Aesthetic Reverberations across the Arts: Exploring the Life and Music of Claude Debussy —Arts Speak Series

In spite of his reputation as a radical trailblazer, Claude Debussy was a man very much of his time who was keenly receptive to aesthetic ideas that were being explored by contemporary poets, artists, and other composers. He once told an American journalist, “I am called a revolutionary, but I haven’t invented anything. (...) There is nothing new in art.” Nevertheless, Debussy’s unique musical language and artistic expression were the result of his deep assimilation and combination of diverse influences.

Tracing his growth from representative early compositions to his mature works, we will encounter some of the most important friends and patrons, fellow composers, writers, visual artists, and aesthetic ideas that shaped Debussy throughout his life. As these connections were constantly in flux, so too were the composer’s musical responses to them. He believed in music’s power to evoke thoughts, sensations, and ideas, and his personal musical experiments along these lines altered the course of music composition for the next century.