The Genius of Claude Debussy and Why I've Always Loved His Music

While trying to finish a term paper in the late 60s, I listened to a certain passage of The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian hundreds of times. It’s just part, I suppose, of my obsession with music.

Debussy and Ravel are often lumped together, but they are quite different. Ravel is a classicist and follows many 18^th century traditions. Debussy is the radical. Like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, he invented a new musical language.

He used whole-tones that he first heard in Balinese gamelans, used his pedals to make the piano sound like it is hidden or underwater. The band Art of Noise dedicated a cd to his musical genius a few years ago.

I read both volumes of Edward Lockspeiser’s biography of Debussy. I identified with the photo of Debussy that the composer had slashed. Self-loathing and the pain of existence, the struggle for beauty amidst the sordid details of life consumed me. I once was at a party at my French professor’s place, and a guy who was sullen and quiet suddenly walked over to the Bechstein grand and played the amazing Debussy miniature “The Engulfed Cathedral”. I was mesmerized and jealous that I couldn’t be like him.

I have been moving and it’s enervating stuff. Last night, to relax after unpacking yet more boxes, I put Claudio Arrau’s cd of Debussy

Preludes into the boombox, now my only cd player. I heard old familiar friends like “Feu d’Artifice” (fireworks). It was calming and reassuring. My love for Debussy’s music is alive and well.