How are you?
This week's lecture is “Claude
Debussy”, the 21st topic of “Classical Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “106.
Classical Music: 21. Claude Debussy” introduced on October
12th, 2017.
Claude Debussy, born on 22 August 1862 and died on 25 March 1918, was a French composer, one of the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although he showed great resistance to the term, he is regarded as the first Impressionist composer.
 |
| Rue au Pain, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, street of Debussy's birthplace |
Born into a modest family, Debussy showed outstanding musical talent, enough to be admitted to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris, at the age of 10. Originally studying piano, Debussy found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire's conservative professors. After spending many years developing his own style, Debussy gained international fame in 1902, around the age of 40, with “Pelléas et Mélisande”, the only opera he completed.
 |
| Poster for the prèmiere of Pelléas et Mélisande at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique (30 April 1902) |
Debussy's orchestral works include "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune", "Nocturnes" and "Images". Much of his music was a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition. Debussy, who regarded the classical symphony as obsolete, sought an alternative in his symphonic sketches, “La mer.”
 |
| Cover of 1905 edition of score, La mer, based on Hokusai's c. 1831 woodblock print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa |
His piano pieces include 24 Préludes and 12 Études.
Throughout his career, Debussy wrote melodies based on a wide variety of
poetry, including his own, and was greatly influenced by the Symbolist poetic movement
of the late 19th century. A few of his works, including his early work “La
Damoiselle élue” and his later work “Le Martyre de saint Sébastien”, contain
important parts for chorus. In his final years, he concentrated on chamber
music, planning six sonatas for different instrument combinations but
completing three of them.
 |
| Illustration for the premiere, Le Martyre de saint Sébastien |
With early influences,
including Russian and Far Eastern music, Debussy developed his own style of
harmony and orchestral colouring, but he was derided and resisted by many of
the musical establishments of the day. His works have strongly influenced many
composers, including Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, George Benjamin, and Bill
Evans. Debussy died of cancer at his home in Paris at the age of 55, after a
composing career of a little more than 30 years.
 |
| A statue of Claude Debussy in front of the Saint Germain Church, Île-de-France, France |
Thank you.
