Claude Debussy, photo by Félix Nadar, ca. 1908.

Achille-Claude Debussy (pronounced [aʃil klod dəbysi]) (August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918) was a French composer. Events 392 - Arbogast has Eugenius elected Western Roman Emperor. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday Events 1199 - Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France which leads to his death on April 6. Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance Along with Maurice Ravel, he is considered one of the most prominent figures working within the field of Impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions. The impressionist movement in music was a movement in European Classical music, mainly in France that began in the late nineteenth century and continued into the middle Debussy was not only among the most important of all French composers but also was a central figure in all European music at the turn of the twentieth century.

Debussy's music virtually defines the transition from late-Romantic music to twentieth century modernist music. Romantic Music is a Musicological term referring to a particular period theory compositional practice and canon in European music history from about 1815 to 1910 Modernism in music is characterized by a desire for or belief in progress and Science, Surrealism, anti-romanticism Political Advocacy, general In French literary circles, the style of this period was known as Symbolism, a movement that directly inspired Debussy both as a composer and as an active cultural participant. Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century Art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts

Biography

Early life and studies

Debussy at the Villa Médici in Rome, 1885, at centre in the white jacket

Claude Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye in 1862, the eldest of five children. For treaties with this name see Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (disambiguation Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the western His father owned a china shop and his mother was a seamstress. Chinese ceramic ware is an Artform that has been developing since the dynastic periods. Debussy began piano lessons when he was seven years old with an elderly Italian named Cerutti; his lessons were paid for by his aunt. In 1871, the shy awkward boy gained the attention of Mme. de Fleurville, the mother-in-law of the poet Paul Verlaine, who had been a pupil of Chopin. Paul-Marie Verlaine (vɛʁˈlɛn March 30, 1844 &ndash January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist His talents soon became evident, and, at age eleven, Debussy entered the Paris Conservatoire. The Conservatoire de Paris is an institution of higher education that has played an important role in the development of Music in France and Western Europe During Debussy's twelve years at the Paris Conservatoire, beginning in 1872, he studied composition with Ernest Guiraud, harmony with Emile Durand, piano with Antoine-Francois Marmontel, organ with César Franck, and solfeggio with Albert Lavignac, as well as other significant figures of the era. Ernest Guiraud ( June 26, 1837 &ndash May 6, 1892) was a French Composer and music teacher born in New Orleans Louisiana César Franck (December 10 1822 – November 8 1890 a Composer, Organist and music teacher of Belgian and German origin who lived in France In Music, solfège ('soʊlfɛʒ also called solfeggio, sol-fa, or solfa) is a Pedagogical Solmization technique for the Albert Lavignac ( Paris 21 January 1846 &ndash Paris 28 May 1916) was a French music scholar known for his essays on theory and

From the start, though clearly talented, Debussy was also argumentative and experimental, and he challenged the rigid teaching of the Academy, favoring instead dissonances and intervals, which were frowned upon at the time. From 1880 to 1882, he was employed by the patron of Tchaikovsky, Nadezhda von Meck, giving music lessons to her children. Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (Надежда Филаретовна фон Мекк ( -) was the wealthy Russian widow of a Russian railway tycoon Karl von Meck ^[1] Despite his patron's closeness with Tchaikovsky, the Russian master appears to have had little or no effect on Debussy. More influential was Debussy's close friendship with Madame Vasnier, a singer he met when he began working as an accompanist to earn some money. She gave Debussy emotional and professional support and influenced his first songs, settings of poems by Paul Verlaine. Paul-Marie Verlaine (vɛʁˈlɛn March 30, 1844 &ndash January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist

As the winner of the Prix de Rome with his composition L'Enfant prodigue, he received a scholarship to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, which included a four-year residence at the Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome, to further his studies (1885-1887). This article concerns the French government prize For similarly named prizes aimed at other countries' nationals see Prix de Rome (disambiguation. For the Medici Villas in Tuscany, see Medici villas. The Villa Medici is an architectural complex centred The French Academy in Rome (Académie de France à Rome is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill According to letters to Madame Vasnier, perhaps in part designed to gain her sympathy, he found the artistic atmosphere stifling, the company boorish, the food bad, and the monastic quarters "abominable". ^[2] Neither did he delight in the pleasures of the "Eternal City", finding the Italian opera of Donizetti and Verdi not to his taste. Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 &ndash 8 April 1848 was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. Debussy often was depressed and unable to compose, but he was inspired by Franz Liszt, whose command of the keyboard he found admirable.

