--- title: Claude Debussy author: Mark Cartwright source: https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/ format: machine-readable-alternate license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) updated: 2023-06-16 --- # Claude Debussy _Authored by [Mark Cartwright](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/markzcartwright/)_ Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer most famous for his piano and orchestral [music](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Music/). Works like *Clair de Lune* have become piano standards while *La Mer*, with its unusual use of instruments and impressionistic use of waves of sounds instead of melodies, broke the mould of convention and ushered in the innovative music of modernism in the 20th century. ### Early Life Claude Achille Debussy was born on 22 August 1862 in St Germain-en-Laye, now a western suburb of [Paris](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/paris/). Claude's father, Manuel-Achille, owned a [china](https://www.worldhistory.org/china/) shop before moving on to other ways of earning a living, and he wanted his son to go to sea, which meant he was not very interested in providing him with a formal education. Fortunately, Claude learnt to play the piano from Madame Mauté, (possibly) a former pupil of [Frédéric Chopin](https://www.worldhistory.org/Frederic_Chopin/) (1810-1849) and while he was staying with his Aunt Clémentine in Cannes in southern France where he often spent his holidays. Claude was soon accomplished enough to enrol in the Paris Conservatoire in October 1872 when he was ten years old. Impressing with his ability to compose and improvise, Claude, nevertheless, troubled his teachers with his complete disregard for music conventions. The young pianist preferred to follow only one rule: "*mon plaisir*" ("my pleasure"). By 1884, Claude had won several prizes but non greater than the prestigious Prix de [Rome](https://www.worldhistory.org/Rome/), his entry being *L'enfant prodigue* (*The Prodigal Son*), a cantata. Part of the prize was money to study in Rome. Returning to France in February 1887, he came to greatly admire the work of [Richard Wagner](https://www.worldhistory.org/Richard_Wagner/) (1813-1883), even visiting Bayreuth in Bavaria in 1888, the town where many of Wagner's operas were premiered. ### Musical Style In his mature years, Debussy moved far away from the Wagnerian tradition that cast its powerful shadow over music; he by then described Wagner's body of work as "a beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn" (Thompson, 186). Debussy was a composer of modern music and his mature work was in complete contrast to the Romantic music of Wagner. The French composer once described his own style as "flexible and adaptable to fantasies and dreams" (Thompson, 187). In his work, Debussy was particularly influenced by Modest Musorgsky (1839-1881), by medieval music, and by Javanese music, which he encountered in Paris performed by touring companies. Most of the great composers and their obsession with form bored Debussy, who, in contrast, viewed music solely as "made up of colors and rhythms. The rest is a lot of humbug invented by frigid imbeciles" (Schonberg, 524). In addition, Debussy was innovative not only with his playing of the piano keys but the pedals, too. The composer's objective was to make the piano an "instrument without hammers" (Schonberg, 531). This was noted by Alfredo Casella, who, observing Debussy play, remarked: "One had the impression that he was actually playing on the strings of the instrument, without the mechanical aid of keys and hammers. He used the pedals as nobody else ever did. The result was pure poetry" (*ibid*, 530). [ ![Claude Debussy by Baschet](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/500x600/17544.png?v=1772695151-1686773779) Claude Debussy by Baschet Marcel Baschet (Public Domain) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/17544/claude-debussy-by-baschet/ "Claude Debussy by Baschet")Debussy was inspired by artists in other fields, notably symbolist poets and impressionist painters. He encountered these artists and their work in Paris' Montmartre, Debussy having taken an apartment there in the 1890s. He composed musical scores for poems by fellow-Frenchman [Paul](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Paul/) Verlaine (1844-1896). Debussy's 1889 *La damoiselle élue* (*The Blessed Damozel*), a cantata, was inspired by a poem by [Dante](https://www.worldhistory.org/Dante_Alighieri/) Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) and was a success with the public when premiered in April 1893. Like the painters of the new [impressionism](https://www.worldhistory.org/Impressionism/) (last quarter of the 19th century), who used short, quick, and identifiable brush strokes to capture the transient effects of light, so Debussy used short waves of