Claude Debussy Research Paper

Claude Debussy In a quote from June 1885 Debussy wrote of his desire to follow his own way. “ I am sure the Institut would not approve, for, naturally regards the path which it ordains as the only right one. But there is no help for it! I am too enamored of my freedom, too fond of my own ideas.”. From the start of his music studies, though clearly talented, Debussy was also argumentative and experimental, and he challenged the rigid teaching of the academy, favoring techniques that at the time were frowned upon. Though his harmonies were often considered radical in his own time, Debussy is now widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century. Claude Debussy was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye on August twenty second, 1862 and was the eldest of five children. His father Manuel-Achille Debussy owned a china shop and was a salesman and his mother Victorine Manoury Debussy was a seamstress. When Debussy was four years old he began taking piano lessons with an elderly Italian named Cerutti; his lessons were paid for by his aunt. In 1871 at the age of nine Debussy gained the attention of Marie Maute de Fleurville, who claimed to have been a pupil of Frederic Chopin. Debussy always believed her claim, although there is no evidence that she was. At the age of ten the talented Debussy
He died in the midst of German aerial and artillery bombardment of Paris during the Spring Offensive of World War I. Because of this circumstances did not permit his being paid the honor of a public funeral. The funeral procession made its way through the deserted streets to the cemetery as shells from German guns ripped into his beloved city. His body was reinterred shortly after France’s victory eight months later. His wife and daughter are buried with him in the small Cimetiere de