The composer

Debussy was in his late forties when he began Book I of his Préludes. Groundbreaking masterpieces such as Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894), Pelléas et Mélisande (1903) and La mer (1905) had long established him as a composer of extraordinary craft and invention, though his often acerbic criticism of others and reckless love life had tested the patience of friends and colleagues alike, often beyond repair. By the time he had completed Book II, in April 1913, Debussy’s life was heading into its last chapter – he died of cancer in war-torn Paris in March 1918, aged just 55.