Claude Debussy was one of the major composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also a prominent pianist, conductor, and orchestral arranger. His compositions are marked by his innovative use of chromaticism. "His music is marked by a distinctive lyrical quality, owing much to his studies with Jules Massenet." Claude Debussy was born in France on 22 February 1862
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He was the only child of Anna Frédéric Debussy (1820–1906), an opera singer, and Auguste-Louis Debussy (1823–1888), a Parisian dentist. In 1863, his family moved to Paris, where he attended primary school at La Salpetrière. In 1872, aged only twelve, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied under François Bizet and won a Premier Prix de Rome for composition in 1878.
After graduating from the Conservatoire in 1881, Debussy left for Italy to study piano with Ferdinando Paër and composition under Antonio Sacchini.