Claude Debussy - “Music is the space between the notes.”
French composer, Claude Debussy, was born in 1862 to a china shop owner and a seamstress in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. From a very young age, Debussy showed a strong resistance to traditional musical expectations. Known, to his dismay, as the impressionist composer, Debussy created pieces that was fluid and free-form. I cannot think of a better description of his music than impressionist. It just captures his most famous work, Clair de Lune, perfectly!
Debussy had a strong love of Eastern music, incorporating exotic scales and non-Western harmonies into his works. This made his work standout, but it also made him less popular with his instructors at the conservatory. I think we can all agree that he was on to something! Sadly, Claude Debussy died of colon cancer while the world was at war in 1918.