14 Debussy Quotes for You to Enjoy

I loved Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, anything with romantic melodies, especially the nocturnes. Nietzsche was a hero, especially with 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra.' He gets a bad rap; he's very misunderstood. He's a maker of individuals, and he was a teacher of teachers. Joni Mitchell

For me, Debussy is the door to all 20th-century music. Ryuichi Sakamoto

Music Me Debussy Door

Century-old records are the closest thing we have to a time machine. To listen to the voice of Theodore Roosevelt or the piano playing of Claude Debussy is to feel the years falling away like autumn leaves from a maple tree. Terry Teachout

Time Autumn Tree Machine Voice Records Piano Feel Like Leaves Falling Years Debussy Closest Listen Closest Thing Roosevelt Theodore Theodore Roosevelt Maple Away Thing Playing

Debussy is one of the few composers who actually created a new sound on the piano - or perhaps we should say a new smell, so perfumed are the vibrations which emanate from the instrument. Stephen Hough

Smell Few Say Emanate Composers Piano New Perhaps Instrument Sound Debussy Vibrations Which Created Should Who Actually

No two composers were more totally at home in front of the piano than Debussy and Chopin, hands to keys to strings to sound waves to pen and paper in one perfect gesture of inspiration. Stephen Hough

They both changed the way we hear the sound of the piano, both of them inventors of sonority: Chopin took bel canto singing lines and reproduced them on the keyboard above richly upholstered counterpoint; Debussy somehow preserved vibrations in the air, blending their ephemeral magic into music that reaches far back into deep memory. Stephen Hough

Music Memory Singing Preserved Changed Keyboard Took Back Air Way Magic Somehow Above Both Inventors Piano Counterpoint Blending Sound Hear Lines Debussy Vibrations Them Ephemeral Far Chopin Deep

My mother was a very talented pianist, and she was a music teacher who hated to teach music, actually, but she loved to play, so I was brought up with Chopin, Debussy and Mozart. Peter C. Doherty

Teacher Music Mother Hated Brought Pianist Talented She Up Very Debussy Loved Mozart Teach Who Chopin Play Actually

For ten years, I went to piano lessons. I don't think I'm a very musical person, and the theory quite defeated me, but I had a freak aptitude for Debussy and Ravel. Ronald Frame

Me Think Musical Aptitude Freak Ten Ten Years Piano Piano Lessons Ravel Had Years Very Debussy Person Quite Theory Lessons Defeated

For me, playing music while I write is important. Several of the romantic scenes in 'Paris' were written with Debussy's 'String Quartet,' his 'L'Apres-midi d'une Faune,' or Canteloube's 'Songs of the Auvergne' playing in the background. Edward Rutherfurd

Music Me Important String String Quartet Background Several Paris Scenes Write Songs Written Quartet Were His Debussy Romantic While Playing

I have no doubt that there are great people about though... the thing of it is, nothing to this day moves me like classical music (Debussy, Vaughn Williams). Gary Lucas

Music Day Great Me People Nothing Doubt Though Williams No Doubt Classical About Classical Music Great People Like Debussy Moves Thing

Although I am basically self taught, I consider Debussy my teacher - the most important elements are colour, light and shadow. Toru Takemitsu

Teacher Music Light Important Consider Shadow Colour Self Most Although Am Self-Taught Debussy Taught The Most Important Elements Basically