Claude Debussy

French composer Claude Debussy authored music. Although he vehemently disputed the title, he is occasionally regarded as the first Impressionist composer. He was one of the composers who had the largest impact in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Debussy was admitted at the age of eleven to the Conservatoire de Paris, France's top music school, despite coming from a modestly wealthy family with no interest in the arts. Despite the orthodox academics at the Conservatoire's criticism, he initially studied the piano but eventually discovered his passion for creative music. He spent many years honing his mature style, and he was almost 40 years old when Pelléas et Mélisande, his sole opera, brought him international acclaim in 1902.

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894), Nocturnes (1897-1899), and Images are some of Debussy's symphonic compositions (1905–1912). Heavily reacting to Wagner and the German musical tradition, his music was in many ways. In his "symphonic sketches," La Mer, he explored an alternative to the classical symphony (1903–1905). In his later years, he concentrated on chamber music, finishing three of the six intended sonatas for various instrumentation.

Birth - Death: 1862 - 1918