Claude Debussy
Founder of musical Impressionism
Most quoted
"I am trying to achieve something new – realities, as it were, what imbeciles call 'impressionism,' a term which is as ill-applied as possible, particularly by art critics who do not hesitate to apply it to Turner, the finest creator of mysterious effects in the whole world of art."
— from Letter to Jacques Durand, 1908
"The sound of the sea, the curve of the horizon, the wind in the leaves, the cry of a bird, these stir within us a multitude of impressions. And suddenly, without any previous agreement, one of these memories rises to the surface and expresses itself in the language of music."
— from Various interviews and letters
"The sound of the sea, the curve of a horizon, wind in leaves, the cry of a bird leave manifold impressions in us. And suddenly, without our wishing it at all, one of these memories spills from us and finds expression in musical language."
— from 'Monsieur Croche the Dilettante Hater', 1913
All quotes by Claude Debussy (297)
The true masterpiece is the one that cannot be imitated.
The French are too fond of clarity. They are afraid of ambiguity.
The true genius is the one who can see what others cannot.
The French are too fond of order. They are afraid of chaos.
Music is the most emotional of all the arts.
The true artist is the one who can create something out of nothing.
The French are too fond of reason. They are afraid of intuition.
The true masterpiece is the one that touches the heart.
The French are too fond of the tangible. They are afraid of the intangible.
Music is the most universal of all the arts.
The true artist is the one who can make the invisible visible.
I love music passionately. And because I love it I try to free it from barren traditions that stifle it.
Some people wish above all to conform to the rules, I wish only to render what I can hear. There is no theory. You have only to listen.
Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our part.
Art is the most beautiful deception of all.
Music is the arithmetic of sounds as optics is the geometry of light.
I am more and more convinced that music is not, in essence, a thing which can be cast into a traditional and fixed form. It is made up of colors and rhythms.
The attraction of the virtuoso for the public is very like that of the circus for the crowd. There is always the hope that something dangerous will happen.
I have a horror of sentimentality, and I cannot forget that its name is Saint-Saëns.
Collecting facts is far less important than the use made of them.
Contemporaries of Claude Debussy
Other Musics born within 50 years of Claude Debussy (1862–1918).