![]() ![]() By its very nature music is more likely to contain something of the magical than any other art.” At all costs let us preserve this element of magic peculiar to music. “We should be constantly reminding ourselves that the beauty of a work of art is something that will always remain mysterious that is to say one can never find out exactly ‘how it is done’. He died in Paris during the bombardment of Paris in the last German offensive of World War I. Many of his planned projects remained unrealized, but he managed to complete the Violin Sonata in 1917. Unfortunately, at the end of the year he had to undergo a debilitating colostomy for rectal cancer, one of the very first such operations. The war depressed Debussy into a state of creative sterility, but the summer of 1915 marked the start of a new productive era: in quick succession he composed the Cello Sonata, En blanc et noir, the Etudes, and the Sonata for flute, viola and harp. The couple were eventually married in 1908.ĭebussy spent his remaining years immersed in French musical society, writing as a critic, composing, and performing as pianist and conductor. The scandal obliged Debussy and Bardac (already carrying his child) to flee to England until the hysteria subsided. Texier, like Dupont before her, attempted suicide. Increasingly irritated by Texier’s lack of intellectual and musical interest, Debussy left her for Emma Bardac, the wife of a Parisian banker and an accomplished singer. The opera Pelléas et Mélisande made a similar impact, and caused a lasting division among Paris audiences between the forward-looking believers in "Debussyism" and those who failed to appreciate his style.ĭebussy cohabited in Paris with Gabrielle Dupont for nine years before marrying her friend Rosalie Texier, a fashion model, in 1899. The year 1894 saw the sensational premiere of his Prélude à l´après-midi d´un faune, immediately launching Debussy into the spotlight as one of the leading composers of the era. Back in Paris he became a frequent participant at Stéphane Mallarmé’s symbolist gatherings and formed friendships with many leading Parisian writers, musicians and artists.Īt the Universal Exposition of 1889 he became fascinated by the music of eastern cultures, especially the Javanese gamelan, a discovery that made him want to get away from Wagner’s influence. He also made two trips to Wagner’s Bayreuth. When graduating from the Paris Conservatory he won the prestigious Prix de Rome, which financed two years of further study in the Italian capital, where he had the opportunity to meet Franz Liszt. ![]() Indeed he added a quite new range of timbre and colour to western classical music. Although he himself wished to reserve the term for the visual arts, Claude Debussy (1862-1918) has often been considered the founder of musical Impressionism. ![]()
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