History Music / ClaudeDebussy

!!Debussy's music and life provide examples of:

* AwfulWeddedLife: Debussy's private life was as sordid as any soap opera, mainly of his own doing.
** He had a live-in relationship with Gabrielle Dupont, but a year later cheated on her with singer Thérèse Roger. He proceeded to dump Gabrielle and became engaged to Thérèse.
** He broke off his engagement with Thérèse when he became infatuated with Marie-Rosalie Texier (known as "Lilly"), a friend of Gabrielle's, threatening to commit suicide if Lilly refused to marry him. She became Debussy's first wife.
** Debussy's marriage to Lilly became increasingly strained, as the two proved incompatible. Four years in, Debussy began an affair with Emma Bardac, the wife of a banker. He abandoned Lilly and ran off with Emma the following year, informing the former by letter that their marriage was over. Lilly unsuccessfully attempted suicide by shooting herself. The Bardacs divorced and Debussy and Emma lived together and had a child out of wedlock; four years later, the couple married.
** Debussy's marriage to Emma lasted until his death ten years later, but the marriage proved turbulent and unhappy.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Vaslav Nijinsky's choreography to Debussy's ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' (''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'') was considered scandalous at the time and likely would prove so today. In it, Nijinsky portrayed a faun who hopes for a dalliance with one of several nearby parading nymphs. He isn't successful, but he does manage to get hold of one of the nymph's veils, which is apparently close enough.

-->--Instructions to the performers of his opera ''Pelléas et Mélisande''

[[EmbarrassingFirstName Achille-Claude]] Debussy (22 August 1862 -- 25 March 1918) was a French composer. A noted trend starter in the history of music, his ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' (''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'') is considered as a turning point of classical music, starting the Impressionist movement and in many ways the antecedent of Modern and Contemporary Classical music. Needless to say, he was, and still is a highly important and inspiring figure in classical music. His influence on music is as much as Claude Monet's influence on painting. Modern music historians and critics consider him as the ultimate example, along with his fellow composer Music/MauriceRavel, of the Impressionist movement. (However, Debussy himself hated the label "Impressionism" for his music, believing it to be better suited for the visual arts.)

Outside of his musical success though, his life was kind of turbulent. He had an affair with another's wife although already married, his ex-wife attempted suicide (unsuccessfully) and produced a huge scandal, so much that he had to flee to England. He had a child with his mistress after they married, but she sadly only outlived her father by a year, dying in the diphtheria epidemic of 1919. The whole family was buried together.

* EtherealChoir: Atmospheric choral music pervades [[EnthrallingSiren "Sirènes,"]] the final movement of ''Nocturnes''.

[[EmbarrassingFirstName Achille-Claude]] Debussy (22 August 1862 -- 25 March 1918) was a French composer. A noted trend starter in the history of music, his ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' (''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'') is considered as a turning point of classical music, starting the Impressionist movement and in many ways the antecedent of Modern and Contemporary Classical music. Needless to say, he was, and still is a highly important and inspiring figure in classical music. His influence on music is as much as Creator/ClaudeMonet's influence on painting. Modern music historians and critics consider him as the ultimate example, along with his fellow composer Music/MauriceRavel, of the Impressionist movement. (However, Debussy himself hated the label "Impressionism" for his music, believing it to be better suited for the visual arts.)

Inside of the classical circle, his notable pieces include ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' (''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun''), ''Music/LaMer'' (''The Sea''), the Préludes for piano, and ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' (''Pelléas and Mélisande''). The popular listeners might have heard of ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LXl4y6D-QI Clair de Lune]]'' (''Moonlight''), Arabesque No. 1, and ''Children's Corner Suite''.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Creator/VaslavNijinsky's choreography to Debussy's ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' (''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'') was considered scandalous at the time and likely would prove so today. In it, Nijinsky portrayed a faun who hopes for a dalliance with one of several nearby parading nymphs. He isn't successful, but he does manage to get hold of one of the nymph's veils, which is apparently close enough.
* EtherealChoir: Atmospheric choral music pervades "Sirènes," the final movement of ''Music/{{Nocturnes}}''.

* OceanAwe: Debussy's ''Music/LaMer'' depicts the sea in three contrasting moods.
* OlderIsBetter: While Debussy generally avoided standard 18th and 19th century structures, he did write pieces patterned on Baroque forms such as the suite (see ''Music/PourLePiano'', consisting of a "Prelude," "Sarabande," and "Toccata"). Like Music/FryderykChopin, Debussy wrote sets of Preludes for piano solo, essentially modeled after Music/JohannSebastianBach's ''Music/WellTemperedClavier'' minus the fugues.

* TravelogueShow: Or travelogue work in this case. Debussy found Spanish culture exotic and alluring, and this is reflected in such works as the "Ibéria" section from ''Music/ImagesPourOrchestre'' and the solo piano movement "Evening in Granada" from ''Music/{{Estampes}}''.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Creator/VaslavNijinsky's choreography to Debussy's ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' (''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'') was considered scandalous at the time and likely would prove so today. In it, Nijinsky portrayed a faun who hopes for a dalliance with one of several nearby parading nymphs. He isn't successful, but he does manages to get hold of one of the nymph's veils, which is apparently close enough.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Creator/VaslavNijinsky's choreography to Debussy's ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' (''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'') was considered scandalous at the time and likely would prove so today. In it, Nijinsky portrayed a faun who hopes for a dalliance with one of several nearby parading nymphs. He isn't successful, but he does manages to get of one of the nymph's veils, which is apparently close enough.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Creator/VaslavNijinsky's choreography to Debussy's ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' (''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'') was considered scandalous at the time and likely would prove so today. In it, Nijinsky portrayed a faun who hopes for a dalliance with one of several nearby parading nymphs. He isn't successful, but manages to get hold of one of the nymph's veils, which serves as a... substitute.

* MusicGenreDissonance: Debussy is often referred to as an "Impressionist" composer, a label he strongly disagreed with.

* YourCheatingHeart: The composer's checkered love life was marred by infidelities, a broken engagement, his breaking up another couple's marriage, an illegitimate child, and a messy divorce that featured a suicide attempt by his first wife.