Claude Achille Debussy (Germain en Laye 1862 - Paris).
In 1869 he began studying the piano with Italian Cerutti and at the age of 10 he entered the Paris Conservatory where he studied piano and composition.
After two attempts, in 1884 the young Claude Debussy gets the "Prix de Rome" with the cantata "L'Enfant Prodigue", a prize that allows him to come to Italy.
Claude Debussy's early work brings European music, fluidity and new colors. Famous are "La damoiselle Èlue" (1888) and "Cinq poémes de Baudelaire" (1889), where he feels the influence of Richard Wagner, "Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'un faune" (1892), i " Nocturnes "," Quartetto d'archi "(1893) and many songs and pieces inspired by Verlain's lyrics.
In 1905 Claude Debussy composed the three symphonic movements of the very famous "La mer", "De l'aube à midi sur la mer" (From dawn to noon on the sea), "Jeux des vagues" (Wave games) and " Dialogue du vent and de la mer "(dialogue of the wind and the sea).
Debussy wrote a lot of music for piano, orchestra and ballet using his particularly varied and imaginative style, light and serene or fast and pressing, following the emotions and images expressed.
Debussy expressed wonderfully the poetic, refined and decadent climate of the Belle Epoque, which ended with the First World War and which in France had developed towards the end of the last century, from Baudelaire onwards.
On 7 December 1915 Claud Debussy was operated on an intestinal tumor and died on 25 March 1918 in Paris.