1918: Achille-Claude Debussy-- The Imaginative World Is The Only Real World

When we explore 1918, the first name came into my mind is Debussy. He had cancer and died in 1918 when Germany invaded Paris. It is difficult for me to describe his life in simple words, but it’s my pleasure to express my respect here with a brief introduction.

Debussy was represented by the impressionist music, although he did not agree or even tried to distance himself from the title. Some writers like E. Robert Schmitz, Cecil Gray, also thought that Debussy was a "symbolist" rather than an "impressionist". The new Groff music dictionary also wrote that it was not accurate to call Debussy's music aesthetics "impressionism". But we have to say that impressionism efficiently and effectively influenced Debussy's style. As we all know that impressionist painters focused on the changes of light and color, they expressed their love for life and nature in ordinary subjects. While the impressionism music was a pioneer of music in the 20th century. Before World War I, it was produced under the influence of Impressionism in literature and painting. Debussy’s music was also retained as a new music style by the advent of Spring Symphonies. During World War I, he wrote some works of sympathy for the suffering people, and the style of creation changed.

(“Impression, Sunrise” by Claude Monet 1872.)

His music was completely different from other musicians, and he didn't often use the major and minor scales used in traditional classical music. Sometimes he would go back to the quaint old tunes of the early church music. Debussy's favorite scale had six tones and no half-tone, so his melody was distinctive from any past music. His chords were even weirder. He built his unique "dream world" by using his favorite diatonic scale, as he said, “The imaginative world is the only real world”.

In his works, we can't see the rigorous structure, profound thinking, and logic of classical music, not to mention the rich emotions of romanticism music. Instead, his music was a strange mixture of fantasy, vagueness, and sensuality. His harmony is exquisite and complicated, and the device is novel and rich in color. The melody was slightly aloof and erratic, which was not available in classical music and romanticism music.

Debussy's music has epoch-making significance. In particular, his unique "impressionism" style had a direct impact on modern music in the twentieth century. Therefore, Debussy is often regarded as the creation of modern music in the twentieth century.

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