Claude Debussy's most famous works. Claude Debussy: biography, interesting facts, creativity. Late creative period

Claude Debussy (French Achille-Claude Debussy), (August 22, 1862, Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris - March 25, 1918, Paris) - French composer.

He composed in a style often called impressionism, a term he never liked. Debussy was not only one of the most important French composers, but also one of the most significant figures in music in the world. turn of the 19th century and XX centuries; his music represents a transitional form from late romantic music to modernism in 20th century music.

Debussy - French composer, pianist, conductor, music critic. He graduated from the Paris Conservatoire (1884) and received the Prix de Rome. Student of A. Marmontel (piano), E. Guiraud (composition). As the home pianist of the Russian philanthropist N. F. von Meck, he accompanied her on her travels around Europe, and visited Russia in 1881 and 1882. He performed as a conductor (in 1913 in Moscow and St. Petersburg) and a pianist, performing mainly his own works, and also as a music critic (from 1901).

Debussy is the founder of musical impressionism. In his work he relied on French musical traditions: music of French harpsichordists (F. Couperin, J. F. Rameau), lyric opera and romance (C. Gounod, J. Massenet). The influence of Russian music (M. P. Mussorgsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov), as well as French symbolist poetry and impressionist painting, was significant. D. embodied in music fleeting impressions, the subtlest shades of human emotions and natural phenomena. Contemporaries considered the orchestral “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” (based on the eclogue of S. Mallarmé, 1894) to be a kind of manifesto of musical impressionism, in which the instability of moods, sophistication, sophistication, whimsical melody, and colorful harmony characteristic of D.’s music were manifested. One of D.'s most significant creations is the opera “Pelléas et Mélisande” (based on the drama by M. Maeterlinck; 1902), in which a complete fusion of music and action is achieved. D. recreates the essence of the unclear, symbolically foggy poetic text. This work, along with a general impressionistic coloring and symbolist understatement, is characterized by subtle psychologism and vivid emotionality in the expression of the characters’ feelings. Echoes of this work are found in the operas of G. Puccini, B. Bartok, F. Poulenc, I. F. Stravinsky, S. S. Prokofiev. The brilliance and at the same time transparency of the orchestral palette are marked by 3 symphonic sketches “The Sea” (1905) - D.’s largest symphonic work. The composer enriched the means musical expressiveness, orchestral and piano palette. He created an impressionistic melody, characterized by flexibility of nuances and at the same time vagueness.

In some works - “Bergamas Suite” for piano (1890), music for G. D’Annunzio’s mystery “The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian” (1911), the ballet “Games” (1912), etc. - features later inherent in neoclassicism appear; they demonstrate Debussy’s further searches in the field of timbre colors and coloristic comparisons. D. created a new pianistic style (études, preludes). His 24 preludes for piano (1st notebook - 1910, 2nd - 1913), equipped with poetic titles (“Delphic dancers”, “Sounds and aromas float in the evening air”, “Girl with flaxen hair”, etc.) , create images of soft, sometimes unreal landscapes, imitate plastic dance moves, evoke poetic visions, genre paintings. The work of Debussy, one of greatest masters 20th century, had a significant influence on composers in many countries.

Works: Operas - Rodrigo and Ximena (1892, unfinished), Pelleas and Mélisande (1902, Paris), The Fall of the House of Escher (in sketches, 1908-17); ballets - Kamma (1912, late Spanish 1924, ibid.), Games (1913, Paris), Toy Box (children's, 1913, late 1919, Paris); cantatas - lyrical scenes Prodigal son(1884), Ode to France (1917, completed by M. F. Gaillard); poem for voices and orchestra, The Chosen Virgin (1888); for orc. - divertissement Triumph of Bacchus (1882), symphonic suite Spring (1887), Prelude to “The Afternoon of a Faun” (1894), Nocturnes (Clouds, Celebrations; Sirens - with female choir; 1899), 3 symphonic sketches for the Sea (1905), Images (Gigies, Iberia, Spring Round Dances, 1912) ; chamber instrumental ensembles - cello sonatas. and piano (1915), for violin and piano (1917), for flute, viola and harp (1915), piano trio (1880), string quartet(1893); for piano - Suite Bergamasco (1890), Prints (1903), Island of Joy (1904), Masks (1904), Images (1st series - 1905, 2nd - 1907), Suite Children's Corner (1908), preludes ( 1st notebook - 1910, 2nd - 1913), sketches (1915); songs and romances; music for performances drama theater, piano transcriptions, etc.

