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)
I am not a modern composer because my music is meant to be beautiful.
I have no faith in the supremacy of the C major scale.
The musician should be, before all, a good poet.
Music begins where words end.
I am a slave to my 'moods'.
The crowd demands the sensational; the artist should offer them the beautiful.
I am not trying to write music that is 'pretty'. I am trying to write music that is true.
One must drown the sense of key.
The music I desire must be supple enough to adapt itself to the lyrical effusions of the soul and the fantasy of dreams.
I am more and more convinced that music, by its very nature, is something that cannot be cast into a traditional and fixed form.
The symphonic poem is the cinematograph of music.
I am making mysterious Nature my religion.
There is nothing more futile than talking about music.
I am not trying to be original. I am trying to be myself.
The greatest disservice one can do to an artist is to try to turn him into a saint.
I am a man of the north, but the sun of the south has burned my soul.
The only thing I desire is to be free, completely free, in my artistic expression.
Contemporaries of Claude Debussy
Other Musics born within 50 years of Claude Debussy (1862–1918).