Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy Claude Debussy was one of the greatest composers of impressionistic music and considered by many one of the greatest composers of all time. He had a genius mind and portrayed that through his music. He was a man of deep thoughts and showed great emotion through his music. “Although Debussy rarely appeared in public, only to perform, and left behind no pupils, it is clear that Debussy has many imitators (Debussyistes, as they were known), and his death was widely mourned throughout the musical world. Debussy’s works has influenced many new and modern music. The French composer Claude Debussy was born in 1862, the oldest out of five children. He died in 1918. Debussy was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. “He was born during the American Civil War and died a few months before the end of WWI, yet he is widely regarded as the first great composer of the 20th century” (Bonds). Debussy and his family later moved to Paris. He was born to Manuel-Achille Debussy and Victorine Manoury Debussy. His father “ran a shop where he sold china and crockery and had a hard time making ends meet” (Lockspeiser). His mother was a seamstress. At age seven, “Debussy began piano lessons with an Italian violinist named Cerutti and was admitted to the Paris Conservatory at the age of 10” (Lockspeiser). He was accompanied with great composers such as Tchaikovsky and Meck. He traveled to places such as Europe and Russia. He furthered his studies in Rome after “receiving a scholarship to the Académie des Beaux-Arts” (Lockspeiser). “He held no formal posts after his youth, appeared in public only sporadically as a pianist or conductor, and left behind no direct pupils” (Bonds). Nevertheless, Debussy pieces were wildly known and still growing in popularity today. “His death was widely mourned throughout the musical world” (Bonds). Debussy was a composer of the Romantic Era. “The keynote of the personality of Claude Debussy is struck at the outset of a sketch of his