MI:
LIBRARY: PEOPLE:
DEBUSSY
Claude Debussy
Aug. 22, 1862 -to- March 25, 1918
Debussy began displaying musical talents at the piano by age 9 and these
talents were supported by Madame Mauté de Fleurville, who was associated with
Chopin. In 1873, he entered the Paris Conservatory, which would bring him to an
award-winning level of excellence in piano and composition. While he was
excelling in his work, Debussy was greatly influenced by his extreme life.
Aside from living in poverty with his parents, he fell in love with a married
woman and traveled much. The award which made him “award-winning” was the
Grand Prix de Rome. An award which entitled him to reside at a palace in Rome
and compose for several years.
However, the unfamiliar environment of the palace caused Debussy to flee on
his second year as many composers would have done earlier. To add to his
somewhat distressing life, one of Debussy’s current mistresses threatened
suicide and his first wife had even shot herself, fortunately the shot proved
not fatal.
Even Debussy himself pondered ending his life. Debussy was always trying new
styles and much of his work was influenced by Wagner. Debussy’s later years
held strange and sometimes youthful works to his death in 1918.