(1862-1918) French composer

Claude Achille Debussy was born on August 22, 1862 in Saint-Germainant-Lay, near Paris. From the age of 9 he studied piano. In 1872 he entered the Paris Conservatory.

At the beginning of 1880, while still a student at the conservatory, Debussy accepted an offer to become a music teacher in the house of the Russian philanthropist N.F. von Meck. He traveled with the von Meck family throughout Europe and visited Russia twice (1881,1882), where he first became acquainted with the music of Russian composers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov, which had a significant influence on the formation of his own style.

Among the works of Claude Debussy of the 80s, the lyrical opera “The Prodigal Son”, which he presented at the final exam at the conservatory, stands out. In 1884 this work was awarded the Rome Prize. Two piano collections, “Bergamos Suite” and “Little Suite,” also gained great fame.

In the early 90s. Claude Debussy became close to the symbolist poets and impressionist artists. The next decade, from 1892 to 1902, is considered the heyday of Debussy's creative activity. At this time he creates vocal works, the best of them are the cycles “Lyrical Prose” based on their own texts, “Songs of Bilitis” based on the poems of P. Louis. He writes orchestral works that have occupied almost the main place in the composer’s legacy, in particular the symphony-prelude “ Afternoon rest Faun", three orchestral nocturnes - "Clouds", "Celebrations", "Sirens". This list is crowned by the opera Pelléas et Melisande (1902).

At the same time, his music began to not only be widely performed, but also processed. The one-act ballet “The Afternoon of a Faun” was staged to the music of Claude Debussy, in which Russian dancers M. Fokine and V. Nijinsky danced brilliantly. This ballet was performed during the famous Russian Seasons organized in Paris by Sergei Diaghilev.

The next period of the composer's work begins in 1903 and is interrupted only by his death. He continues to work a lot and interestingly: he creates three chamber suites and the ballet “Games”, the choral cycle “Three Songs of S. Orleans”, a suite for 2 pianos (“White and Black”). Debussy does not abandon vocal cycles either. This time includes his “Three Songs of France”, “Three Ballads of F. Villon”, “Three Songs of Mallarmé”, as well as program orchestral works - symphonic sketches “The Sea” and “Images”.

Since 1910, Claude Debussy has been constantly performing as a conductor and pianist own compositions. His posthumous publications also speak of the composer’s versatility and efficiency. After his death, such piano collections as “Prints”, “Children’s Corner”, 24 preludes and 12 etudes were published; the children’s ballet “Toy Box”, subsequently orchestrated by A. Kaple (1919), remained in the clavier.

Claude Debussy was also known as a music critic who wrote articles about events musical life.

His originality as a writer lay in the fact that instead of traditional harmony built on a consonant combination of sounds, Debussy used free combinations of sounds, just as an artist chooses colors on a palette. He sought above all to make music free from any laws. Claude Debussy believed that sounds can be used to paint pictures. That is why his works are called symphonic paintings.

Indeed, before the listeners there appear either pictures of a raging sea or a vast expanse, blown by a light wind, or clouds rushing under gusts of wind. This was a previously unprecedented experiment in music; similar tasks were set by the Russian composer Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin, also in the 20th century, who tried to combine music, sound and color.

