19h 5min, feb 6, 1868 y - Claude Debussy Born
Description:
Had a complicated personal life
His first piano teacher was Mme Maute, mother-in-law of Verlaine
She helped him get into the conservatory at the age of 10 years old. He had hoped to be a concert pianist, but fell short. He began playing in voice lessons as a teenager to make ends meet and fell in love with the human voice.
It was while playing for these lessons that he fell in love for Marie-Blanche Vasnier (1880) and older married woman. Many of his earlier songs are written for a high voice with Coloratura tendencies because they were written for her voice in mind. He wrote 18 songs for her.
In 1880 this affair ended and he began a new one with abriella Dupont; this was on again- off again for the next 10 years.
She attempted suicide in 1897, as did Debussy’s wife Lily in 1904. He abandoned his wife and had an affair with Emma Bardac, a married woman with a child (mistress of Faure)
This scandal caused many of his friends and supporters to abandon him and he was shunned from the music circles
Composed about 87 songs
He won the Prix de Roma in 1884 - big deal, yearly award, Ravel also won this
He was superb at translating poetic nuance to musical expression; ie. He achieved a complete synthesis of poetry and music (like Wolf in the Lied)
Chose poetry that was already musical
Set poetry of his contemporaries, especially Verlaine and Mallarme
Added to timeline:
Song lit time line
Date:
