Art, literature & culture

Death of Claude Debussy

25 March 1918

Claude Debussy died on 25 March 1918 in 16th arrondissement of Paris, aged 55. A French composer, Debussy was a central figure of musical impressionism, even though he disliked the label. He abandoned traditional harmonic rules in favor of whole-tone scales, modal colors and fluid forms, as in Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, the orchestral work La Mer, and his piano pieces such as Clair de lune. His only completed opera, Pelleas et Melisande, was a landmark of the symbolist movement. He influenced later composers including Ravel, Stravinsky and Bartok, and helped to open the way to modern music.

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