No less interesting are the vocal cycles of Claude Debussy, in which he used flexible and natural melody, close to poetic and colloquial speech; With his work, Debussy laid the foundation for a new direction in musical art, called impressionism.

Claude Debussy was born in the Paris suburb of Saint-Germain on August 22, 1862. He was the eldest of five children. His father owned a porcelain store, and his mother was a seamstress. In 1867, the Debussy family moved to Paris. Claude began taking his first piano lessons at the age of nine, and already in 1872 he entered the Paris Conservatory in the junior department. For eleven years, Debussy studied composition in the class of Ernest Guiraud, and his piano teacher was Antoine François Marmontel, with whom Claude took particular pleasure. From the very beginning of his studies at the conservatory, Debussy challenged established opinions and experimented in the field of harmony and sound. He challenged academic traditions, favoring dissonant consonances and intervals, which were in disgrace at the time.

Debussy was an excellent pianist and an excellent sight reader. In 1881, on a trip to Europe, he accompanied the Russian philanthropist Nadezhda von Meck, who was a great friend of Tchaikovsky, as a house pianist. Subsequently, at her invitation, he visited Russia twice. Acquaintance with Russian music later greatly influenced the formation of his own style. In 1884, Debussy, having won the competition for the Rome Prize, went to the capital of Italy to the Villa Medici for four years of improvement. During this time, he studied the choral music of the Renaissance, which brought a fresh spirit to his work. However, the works that he sent to Paris for a report (the symphonic ode “Zuleima”, the cantata “Spring”) were not approved. He found the atmosphere in which he had to work and study stifling, and was often depressed to the point that he could not compose. Debussy returned home ahead of schedule. “I am sure that the institute will not approve of this... but, I am in love with my freedom, and I love my own ideas too much,” he writes in one of his letters to Paris.

In 1890, Debussy began writing the opera Rodrigue and Ximena, which he abandoned two years later. This was followed by Pelléas et Melisande, and a year later he wrote the symphonic prelude The Afternoon of a Faun. Since Debussy was a fan of impressionism in painting, the first concert composed exclusively of his music was held in art gallery in Brussels in 1894. During the nineties, he also wrote three nocturnes for orchestra, the vocal cycle “Lyrical Prose,” and a string quartet in G minor.

In 1899, his publisher J. Artmann died, which deprived Debussy of his income. However, he is finishing work on the second edition of his opera Pelléas et Melisande. The premiere took place on April 30, 1902 at the Parisian Opera-Comique and caused quite controversial reviews. The work has been called the greatest achievement in the opera genre since Wagner. Over the next year, Debussy wrote the piano cycle "Estamps". And in 1904, symphonic sketches “The Sea”, a vocal notebook of “Gallant Celebrations”, and vocal cycles “Three Songs of France”.

Throughout the rest of his life, Debussy worked tirelessly and very fruitfully. He wrote reviews of events in musical life; most of his piano works were written during the same period. He toured with his music throughout Europe, including Russia, wrote music for the ballet “Games”, two notebooks of preludes for piano before the start of the war, and the ballet “Toy Box”, the instrumentation of which was completed after his death. In 1915, despite the war, Debussy wrote many piano works and began a cycle of sonatas, of which he managed to complete only three.

Claude Debussy died in Paris on March 25, 1918, of cancer, at the height of the aerial bombardment of the city, just eight months before the end of the war.

By strength of talent and significance in history musical art few French composers can compare with Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Contemporary music owes him many of her discoveries, especially in the field of harmony and orchestration. The period when the composer worked most intensively, taking direct part in the ideological and artistic movement of his time, was the last 15 years of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century. This time was a turning point for destinies European culture and art. It was then that the latest creative movements entered the artistic arena more and more confidently. As an unusually sensitive and receptive artist, Debussy eagerly absorbed everything new that was born in the art of his time. His creativity is many-sided. On the one hand, there is a strong reliance on the national traditions of French art, on the other hand, a strong passion for the culture of Spain and creative discoveries “ Mighty bunch", especially Mussorgsky, whose magnificent declamation Debussy appreciated. His interests reached distant countries, covering the music of Java and the Far East.

