Debussy is one of the most influential composers of the 20^th century, with his innovations in harmony, tone colour, orchestration and rhythm advancing the fluidity of Western music and even influencing film music and jazz. Inspired by socialising with Impressionist poets and painters, Debussy became the founder of the Impressionist school of music. Impressionists are concerned with giving an impression of something, an outline, rather than a precise definition and thus avoid the direct, conventional and blatant way of description. An encounter with a Javanese Gamelan orchestra at the world fair in Paris (1889) exposed Debussy to pentatonic scales and unusual melodies and rhythm. This meeting is said to have further inspired Debussy to pursue his new techniques of orchestration and composition, and his approach may be best summed up by a comment to one of his students: Collect impressions. Don't be in a hurry to write them down. Because that's something music can do better than painting: it can centralise variations of colour and light within a single picture - a truth generally ignored, obvious as it is .

Debussy wrote many famous works that will be familiar to you probably not by title, but by their melodies. Some of these include: Ibéria, Préludes (I and II), Images (I and II), Children's Corner and Suite Bergamasque.