Debussy

(d4-bus'-si), Claude Achille, compr. b. St. Germain, Paris, Aug 22, 1862. As pupil of Guiraud at Paris Cons, won Prix de Rome with cantata Uenfant prodigue; his La demoiselle due, setting of Ble ed Damosel for female chorus and oich, was refused as too modem in style, in later works for orch. Prelude to Uaprbsrmidi d*un faune, Nocturnes, Le mer, in pf. pieces, in many songs which well suit words by Verlaine, Baudelaire, etc., and in opera PeLUas et Milisande (Paris 1902, N. Y. 1907) he has continued to develop an original method whose purpose DELACOUR is to underline the emotion of the words (in the opera the voices carry continuous recitative above orchestral phrases), to hint mysteriously at elusive moods Technically his melodies are not remarkable in themselves; his “utterance is purely harmonic,” and ultra-modem, confined by no traditions, limited in its ceasele modulation by no established key-relations.