In life and creative path The composer clearly distinguishes 3 main periods. The turning points are 1892- the year of creation of “The Afternoon of a Faun” and acquaintance with Maeterlinck’s drama “Pelleas and Mélisande”, and 1903- year of production of Pelleas.

1 period

In the first period, Debussy, having experienced many different influences - from Gounod and Massenet to Wagner, Liszt and Mussorgsky, was immersed in the search for his own style of expression. Distinctive feature his quest is a wide range of genres. The composer tries his hand at romance lyrics (“Forgotten Ariettes” according to Verlaine, “Five Poems by Baudelaire”), and in the vocal-symphonic field (cantatas “The Prodigal Son”, “Spring”, “The Chosen Virgin”), and in the piano sphere (“Little Suite”, “Bergamas Suite”).

By the beginning of the 90s, Debussy’s own concept as a composer, in many ways close to the aesthetics of the French symbolists, emerged more and more clearly. He dreams of creating a new type of opera, in which there would be a lot of understatement, mystery, and “subtext.” The composer found all this from Maurice Maeterlinck.

2nd period

The decade of 1892-1902 - the 2nd period of creativity - was marked, first of all, by work on the opera Pelléas et Mélisande. It was at this time that Debussy reached the full flowering of his creative powers. Such masterpieces were created as “Afternoon of a Faun” (appreciated by contemporaries as a manifesto of musical impressionism), “Nocturnes”, and three “Songs of Bilitis” based on poems by Louis.

3rd period

The 3rd period, which opened with the symphonic sketches “The Sea”, is characterized by some deviations from the previously chosen path towards neoclassical quests. Most of the works created after Pelleas reveal a desire to move away from excessive sophistication towards a stronger and more courageous art, towards greater materiality and rhythmic clarity. These are the orchestral trilogy “Images”, the piano cycle “Children’s Corner” and two notebooks of preludes, the ballets “Games”, “Kama” and “Toy Box”.

The result of Debussy's creative activity is relatively small in quantitative terms: one opera, three one-act ballets, a number of symphonic scores, several works for solo instruments and orchestra, 4 chamber works(string quartet and three sonatas), music for the mystery. The largest place is occupied by piano and vocal miniatures (more than 80 pieces for piano and about the same number of songs and romances). But with a relatively modest quantitative result, Debussy’s work amazes with the abundance of innovative discoveries in a variety of areas - harmony and orchestration, operatic drama, in the interpretation of the piano, in the use of vocal and speech means.

Impressionism

The name of Debussy is firmly entrenched in the history of art as the name of the founder of musical impressionism. Indeed, in his work musical impressionism found its classical expression. Debussy gravitated toward a poetically inspired landscape, to convey the subtle sensations that arise when admiring the beauty of the sky, forest, and sea (especially his favorite).

Musical analogies to impressionistic painting can also be found in the field expressive means Debussy, especially in harmony And orchestration. This is a generally recognized area of ​​innovation for the composer. In the foreground here is magical beauty and sophistication. Debussy was a born colorist. Perhaps this is the first composer for whom the sound appearance of a work was a subject of special concern. Its harmony is colorful, which attracts with its sound itself - sonority. Functional connections are weakened, tonal gravity and input tone are not significant. Individual consonances acquire some autonomy and are perceived as colorful “spots”. Standing, as if frozen harmonies, chordal parallelisms, alternation of unresolved dissonances, modal scales, whole tone, and bitonal overlays are often used.

IN invoice Debussy great value has movement in parallel complexes (intervals, triads, seventh chords). In their movement, such layers form complex polyphonic combinations with other elements of texture. A single harmony, a single vertical arises.

