The great French composer Claude Debussy was consumed with the idea of creating a new sound in music for the twentieth century. “The age of airplanes” he famously said “should have its’ own music”. Rather than throw out the older systems of harmony all together, as Arnold Schoenberg would later try to do, Debussy looked to music from other parts of the world for inspiration.

 

Debussy heard a traditional percussion ensemble from Indonesia, called a Gamelan, perform in Paris in 1889, and he was so struck by the sound of it that he immediately began trying to imitate it on the piano. This, and other exposures to what we now called “world” music, led to Debussy developing a new style of music, which came to be called “Impressionism”.

 

Debussy is probably best known for his piano music, but he also wrote operas, ballets and pieces for orchestra.