Research Paper On Claude Debussy

“Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy Achille-Claude Debussy was born on August 22, 1862 in St. Germain-en-Laye, France. He was the oldest of five children and homeschooled by his mother. He came from a very humble upbringing, his mother (Victorine Manoury) was a seamstress, his father (Manuel-Achille Debussy) his father took on any job he could that most likely didn’t have much prestige. The family moved to Paris, France in 1867 when Debussy was just a mere five years old. In the southern part of France called Cannes is where he took his first piano lessons from Jean Cerutti. According to Edward Lockspeiser, a writer for Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Debussy showed a gift as a pianist by the age of nine.” In 1872 Claude was accepted into the Paris

Most musicians in his time used impressionistic paintings as inspiration for their pieces, Claude instead turned to symbolistic poetry to guide and shape his music. “His constant preoccupation with sound color led to instrumentation experiments of unique refinement, possibly equaled only in some of Maurice Ravel’s works(Florea.)” Debussy is considered “France’s true musical modernist.” Many critics did not like his music, they found it lacked passion and was static. One of his most famous pieces composed in his early years as a musician, when he was still developing who he was as an artist. In this time he was influence by many difference people and shaped by many different poems and paintings, this fragile state he was in contributed greatly to his new style. “This early style is well illustrated in one of Debussy’s best-known compositions, Clair de lune(Losckspeiser.)” He was truly a unique soul who helped music make the transition into modernism. Suite Bergamasque was composed by Debussy in 1890 and revised and published in 1905. This composition was written for a piano solo. It is best known for its’ third movement titled “Clair de lune.” The first movement, called Prelude, is very light and legato; similar to the mood of Clair de lune. The second and fourth movements provide quite the contrast, they are more lively and contain much staccato. It is because of this

This movement is my favorite piano piece, and it seems to be widely favored by people living in the 21st century. Even though this piece was written at the end of the 19th, nearly 200 years later this song is still adored. Musical prodigies are performing Clair de lune by the time they are eight years old, Hollywood uses it in many movies and television series, and students across the globe listen to it to help them study. It is used more frequent and in more ways than Claude Debussy ever dreamed! It is one of the most influential pieces he has ever composed, I would go so far as to call it the MOST influential. If you were to play Clair de lune in a classroom full of students and ask them if they have heard it before, I would guess that nine out of ten people would know it. THAT is how moving this masterpiece is, that is Debussy reaching beyond the bands of time, that is him doing what he devoted his whole life to, that is him evoking moods and portraying colors that all of humankind can feel and