In June 1885, Debussy wrote of his desire to follow his own way:

^[3]

Debussy finally composed four pieces that were sent to the Academy: the symphonic ode Zuleima, based on a text by Heinrich Heine; the orchestral piece Printemps; the cantata La damoiselle élue (1887-1888), which was criticized by the Academy as "bizarre"; and the Fantaisie for piano and orchestra. Christian Johann Heinrich Heine ( December 13, 1797 – February 17, 1856) was a Journalist, Essayist and one of the A cantata (derived from the Italian word 'cantare' meaning 'to sing' is a vocal composition with an instrumental Accompaniment and often The third piece was the first in which stylistic features of Debussy's later style emerged. The fourth piece was heavily based on César Franck's music and withdrawn by Debussy himself. Overall, the Academy chided him for "courting the unusual" and hoped for something better from the gifted student. Even though Debussy showed touches of Massenet in his efforts, Jules Massenet himself concluded, "He is an enigma. Jules (Émile Frédéric Massenet ( May 12, 1842 – August 13, 1912) was a French composer best known for his Operas "^[4]

In his visits to Bayreuth in 1888-9, Debussy was exposed to Wagnerian opera, which had a lasting impact on his work. Bayreuthfestjpg|thumb|350px|right|Bayreuth Festspielhaus as seen in 1882 Richard Wagner had died in 1883 and the cult of Wagnerism was still in full swing. Year 1883 ( MDCCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Debussy, like many young musicians of the time, responded positively to Wagner's sensuousness, mastery of form, and striking harmonies, but ultimately Wagner's extroverted emotionalism was not to be Debussy's way either. Wagner's influence is evident in La damoiselle élue and the 1889 piece Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire. Other songs of the period, notably the settings of Verlaine—Ariettes oubliées, Trois mélodies, and Fêtes galantesare all in a more capricious style. Paul-Marie Verlaine (vɛʁˈlɛn March 30, 1844 &ndash January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist Around this time, Debussy met Erik Satie who proved a kindred spirit in his experimental approach to composition and to naming his pieces. Alfred Éric Leslie Satie ( Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French Composer and During this period, both musicians were bohemians enjoying the same cafe society and struggling to stay afloat financially.

During 1889, at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, Debussy heard Javanese gamelan music. Year 1889 ( MDCCCLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from May 6, to October 31, 1889. Java (Jawa is an Island of Indonesia and the site of its Capital city Jakarta. A gamelan is a musical ensemble of Indonesia typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones xylophones drums and gongs bamboo flutes bowed and Although direct citations of gamelan scales, melodies, rhythms, or ensemble textures have not been located in any of Debussy's own compositions, the equal-tempered pentatonic scale appears in his music of this time and afterward. A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five pitches per Octave in contrast to an heptatonic (seven note scale such as the Major scale