No less original melody and rhythm Debussy. Expanded, closed melodic structures are rarely found in his works - brief themes-impulses and compressed phrases-formulas dominate. The melodic line is economical, restrained and fluid. Devoid of wide leaps and sharp “cries,” it relies on the primordial traditions of French poetic recitation. The qualities corresponding to the general style have been acquired and rhythm- with a constant violation of metric principles, avoidance of clear accents, tempo freedom. Debussy’s rhythm is distinguished by capricious instability, the desire to overcome the power of the bar line, emphasized squareness (although turning to folk-genre thematics, the composer willingly used the characteristic rhythms of the tarantella, habanera, cake-walk, march-processions).

Enchanting beauty and magic of color are also characteristic of Debussy's orchestral writing. The very first symphonic work of the composer convinces us of this - "Afternoon of a Faun" , created in 1892-94. The reason for its writing was a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, which tells about the love experiences of the ancient Greek forest god faun against the backdrop of a sultry, intoxicating summer day.

Historically, this prelude is associated with the traditions of Liszt's symphonic poems. However, the signs of classical symphonism have almost disappeared: there is no dynamics of figurative comparisons, conflicting development, or thematic development. Instead, there is a subtle play of harmonic and orchestral colors, soft and pure. This is the transparent sound of the flute, then the oboe, English horn, and horns. The atmosphere of amorous yearning and captivating bliss is emphasized by the magical timbre of the harp and “antique” cymbals. The overall composition of the work is built as a series of timbre variations on the original flute theme (the pipe tune of a dreaming faun).

Refined, “delicate” watercolor tones dominate in other orchestral works by Debussy. They rarely feature massive sounds or super-powerful orchestral compositions (in this, Debussy’s scores differ sharply from Wagner’s). The composer willingly uses instrumental soli (“pure colors”), especially woodwind instruments, loves the harp, which goes well with wind instruments, celesta, pizzicato strings, and, when necessary, treats human voices as unique instruments (for example, in “Sirens”).

The juxtaposition of “pure” (not mixed) timbres in Debussy’s orchestra directly echoes the painting technique of impressionist artists.

The influence of the aesthetics of impressionism is found in Debussy and in the choice genres and forms. He did not need large-scale sonata forms to capture fleeting impressions. IN symphonic genres he gravitated towards the suite: these are "Nocturnes"(symphonic triptych of three orchestral pieces), "Sea"(program composition of three orchestral “sketches”), consisting of three pieces orchestral suite "Images". IN piano music Debussy's interest was turned to a cycle of miniatures, similar to peculiar moving landscapes. The forms in Debussy's music are difficult to reduce to classical compositional schemes, they are so unique. However, in his works the composer does not at all abandon the fundamental formative ideas. His instrumental compositions often come into contact with tripartiteness and variation.

At the same time, Debussy's art cannot be considered only as a musical analogy of impressionistic painting. He himself objected to being classified as an impressionist and never agreed with this term in relation to his music. He was not a fan of this movement in painting. The landscapes of Claude Monet seemed to him “too annoying” and “not mysterious enough.” The environment in which Debussy's personality was formed consisted mainly of symbolist poets who attended the famous "Tuesdays" of Stéphane Mallarmé. These are Paul Verlaine (on whose texts Debussy wrote numerous romances, among them the youthful “Mandolin”, two cycles of “Gallant Celebrations”, the cycle “Forgotten Ariettes”), Charles Baudelaire (romances, vocal poems), Pierre Louis (“Songs of Bilitis” ).

Debussy highly valued the poetry of the Symbolists. He was inspired by its inherent inner musicality, psychological subtext, and most importantly, interest in the world of refined fiction (“unknowable”, “inexpressible”, “elusive”). Under the cover of the bright picturesqueness of many of the composer’s works, one cannot help but notice symbolic generalizations. His soundscapes are always imbued with psychological overtones. For example, in “The Sea,” for all its pictorial expressiveness, an analogy with three stages suggests itself human life, starting with “dawn” and ending with “sunset”. There are many similar examples in the cycle “24 Preludes for Piano”.

