Claude Debussy: biography, interesting facts, creativity

Claude Debussy

One of the most significant representatives of French classical music of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries - Claude Debussy - is considered the first to introduce the modern trend of impressionism into the musical tradition. However, besides this, he was also a talented performer, conductor, composer and critic, undoubtedly among the best people of his time. The fate of Debussy's early work is closely linked with Russia, and representatives of the Russian music school for a long time became for him the best role models. But he did not directly copy anyone: the originality of the works, their dissimilarity to those already felt in the very first musical experiences of the young Debussy, and gradually develops into absolute uniqueness.

A short biography of Claude Debussy and many interesting facts about the composer can be found on our page.

Debussy's Short Biography

The family in which Claude Ashil Debussy was born had nothing to do with music, and if it were not for the traditional piano lessons at that time, probably no one would have noticed a special zeal in the boy in this field. The head of the Debussy family owned a tableware shop in the small town of Saint-Germain. The future composer was born on August 22, 1862, and after a couple of years his father sold his shop and moved to Paris, where he began to work as an accountant.

When the war broke out between France and Prussia, Claude’s mother decided not to stay in belligerent Paris and went with her children to Cannes, where her husband’s sister lived. According to Debussy’s biography, it was in Aunt’s house that little Claude began to receive his first musical lessons. After returning to Paris, the classes continued, and the boy was lucky with the teacher: Antoinette de Fleurville became her. She claimed that Chopin himself taught her to play, and besides, her daughter was married to Verlaine, and the lady’s musical instinct showed in time that Claude had outstanding prospects. Madame de Fleuville gave the boy's parents fateful advice, which they did not neglect - to give her son to study at the conservatory.

Years of study and first experiments

Ten-year-old Claude Debussy had the honor to study with talented and outstanding teachers: A. Marmontel, A. Lavignac, S. Frank. The style of the young man’s performance, filled with deep expressiveness, and the amazing ability to create visible images, as if “reviving” musical works, were especially noted by the mentors.

But Debussy was by no means a modest high achiever, in all pleasing teachers. From the early grades, Claude had a conflict with the harmony teacher, who could not tolerate how a cheeky boy realizes his own ambitions. Claude, on the contrary, was dismayed by the conservative view of the teacher, who was irritated at any deviation from the classical canons.

In 1880, a composition appeared in the training program of Claude Debussy, and E. Giro became his main teacher. Soon, a teacher and a student discovered a coincidence of some views on art, and Giro became one of the few members of the conservatory who supported his aspirations.

Debussy's first creative experiments relate to the late 70s - early 80s. These were romances to the words of Paul Verlaine, Bouger; they already completely distinguish Debussy's individual style and the originality of his talent.

Having received the Great Prize of Rome in 1844, Debussy was obliged to go to Rome, but he was not at all happy with this prospect. Violating obligations, Claude is in the Medici estate with considerable delay. From there, he sends the Zuleyma symphony and the Spring suite to the commission and receives a very devastating review for them, in which, nevertheless, there is one important point - for the first time the word "impressionism" was used in relation to a musical work. With the end of the Roman period, which became neither useful nor fruitful for Debussy, he stopped his studies.

Debussy and Russia

While studying at the conservatory, Debussy received invaluable experience and gained creative ideas after spending some time in the Russian family. Hope von Meck, a rich aristocrat, invited him to her on the recommendation of Marmontel. Claude had to teach her children to play the piano and accompany Nadezhda herself, who was a great connoisseur of good music. In 1880, Debussy met with Nadezhda and her family in Switzerland, and then went with them to Italy.

Debussy created especially for von Meck, piano arrangements for several passages from Swan Lake, which finally convinced Hope that the choice was correct. It was during the period of work in the von Meck family that Claude realized himself as a composer and began writing works seriously.

The following year, von Meck again invited Debussy to her room, this time to the Russian capital, and classes with her children continued. But the main value of this visit for the composer was full access to a huge number of musical notebooks with a variety of works that Nadezhda Filaretovna put at his disposal, and Claude had the opportunity to get acquainted with Russian classics and contemporaries, such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Musorgsky, Borodin. He recognized the music of Tchaikovsky and Glinka Debussy earlier and performed it perfectly on von Meck's home creative events.

In the fall of 1881, the family went to Italy, and the young maestro, of course, followed them. From there, the composer returned to the conservatory. But in the summer of 1882, von Meck made a call again, inviting Claude to his newly purchased estate in the Podolsk region. This time a refined young man appeared in the house of von Meck, a “typical Parisian” with creative ambitions, instantly becoming the soul of the company and the center of attraction. From Russia, Claude and his family von Meck made another trip to Europe. However, they did not manage to part beautifully until the next summer.

Impressionist or ... symbolist?