sounds to create his effects on the listener (although he himself disliked being termed an 'impressionist' musician). The inspiration of Eastern gamelan music was its minimalist use of instruments and sounds. Experiments in form by Debussy included "new piano sonorities, and with a scale based on whole tones, without a firm key centre" (Thompson, 187). Debussy's innovative style did not always gain admirers. Fellow French composer César Franck (1822-1890) memorably described Debussy's work as "music on the points of needles" (Thompson, 186). ### Character & Family Debussy liked the finer things in life, even if his personal finances were very often in a poor state. The music historian C. Schonberg gives the following summary of Debussy's character: > He had to surround himself with fine prints and books. He was a gourmet with a notable appetite for caviar. He dressed to the point of dandyism, complete with carefully selected cravat, cape, and broad-brimmed hat. He knew exactly what he wanted from life and he took it, ignoring the rest…\[he was\] a complicated and reserved man, one whose shell was hard to penetrate. He had few friends and fewer intimates…He always was abnormally touchy – quick to take offense, sensitive to the point of mania…he hated to appear in public, hated to conduct, hated to play the piano at concert. He preferred cats to people, and was never without one or more Siamese cats. > (520-9) [ ![Debussy Playing Piano, 1893](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/500x600/17545.png?v=1686774058-1686774092) Debussy Playing Piano, 1893 Unknown Artist (Public Domain) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/17545/debussy-playing-piano-1893/ "Debussy Playing Piano, 1893")When he was 18, Debussy fell in love with the much older soprano singer Marie-Blanche Vasnier. Infatuated, the young composer wrote many songs for his lover. In the late 1880s, Debussy had an affair with a married woman. While in Montmartre, his regular girlfriend was Gabrielle Dupont whose origins and profession remain a mystery, such was Debussy's aversion to talking to others about his private life. The lack of money strained the relationship, and the couple split up in 1898. In October 1899, Debussy married the artist's model Rosalie (Lily) Texier, but this relationship was not destined to last long. In July 1904, Debussy ran away with the wife of a banker, the singer Emma Bardac (1862-1934). Both Gabrielle and Rosalie shot themselves when Debussy left them (the former survived the suicide attempt). Meanwhile, Debussy and Bardac stayed in Jersey where the composer wrote his *L'île joyeuse*. Returning to Paris to live in the avenue Bois de Boulogne, Debussy and Bardac had a daughter in October 1905, Claude-Emma, aka Chouchou. Debussy and Bardac married on 20 January 1908. ### Impressionist-Symbolist Works One of Debussy's most famous pieces, *Clair de lune* (*Moonlight*), comes from his *Suite bergamasque*, composed in 1890. Other works for piano in this period include the *Fêtes galantes* (1891-1904) and the *Pour le piano* suite (1894-1904). *Nocturnes*, another celebrated Debussy work, is an orchestral triptych with the movements given the following titles: *Nuages* (*Clouds*), *Fêtes* (*Festivals*), and *Sirènes* (*Sirens*). Respectively, the three parts represent a cloudy day by the River Seine, a carnival in Paris with a brass band, and the singing of mermaids. The *Nocturnes* trio was composed between 1897 and 1899. Other impressionist-like works include *Jardins sous la pluie* (*Gardens in the Rain*) and *Soirée dans Grenade* (*Evening in Grenada*). String instruments were not neglected with the 1893 String Quartet and the innovative 1894 orchestral piece *Prélude à L'après-midi d'un faune* (*Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun*), which was his first big success. The *Préludes* of 1909-12 for piano includes *La fille aux cheveux de lin* (*The Girl with the Flaxen Hair*) and *La cathédrale engloutie* (*The Submerged Cathedral*). ### *La Mer* Debussy's signature work is his 1905 symphonic sketch *La Mer* (*The Sea*), which, as its title suggests, was inspired by the movement of the sea. Debussy composed the piece while he was on holiday in the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne in southern [England](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/england/). The composer was additionally inspired by the Japanese artist Katushika Hokusai (1760-1849), specifically his now world-famous 1831 print *The Great Wave of Kanagawa*. Composed between 1903 and 1905, *La Mer* is actually a trio of symphonic sketches: *De l'aube à midi sur la mer* (*From Dawn to Noon on the Sea*), *Jeux de vagues* (*Play of the Waves*), and *Dialogue du vent et de la mer* (*Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea*). The piece includes innovative sounds such as a [coin](https://www.worldhistory.org/coinage/) being scraped