Early works

Debussy at the piano, behind him is the composer Ernest Chausson, 1893

Beginning in the 1890s, Debussy developed his own musical language largely independent of Wagner's style, colored in part from the dreamy, sometimes morbid romanticism of the Symbolist Movement. Amédée-Ernest Chausson ( January 20, 1855 &ndash June 10, 1899) was a French romantic Composer who died just Debussy became a frequent participant at Stéphane Mallarmé Symbolist gatherings, where Wagnerism dominated the discussion. Stéphane Mallarmé (malaʁ'me ( March 18, 1842 – September 9, 1898) whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French In contrast to the enormous works of Wagner and other late-romantic composers, however, around this time Debussy chose to write in smaller, more accessible forms. The Suite bergamasque (1890) recalls rococo decorousness with a modern cynicism and puzzlement. The Suite bergamasque (IPA /'bɛʀgamask/ is one of the most famous Piano suites of Claude Debussy. Rococo is a style of 18th century French art and Interior design. This suite contains one of Debussy's most popular pieces, Clair de Lune. The Suite bergamasque (IPA /'bɛʀgamask/ is one of the most famous Piano suites of Claude Debussy. Debussy's String Quartet in G minor (1893) paved the way for his later, more daring harmonic exploration. Claude Debussy wrote his sole String Quartet in G minor, opus 10 in 1893 In this work he utilized the Phrygian mode as well as less standard scales, such as the whole-tone, which creates a sense of floating, ethereal harmony. The Phrygian mode can refer to two different Musical modes or Diatonic scales the ancient Greek Phrygian mode and the Mediaeval Phrygian mode In Music, a scale is an ordered series of Musical intervals which along with the key or tonic, define the pitches However mode In Music, a whole tone scale is a scale in which each Note is separated from its neighbours by the interval of a Whole step. Debussy was beginning to employ a single, continuous theme and break away from the traditional A-B-A form, with its restatements and amplifications, which had been a mainstay of classical music since Haydn.

Influenced by Mallarmé, Debussy wrote one of his most famous works, the revolutionary Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, truly original in form and execution. Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (commonly known by its original French title Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune) is a Musical composition In contrast to the large orchestras so favoured by late-romanticism, Debussy wrote this piece for a smaller ensemble, emphasizing instrumental colour and timbre. Despite Mallarmé himself, and colleague and friend Paul Dukas having been impressed by the piece, it was controversial at its premiere. Paul Abraham Dukas (October 1 1865 &ndash May 17 1935 was a Parisian born French Composer and teacher of classical music. Prélude subsequently placed Debussy into the spotlight as one of the leading composers of the era.

Middle works

The three Nocturnes (1899), include characteristic studies in veiled harmony and texture as demonstrated in Nuages; exuberance in Fêtes; and whole-tones in Sirènes. Nocturnes is an Orchestral composition in three movements by the French Composer Claude Debussy. Contrasting sharply with Wagnerian opera, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande premiered in 1901, after ten years of work. Pelléas et Mélisande ( Pelléas and Mélisande) is an Opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. It would be his only complete opera. Based on the play by Maurice Maeterlinck, the opera proved to be an immediate success and immensely influential to younger French composers, including Maurice Ravel. Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Count Maeterlinck ( August 29, 1862 - May 6, 1949) was a Belgian Poet, Playwright, These works brought a fluidity of rhythm and colour quite new to Western music.

La Mer (1903-1905) essays a more symphonic form, with a finale that works themes from the first movement, although the middle movement, Jeux de vagues, which proceeds much less directly and with more variety of colour. La mer trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre (French for The sea three symphonic sketches for orchestra) or simply La Mer Again, the reviews were sharply divided. Some critics thought the treatment less subtle and less mysterious than previous works and a step backward. Pierre Lalo complained "I neither hear, nor see, nor feel the sea". Others extolled its "power and charm", its "extraordinary verve and brilliant fantasy", and its strong colors and definite lines. ^[5]

During this period Debussy wrote much for the piano. The set of pieces entitled Pour le piano (1901) utilises rich harmonies and textures which would later prove important in jazz music. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States His first volume of Images pour piano (1904–1905) combine harmonic innovation with poetic suggestion: Reflets dans l'eau is a musical description of rippling water; Hommage à Rameau, the second piece, is slow and yearningly nostalgic. It takes as its inspiration a melody of Jean-Philippe Rameau's, Castor et Pollux. Jean-Philippe Rameau (ʒɑ̃filip ʀaˈmo in French (September 25 1683 – September 12 1764 was one of the most important French Composers and music theorists Castor et Pollux ( Castor and Pollux) is an Opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 24 October, 1737

