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Claude Debussy broke radically with his entire milieu. While Massenet, Saint-Saëns and Vincent d’Indy were slowly winding up the 19th century, Debussy launched the 20th. The things that were once forbidden became the cornerstone of his style.

His music is innovative and opens up unimagined new worlds of sound. His audiences, especially those who were used mainly to the pre-1914 era ‘light’ music, found his melodies, harmonies and developments surprising and even a bit disconcerting.

Today, Debussy is considered an “absolute genius”: an impressionistic, highly independent composer who found a new musical language in which to express new sentiments and awaken emotions never before experienced. His Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian was initially intended as a great mystery play lasting some 5 hours. But Debussy gradually purified his theatrical music until all that remained was a symphonic version, liberated from the weight of its theatrical baggage.