across a cymbal. ### Stage Works Debussy was interested in stage works early in his career, and he returned sporadically to this genre throughout his life. Early works like the 1889 song cycle *Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire* and the 1892 opera *Rodrigue et Chimène* imitated Wagner and were not a success, the latter was never even finished in Debussy's lifetime. *Pelléas et Mélisande* premiered in Paris' Opera-Comique in April 1902. The opera is based on a drama written by the symbolist Belgian author Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949). The libretto has Golaud rescue a young girl in the forest called Mélisande, they marry, but Golaud's son Pelléas falls in love with Mélisande. Golaud then kills his son, and Mélisande dies in childbirth. The complex story and characters, coupled with the unusual conversational dialogue and play-like score shorn of traditional arias, failed to interest its initial audiences, but it has since grown to become a highly regarded component of the opera repertory. Debussy turned to ballet music for his 1911 *Khamma*. Then his 1913 ballet *Jeux* was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes, an international touring company based in Paris. The ballet was choreographed by the famed dancer Vaslav Nijinsky (1890-1950). Debussy was still working on two operas, each consisting of only one act and based on stories by [Edgar Allan Poe](https://www.worldhistory.org/Edgar_Allan_Poe/) (1809-1849) – *Le diable dans le beffroi* (*The Devil in the Belfry*) and *La chute de la Maison Usher* (*The Fall of the House of Usher*), when his increasing health problems meant they could never be completed. [ ![Western Classical Music, c. 1700-1950](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/17445.png?v=1767515572-1767515636) Western Classical Music, c. 1700-1950 Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/17445/western-classical-music-c-1700-1950/ "Western Classical Music, c. 1700-1950")### Debussy's Major Works The most important works by Claude Debussy include: *Suite bergamasque* – includes *Clair de Lune* (1890) *Prélude à L'après-midi d'un faune* – *Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun* symphonic poem (1892-4) *Pelléas et Mélisande* opera (1893-1902) String Quartet in G minor (1893) *Nocturnes* orchestral work (1899) *La Mer* – *The Sea*, symphonic sketch (1905) *Images: Rondes de primtemps* orchestral set (1905-7) *Children's Corner* piano suite (1908) Preludes for piano (1910, 1913) *Khamma* ballet (1911) *Jeux* ballet (1913) ### [Death](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Death/) & Legacy Debussy was diagnosed with cancer of the colon in 1914, but he had been suffering its effects for some years already. He continued composing, including *En blanc et noir* in 1915, which were three pieces for two pianos dedicated to three of his friends who had been killed in the ongoing First World [War](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/War/) (1914-1918). He began working on six sonatas, but the set was never completed. Claude Debussy died on 25 March 1918 in Paris, his remains now lie in the Passy cemetery in Paris. [ ![Photograph of Debussy & Stravinsky](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/500x600/17543.png?v=1686772626-1686772727) Photograph of Debussy & Stravinsky Erik Satie (Public Domain) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/17543/photograph-of-debussy--stravinsky/ "Photograph of Debussy & Stravinsky")For many, Debussy set music free from conventional forms and showed the way for even more innovative modernist composers to follow, like [Béla Bartók](https://www.worldhistory.org/Bela_Bartok/) (1881-1945) and Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992). [Igor Stravinsky](https://www.worldhistory.org/Igor_Stravinsky/)'s (1882-1971) *Feu d'artifice*, a 1908 orchestral fantasy, shows a strong influence of Debussy, while his 1921 *Symphonies of Wind Instruments* was dedicated to Debussy. Stravinksy once noted: "The musicians of my generation and I myself owe the most to Debussy" (Steen, 800). [Maurice Ravel](https://www.worldhistory.org/Maurice_Ravel/) (1875-1937) was another admirer, and he arranged Debussy's *Nocturnes* for two pianos in 1909. As *The Encyclopedia of Music* succinctly puts it, "Debussy was one of the father figures of twentieth-century music" (Sadie, 349). Still tremendously popular today, Debussy's music continues to fascinate with its unique preoccupation with what he himself called "the mysterious correspondence between Nature and Imagination" (Steen, 797). Concerned above all with tone, sonority, and mood, Debussy is "the musical painter and epigrammatist *par excellence"* (Schonberg, 532). #### Editorial Review This human-authored definition has been reviewed by our editorial team before publication to ensure accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards in accordance with our [editorial policy](https://www.worldhistory.org/static/editorial-policy/). ## Bibliography - [Arnold, Denis. *The New Oxford Companion to Music .