"Some people wish above all to conform to the rules， I wish only to render what I can hear."
“有的人首先希望遵循規則，而我隻希望表達耳中所聞。”
Some people callClaudeDebussy amusical Impressionist1， comparing his music with the paintings of Monet2 and Renoir3. Others speak of him as a musical Symbolist4， using sounds to stir feelings and sensations in the listener's mind in much the same way as Symbolists poets， such as Baudelaire5 and Verlaine6， used words and phrases.Regardless of how one interprets Debussy's music， it undeniably has a subtle and a magical power over the imagination.
Claude Debussy was born on August 22， 1862， at St. Germain-en-Laye， France. He had hisfirst piano lesson at the age of 9. In 1873， Debussy entered the Paris Conservatory7，where he studied piano with Antoine Francois Marmontel and composition with Ernest Guiraud.Debussy was a brilliant student there， where he won the highest prizes for composition-including the Prix de Rome for his cantata8L'Enfant prodique. He was also a rebel and would often alarm his professors by sitting at the piano and playing chords that broke every textbook rule. What he was beginning to do was searching for a new musical language， and slowly but surely he found it.
He wrote for the piano as no one before him had ever dreamed of： Sometimes the notes were bunched together， while other times they were laced at the ends of the keyboard； and pedals were used to make notes and harmonies shift and blend. He found inspiration in the same images as those that attracted the French Impressionist painters - clouds， rain， wind， water， sunlight， and shadow. The result was a new and magical world of sound that inspired several generations of classical and jazz musicians.
By the time he was 18， during his summer vacations， the young Debussy was much in demand as a pianist at fashionable gatherings. Eventually his name reached the ears of the Russian socialite Madame Nadezhda yon Meck， patron of Tchaikovsky9， and the talented rebel joined her musical circle for a while.
From 1887 on， Debussy confined his activity to10 composition， rarely appearing in public as a performer. Although he associated little with musicians， he enjoyed the company of the leading impressionist poets and painters who gathered at the home of the poet Stephane Mallarme11. Their influence is felt in Debussy's first important orchestral work，Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun(1892~1894)， inspired by Mallarme's poem，L'A-pres-midi d'un Faune.This work established the style of impressionist music and initiated Debussy's most productive period， which lasted nearly 20 years. During that time he composed the orchestral suites12 Nocturnes(1893~1899)，La Mer(1903~1905)，and Images(1906~1909)；most of his piano music， including the two books of Preludes(1910~1913)； the incidental music13 to The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian(1911)； the ballet Jeux(1912)； a number of songs and some chamber music14； and his one completed opera， Pelleas et Melisande(1892~1902)，based on Maurice Maeterlinck's15 drama.
Debussy had a history of stormy relationships with women. In 1889，Debussy had begun a nine-year affair with Gabrielle Dupont. The partnership was punctuated with scandals， including a period when Debussy became engaged to the singer The Roger， as well as a suicide attempt by Gabrielle. Debussy married Lily Texier in 1899， but left her for Emma Bardac， wife of a Parisian banker after five years.As a result，Lily attempted suicide.However，it seems the arrival of Chou-Chou，his daughter with Emma， in 1905， had a settling effect on Debussy. He and Emma married in 1908 and stayed together for the remaining ten years of his life.
Debussy reached his musical maturity during the closing years of the 19th century， when the Late Romantic period of Liszt16 and Wagner17 was coming to an end and many composers were looking for new musical paths to take. He took his inspiration from many artistic sources； Wagner's music， the art and music of the Orient， Impressionist painters such as Degas18， poetry， and the sinuous lines and pastel shades of contemporary Art Nouveau. From these sources， he forged a musical style that is both original in its harmonies， rhythms， and musical tones， and often quietly beautiful.
Debussy's style was one of the most important influences on 20th-century music. As a student he refused to submit to the rules of traditional musical theory. Later he stated， "There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law." He rejected the overblown forms and the harmonic style of the post-Wagnerians such as Gustav Mahler19 and Richard Strauss20. He preferred understated effects similar to those achieved by the French impressionist painters and poets.Pelleas et Melisande， the most significant impressionist opera， has been called a masterpiece of understatement. He wanted his music to sound improvisatory， as though it had not been written down. Many of his compositions are miniatures， such as the 24 piano preludes， which often have fanciful titles such as What the West Wind Saw，Dead Leaves， and Sounds and Scents Revolve in the Evening Air. Debussy's piano music is the most important since Chopin's21. He created a subtle pianistic style that made new demands on performing technique， and the shifting， blurred sonorities22 of the style were achieved by a new use of the damper pedal23 . His best-known composition is probably Clair de Lune(Moonlight) from Suite Bergamasque (1890~1905) for piano.