In the 80s - 90s, the initial stage of the creative heyday of Claude Debussy begins. This time is marked by a serious passion for symbolism - it joins the circle of French poets under the leadership of Stefan Mallarme. Writers, artists and musicians gathered in his house at that time. During these years he wrote many vocal works on poems by Baudelaire, Verlaine, Louis. Their lyrical content and the nature landscapes became for Claude a favorite vector of creativity for many years. But there were also such traits of symbolism that Debussy did not adopt. His whole artistic nature did not allow understatement, vague expression of thoughts and feelings. The feelings of mystical fear and dark thoughts and feelings inherent in symbolist poetics were also not characteristic of Debussy's music. The works created in those years are close to other, more subject genres of folk dance and song, but in the interpretation of Debussy they are deprived of their natural wildness, and appear before us in a more elegant, refined form.

But in the 1900s, Debussy completely abandoned symbolist ideas and switched to a new direction. His increasingly began to take pictures of nature, portraits, domestic scenes. In piano works, he was able to achieve the seemingly impossible - to reveal new tonalities of the instrument and to get the most expressive, elegant shades from it. Debussy came to such a realistic expression of images that they became almost tangible. Proximity to impressionism appears here in bright colors, in sounds that play like glare and brushstrokes, while the work sounds completely holistic and complete.

These various aesthetic preferences of Debussy, up to the present, make historians discuss the theme of the composer’s belonging to a particular trend. Some representatives of the French and Polish musicology consider him a true symbolist. Among those are V. Yankelevich and S. Yarotsinsky.

Unaccepted masterpieces of the early period

In the last years of the XIX century, not only works for voice with accompaniment, but also works for piano and chamber orchestras flourished in the works of Debussy. These are string quartets, suites, symphonies, the most significant of which is "The Faun's Afternoon Rest". Debussy has drawn inspiration for her in the poem of Mallarmé, which is not distinguished by a variety of actions, but only describes the dreams of a resting mythological creature. "Faun" was the first score in which the principles of impressionistic orchestral writing were affirmed. This symphonic miniature was first performed in 1894, but the success was not overwhelming - the audience was too conservative, critics; no one was willing to accept the original features of Debussy.

In the years 1897-99, Claude created the Nocturne symphony, another fundamental impressionistic work. It especially manifested his desire for almost artistic color and brightness of images. But unfortunately, this creation has also remained undervalued by contemporaries.

The true pearl of Debussy’s early period was the opera “Pelleas and Melisande” - a plot close to “Tristan and Isolde”, but performed by Meterlink. Debussy admitted that he was attracted by the lack of a dynamically changing action, the deep psychologism of the experiences of the characters, which are revealed even no longer in direct speech, but in thoughts. Here, Claude succumbed to the mood of Metherlink and recreated the true gloomy atmosphere in which the heroes do not seem to believe in the possibility of their own happiness, but only hopelessly await a tragic outcome. But the composer nevertheless softened the pessimism of the drama, strengthening the lyrical line. However, the premiere of this opus, held in 1902, again did not find the proper response in the hearts of a disgruntled public. The first few performances were severely criticized by the public, and only a few major musicians dared to talk about the genius of this work.

Debussy critic

The first years of the 20th century opened a new field of activity for Debussy: he became a famous music critic. Departing and returning to this field several times, Debussy eventually wrote a book in 1914 entitled “Mr. Krosh - Antidiletant,” in which he collected his best critical articles, and also formed his own view of art, its sources, as well as its main goals and objectives. . The composer considers objectivity his most important principle in the creation of works, and nature is the main source of music. Undoubtedly, it was music that the composer called the main one among the arts.

Last years

Debussy spends his life in constant performances, concerts, and in the implementation of creative plans. His popularity in Europe grew, and Russia, where he was once impressed with Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, also received him cordially and with great love - he gave concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The bloody World War I brought to the composer's creativity underlined patriotism, and all the works of recent years are exclusively about France and for her. One of the most significant works of the last years of Debussy’s life was “Children's Corner”, “The Box with Toys” (both devoted to daughters), as well as 24 preludes, 12 sketches, 6 “Ancient epigraphs”.

Claude Debussy Interesting Facts

• Nadezhda von Meck was closely acquainted with Pyotr Tchaikovsky and was in correspondence with him. Often she mentioned Debussy in her, calling him first "pianist" or "French", and later - "musician" and "a good partner for playing 4 hands."
• Debussy is very imbued with the work of Russian composers. In 1891 there was his acquaintance with accompanist Eric Satie. 30 years after they met, Satie wrote that when they met, Debussy was "soaked" by Mussorgsky, "like a blotter".