Opera "Pelléas et Mélisande"

(Pelléas et Melisande)

Without Debussy's inner intimacy with artistic tradition symbolism would hardly have arisen opera masterpiece- “Pelleas and Mélisande”, the only operatic idea fully realized.

The composer became acquainted with the drama of the Belgian symbolist playwright Maurice Maeterlinck “Pelléas et Mélisande” in 1892. The play delighted him. It exactly corresponded to the ideal of drama that Debussy dreamed of; it seemed specially, “custom-made” created for him. It is known that the composer considered the ideal librettist to be one “who, without saying half, ... will create characters living and acting outside of any specific place and space.” All the characters in Maeterlinck’s play do not have any real “biography”. The setting is also emphatically conventional - a gloomy royal castle and its surroundings in an unknown country. This is a typically symbolist drama, woven from almost imperceptible strokes and hints, shunning everything clear, fully expressed, and distinguished by its exceptional subtlety in conveying moods.

French composer Debussy is often called the father of 20th century music. He showed that every sound, chord, tonality can be heard in a new way, can live a freer, more colorful life, enjoy its very sound, its gradual, mysterious dissolution into silence.

Claude Debussy was born on August 22, 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris. His father was a Marine and then co-owner of a pottery store. First lessons in playingpianoDebussy was given by Antoinette-Flora Mothe (mother-in-law of the poet Verlaine).

In 1873, Claude Debussy entered the Paris Conservatory, where he studied for 11 years with Marmontel (piano), Lavignac, Durand, Basil (music theory). In 1876 he composed his first romances based on poems by T. de Banville and Bourget.

From 1879 to 1882 Debussy conducted summer holidays How<домашний пианист>- first at the Chenonceau castle, and then at Nadezhda von Meck - in her houses and estates in Switzerland, Italy, Vienna, Russia. During these travels, new musical horizons opened up before him, and his acquaintance with the works of Russian composers of the St. Petersburg school turned out to be especially important.Young Debussyin love with the poetry of De Banville (1823-1891) and Verlaine, endowed with a restless mind and prone to experimentation (mainly in the field of harmony),enjoyed a reputation as a revolutionary. This did not prevent him from receiving the Rome Prize in 1884 for the cantata The Prodigal Son.

Debussy spent two years in Rome. There he became acquainted with the poetry of the Pre-Raphaelites and began to compose a poem for voice and orchestra, The Chosen Virgin, based on a text by G. Rossetti. He made deep impressions from his visits to Bayreuth, and Wagnerian influence was reflected in his vocal cycle Five Poems by Baudelaire. Among other hobbies young composer- exotic orchestras, Javanese and Annamite, which he heard at the Paris World Exhibition in 1889; the works of Mussorgsky, which at that time were gradually penetrating France; melodic ornamentation of Gregorian chant.

In 1890, Debussy began work on the opera Rodrigue et Ximena based on a libretto by Mendes, but two years later he left the work unfinished ( for a long time the manuscript was considered lost, then was found; The composition was instrumented by the Russian composer Denisov and staged in several theaters). Around the same time, the composer became a regular visitor to the circle of the symbolist poet S. Mallarmé and for the first time read Edgar Allan Poe, who became Debussy's favorite author. In 1893, he began composing an opera based on Maeterlinck's drama Pelléas et Mélisande, and a year later, inspired by Mallarmé's eclogue, he completed the symphonic prelude The Afternoon of a Faun.

Debussy was familiar with the main literary figures of this period from his youth; among his friends were the writers Louis, Gide and the Swiss linguist Gaudet. Impressionism in painting attracted his attention. The first concert entirely dedicated to the music of Debussy took place in 1894 in Brussels in an art gallery.<Свободная эстетика>- against the backdrop of new paintings by Renoir, Pissarro, Gauguin, ... In the same year, work began on three nocturnes for orchestra, which were originally conceived as a violin concerto for the famous virtuoso E. Ysaye. The author compared the first of the nocturnes (Clouds) with<живописным этюдом в серых тонах>.

