Debussy, Claude
NAME: Debussy, Achille-Claude
ACHIEVEMENTS: Major Romantic composer
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: August 22, 1862, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: March 25, 1918, Paris, France. Aged 56
DISCIPLINE: Composer
FIELD: Music
LANGUAGE: French
PARENTS: Manuel-Achille Debussy; Victorine Manoury
SIBLINGS: 3 brothers: Eugene (2 names unknown); 1 sister: Adele
SPOUSE(S): 1) Rosalie Texier; 2) Emma Bardac
CHILDREN: Daughter Claude-Emma, by Emma Bardac
EDUCATION: Paris Conservatoire
MAJOR WORK: "Clair de la lune"; "L'apres-midi d'un faun"; "Pelleas et Melisande"; "La Mer"
LIFE AND TIMES:
A friend’s mother recognized Debussy's talent and persuaded his father to enter him for the Paris Conservatoire. In 1872 Debussy was accepted and studied piano and composition. One of his teachers was Antoine Marmontel, whose pupils included French composer Bizet* and Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz.
In the summer of 1880, when Debussy was 18, Marmontel found him a job at Interlaken at the home of a wealthy Russian woman, Meck*, who was composer Tchaikovsky's* patron.
Debussy's job was to teach music to the von Meck children and to play duets with Mme. von Meck. In the summers of 1881 and 1882, Debussy was back with the von Mecks. He travelled with them to Moscow and to Rome, Naples and Vienna.
In 1884, he won the Grand Prix de Rome with a cantata "L'Enfant prodigue". In Rome two events excited him. The first was a mass by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina* The purity and simplicity of the music captivated him and encouraged him to continue on the path he had chosen for his own music. The second was a visit to Rome of Hungarian composer Liszt*, for which Debussy played. Liszt fell asleep during the performance.
Back in Paris in 1887, Debussy started writing songs based on poems. He completed five songs on a text by Verlaine*, which were published in 1888,and wrote music for poems by French poet Baudelaire*.
He also composed music for "The Blessed Damozel", by British Pre-Raphaelite figure Dante Gabriele Rossetti*.
In 1888, Debussy joined a group, which included composer Faure*, in an excursion to Bayreuth to hear Wagner's* "Parsifal" and "The Mastersingers". In 1891, he met the composer Satie*, who remained a good friend for almost 30 years and with whom he discussed how to translate the Impressionist art of Monet*, Cezanne* into music.
In 1892, at 30, Debussy moved out of his parents' home. He attended weekly meetings at the home of poet Mallarme*, where he met Verlaine for the first time -- although he had written music to his poems -- and mixed with the Symbolists ,who revered music as the most abstract of arts.
In 1893, Debussy attended a performance of Maurice Maeterlinck's play "Pelleas and Melisande" and obtained Maeterlinck's permission to set it to music. In April of that year, "The Blessed Damozel" was performed at the Societie Nationale. It was the first performance of any of Debussy's orchestral works. The music critic of "Le Figaro" praised its originality and modernity. Debussy's "String Quartet" was performed in 1893 at the Societe Nationale.
His "Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faun (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun"), from a poem by Mallarme, was performed in 1894. The audience was enthralled. At the end of 1899, Debussy completed "Nocturnes" for orchestra. The title is said to have been inspired by the Impressionistic paintings by Whistler*, and the music by French Impressionist painters such as Monet and Renoir*.
In 1901, Debussy took a job as music critic for "La revue blanche" and in the same year, "Pelleas and Melisande" was accepted by the Opera-Comique. It was produced in April, 1902, and was almost immediately recognized as being a new departure for French music.
Between 1904 and 1905, Debussy was proliferate. His new works included "Images" for piano, "La Mer (The Sea"), and the second series of songs to texts by Verlaine. In February, 1908, the second set of "Images" for piano was performed, and he completed "Iberia", the second of three orchestral "Images". In 1909, he was appointed a member of the advisory board of the Paris Conservatoire. He visited London for the British premiere of "Pelleas and Melisande", which was enthusiastically received.
In 1912, Debussy accepted a commission to write the music for the ballet, "Jeux", (Games), to be performed by Diaghilev*'s company. Despite some disagreements with Diaghilev and ballet dancer Nijinsky*, the work was finished, and performed in 1913.
The ballet was eclipsed, however, by Stravinsky*'s "The Rite of Spring", which opened two weeks later.
In 1913, Debussy conducted his work in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but failed to impress, although many Russian composers since have acknowledged that Debussy provided a bridge between Russian and French music.
In May 1917, in his last performance in public, Debussy played thepiano for the first performance of his final work, the "Violin Sonata."
ASSESSMENT: Twentieth century composers were been greatly influenced by Debussy who developed his own musical structure and harmonizations.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: Debussy was haunted by the menacing story, "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Poe*.
He wrote for the player piano*.
Garden* sang his music.
He was influenced by the paintings of Seurat*
He influenced the work of Bartok*
His work was disliked by composer Saint Saens*
ONELINER: Claude Debussy, major French Romantic composer
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Lockspeiser, Edward, Debussy, J m Dent & Sons Ltd., London,1980
Nichols, Roger, The Life of Debussy, University of Cambridge Press, Cambridge, England, 1998