It is clear that he was torn by influences from many directions; these stormy years, however, contributed to the sensitivity of his early style. Lesure writes, “The development of free verse in poetry and the disappearance of the subject or model in painting influenced him to think about issues of musical form.” Debussy was influenced by the Symbolist poets. Debussy was much in sympathy with the Symbolists’ desire to bring poetry closer to music, became friendly with several leading exponents, and set many Symbolist works throughout his career. Estampes for piano (1903) gives impressions of exotic locations, with further echoes of the gamelan in its pentatonic structures. The central “Jeux de vagues” section has the function of a symphonic development section leading into the final “Dialogue du vent et de la mer”, “a powerful essay in orchestral colour and sonority” (Orledge) which reworks themes from the first movement. In 1903 there was public recognition of Debussy’s stature when he was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, but his social standing suffered a great blow when another turn in his private life caused a scandal the following year.
Debussy: Six épigraphes antiques for Piano, Four Hands
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- Debussy received piano instruction from Chopin’s pupil Madame de Fleurville, and being very gifted, entered the Paris Conservatoire when he was 11 years old.
- He 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.
- He dedicated Children’s Corner for piano to his daughter, whose sweetness and love would quell his depressions.
- He aimed to design a new style that would not emulate those of the acclaimed composers, yet his music also reflects that of Wagner, whose operas he heard on visits to Bayreuth, Germany in 1888 and 1889.
- The composer Olivier Messiaen was fascinated by its “extraordinary harmonic qualities and … transparent instrumental texture”.
- He wrote incidental music for King Lear and planned an opera based on As You Like It, but abandoned that once he turned his attention to setting Maeterlinck’s play.
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According to Pierre Louÿs, Debussy “did not see ‘what anyone can do beyond Tristan’,” although he admitted that Casinojoy casino it was sometimes difficult to avoid “the ghost of old Klingsor, alias Richard Wagner, appearing at the turning of a bar”. In 1889, Debussy held conversations with his former teacher Guiraud, which included exploration of harmonic possibilities at the piano. A further improvisation by Debussy during this conversation included a sequence of whole tone harmonies which may have been inspired by the music of Glinka or Rimsky-Korsakov which was becoming known in Paris at this time. Debussy’s musical development was slow, and as a student he was adept enough to produce for his teachers at the Conservatoire works that would conform to their conservative precepts. His early mélodies, inspired by Marie Vasnier, are more virtuosic in character than his later works in the genre, with extensive wordless vocalise; from the Ariettes oubliées (1885–1887) onwards he developed a more restrained style.
Piano
From around 1900 Debussy’s music became a focus and inspiration for an informal group of innovative young artists, poets, critics, and musicians who began meeting in Paris. Although they did not make any great impact with the public they were well reviewed by musicians including Paul Dukas, Alfred Bruneau and Pierre de Bréville. In May 1898 he made his first contacts with André Messager and Albert Carré, respectively the musical director and general manager of the Opéra-Comique, Paris, about presenting the opera.
Late Period: Sonatas and Études
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- From around 1900 Debussy’s music became a focus and inspiration for an informal group of innovative young artists, poets, critics, and musicians who began meeting in Paris.
- In May 1898 he made his first contacts with André Messager and Albert Carré, respectively the musical director and general manager of the Opéra-Comique, Paris, about presenting the opera.
- The academic and journalist Stephen Walsh calls Pelléas et Mélisande (begun 1893, staged 1902) “a key work for the 20th century”.
- Above all he went to Bayreuth—the great German Wagner festival—and heard Parsifal and Tristan und Isolde for the first time.
- Wagner fulfilled the sensuous ambitions not only of composers but also of the Symbolist poets and the Impressionist painters.
- His music was to a considerable extent a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition.
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It was in this spirit that Debussy wrote the symphonic poem Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894). His single completed opera, Pelléas et Mélisande (first performed in 1902), demonstrates how the Wagnerian technique could be adapted to portray subjects like the dreamy nightmarish figures of this opera who were doomed to self-destruction. In his work, as in his personal life, he was anxious to gather experience from every region that the imaginative mind could explore. In the music of Palestrina, Debussy found what he called “a perfect whiteness”, and he felt that although Palestrina’s musical forms had a “strict manner”, they were more to his taste than the rigid rules prevailing among 19th-century French composers and teachers. Debussy’s orchestral works include Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894), Nocturnes (1897–1899) and Images (1905–1912).
Ensemble: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
His music was to a considerable extent a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition. In his final years, he focused on chamber music, completing three of six planned sonatas for different combinations of instruments. Claude Debussy (born August 22, 1862, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France—died March 25, 1918, Paris) was a French composer whose works were a seminal force in the music of the 20th century. He developed a highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed in many respects the ideals to which the Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers of his time aspired. As well as Maeterlinck for Pelléas et Mélisande, he drew on Shakespeare and Dickens for two of his Préludes for piano – “La Danse de Puck” (Book 1, 1910) and “Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C.” (Book 2, 1913). He wrote incidental music for King Lear and planned an opera based on As You Like It, but abandoned that once he turned his attention to setting Maeterlinck’s play.
- Another major influence on his style was the Javanese gamelan, an orchestra comprising bells, gongs, and percussions, which he became familiar with in 1889 thanks to his artistic contacts in Paris.
- Debussy’s musical development was slow, and as a student he was adept enough to produce for his teachers at the Conservatoire works that would conform to their conservative precepts.
- In 1889, Debussy held conversations with his former teacher Guiraud, which included exploration of harmonic possibilities at the piano.
- He originally studied the piano, but found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire’s conservative professors.
- As well as Maeterlinck for Pelléas et Mélisande, he drew on Shakespeare and Dickens for two of his Préludes for piano – “La Danse de Puck” (Book 1, 1910) and “Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C.” (Book 2, 1913).
- Based on the play by Maurice Maeterlinck, it caught the attention of the younger French composers, including Maurice Ravel.
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Early life
Claude-Emma, affectionately known as “Chouchou”, was a musical inspiration to the composer (she was the dedicatee of his Children’s Corner suite). He originally studied the piano, but found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire’s conservative professors. He took many years to develop his mature style, and was nearly 40 when he achieved international fame in 1902 with the only opera he completed, Pelléas et Mélisande. Some of it is difficult to play like the Études and pieces such as L’isle joyeuse (The Happy Island). He wrote for orchestra–Fêtes galantes and a work called La Mer (The Sea)–which he wrote while he lived in Brighton, England.
