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Achille-'''Claude Debussy''' (1862 - 1918) was a [[French]] composer; and the founder of [[Impressionism]] in [[music]]. His music was the tonal equivalent of the working in light of [[Monet]]; and the word pictures of the “[[Symbolist]]” school of writers like [[Verlaine]], [[Baudelaire]], [[Mallarme]] and others - who suggested rather than stated - many of whose works he set to music in songs that grace the repertoire today. But whilst it seems he spurned the Classics and the Romantics, his music is really a refinement of them, and a way forward.

Achille-'''Claude Debussy''' (1862 - 1918) was a [[French]] composer; and the founder of [[Impressionism]] in [[music]]. His music was the tonal equivalent of the working in light of [[Monet]]; and the word pictures of the “[[Symbolist]]” school of writers like [[Verlaine]], [[Baudelaire]], [[Mallarme]] and others - who suggested rather than stated - many of whose works he set to music in songs that grace the repertoire today. But whilst it seems he spurned the Classics and the Romantics, his music is really a refinement of them, and a way forward.

It can be said that his “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” (1894) is the first musical work that truly belongs  to the Twentieth Century; and his opera, Peleas and Melisande (started 1893, but not completed until 1902), charted new operatic waters – eschewing the aria and the big scene; instead using almost conversational understatement in front of sublimely delicate orchestration, and using a sound stage to suggest the drama and ultimate tragedy.

It can be said that his “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” (1894) is the first musical work that truly belongs  to the Twentieth Century; and his opera, ''Pelléas and Mélisande'' (started 1893, but not completed until 1902), charted new operatic waters – eschewing the aria and the big scene; instead using almost conversational understatement in front of sublimely delicate orchestration, and using a sound stage to suggest the drama and ultimate tragedy.

In his younger days he had studied in [[Rome]] as a winner of the [[Prix de Rome]], and had twice visited [[Wagner]]’s Bayreuth (which is apparent in some early works such as certain songs and the String Quartet.) In 1889 he heard some [[Bali]]nese music in Paris, and this was to color many of his works. (He was not alone – the Balinese [[gamelan]] features in the music of a number of European composers of the early Twentieth Century. [[Ravel]] and [[Percy Grainger]] are two.)

In his younger days he had studied in [[Rome]] as a winner of the [[Prix de Rome]], and had twice visited [[Wagner]]’s Bayreuth (which is apparent in some early works such as certain songs and the String Quartet.) In 1889 he heard some [[Bali]]nese music in Paris, and this was to color many of his works. (He was not alone – the Balinese [[gamelan]] features in the music of a number of European composers of the early Twentieth Century. [[Ravel]] and [[Percy Grainger]] are two.)