CLAUDE DEBUSSY

WHO DEBUSSY WAS INFLUENCED BY

• Frédéric Chopin
• Tchaikovsky
• Richard Wagner
• Alexander Borodin
• Mily Balakirev

His parents always wanted him to be a piano virtuoso. Claude had natural talent for the piano when he was young but he actually did not do really good in his competitions. He never got higher than fourth place.

CHILDHOOD

• Born into a poor family
• Born in France
• Went to school for his piano talent at age 11
• Went to school at a Paris conservatory
• Oldest of five children
• Started taking piano lessons at age seven

Debussy was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and had part of his colon removed in 1916. It was one of the first colostomy operations. Sadly, the cancer returned and he passed away on March 25, 1918 at the age of 55.

FAMILY

• Emmanuel(brother)
• Eugene-octave(brother)
• Alfred(brother)
• Adele(sister)
• Manuel(dad)
• Victorine(mom)

IMPRESSIONISM

• Claude was seen as the first impressionist composer
• He didn’t like being called an impressionist
• He inspired others to do Impressionism
• His influence still survives today

Claude’s first wife shot herself in 1899, for all of you thinking she died, I have good news, she didn’t. Claude has been haunted with thoughts of suicide ever since.

Chair de Lune
https://youtu.be/CvFH_6DNRCY
Chair de Lune is one of Claude Debussy’s most famous pieces. I love this song because it is so relaxing, when I listen to it I feel like I could just take a nap. Chair de Lune was a poem written by Paul Verlaine.

REVERIE

THE GIRL WITH THE FLAXEN HAIR

WEBSITES USED:

• Biography.com
• notablebiographies.com
• Wikipedia.org
• britannica.com