Composer of the Week: Debussy

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Claude Debussy (1862-1918): A New World Dawns

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

A New World Dawns

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Claude Debussy (1862-1918), A New World Dawns

Donald Macleod looks at the one time in Debussy's life when he was settled in domesticity.

Donald Macleod looks at the time in Debussy's life when he was settled into domesticity, but with invitations to conduct abroad, he was away from his family more than he wanted.

Donald Macleod explores Debussy's contented domestic life in the years leading up to the First World War.

In the week of the centenary of the composer's death, Donald Macleod looks at the development of Debussy's career against the background of his turbulent personal life. 'At every crossroads in Debussy's life there was a woman', wrote his biographer Marcel Dietschy, and this week we meet them: from Mme Vasnier, the married singer with whom he conducted an affair during his early years as a struggling composer in Paris and Rome, to the bohemian Gaby Dupont, and his first wife Lily - who attempted suicide when Debussy left her for Emma Bardac. He would settle happily with Emma for the rest of his life, and in his prime, touring internationally as a conductor, wrote to her and their beloved daughter Chouchou, expressing his longing for home.

"Several days ago I became the father of a little girl. The joy of it has overwhelmed me a bit and still frightens me" wrote Debussy to a friend in 1905. Donald Macleod looks at the only period of Debussy's life when he was happily settled into domesticity, but, accepting invitations to conduct abroad to earn a better income, was taken away from his family more than he wanted. 

Serenade for the Doll
Noriko Ogawa, piano 

Poissons d'or (Images for piano Set 2)
Marc-Andre Hamelin, piano

Rondes de Printemps (Images)
London Symphony Orchestra; Pierre Monteux, conductor

La plus que lente 
San Francisco Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

Trois Poemes de Stéphane Mallarmé
Lorna Anderson, soprano; Malcolm Martineau, piano

Jeux
Hallé Orchestra; Mark Elder (cond).

Composer of the Week: Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod looks at Debussy's career against his turbulent personal life.

Donald Macleod looks at the development of Debussy's career against the background of his turbulent personal life.

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Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

A New World Dawns

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