Claude Debussy, who died 100 years ago, was a divisive figure who enjoyed a hectic love life. Pippa Cuckson reflects on his genius, his extravagance and his musical legacy
It’s hard for any festival programmer to think beyond the First World War this year, but the centenary of Claude Debussy’s death (1862–1918) is worthy of note. His composing career spanned barely three decades—not all them successful—but his innovation and unapologetic originality pointed the way for the next 100 years.
He loathed being dubbed the Monet of music and insisted he wasn’t an Impressionist, but, exactly as they did, he rejected the conventions of harmony and structure to suggest a scene or event in a delicious, single-movement wash of sound and iridescence.
Reflets dans l’Eau (1905), one of many pieces inspired by water still and turbulent, was composed originally as a piano solo for Images Book I. Debussy prophetically wrote to his publisher: ‘Without false pride, I feel these three pieces hold together well and will find their place in the literature of the piano.’
Debussy will be celebrated in six Proms, starting with a staged performance on July 17 of his largest-scale work, the ravishing opera Pélleas and Melisande, which took him six years to complete, and the cantata La damoiselle élue (July 26). the symphonic poem Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune arguably put Debussy on the map when it premiered at the société Nationale in 1894; it’s paired with Nocturnes on August 15.
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