As German troops bombarded the city of Paris, Claude Debussy died in 25 March 1918. The chaotic situation did no permit a public funeral, but a lonely funeral cortège nevertheless made its way through deserted streets, passing the Tuileries, and

We think of Debussy as the composer of the dreamworld sound of impressionism. He was an active follower of the symbolist movement, which rejected naturalism, realism, and clear-cut forms in favour of the indefinite and the mysterious. The symbolist poets

Claude Debussy (1862-1918), better known for his piano and orchestral works, was also a master of the string quartet. He wrote his first one in 1893 and planned a second one to go into a series of six chamber works.

Slowly, sleepily, and lasciviously, the faun awakes. So begins Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, taking us to the imaginary world of a mythical creature. The work should really be entitled Prélude à ‘l’après-midi d’un faune’ because it is a

In 1920, Henry Prunières, editor of the French music journal Revue Musicale, commissioned 10 of the leading composers of the day to contribute to a work in memory of Claude Debussy, who had died from cancer 2 years earlier. The

In French legends, there are many connected with the sea. One of the most interesting, however, is Debussy’s take on the long-ago city of Ys, which was engulfed by the sea and rises occasionally, to be seen on clear days.

The Fêtes galante style was a term specifically created by the French Academy in the early 18th century to describe Watteau’s paintings of country or parkland parties. It was his way of giving his patrons what they wanted, namely, pictures