Google Doodle celebrates composer Claude Debussy’s 151st birthday

PanARMENIAN.Net - Google has marked the 151st anniversary of the birth of French composer Claude Debussy with a musical doodle, The Independent said.

The works of Achille-Claude Debussy were considered a seminal force in the classical music of the 20th Century. His highly influential and original system of harmony and musical structure made him one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music.

Debussy was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, 22 August 1862, the eldest of five children. His father owned a shop that sold crockery and his mother was a seamstress.

By the age of nine the young Debussy was already showing promise as a pianist. He was encouraged in his studies by Madame Mauté de Fleurville, who claimed to have studied with Polish composer Frédéric Chopin.

In 1873 he entered the Paris Conservatory where he studied piano and composition. In 1884, at just 22 years of age, he won the Grand Prix de Rome with his cantata L’Enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Child).

The compositions of the middle period of his life were heavily influenced by the work of the German composer Richard Wagner. This is particularly notable in in La damoiselle élue and the 1889 piece Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire.

Debussy died of rectal cancer at his Paris home on 25 March 1918.

The Google Doodle marking his birth features a moonlight riverside scene with flashing streets lights, a windmill and various vehicles including boats, bicycles, cars and balloons.

As the scene progresses to the sound of Clair de lune in the background rain begins to fall on the river. The scene ends with two people in different boats sharing a red umbrella.