Claude Of Claude Debussy s Theory Of Russian Composers Of...

Claude Debussy Claude Debussy also known as Achille-Claude Debussy has been one of the most influential composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Debussy was born into a middle class family being the son of a shopkeeper and a seamstress and the oldest of his five siblings. Debussy began his career at the Paris Conservatory at the very young age of 11. During his studies, he met the wealthy Nadezhda von Meck, a patroness of Tchaikovsky, who employed him to be the music teacher to her son Nikolai von Meck. Through this Nadezhda von Meck exposed the growing Debussy to the works of Russian composers, such as Borodin and Mussorgsky, who continue to be significant influences on his compositions. In 1884, when Debussy was 22 years old, he entered his cantata L Enfant prodigy also known as The Prodigal Child in the Prix de Rome, a worldwide competition for composers. Debussy took home the top prize, which allowed him to study for up to three years in the Italian capital studying at the Villa Medici. Unfortunately, he returned to Paris after only two years. While he was in Rome, he studied the music of German composer Richard Wagner. Wagner’s influence on Debussy was profound and lasting, but despite this, Debussy shied away from the ostentation of Wagner’s opera in his works. In 1892 at the age mid age of 30, Debussy began to compose for operas with the start of Pellà ©as et Mà ©lisande, a play written by Met Erik Satie, a pianist from Montmartre, which