What does Debussy mean by impressionist music? What are his masterpieces?

Claude Debussy (1862- 19 18) was born in a small town near Paris. At the age of ten, he entered the Paris Conservatory of Music. At the age of eighteen, he met Nadezhda von Meek, a rich Russian woman, and played the piano for her palace in summer, which aroused his lifelong interest in Russian music. At the age of 22, he won the Rome Prize and went to Italy. Less than three years later, he returned to his beloved Paris. 1889, he heard Indonesian Gameland music for the first time at an international exposition in Paris, and was deeply impressed. He has many friends in the fields of art, criticism and literature. Inspired and influenced by them, he created impressionist music. 19 18 died of cancer.

Debussy used music to express what his painters and poets pursued, such as wandering modality and vague atmosphere, as well as inspiration from many themes of literature and poetry. Many of his works can give people a vague imagination from the titles, such as the sea, moonlight, sunken churches, clouds and so on. However, his works are different from the opening songs of19th century. They don't want to express deep feelings, and they don't want to tell any plots or stories. Instead, they describe a modality, a fleeting mood and atmosphere. In terms of musical techniques, his creation mainly expresses these forms and impressions through harmony and color, not melody and form.

Although his works are few in number, they include piano, band, chamber music, vocal music and other genres, including some classics. For example, Prelude to the Afternoon Orchestral Music of Faun (1894), opera perris and Melisand (1902, adapted from Malarme's poem), piano engraving (1903) and two-volume piano prelude (1903). The band's work The Sea (1905) uses a large number of parallel chords of fifth, third or even seventh and ninth degrees, and its color movement replaces harmony. Sometimes flute, harp and other musical instruments play five notes in their works, which reminds people of the influence of Gameland music.

His piano creation can be compared with Chopin's position in19th century. He further explored the expressive force of the piano, such as the contrast between high and low areas, the confusion and overtones caused by pedals, etc. Among them, Garden in the Rain (1903) and Reflection in the Water (1905) are impressionist piano music.