he was almost overwhelmed by it.

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when in its presence. He preferred to compose in some inland spot, drawing upon his rich store of memories. La Mer recreates for us all the shining beauty of the sea; it is also richly suggestive of its mysterious and brooding presence.

Like Debussy, Rimsky-Korsakov was early attracted to a career in the Navy. In fact, before music claimed him permanently, he had taken a two-year sea cruise. It is not difficult to discover the inspiration of the sea in much of his music. In parts of the Scheheradade, for example, there is real evocation of the ocean - wind, storm, shaking sails, sshipwreck, and the calm that follows storm.

Perhaps an even better example is Sibelius.

Paul Rosenfeld once wrote of his music:

IT IS BLOOD BROTHER TO THE WIND AND THE SILENCE, TO THE LOWERING CLIFFS AND THE SPRAY, TO THE HARSH CRYING OF SEA BIRDS AND THE BREATH OF THE FOG. All his life Sibelius was strongly influenced by natural beauty, and responded to the inspiration of the sea. He tells us that he used to take his violin and go out in his sail boat, and that he stood in the bows and improvised to the sea. Colors, scents, sounds - all were translated by him into music.

I remember how I used to listen to the tolling of the bell buoys on a certain rocky coast, and how it seemed that I heard in their peal-ing the tones of Sibelius' FINLANDIA.

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Whether inspired by the sea or not, all great music has left its mark on the generation that produced it and on those who have heard it later as it is kept alive for them by musicians.

I believe quite sincerely that in these difficult times we need more than ever to keep alive those arts from which men derive inspiration and courage and consolation -- in a word, strength of spirit.

I believe this more strongly because of my own recent experiences -- if I may again speak quite personally.

I am sure that such release from tension can come through the contemplation of the beauties and mysterious rhythms of the natural world.

But I am also sure that it is to be had through music in its reflection of the amazing creative genius of man.

We need the inspiration that comes from hearing great music. The symphony orchestras that present and interpret the music of the ages are not luxuries in this mechanized, this atomic age. They are, more than ever, necessities.