The evocative Estampes for piano (1903) give impressions of exotic locations. Estampes (Woodcuts L100 is a composition for solo piano by Claude Debussy. Debussy came into contact with Javanese gamelan music during the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. Java (Jawa is an Island of Indonesia and the site of its Capital city Jakarta. A gamelan is a musical ensemble of Indonesia typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones xylophones drums and gongs bamboo flutes bowed and The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from May 6, to October 31, 1889. Pagodes is the directly inspired result, aiming for an evocation of the pentatonic structures employed by the Javanese music. ^[6] Debussy wrote his famous Children's Corner Suite (1909) for his beloved daughter, Claude-Emma, whom he nicknamed Chou-chou. Children's Corner is a Suite for solo Piano by Claude Debussy, completed in 1908 (L 113 The suite recalls classicism—the opening piece Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum refers to Muzio Clementi's collection of instructional piano compositions Gradus ad Parnassum, as well as a new wave of American cakewalk music. Muzio Clementi (23 January 1752 &ndash 10 March 1832 was a classical Composer, and acknowledged as the first to write specifically for the Piano. The Latin phrase Gradus ad Parnassum means "Steps to Parnassus" In the popular final piece of the suite, Golliwog's Cakewalk, Debussy also pokes fun at Richard Wagner by mimicking the opening bars of Wagner's prelude to Tristan and Isolde. Tristan und Isolde ( Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner

The first book of Preludes (1910), twelve in total, proved to be his most successful work for piano. Claude Debussy 's Préludes are two sets of pieces for solo Piano. The Preludes are frequently compared to those of Chopin. Debussy's preludes are replete with rich, unusual and daring harmonies. They include the popular La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair) and La Cathédrale Engloutie (The Submerged Cathedral). Debussy wanted people to respond intuitively to these pieces and so he placed the titles at the end of each one in the hope that listeners would not make stereotype images as they listened.

Larger scaled works included his orchestral piece Iberia (1907), began as a work for two pianos, a triptych medley of Spanish allusions and fleeting impressions and also the music for Gabriele d'Annunzio's mystery play Le martyre de St. Sébastien (1911). A triptych (pronounced "trip-tick" trip'tik (or US: 'tɹʷɪp Gabriele d'Annunzio ( 12 March 1863 &ndash 1 March 1938) was an Italian Poet, Journalist, Novelist Le martyre de Saint Sébastien, L 124 is a musical work by the French Composer Claude Debussy. A lush and dramatic work, written in only two months, it is remarkable in sustaining a late antique modal atmosphere that otherwise was touched only in relatively short piano pieces. Late Antiquity (c 300-600 is a Periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in In Music, a scale is an ordered series of Musical intervals which along with the key or tonic, define the pitches However mode

During this period, as Debussy gained more popularity, he was engaged as a conductor throughout Europe, most often performing Pelléas, La Mer, Iberia, and Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. He was also an occasional music critic to supplement his conducting fees and piano lessons. Debussy avoided analytical dissection and attempts to force images from music, "Let us at all costs preserve this magic peculiar to music, since of all the arts it is most susceptible to magic. " He could be caustic and witty, sometimes sloppy and ill-informed. Debussy was for the most part enthusiastic about Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky, worshipful of Chopin, Johann Sebastian Bach and Mozart, and found both Liszt and Beethoven geniuses who sometimes lacked "taste". Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 &ndash 8 September 1949 was a German Composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era particularly noted Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" Ludwig van Beethoven ( English ˈlʊdvɪg væn ˈbeɪtoʊvən, 16 December 1770 &ndash 26 March 1827 was a German Composer and Pianist. Schubert and Mendelssohn fared much worse, the latter he described as a "facile and elegant notary". Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born and generally known as Felix Mendelssohn (February 3 1809 &ndash November 4 1847 was a German Composer ^[7] He also admired the works of Charles-Valentin Alkan. Charles-Valentin Alkan ( November 30 1813 &ndash March 29 1888) was a French Composer and one of the greatest Virtuoso

Late works

Debussy's harmonies and chord progressions frequently exploit dissonances without any formal resolution. In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. This article describes musical chords in traditional Western styles Unlike in his earlier work, he no longer hides discords in lush harmonies. The forms are far more irregular and fragmented. These chords who seemingly had no resolution were described by Debussy himself as "floating chords", and were used to set tone and mood in many of his works. The whole tone scale dominates much of Debussy's late music. In Music, a whole tone scale is a scale in which each Note is separated from its neighbours by the interval of a Whole step.

