Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy (1862-1918), one of the greatest French composers, studied at the Paris Conservatoire from 1872, beginning to compose in earnest in his twenties. In the early 1880s he visited Moscow and Vienna and in 1884 won the Prix de Rome for his cantata L'enfant prodigue. The first version of his opera, Pelléas et Mélisande was written in 1895. In 1908 Debussy made his conducting debut in Paris with the symphonic sketches, La Mer. His prolific compositions include incidental music for the theater, a quantity of orchestral and chamber works, large scale vocal pieces with orchestra, dozens of songs, and some of the finest twentieth century pianoforte masterpieces.