CLAUDE DEBUSSY

A BIOGRAPHY PRESENTATION

CLAUDE
DEBUSSY
Claude-Achille Debussy (French: [klod ail dbysi]
; 22 August 1862 25 March 1918) was a French
composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of
the most prominent figures associated with
Impressionist music, though he himself disliked the
term when applied to his compositions. He was
made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in his
native France in 1903. Debussy was among the
most influential composers of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional
scales and chromaticism influenced many
composers who followed.
Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content
and frequent usage of nontraditional tonalities. The
prominent French literary style of his period was
known as Symbolism, and this movement directly
inspired Debussy both as a composer and as an
active cultural participant.

Debussy was born Achille-Claude Debussy (he

later reversed his forenames) on 22 August 1862 in
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, the oldest of five
children. His father, Manuel-Achille Debussy, owned
a china shop there; his mother, Victorine Manoury
Debussy, was a seamstress. The family moved to
Paris in 1867, but in 1870 Debussy's pregnant
mother fled with Claude to his paternal aunt's home
in Cannes to escape the Franco-Prussian War .
Debussy began piano lessons there at the age of
seven with an Italian violinist in his early 40s named
Jean Cerutti; his aunt paid for his lessons. In 1871 he
drew the attention of Marie Maut de Fleurville, who
claimed to have been a pupil ofFrdric Chopin.
Debussy always believed her, although there is no
independent evidence to support her claim. His
talents soon became evident, and in 1872, at age
ten, Debussy entered the Paris Conservatoire, where
he spent the next 11 years. During his time there he
studied composition with Ernest Guiraud, music
history/theory with Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray
, harmony with mile Durand, piano with
Antoine Franois Marmontel , organ with Csar Franck
, and solfge with Albert Lavignac, as well as other
significant figures of the era. He also became a
lifelong friend of fellow student and distinguished
pianist Isidor Philipp. After Debussy's death, many
pianists sought Philipp's advice on playing Debussy's
works.