Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

- “Master of Impressionism”
- 20th century French composer and one of the most prominent figures working within the field
of impressionist music
- Full name: Achilles-Claude Debussy
- Born: Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France; August 22, 1862
- Died: March 25, 1918 due to rectal cancer
- Parents: Manuel-Achille Debussy and Victorine Manoury
- he was the favorite son
- sent to the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 10 (1872)
- first documented musical experience: 1870-1871 during the visit of his aunt Clementine in
Cannes
- attended his first Conservatoire piano class: October 25, 1872, under Jean-Francois
Marmontel, highly regarded piano professor during 1848
- 1874; 3rd place for solfeggio and 2nd certificate of merit in the piano exam, playing Chopin’s F
minor piano concerto
- 1875; 2nd place for solfeggio and 1st certificate in playing Chopin’s Second Ballade
- 1876; 1st place in solfeggio
- winner of the 1884 Prix de Rome with his composition, L’enfant prodigue
- received a scholarship to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, which included a 4-year residence at
the Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome to further his studies (1885-1887)
- “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” was his orchestral height
- Other famous orchestral parts: La Mer, Nocturne and Images
- his string quartets are pleasing, practical difficulty is astounding
- his only opera, which is also famous: Pelleas et Melisande
- great compositions like the Engulfed Cathedral and Claire De Lune

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

-“Elegant Impressionist”
- 19th and early 20th century French composer of classical music
- France’s most popular composer
- Full name: Joseph-Maurice Ravel
- Born: Ciboure, France; March 7, 1875 (10:00pm)
- Died: December 28, 1937 at the age of 62 in Paris
- Parents: Marie Delourat and Joseph Ravel, Basque mother and Swiss father
- baptized in a Catholic ceremony in local parish church of Saint Vincent
- after 3 months, his family moved to Paris
- his deepest emotional tie: mother
- earliest memories of music with his mother: Spanish folk melodies she sung; he inherited a
love of Basque Country
- 1882; after his 7th birthday, took his first piano lesson under Henry Ghys, who observed his
young pupil to be “intelligent” and gave him his first lesson in harmony, counterpoint and
composition.
- his earliest essays were several pieces for the piano: variations on a chorale by Schumann, the
movement of a sonata and variations on a theme from Grieg’s Peer Gynt.
- June 2, 1889; performed an excerpt from Moscheles’s Third Concerto which is his first public
performance
- career in Paris Conservatoire began on November 4, 1889 when 6 of the faculty members
made an unanimous decision to accept Ravel in the preparatory piano division; his audition
piece was an excerpt from the Chopin Concerto.
- although he was not outstanding in terms of technique and interpretation, he promised and
enrolled to Eugene Antiome
- In the piano competition held July 10, 1890, he was awarded 2nd place making his initial year
at the Conservatoire successful.
- July 1891; his performance of Schumann’s Sonata won grand prize
- famous works: Bolero, La valse, Ma mère l’oie and Miroirs