The Life of Claude Debussy
By Maisoun Islam
Early Period
Achille Claude Debussy
Influences
Late Period
Rêverie - Claude Debussy (1890)
- exposed to Russian composers Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and Mussorgsky
- Javanese music
- Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine, and Charles-Pierre Baudelaire
- Wagnerian opera
- French Composer
- born 22 August 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in Paris
- died March 25 1918 in Paris
- one of the most influential composers from the late 19th century and early 20th century
- one of the main figures associated with impressionist music and modernism
- known for his unique compositions
- In 1904, abandoned his wife of 5 years, Lily Textier for amateur singer Emma Bardac who was already married to a banker
- Lily Textier attempted suicide by trying to shoot herself with a gun
- Emma and Debussy fled to England
- had a child name Claude-Emma in 1905
- got married in 1908
- wrote Children's Corner which was dedicated to his daughter
- in 1909, experienced the first signs of rectal cancer and slowly dominated his life
- still continued to write several compositions
- died in Paris on March 25 1918 at the age of 55
- in 1871, Madame Antoinette-Flore Mauté wanted Debussy to train for concert career
- entered Paris Conservatoire at age of 10 in 1882 as pianist
- trained with Antoine Marmontal and made good progress in three years
- was house musician for Madam von Meck each summer from 1880 to 1882 and tutored her children
- traveled with Madam von Meck and gained lots of musical experience, exposing him to composers like Borodin and Mussorgsky
- at this time, fell in love with Blanche Vasnier, the wife of an architect
- in school, stopped taking piano lessons and in 1880 went into composition classes
- knowledge in music theory grew and experimented different sounds and music ideas
- won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1884 for his cantata L'enfant prodigue and went to study in Rome for 3 years
- these few years contributed to Debussy's early style, which is evident in his best known composition "Clair du Lune"
Debussy's Music
Works
Characteristics
Middle Period
Early Period
- critics usually classified Debussy's music to Impressionism because of the vagueness in his music, but he did not used that term himself
- music is very free; can be heard in Le Mer, where he uses many complex rhythms at once
- works are very original in terms of harmony, musical structure, scales
- works feel very dreamy and sensual
- was a complex person
- displayed the characteristics of his personality in his music
- very sensitive
- unsocial, not very active
- rebellious
- slightest thing makes him humorous or angry
- had many scandalous affairs
- a lover of cats
- oldest out of five children
- father Manual was a shopkeeper and mother Victorine was a seamstress
- father got thrown into jail and was deprived of all civil rights, which meant Debussy could not have a proper education
- family was poor
- his father wanted him to become a sailor
- Debussy wanted to be a painter
- was interested in music, so aunt arranged for piano lessons around the age of 7
- stayed at the Villa Medici for only two years as he did not like Rome because it was too upscale and returned back to Paris
- discovered the works of Richard Wagner on his trip to Bayreuth in 1888
- went to the Paris World Exhibition in 1889 and discovered other works like Javanese gamelan and Annamite music which captivated him
- in the 1890s, Debussy encountered Symbolist poets and painters and wrote two based on Symbolist writings (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and opera Pelléas et Mélisande) and other works include Noctures and La Mer
- was soon recognized as a leading composer of the early 20th century
- Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
- Nocturnes
- La mer
- Images
- Deux arabesques
- Mazurka
- Rêverie
- Children's Corner
- Préludes
- Clair du Lune
- The Girl with the Flaxen Hair