Towards the end19th century works of Debussy, which were considered analogues of impressionism in fine arts and symbolism in poetry, embraced even more wide circle poetic and visual associations. Among the works of this period are the string quartet in G minor (1893), which reflected a passion for oriental modes, the vocal cycle Lyrical Prose (1892-1893) based on its own texts, Songs of Bilitis based on poems by P. Louis, inspired by pagan idealism Ancient Greece, as well as Ivnyak, an unfinished cycle for baritone and orchestra on poems by Rossetti.

In 1899, shortly after marrying fashion model Rosalie Texier, Debussy lost what little income he had: his publisher Artmann died. Burdened with debts, he still found the strength to finish Nocturnes in the same year, and in 1902 - the second edition of the five-act opera Pelleas and Melisande.

Delivered in Paris<Опера-комик>On April 30, 1902, Pelleas created a sensation. This work, remarkable in many respects (it combines deep poetry with psychological sophistication, the instrumentation and interpretation of vocal parts is striking in its novelty), was assessed as the greatest achievement in opera genre after Wagner. The next year brought the Prints cycle - a style characteristic of piano creativity Debussy.

In 1904, Debussy entered into a new family union - with Emma Bardac, which almost led to the suicide of Rosalie Texier and caused merciless publicity of some circumstances of the composer's personal life. However, this did not prevent the completion of Debussy’s best orchestral work - three symphonic sketches of the Sea (first performed in 1905), as well as the wonderful vocal cycles- Three songs of France (1904) and the second notebook of gallant festivities on poems by Verlaine (1904).

Throughout the rest of his life, Debussy had to struggle with illness and poverty, but he worked tirelessly and very fruitfully. From 1901, he began appearing in periodicals with witty reviews on the events of current musical life (after the death of Debussy, they were collected in the collection Monsieur Croche - antidilettante, published in 1921). Most of his piano works appeared during the same period.

Two series of Images (1905-1907) were followed by the Children's Corner suite (1906-1908), dedicated to the composer's daughterShushu(she was born in 1905, but Debussy was able to formalize his marriage to Emma Bardac only three years later).

Debussy made several concert trips to provide for his family. He conducted his works in England, Italy, Russia and other countries. Two notebooks of piano preludes (1910-1913) demonstrate the evolution of a distinctive<звукоизобразительного>writing, characteristic of the composer's piano style. In 1911, he wrote music for G. d'Annunzio's mystery The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian; the score was made based on his markings by the French composer and conductor A. Caplet.

In 1912, the orchestral cycle Images appeared. Debussy had long been attracted to ballet, and in 1913 he composed the music for the ballet Games, which was performed by the company<Русских сезонов>Sergei Diaghilev in Paris and London. In the same year, the composer began work on the children's ballet "Toy Box" - its instrumentation was completed by Kaple after the death of the author. This stormy creative activity was temporarily suspended by the First World War, but already in 1915 numerous piano works, including Twelve Etudes, dedicated to memory Chopin.

Debussy began a series of chamber sonatas, to a certain extent based on the style of French instrumental music 17th-18th centuries. He managed to complete three sonatas from this cycle: for cello and piano (1915), for flute, viola and harp (1915), for violin and piano (1917).Debussyreceived an order from G. Gatti-Casazza from<Метрополитен-опера> to the operabased on Edgar Poe's story "The Fall of the House of Usher"ond whichHestarted workstill in his youth.He still had enough strength to remake the opera libretto. March 26, 1918Claude Debussy died in Paris.

Music is precisely the art that is closest to nature... Only musicians have the advantage of capturing all the poetry of night and day, earth and sky, recreating their atmosphere and rhythmically conveying their immense pulsation.

Claude Debussy