His two last volumes of works for the piano, the Études (1915) interprets similar varieties of style and texture purely as pianistic exercises and includes pieces that develop irregular form to an extreme as well as others influenced by the young Igor Stravinsky (a presence too in the suite En blanc et noir for two pianos, 1915). Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to The rarefaction of these works is a feature of the last set of songs, the Trois poèmes de Mallarmé (1913), and of the Sonata for flute, viola and harp (1915), though the sonata and its companions also recapture the inquisitive Verlainian classicism. Usage of sonata The Baroque applied the term sonata to a variety of works though most works in the Baroque Period were fugues and toccatas The flute is a Musical instrument of the Woodwind family Unlike other woodwind instruments a flute is a Reedless wind instrument that produces its The viola is a bowed String instrument. It is the middle voice of the Violin family, The harp is a Stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard.

With the sonatas of 1915–1917, there is a sudden shift in the style. These works recall Debussy's earlier music, in part, but also look forward, with leaner, simpler structures. Despite the thinner textures of the violin sonata (1917) there remains an undeniable richness in the chords themselves. A violin sonata is a musical composition for solo Violin, which is nearly always accompanied by a Piano or other keyboard instrument or by Figured bass This shift parallels the movement commonly known as neo-classicism which became popular after Debussy's death. Neoclassicism in music was a 20th century development particularly popular in the period between the two World Wars in which composers drew inspiration from music of the 18th century Debussy planned a set of six sonatas, but this plan was cut short by his death in 1918 so that he only completed three (cello, flute-viola-harp and violin sonatas).

The last orchestral work by Debussy, the ballet Jeux (1912) written for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, contains some of his strangest harmonies and textures in a form that moves freely over its own field of motivic connection. Jeux ( Games) is the last work for Orchestra written by Claude Debussy. Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев / Sergei Pavlovich Dyagilev) also referred to as Serge, ( March 31, See also Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, The Ballets Russes ( French for The Russian Ballets) was a Ballet company established At first Jeux was overshadowed by Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, composed in the same year as Jeux and premiered only two weeks later by the same ballet company. Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to This article is about the ballet music For the emo/hardcore band see Rites of Spring The Rite of Spring, commonly referred Decades later, composers such as Pierre Boulez and Jean Barraqué pointed out parallels to Anton Webern's serialism in this work. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Pierre Boulez (pjɛʁ buˈlɛz (b Jean-Henri-Alphonse Barraqué ( January 17, 1928 &ndash August 17, 1973) was a French Composer and writer on music who WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Anton Webern (December 3 1883 &ndash September 15 1945 was an Austrian Composer In Music, serialism is a technique for composition that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the manipulation of those Other late stage works, including the ballets Khamma (1912) and La boîte à joujoux (1913) were left with the orchestration incomplete, and were later completed by Charles Koechlin and André Caplet, who also helped Debussy with the orchestration of Gigues (from Images pour orchestre) and Le martyre de St. Charles Louis Eugène Koechlin lɯi øˈʒɛn kœˈklɛ̃}} (November 27 1867&ndashDecember 31 1950 was a French Composer, teacher and writer on music André Caplet ( November 23, 1878 &ndash April 22, 1925) was a French Composer and conductor now known primarily Sébastien.

