Читать книгу Great musicians and their amusing stories - Nadia Koval - Страница 9

Claude Debussy (1862—1909)

1. Debussy was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, on August 22, 1862. He was the eldest of five children.

2. Aged ten, Debussy started his studies at the Paris Conservatoire. During the next eleven years, he studied composition with prestigious French musicians including Émile Durand and César Franck, but failed to win the premier prix for piano, so he abandoned his dream of becoming a virtuoso.

3. Debussy won the Prix de Rome for composition, with his piece L’enfant prodigue. This meant he received a scholarship to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in the Villa Medici, and had to complete a four-year residence from 1885—87. He was pretty unhappy there; sometimes he was so distressed he was unable to compose.

4. Debussy’s Suite bergamasque is comprised of four movements, of which his beautiful Clair de lune is the third, after the Prélude and Menuet, and before the Passepied. The relaxing music is inspired by a poem, written by French poet Paul Verlaine.

5. Based on a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, Debussy’s symphonic poem for orchestra Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune was first performed in 1894. It describes the dreams of a faun, a mythical half-human, half-goat figure, in the afternoon heat.

6. Pelléas et Mélisande is Debussy’s only opera, and it is considered to be a landmark in 20th-century music. The five-act love story premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in April 1902.

7. His music may be relaxing, but Debussy’s private life was anything but. He had a number of high profile affairs, broke off an engagement, and left his wife, Rosalie Texier, for Emma Bardac. The couple were forced to flee to England in 1905 after causing controversy in France.

8. Debussy’s music is often described as impressionist, but he was not a fan of the label. He said, “I am trying to do something different… what the imbeciles call ‘impressionism,’ a term which is as poorly used as possible, particularly by the critics.”

9. Despite the title, Children’s Corner isn’t actually a piece for children. It was written in 1911 for the composer’s three-year-old daughter, Claude-Emma, and was intended to evoke childhood toys and memories.

10. After being diagnosed with cancer in 1909, Debussy’s health deteriorated. He died in Paris on March 25, 1918 and is buried in Passy Cemetery.