Rise to Success: Career Highlights of Claude Debussy

Discover the career path of Claude Debussy, from the first major opportunity to industry-changing achievements.

Achille-Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a highly influential French composer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While often labeled an Impressionist composer, a term he disliked, his innovative harmonies and textures significantly impacted modern music. Debussy's works are characterized by their evocative atmospheres and departure from traditional harmonic structures, solidifying his legacy as a pivotal figure in musical history.

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Full Timeline Career & Achievements

1901: Music critic of La Revue Blanche

For most of 1901, Debussy worked as the music critic of La Revue Blanche, adopting the pen name "Monsieur Croche".

1901: Sarabande from Pour le piano

In 1901, Debussy's Sarabande from Pour le piano showed that he knew Erik Satie's Trois Sarabandes.

1901: Pour le piano

In 1901, the suite Pour le piano (1894–1901) is, in Halford's view, one of the first examples of the mature Debussy as a composer for the piano: "a major landmark ... and an enlargement of the use of piano sonorities".

January 1902: Rehearsals for Pelléas et Mélisande began

In January 1902, rehearsals began at the Opéra-Comique for the opening of Pelléas et Mélisande, with Debussy attending almost daily for three months.

April 1902: Premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande

On 30 April 1902, Pelléas et Mélisande opened at the Opéra-Comique, and quickly became a success, making Debussy well-known.

1902: International fame with Pelléas et Mélisande

In 1902, Debussy achieved international fame at nearly 40 years old with his only completed opera, Pelléas et Mélisande.

1902: Pelléas et Mélisande Staged

In 1902, Pelléas et Mélisande (begun 1893, staged 1902) was staged.

1903: Publication of La mer

From 1903 to 1905, Debussy composed La mer as symphonic sketches.

1903: Estampes for piano

In 1903, Debussy wrote Estampes for piano (1903) gives impressions of exotic locations, with further echoes of the gamelan in its pentatonic structures.

1903: Republishing of Ariettes oubliées

In 1903, after Debussy had become well known, his Verlaine cycle, Ariettes oubliées, was successfully republished after initially making little impact.

1903: La mer

La mer was composed between 1903 and 1905. It is one of the major works for which Debussy is best known.

1904: Recordings with Mary Garden

In 1904, Debussy played the piano accompaniment for Mary Garden in recordings of four of his songs for the Compagnie française du Gramophone.

1904: Publication of orchestral score for Pelléas et Mélisande

In 1904, the full orchestral score for Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande was published.

October 1905: Premiere of La mer

In October 1905, La mer premiered in Paris with a mixed reception.

1905: Images

Between 1905 and 1912, Images was composed. The former follows the tripartite form established in the Nocturnes and La mer, but differs in employing traditional British and French folk tunes, and in making the central movement, "Ibéria", far longer than the outer ones, and subdividing it into three parts, all inspired by scenes from Spanish life.

1905: Publication of La mer

In 1905, Debussy published his symphonic sketches, La mer, which was his alternative to the classical symphony.

April 1909: Debussy conducts in London

In April 1909, Debussy conducted Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and the Nocturnes at the Queen's Hall in London.

1909: First book of Préludes

Between 1909–10 and 1911–13, Debussy composed two books of Préludes (1909–10, 1911–13), short pieces that depict a wide range of subjects.

1909: The Little Nigar

In 1909, Debussy wrote the piano piece The Little Nigar, featuring rag-time, evidencing his interest in the popular music of his time.

1910: La Danse de Puck

In 1910, Debussy composed La Danse de Puck (Book 1) for piano, drawing on Shakespeare for inspiration.

1910: Mahler conducts Debussy in New York

In 1910, Gustav Mahler conducted Debussy's Nocturnes and Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune in New York.

1911: Second book of Préludes

Between 1909–10 and 1911–13, Debussy composed two books of Préludes (1909–10, 1911–13), short pieces that depict a wide range of subjects.

1911: Le Martyre de saint Sébastien

In 1911, Le Martyre de saint Sébastien was originally a five-act musical play to a text by Gabriele D'Annunzio that took nearly five hours in performance, was not a success.

1912: Images

1912: Publication of Images

In 1912, Debussy published Images, an orchestral work.

1912: Commission of Jeux

In 1912, Sergei Diaghilev commissioned Debussy to compose a new ballet score, Jeux.

March 1913: Premiere of Jeux

In March 1913, Sergei Diaghilev presented the first performance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring which overshadowed the premiere of Debussy's Jeux which occurred two weeks prior.

1913: La boîte à joujoux

In 1913 the ballets La boîte à joujoux was left with the orchestration incomplete, and were completed by Caplet, respectively.

1913: Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C.

In 1913, Debussy composed Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C. (Book 2) for piano, drawing on Dickens for inspiration.

1913: Piano Rolls for Welte-Mignon

In 1913, Debussy made a set of piano rolls for the Welte-Mignon company, containing fourteen of his pieces.

1914: Work on set of six sonatas

In 1914 Debussy started work on a planned set of six sonatas for various instruments.

1915: En blanc et noir

In 1915, En blanc et noir (In white and black, 1915), a three-movement work for two pianos, is a predominantly sombre piece, reflecting the war and national danger. Also Debussy composed Études (1915) for piano and sonatas for cello and piano (1915), flute, viola and harp (1915).

September 1917: Debussy's final concert

On 14 September 1917, Debussy gave his final concert.

1917: Violin and piano

In 1917 the sonata for violin and piano was Debussy's last completed work.

1958: Rudolph Reti summarized six features of Debussy's music

In 1958, the critic Rudolph Reti summarised six features of Debussy's music, which he asserted "established a new concept of tonality in European music".

1983: Book published by Roy Howat

In 1983, the pianist and scholar Roy Howat published a book contending that certain of Debussy's works are proportioned using mathematical models, even while using an apparent classical structure such as sonata form.

1994: Book by Simon Trezise

In 1994, Simon Trezise finds the intrinsic evidence "remarkable" in his book Debussy: La Mer.

Debussy: La Mer (Cambridge Music Handbooks)

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2004: Study by Mark DeVoto on Debussy's early works

In 2004, Mark DeVoto commented in a study that Debussy's early works are harmonically no more adventurous than existing music by Fauré.

2007: Margery Halford's book on Debussy's piano works

In 2007, Margery Halford observed in a book about Debussy's piano works, that Two Arabesques (1888–1891) and "Rêverie" (1890) have "the fluidity and warmth of Debussy's later style" but are not harmonically innovative. Halford cites the popular "Clair de Lune" (1890), the third of the four movements of Suite Bergamasque, as a transitional work pointing towards the composer's mature style.