Debussy liberated Western music from the tyranny of vast orchestral masses and the German logic of harmony. Instead of thematic development — atmosphere; instead of tonal functions — coloristic chords; instead of clear melodies — sonic pictures.
His Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (1894), often called “the birth of 20th-century music,” opens with the famous flute solo that sounds like a dream under a blazing summer sky. La Mer (1905) — three symphonic pictures of the ocean. The opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) — a wholly new operatic language, without loud arias, with quiet, almost fairy-tale recitatives. The 24 piano preludes — miniature sonic canvases: The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, Footsteps in the Snow, The Submerged Cathedral. Debussy influenced the entire 20th century: Impressionists, Minimalists, jazz musicians (Bill Evans), and film composers.
