Claude DEBUSSY (de-bu-SEE) from France is said to have started the Modern Period with his impressionist style. He creates beauty with impressions rather than with clear images. His melodies create dreamy, misty feelings, like looking at a scene through a fog or in the moonlight. If possible, listen to all of Clair de lune while you look at a Monet painting. You will understand impressionism better by listening and looking than by reading.

Debussy was a wonderful pianist who wrote most of his music for the piano. He was known as a musical rebel. He irritated his teachers with the new sounds he produced. He searched for new chords and new scales; he initiated the "whole tone" scale. If you have a piano, start on any key and play every other key (don't forget the black keys) until you decide to stop. You will see how Debussy produced a harp-like sound of misty, moonlight magic. He flunked his music composition course! His teachers certainly didn't expect him to become a famous composer.

Debussy was also a masterful composer for the orchestra. He used innovative combinations of instruments to achieve his delicate sounds. In recordings of his music you will hear the muted horn, the harp glissando, a lonely oboe, and divided string sections over big chords.

Debussy wrote music for his only daughter, known as Chouchou. He composed a children's ballet for her, La Boïte á joujoux (The Box of Toys), and a suite for the piano called, The Children's Corner. He used English titles for the entire work to suggest an English governess caring for a French child.

There are six sections:

Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum - a child struggling with piano exercises

Jimbo's Lullaby - Jimbo being a toy elephant

Serenade of the Doll

The Snow is Dancing

The Little Shepherd

Golliwogg's Cakewalk - with strutting rhythms of the popular American cakewalk