Claude Debussy, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Claude Debussy

French composer

Date of Birth: 22-Aug-1862

Place of Birth: Saint-Germain-en-Laye, ĂŽle-de-France, France

Date of Death: 25-Mar-1918

Profession: composer, pianist, musician, music critic

Zodiac Sign: Leo


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About Claude Debussy

  • (Achille) Claude Debussy (French: [a?il klod d?bysi]; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer.
  • He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term.
  • He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born to a family of modest means and little cultural involvement, Debussy showed enough musical talent to be admitted at the age of ten to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris.
  • 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, PellĂ©as et MĂ©lisande. Debussy's orchestral works include PrĂ©lude Ă  l'après-midi d'un faune (1894), Nocturnes (1897–1899) and Images (1905–1912).
  • His music was to a considerable extent a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition.
  • He regarded the classical symphony as obsolete and sought an alternative in his "symphonic sketches", La mer (1903–1905).
  • His piano works include two books of PrĂ©ludes and two of Études.
  • Throughout his career he wrote mĂ©lodies based on a wide variety of poetry, including his own.
  • He was greatly influenced by the Symbolist poetic movement of the later 19th century.
  • A small number of works, including the early La Damoiselle Ă©lue and the late Le Martyre de saint SĂ©bastien have important parts for chorus.
  • In his final years, he focused on chamber music, completing three of six planned sonatas for different combinations of instruments. With early influences including Russian and far-eastern music, Debussy developed his own style of harmony and orchestral colouring, derided – and unsuccessfully resisted – by much of the musical establishment of the day.
  • His works have strongly influenced a wide range of composers including BĂ©la BartĂłk, Olivier Messiaen, George Benjamin, and the jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans.
  • Debussy died from cancer at his home in Paris at the age of 55 after a composing career of a little more than 30 years.

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