• In his youth, Debussy was very impressed with the work "Tristan and Isolde" and, in particular, Wagner's opera on this plot. When at a more mature age he and his friends went to her production, Claude was reminded with a grin by his enthusiasm for Wagner and noted that it would fit him to become an imitator of the great composer. At this, Debussy told a friend that he, too, had enjoyed and admired fried chicken more than once, but for some reason did not even think of clucking.
• The composer was a rather modest person; he was not attracted by fame and national love. He did not even always attend the premieres of his operas, preferring to remain in the shadow. And he explained his incredible talent simply as a gift from the Almighty: "If God did not love my music, I would not have written it."
• Debussy was a nobleman in love - there is evidence that with many female students or their mothers he had fleeting romances. Two of the girls offended in love with him even tried to commit suicide.
• The composer himself also achieved the hands of his first wife in such a strange way — he wrote a note that he would kill herself if she refused.
• Family life with Rosalie Tesquier was built almost in complete poverty: the young bridegroom gave a music lesson right on the wedding day in order to get paid and to cover at least some holiday table.

• Debussy combined two strange features, at first glance, incompatible with each other. On the one hand, he refused to leave the house, if the washerwoman did not bring more clean laundry. On the other hand, I could easily walk about my business in home shoes — his feet often hurt from walking.
• In 1908, the Metropolitan Opera in New York suggested Debussy to sign an agreement on the right to premiere two of his operas based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe with rather strange and mystical scenes. The composer with irony noted that this transaction would not be successful for the theater, and perhaps he would not finish his works. The joke turned out to be a prophecy - Debussy died, leaving precisely these operas unfinished.
• Claude Debussy died on March 25, 1918 in Paris, where bombardments were in full swing. Only about 50 people came to the funeral of a famous musician, but not all came to the cemetery.
• The cause of the death of the great composer was rectal cancer. A terrible disease was diagnosed in 1909.
• Some researchers of the works of Debussy believe that he created his works on the basis of mathematical models, and in some of his works they even find Fibonacci sequences. Scottish musicologist Roy Hovat wrote about this in great detail in his book Debussy in Proportions.

• The name Debussy bears a small mountain range on Alexander I Island, one of the craters of Mercury, and also one of the celestial bodies (4492) in the main asteroid belt.
• The composer’s biographers believe that he was not only familiar with the outstanding mystics of his time, but was himself directly associated with various occult circles and associations. In the book "The Sacred Mystery" (M. Bydzhest and others) it is generally stated that Debussy was one of the great masters of the "Zion community".

The personal life of Claude Debussy

The gloomy and foolish character that the brilliant musician possessed did not in the least prevent him from seeking the disposition of the representatives of the weaker sex. The composer led a wild lifestyle, and loyalty was never his strong feature.

Claude Debussy’s first love was Von Meck’s daughter Sophia. When the pianist spent his second holidays in their family, the girl began to show interest in him. But then Sonya herself was still young, and Claude was in no hurry to acquire a novel. And in 1882, feelings between young lovers broke out with a new, unprecedented force. Debussy was elated and, not expecting a trick, turned to Nadezhda von Meck with a request to give his daughter to marry him. But the strict mother aristocrat was offended and put Claude out of her house, despite the threats of a 15-year-old Sonya to commit suicide. Debussy’s biography states that in 1913, during his visit to Russia, the composer again met his first love, and the memories of his youth certainly gave them some pleasant moments.

Marie-Blanche Vanier (Vasnier) became the second lover of an ardent young man. This charming and very talented woman turned the head of an 18-year-old musician so much that he was not afraid to have an affair with her, even though she was married. They managed to hide their connection very well - the trusting spouse did not even suspect what was going on during rehearsals in the hall, which he singled out in the house especially for his wife’s musical lessons. But this relationship did not have any prospects - Marie was much older, and soon Debussy was forced to move to Rome. After receiving the Rome Prize, the roads of Claude and Marie finally separated - Madame Vanier decided not to deceive her husband anymore.

The next “victim” of the frivolous musician is charming blonde Gabriel Dupont. Claude lived with her for ten years, and all this time the woman worked hard so that her lover needed nothing. While Gabriel was working tirelessly, Debussy was writing and seducing other women. Dupont knew about her loved one's betrayals, but preferred not to notice them. Она продолжала жить с ним под одной крышей даже тогда, когда он помолвился с известной певицей Терезой Роже. Но помолвка была расторгнута, а Дебюсси нашел утешение в объятиях подруги Габриэль Лили Тескье, которая в 1899 году стала его женой. Об этой женщине мало что известно, вероятно, она не оставила в судьбе Клода заметного следа, ведь брак продлился пять лет и распался. Второй супругой стала мадам Бардак, которая предварительно развелась со своим мужем-банкиром. Она родила Клоду дочь.

Debussy and his films

The biography of Debussy inspired many directors to create films about the composer’s life and work. Here are some of them:

• Debussy Dedication (1963)
• Debussy: The Movie (1965)
• "Debussy, or Mademoiselle Shu-Shu" (1995)
• "The Debussy Effect" (2008)

Debussy music sounds in movies

The fate of Debussy measured only 55 years of life. However, such a short time was enough to fundamentally change the European musical history. The work of this French genius became not only the crown of a large, sophisticated era of musical history, but also the flagship that opened the way to new paradigms in the art of the 20th and 21st centuries.