"Beginning piano lessons at a very young age, Debussy's progress was so remarkable that he was able to enter the Paris Conservatory at the age of eleven. He remained at the Conservatory for over ten years, alternately claiming prizes and perplexing his teachers with his harmonic ideas. He won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1884, and by 1887 had begun attending the meetings of the Symbolist poets in Montmarte.

"Debussy's earliest works are mostly pieces for voice or piano solo, including the very popular piano piece Clair de lune. In 1894 he composed the orchestral tone poem Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, one of the seminal works in western music history. To convey the images and atmosphere of Mallarmé's poem "L'Après-midi d'un faune", Debussy employed a tonal palette of sighing and sensual diaphonous harmonies.

"Debussy remains well-known for his piano music, and his two books of piano Preludes contain much of his best writing.^"1