Claude-Achille Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music, though he himself disliked the term when applied to his compositions. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in his native France in 1903. Debussy was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and chromaticism influenced many composers who followed
Petite Suite for Piano 4-hands (1886-89)
I – En Bateau 0:00
II – Cortège 3:11
III – Menuet 6:15
IV – Ballet 9:08
Anastasia Gromoglasova (primo) and Liubov Gromoglasova (secondo) performing at their duo recital at the Small hall of the Moscow Conservatoire.
The suite, which was composed from 1886 to 1889, was first performed on 2 February 1889 by Debussy and pianist–publisher Jacques Durand at a salon in Paris. It may have been written due to a request – possibly from Durand – for a piece that would be accessible to skilled amateurs, as its simplicity is in stark contrast with the modernist works that Debussy was writing at the time.
The first two movements are settings of poems from the volume Fêtes galantes by Paul Verlaine
