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Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Debussy, Claude (1862-1918)Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines, Francia) 1862-08-22 - Paris 1918-03-25

History:

French composer, pianist, orchestra conductor and music critic.

Born on 22 August 1862 at Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines, France), and passed away on 25 March 1918 in Paris (France). Son of Manuel-Achille Debussy and Victorine Manoury. He and his family moved to Paris in 1867, and he began taking piano lessons with Jean Cerutti in 1871. The following year, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied solfège with Albert Lavignac, piano with Anton-François Marmotel, harmony with Auguste Bazille, and composition with Ernest Guiraud, and won several prizes in solfège and piano. For several summers, starting in 1879, he worked as a pianist for Nadezhda von Meck, patroness of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Between 1881 and 1884, he wrote more than 23 songs for Marie-Blanche Vasnier and gave the first public performances of his own compositions. In 1884, he won the Prix de Rome with the cantata "L'enfant prodigue", and enjoyed a two-year residency at Villa Medici in Rome.

When Debussy returned to Paris in 1887 he met Paul Dukas and Robert Godet, who became good friends. At the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, he discovered Javanese aesthetics. At the same time, the Wagnerian influence absorbed during his frequent trips to Bayreuth became apparent in works like "Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire" (1887-1889). In 1892 he began to compose "Prélude, interludes et paraphrase finale pour l'après-midi d'un faune", a work that was premiered in 1894. The previous year, he had begun working on an operatic version of Maurice Maeterlinck's play "Pelléas et Mélisande". Premiered in 1902, this important opera had a tremendous influence on later composers, although it was not understood at the time.

In addition to composing, Debussy wrote, under the pen name of Monsieur Croche, for "La Revue Blanche" in 1901, and for "Gil Base" in 1903. That year he wrote "La mer" for symphony orchestra, premiered in 1905, and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. Claude had several serious relationships with women, among them Gabrielle Dupont and Thérèse Roger, but he only married twice: Rosalie Texier in 1899 (whom he divorced in 1905) and Emma Bardac in 1908. His daughter Claude-Emma was born in 1905, and three years later he made his debut as a conductor with the Concerts Colonne. Debussy and Manuel de Falla met in 1907, forging a bond of reciprocal admiration. He joined the advisory board of the Conservatoire de Paris in 1909. He premiered "Ibéria" in 1910 and began travelling extensively in Russia and Europe. In 1912 he wrote the ballet "Jeux", which Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes premiered one year later at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. Debussy made his last public appearance in 1917 at the premiere of his "Violin Sonata". His compositions for orchestra and piano are cornerstones of the 20th-century repertoire, and have had a huge influence on subsequent generations of composers.