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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
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