Claude Debussy's Influence On His Work

Nico Essers
Debussy Research Paper
Tate
December 16, 2011
Influences of Claude Debussy
Considered to be extremely bizarre, the music of Claude Debussy had to have many influences in order to make it that way. All of the aspects that influenced Debussy clearly showed in each of his works. Debussy was an impressionist, his music focuses on a suggestion and an atmosphere rather than on a strong emotion or the depiction of a story. Symbolist poets inspired many of his pieces; he would compose the music for operas and poems from the writers’ poems. He got a lot of his ideas through experiencing exotic music styles. His private life was also a huge influence on his music, whether it was his many affairs and relationships, or his daughter, the
Symbolist poets used their works to represent absolute truths and they represented these truths indirectly. One work that influenced one of Debussy’s pieces was Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “Blessed Damozel.” Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Raven,” inspired Rossetti’s poem. Claude Debussy’s work that was influences by Rossetti’s, “Blessed Damozel,” was La Demoiselle Élue (Holloway 42). Debussy composed a setting of this piece in a French translation for two soloists, a female choir, and an orchestra (Holloway 44). The next piece of Debussy’s that was influenced by a symbolist poet was his work of Pelleas et Mélisande. This piece was an opera composed by Debussy for the written play by Maurice Maeterlinck (Holloway 61). Many could tell that Pelleas et Mélisande had many similar characteristics to the works of the German composer, Richard Wagner (Holloway 65). Another example of how symbolist poets influenced Claude Debussy is his Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun. This composition was inspired by the poem, L’après-midi d’un faune by Stephane Mallarmé (Holloway 87). This is one of Debussy’s most popular pieces and it is considered to have been a turning point in musical history (Holloway 88). It has been said that Stephane Mallarmé was sort of offended at first that someone was using his poem for music. Apparently, he said that, “his own music was sufficient,” (Smith 200). Then, Debussy soon received a letter from
She was the apple of his eye. Everyone that met her adored her immediately. Mostly known to Debussy as 'Chouchou ', Claude-Emma was the complete inspiration of his Children’s Corner suite; she outlived her father by nearly a year, ending up being a part of the diphtheria epidemic of 1919 (Lederer 26). Claude Debussy is an extremely known composer. He was known for his crazy, bizarre sounding music that sometimes was not even liked. He received quite a bit of criticism for how different his work was. His music was so different because of all the different influences in his life. Debussy lived a strange lifestyle that everyone should have expected to definitely influence his