Customer Reviews

The Life of Debussy (Musical Lives)

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C. Debussy seems to have led a tortured and beleaguered life. His ideas regarding music were in conflict with the French music establishment. This created problems for him both professionally and personally. Financially, he struggled all of his life. Coming from rather humble beginnings, C. Debussy had a particular vision of music early in his career. He was blunt and identified with the impressionistic painters as well as the symbolist poets. These artists were to become popular much later. Debussy died young at the age of 55 of cancer. This biography is a little choppy in it writing style, but it does offer many examples of his ideas on many subjects.

This is unfortunately, a 'too' concise biography of Debussy which never really gives a sense of what the man was like, or the impact of his music on the twentieth century. A disappointment after a good experience with another book in the Cambridge music series.

It is unfortunate that there is not more available on Debussy in English. This book, at only 167 pages (including pictures) hardly does him justice. Because it is so short, the book jumps from topic to topic at an alarming pace, hardly giving any details. The author's convoluted writing style does not help matters either. Unlike many other musical (or otherwise) biographies I've read, this one did not leave me satisfied. Hopefully the out-of-print book department will have something more complete on Debussy.