The second set of Preludes for piano (1913) features Debussy at his most avant-garde, sometimes utilising dissonant harmonies to evoke moods and images, especially in the mysterious Canope; the title refers to a burial urn which stood on Debussy's working desk and evokes a distant past. Claude Debussy 's Préludes are two sets of pieces for solo Piano. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers Avant-garde (avɑ̃gaʁd in French) means "advance guard" or "vanguard The pianist Claudio Arrau considered the piece to be one of Debussy's greatest preludes: "It's miraculous that he created, in so few notes, this kind of depth. Claudio Arrau León ( February 6, 1903 &ndash June 9, 1991) was a Chilean Pianist of world fame for his deep interpretations "^[8]

Although Pelléas was Debussy's only completed opera, he began several opera projects which remained unfinished, his fading concentration, increasing procrastination, and failing health perhaps the reasons. He had finished some partial musical sketches and some unpublished libretti for operas based on Shakespeare's As You Like It, Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, and Joseph Bedier's La Legende de Tristan. As You Like It is a Pastoral Comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published " The Fall of the House of Usher " is a Short story written by Edgar Allan Poe.

Further plans, such as an American tour, more ballet scores, and revisions of Chopin and Bach works for re-publication, were all cut short by the onset of World War I and a serious turn in his health, which required morphine injections for pain. An operation in 1915 only temporarily checked the condition.

Private life

Debussy's private life was turbulent. He cohabited in Paris with Gabrielle Dupont for nine years before marrying her friend Rosalie Texier, a fashion model, in 1899. A model is a person who is posed or displayed for the purpose of Art, Fashion, or other products and Advertising. Although Texier was affectionate, practical, straightforward, and well-liked by Debussy's friends and associates, he became increasingly irritated by her intellectual limitations and lack of musical sensitivity. As a result he left Texier in 1904 for Emma Bardac, the wife of a Parisian banker and the mother of one of his students. Emma Bardac (1862-1934 was the mutual love interest of both Gabriel Fauré and Claude Debussy. In contrast to Texier, Bardac was a sophisticate, a brilliant conversationalist, and an accomplished singer. The distraught Texier, like Dupont before her, attempted suicide with a pistol. The scandal obliged Debussy and Bardac (already carrying his child) to flee to Eastbourne, England, (where he completed his symphonic suite La Mer) until the hysteria subsided and the legal entanglements resolved. Eastbourne ( is a large town and borough of East Sussex, on the south coast of England with an estimated population of 94816 as of 2007 England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The couple were eventually married in 1908. The child, a daughter (and the composer's only child), was named Claude-Emma, more affectionately known as Chou-Chou, the dedicatee of Debussy's Children's Corner suite. Children's Corner is a Suite for solo Piano by Claude Debussy, completed in 1908 (L 113 Claude-Emma outlived her father by scarcely a year, succumbing to the diphtheria epidemic of 1919. Diphtheria ( Greek διφθερα ( diphthera)—“pair of leather scrolls" is an upper respiratory tract illness characterized by sore

Death

Debussy's grave at Cim. de Passy

Claude Debussy died in Paris on March 25, 1918 from colorectal cancer (he had survived one of the first colostomy operations ever performed two years earlier). Events 1199 - Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France which leads to his death on April 6. Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Colorectal cancer, also called colon cancer or large bowel cancer, includes Cancerous growths in the colon, Rectum and A colostomy is a surgical procedure that involves connecting a part of the colon onto the Anterior abdominal wall, leaving the patient with an opening on the He died in the midst of German aerial and artillery bombardment of Paris during the Spring Offensive of World War I. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht ( Kaiser's Battle) and also known as the Ludendorff Offensive was a series of German attacks along the World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All At this time, the military situation in France was desperate, and circumstances did not permit his being paid the honour of a public funeral or ceremonious graveside orations. The funeral procession made its way through deserted streets as shells from the German guns ripped into his beloved city. It was just eight months before France would celebrate victory. He was interred in the Cimetière de Passy, and French culture has ever since celebrated Debussy as one of its most distinguished representatives. The Passy Cemetery ( Fr: Cimetière de Passy is a famous cemetery located at 2 rue du Commandant Schlœsing in Passy, in the 16ème ''arrondissement'' His wife and daughter are buried with him.

