Claude Debussy's Birthday
Next: August 22, 2027
The composer who painted with sound.
The story
Where it comes from
Claude Debussy was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, on the edge of Paris, on 22 August 1862, and this Story marks his birthday. His father ran a china shop and his mother was a seamstress, but his gift at the piano showed early, and at about ten he entered the Paris Conservatoire. He grew into a composer who turned away from grand German forms towards music of colour, mood and shimmering harmony. His Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (1894) is often heard as the start of musical Impressionism, a label he himself disliked.
How it's celebrated
There is no formal observance, but his birthday is a good excuse to listen. Start with 'Clair de lune', from the Suite bergamasque, then try La Mer, his portrait of the sea, or one of his piano Préludes. If you play the piano, it is a day to open one of his gentler pieces, or simply to sit and let the sound wash over you.
Did you know
- At the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889 he heard a Javanese gamelan, and its sound echoes in 'Pagodes', a piano piece he wrote in 1903.
- For three summers from 1880 he travelled as a house musician for Nadezhda von Meck, the patron of Tchaikovsky.
- He worked for about ten years on his only completed opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, which was first staged in 1902.
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