* Oxford University Press, 1983.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0193113163/) - [Sadie, S. et al. *Classical Music Encyclopedia& Expanded Edition .* Flame Tree Music, 2014.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/1783612835/) - [Schonberg, Harold. *The Lives of the Great Composers.* Abacus, 1998.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0349109729/) - [Steen, Michael. *The Lives and Times of the Great Composers.* Oxford University Press, 2004.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0195222180/) - [Thompson, Wendy. *Illustrated History of Great Composers.* Lorenz Books, 2022.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0754835561/) - [Wade-Matthews et al. *The Encyclopedia of Music.* Lorenz Books, 2020.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0754835022/) ## About the Author Mark is WHE’s Publishing Director and has an MA in Political Philosophy (University of York). He is a full-time researcher, writer, historian and editor. Special interests include art, architecture and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share. ## Timeline - **1862 CE - 1918 CE**: Life of the French composer [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/). - **22 Aug 1862 CE**: The composer [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) is born in St Germain-en-Laye. - **Oct 1872 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) enters the [Paris](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/paris/) Conservatoire. - **1884 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) wins the Prix de [Rome](https://www.worldhistory.org/Rome/) for his L’enfant prodigue cantata. - **1890 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) completes his Suite bergamasque, which includes Clair de Lune. - **1893 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) completes his String Quartet in G minor. - **1894 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) completes his symphonic poem Prélude à L'après-midi d’un faune. - **1899 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) completes his Nocturnes, an orchestral triptych. - **Oct 1899 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) marries the artist’s model Rosalie (Lily) Texier. - **Apr 1902 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/)'s opera Pelléas et Mélisande premieres in [Paris](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/paris/)’ Opera-Comique. - **1905 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) completes his symphonic sketch La Mer (The Sea). - **Oct 1905 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/)'s daughter Claude-Emma, aka Chouchou, is born. - **20 Jan 1908 CE**: The composer [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) marries Emma Bardac. - **1911 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) completes his ballet Khamma. - **1913 CE**: [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) completes his ballet Jeux. - **25 Mar 1918 CE**: The composer [Claude Debussy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) dies in [Paris](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/paris/) of cancer. ## Questions & Answers ### What is Claude Debussy most famous for? Claude Debussy is most famous for composing the Clair de Lune piano piece and the symphonic sketch La Mer (The Sea). ### What was Debussy like as a person? Claude Debussy as a person was reluctant to make friends, rather selfish with his money, and reluctant to perform in public. ### What is the difference between Claude Debussy and Claude Monet? The difference between Claude Debussy and Claude Monet is the former was a composer and the latter a painter, but both were interested in new ways of expressing their art, particularly what may be termed an 'impressionistic' style. ## Cite This Work ### APA Cartwright, M. (2023, June 16). Claude Debussy. *World History Encyclopedia*. [https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude\_Debussy/](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/) ### Chicago Cartwright, Mark. "Claude Debussy." *World History Encyclopedia*, June 16, 2023. [https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude\_Debussy/](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/). ### MLA Cartwright, Mark. "Claude Debussy." *World History Encyclopedia*, 16 Jun 2023, [https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude\_Debussy/](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claude_Debussy/). ## License & Copyright Submitted by [Mark Cartwright](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/markzcartwright/ "User Page: Mark Cartwright"), published on 16 June 2023. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.