Musical style

Rudolph Réti points out these features of Debussy's music, which "established a new concept of tonality in European music":

1. Glittering passages and webs of figurations which distract from occasional absence of tonality;
2. Frequent use of parallel chords which are "in essence not harmonies at all, but rather 'chordal melodies', enriched unisons";
3. Bitonality, or at least bitonal chords;
4. Use of the whole-tone and pentatonic scale;
5. Unprepared modulations, "without any harmonic bridge. Rudolph Réti ( Serbian: Рудолф Рети Rudolf Reti) (born November 27, 1885; died February 7, 1957, in Montclair Parallel chords arise when the same intervallic relationship is maintained in adjacent chords moving in parallel motion The Musical use of more than one key simultaneously is polytonality. A major second () also called a whole step or a whole tone, is a Musical interval that occurs between the first and second degrees of a A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five pitches per Octave in contrast to an heptatonic (seven note scale such as the Major scale In Music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key ( tonic, or tonal center) to another "

He concludes that Debussy's achievement was the synthesis of monophonic based "melodic tonality" with harmonies, albeit different from those of "harmonic tonality" (Reti, 1958).

The application of the term "impressionist" to Debussy and the music he influenced is a matter of intense debate within academic circles. One side argues that the term is a misnomer, an inappropriate label which Debussy himself opposed. In a letter of 1908, he wrote "I am trying to do 'something different'--an effect of reality. . . what the imbeciles call 'impressionism', a term which is as poorly used as possible, particularly by the critics, since they do not hesitate to apply it to Turner, the finest creator of mysterious effects in all the world of art. "^[9] The opposing side argues that Debussy may have been reacting to unfavorable criticism at the time, and the negativity that critics associated with impressionism. It can be argued that he would have been pleased with application of the current definition of impressionism to his music.

Mathematical structuring

Given that Debussy's music is apparently so concerned with mood and colour, it is somewhat unexpected to discover that, according to one author, many of his greatest works appear to have been structured around mathematical models even while using an apparent classical structure such as sonata form. Sonata form is a Musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical period. Howat (1983) suggests that some of Debussy's pieces can be divided into sections that reflect the golden ratio, frequently by using the numbers of the standard Fibonacci sequence. In Mathematics and the Arts two quantities are in the Golden ratio if the Ratio between the sum of those quantities and the larger one is the In Mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are a Sequence of numbers named after Leonardo of Pisa, known as Fibonacci Sometimes these divisions seem to follow the standard divisions of the overall structure. In other pieces they appear to mark out other significant features of the music. The 55 bar-long introduction to 'Dialogue du vent et la mer' in La Mer, for example, breaks down into 5 sections of 21, 8, 8, 5 and 13 bars in length. The golden mean point of bar 34 in this structure is signalled by the introduction of the trombones, with the use of the main motif from all three movements used in the central section around that point (Howat, 1983).

The only evidence that Howat introduces to support his claim appears in changes Debussy made between finished manuscripts and the printed edition, with the changes invariably creating a Golden Mean proportion where previously none existed. Perhaps the starkest example of this comes with La cathédrale engloutie. Published editions lack the instruction to play bars 7-12 and 22-83 at twice the speed of the remainder, exactly as Debussy himself did on a piano-roll recording. When analysed with this alteration, the piece follows Golden Section proportions. At the same time, Howat admits that in many of Debussy's works, he has been unable to find evidence of the Golden Section (notably in the late works) and that no extant manuscripts or sketches contain any evidence of calculations related to it.

