ACHILLE-CLAUDE DEBUSSY (AUGUST 22, 1862,
SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE, FRANCE — MARCH 25, 1918, PARIS)
French composer whose works were a seminal force in
the music of the 20th century. He developed a highly original system of harmony
and musical structure that expressed in many respects the ideals to which the
Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers of his time aspired. His major
works include Clair de lune (“Moonlight,” in Suite bergamasque, 1890–1905),
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894; Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun),
the opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1902), and La Mer (1905; “The Sea”). Debussy
showed a gift as a pianist by the age of nine. He was encouraged by Madame
Mauté de Fleurville, who was associated with the Polish composer Frédéric
Chopin, and in 1873 he entered the Paris Conservatory, where he studied the
piano and composition, eventually winning in 1884 the Grand Prix de Rome with
his cantata L’Enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Child). Debussy’s youth was spent
in circumstances of great turbulence. He was almost overwhelmed by situations
of great extremes, both material and emotional. While living with his parents
in a poverty-stricken suburb of Paris, he unexpectedly came under the patronage
of a Russian millionairess, Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck, who engaged him to
play duets with her and her children. He traveled with her to her palatial
residences throughout Europe during the long summer vacations at the
Conservatory. In Paris during this time he fell in love with a singer, Blanche
Vasnier, the beautiful young wife of an architect; she inspired many of his
early works. It is clear that he was torn by influences from many directions;
these stormy years, however, contributed to the sensitivity of his early style.
This early style is well illustrated in one of Debussy’s best-known
compositions, Clair de lune. The title refers to a folk song that was the
conventional accompaniment of scenes of the lovesick Pierrot in the French
pantomime, and indeed the many Pierrot-like associations in Debussy’s later
music, notably in the orchestral work Images (1912) and the Sonata for Cello
and Piano (1915; originally titled Pierrot fâché avec la lune [“Pierrot Vexed
by the Moon”]), show his connections with the circus spirit that also appeared
in works by other composers, notably the ballet Petrushka (1911) by Igor
Stravinsky and Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg.
TRACKLIST
2733 WELTE-MIGNON DEBUSSY – Children’s Corner, Nos.
1-6
2734 WELTE-MIGNON DEBUSSY – D’un cahier
d’esquisses (From a Book of Sketches) Db
2735 WELTE-MIGNON DEBUSSY – Estampes (Prints),
No. 2 La soirée dans Grenade
2736 WELTE-MIGNON DEBUSSY – Valse – la plus que lente
(Slower-than-Slow… Waltz)
2738 WELTE-MIGNON DEBUSSY – Préludes, Book I,
Nos. 1, 10 and 11
2739 WELTE-MIGNON DEBUSSY – Préludes, Book I,
Nos. 3 and 12
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