Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)
Germaine-en-Laye, France

Claude Debussy is the leading French musician of the French Impressionist movement. He was intrigued by the sensuous capabilities that music had to offer. His style heavily influenced music of the 1900s. He did not conform, as a youngster at music school as he refused did not follow the traditional rules of musical theory. Instead, Debussy attempted to bring the works of impressionist artists and poets onto the canvas. For example, the most significant impressionist opera Pelleas et Melisande was a masterpiece that shows Debussy's emotional style. His musical objective was that he wanted audiences to feel that his music was not even written down, that it was whimsical and fresh with emotion. Debussy rejected the harmonic style of artists such as Mahler and Strauss. Debussy's more liberal interpretation of music also opened his horizons to music from different backgrounds and traditions. Debussy's piano music is the most important since Chopin's. He created a subtle pianistic style that made new demands on performing technique, and the shifting, blurred sonorities of the style were achieved by a new use of the damper pedal. His best-known composition is probably "Clair de lune" (Moonlight) from "Suite Bergamasque" (1890-1905) for piano.

Works
Orchestral
- Prelude à L'après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun, 1894)
- Nocturnes (1899)
- La Mer (The Sea, 1905)
- Images (1912)
Dramatic Works
- opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1902)
- ballet Jeux (Games, 1913)
Chamber Music
- string quartet (1893)
- cello sonata (1915)
- violin sonata (1917)
- flute viola and harp sonata (1915)
Piano
- Pour le piano (For the Piano, 1901)
- Estampes (Prints, 1903)
- 2 books of preludes (1909-1910, 1912-1913)
Songs and choral music
- L'enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son, 1884)

Sources:

Sony Classical. Sony Music Entertainment. 2001. <http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/eras/romhist.html>