Influence on later composers

Claude Debussy is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. His harmonies, considered radical in his day, were influential to almost every major composer of the 20th century, especially the music of Igor Stravinsky, Olivier Messiaen, Bela Bartok, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, and the minimalist music of Steve Reich and Philip Glass as well as the influential Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to Olivier Messiaen ( December 10 1908 &ndash April 27 1992 was a French Composer, organist and ornithologist. Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25 1881&ndashSeptember 26 1945 was a Hungarian Composer and Pianist, considered to be one of the greatest WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Pierre Boulez (pjɛʁ buˈlɛz (b Henri Dutilleux (born January 22, 1916 in Angers France) is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century producing Minimalist music is an originally American genre of experimental or Downtown music named in the 1960s based mostly in consonant harmony, steady WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Stephen Michael Reich (born October 3 WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Philip Glass (born January 31 WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> was a Japanese Composer and writer on Aesthetics and Music theory He also influenced many important figures in Jazz, most notably Bill Evans,Thelonious Monk,Duke Ellington, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jimmy Giuffre and Brad Mehldau. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States William John Evans (better known as Bill Evans) ( August 16, 1929 &ndash September 15, 1980) was one of the most famous and influential Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 - February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz Pianist and Composer. Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29 1899 &ndash May 24 1974 was an American Composer, Pianist, and Bandleader. Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim ( January 25, 1927 in Rio de Janeiro &ndash December 8, 1994 in Brazil) also James Peter Giuffre ( April 26, 1921 &ndash April 24, 2008) was an American Jazz composer arranger and Saxophone Brad Mehldau (born August 23, 1970) is an American Jazz Pianist.

Pop Culture

The 1980s avant-garde synthpop group the Art of Noise based their 1999 album 'The Seduction of Claude Debussy' on the life and works of the French composer. Art of Noise were an Avant-garde Synthpop group formed in 1983 by producer Trevor Horn, music journalist Paul Morley, and session The Seduction of Claude Debussy is an ambitious 1999 Concept album by Art of Noise, featuring a lineup of Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley The album blended the music of Claude Debussy with jazz, opera, hip hop, and drum and bass. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto Hip hop is a cultural movement which developed in New York City in the 1970s primarily among African Americans and Latinos. Aside from the music on the album, information about Debussy himself is provided via commentary style introductions to tracks.

List of works

• List of compositions by Claude Debussy by category. This is a list of compositions by Claude Debussy, organized by genre
• List of compositions by Claude Debussy by Lesure Numbers

Eponym

• Asteroid 4492 Debussy, discovered in 1988, is named for Claude Debussy. This is a list of compositions by Claude Debussy organized by the catalogue created by musicologist François Lesure in 1977 Asteroids, sometimes called Minor planets or planetoids', are bodies—primarily of the inner Solar System —that are smaller than planets but 4492 Debussy is a Main belt Asteroid. It was discovered on 17 September, 1988 by Eric Walter Elst. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar)

Media

Notes

Sources

• Barraqué, Jean (1977). Debussy (Solfèges). Paris: Editions du Seuil. ISBN 2020002426.  
• Howat, Roy (1983). Debussy in Proportion: A musical analysis. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521311454.  
• Reti, Rudolph (1958). Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313204780.  

Further reading

• Fulcher, Jane (ed. ) (2001). Debussy and His World (The Bard Music Festival). Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691090424.  
• Trezise, Simon (ed. ) (2003). The Cambridge Companion to Debussy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521654785.  
• Roberts, Paul (ed. ) (2001). Images: The Piano Music of Claude Debussy. Amadeus Press. ISBN 1574670689.  

External links

• Claude Debussy at Allmusic
• www.kreusch-sheet-music.net Free Scores by Debussy
• Claude Debussy discography at MusicBrainz
• Claude Debussy Catalogue chronologique (French)
• Performance of Arabesque at 1st piano
• Performance of Claire de Lune at 1st piano
• Performance of La fille aux cheveux de Lin at 1st piano
• Kunst der Fuge: Claude Debussy performances (German)
• Claude Debussy and Impressionism, at Carolina Classical
• Free scores by Claude Debussy in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Debussy was listed in the International Music Score Library Project
• Performances of works by Claude Debussy in MIDI format at Logos Virtual Library
• 1re arabesque pour piano (transcription for violon & piano by Gaston Choisnel) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• Clair de lune; extrait de la Suite bergamasque (transcription pour piano à quatre mains par H. Woollett) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• 12 pièces pour orgue; transcriptions From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection