Debussy

One of the most notable composers to venture away from the Germanic style of writing is Claude Debussy. He would not go for “normal” ideas of the time. A lot of his music is influenced by eastern styles as well. At this time globalization was becoming a bigger idea and people could travel much easier. In 1889 he experienced the Javanese Gamelan at the International Exposition. He then transferred the sounds he heard from the gamelan ensemble into his own piano works. The music for this ensemble is largely based on the pentatonic scale. Debussy also used the pentatonic scale, and the whole tone scale, in much of his compositions. These different components can be heard in many of his pieces, such as Images, L’isle joyeuse, and his collection of Preludes.

Another interesting thing that Debussy did, which could be considered to have been abnormal, was the style that he wrote his etudes. For example, les cinq doigts begins with a simple Hanon like exercise, with other notes added in to interupt it. He turns a tedious execise into a humerous etude.