Composer of the Week: Debussy

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Composer of the Week

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Composer of the Week - Brand

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): Lily Texier

Lily Texier

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Lily Texier

Donald Macleod follows events leading to Debussy's determined pursuit of  Lily Texier.

Donald Macleod follows the chain of events that result in the exit of Debussy's companion of eight years, Gabrielle Dupont, and the advent of her replacement Lily Texier.

Donald Macleod explores Debussy's life in his thirties, a challenging period both personally and musically.  Today Donald follows the chain of events that result in the exit of Debussy's companion of eight years, Gabrielle Dupont, and the advent of her replacement in Debussy's affections, Lily Texier.

One of the 20th century's most original minds, the French composer Claude Debussy has had a profound influence on the course of music. Born in 1862, his precocious talent gained him admittance to the prestigious Paris Conservatoire as a ten-year-old, one of the youngest pupils in the piano class. There were soon indications of his independence of mind. His student years are littered with reports which, while recognising his gifts also found him to be careless and scatterbrained. Debussy found it difficult to focus on his lessons because he felt frustrated with the rules of composition he was told to follow. He wanted to express himself differently, and if he broke the rules to achieve that, well, in his view, so be it.

This week Donald Macleod begins his stories at the point in Debussy's life where, the young man has dispensed with institutional restrictions. He was free to choose his own path. No more rules, no more regulations. There were still some practical considerations he would have to factor in to his plans. Having fulfilled, for the main, the requirements of the Prix de Rome, he needed to make a professional name for himself, and most urgently, earn some money! All in all, it would prove to be a difficult decade.

At the age of thirty-five Debussy began to feel he should get married. At the time he was preoccupied with his opera Pelléas et Mélisande. When he was introduced to Lily Texier, a model with long blonde hair, it seems he might have met a real life counterpart to the Mélisande of his imagination. 

Pelléas et Mélisande, Act 1 excerpt   
Une forêt 	
Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth, conductor 

Pelléas et Mélisande, Act 1, sc 3   
Il fait sombre dans les jardins.
Vannina Santoni, soprano, Mélisande
Julien Behr, tenor, Pelléas
Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth, conductor 	

Trois Nocturnes 
II: Fêtes  
Berlin Philharmonic
Claudio Abbado, conductor 	
 
Lindaraja for 2 pianos
Alfons Kontarsky
Aloys Kontarsky   

Pelléas et Mélisande, Act 3, Sc 1   
Une des tours du château - Mes longs cheveux descendent   
Oh ! Oh ! Qu'est-ce que c'est 
Laisse-moi ! Laisse-moi relever la tete
Vannina Santoni, soprano, Mélisande
Julien Behr, tenor, Pelléas
Alexandre Duhamel, baritone, Golaud 
Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth, conductor 

Hommage à Rameau (No. 2 from Images pour piano - Book 1)  
Vikingur Ólaffson, piano 

Rapsodie  orch. Roger Ducasse
Alexandre Doisy, saxophone 
Lyon National Orchestra
Jun Märkl

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

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Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Claude Debussy.

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