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Debussy 100 on BBC Radio 3

25 March 2018 is the centenary of Claude Debussy's death. BBC Radio 3 marks the anniversary with a host of programmes, features and concerts dedicated to the composer and his beautiful music.

Debussy the Impressionist?
Tom Service argues that Debussy was in fact a modernist, an abstract composer and, in his opera Pelléas et Mélisande, a creator of nightmares.
The Listening Service | Download the podcast now

Debussy and Rameau
Hannah French asks what it was about Rameau that inspired Debussy's Hommage à Rameau.
The Early Music Show | 2pm, 18 March

Claude Debussy: the musician and the man
Donald Macleod charts the development of Debussy's career against the background of his turbulent personal life.
Composer of the Week | 13:00-14:00 |19-23 March inclusive

Beautiful music from LSO St Luke's Debussy Series
Works by two “anniversary” composers, Claude Debussy and Ildebrando Pizzetti, who died 100 and 50 years ago respectively.
Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert | 2-3pm, 20-23 March inclusive

Why did Debussy hate the saxophone?
The composer’s first attempt at composing for sax didn’t exactly prove his finest hour. Eleanor Barraclough finds out why.
Essential Classics | 9am to 12pm, 23 March

'I fell in love with classical music because of Debussy'
Author Kate Mosse made Debussy a central presence in her 2006 novel, Sepulchre. She talks to Suzy Klein about her love for Debussy's music and her admiration of his genius.
Essential Classics | 9am to 12pm, 23 March

Debussy-fest(s)
Live from The Mailbox, Birmingham, Katie Derham introduces guests from Debussy festivals running this weekend in Birmingham and London, including conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, soprano Omo Bello and pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.
In Tune | 5pm, 23 March

A mélange of music from the Paris of Debussy’s lifetime
A musical journey through the Belle Époque, beginning and ending with Debussy and incorporating music by Saint-Saëns, Lehár, Hahn, Charpentier, Satie and Lili Boulanger.
In Tune Mixtape | 7pm, 23 March

Nocturnes and La Mer – live
Debussy’s Nocturnes and La Mer are paired with works by Mozart and Messiaen in a stunning live concert from BBC National Orchestra of Wales with soloist Steven Osborne.
Radio 3 in Concert | 7.30pm, 23 March

Gorgeous Debussy piano music
Andrew McGregor is joined by pianist Iain Burnside to discuss Book 1 of Debussy's Piano Preludes, written in a matter of months between 1909 and 1910.
Record Review | 9am, 24 March

New perspectives on Debussy
Tom Service meets the authors of two recent Debussy books, Catherine Kautsky and Stephen Walsh, and researchers from "Debussy Perspectives, 1918-2018' at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Music Matters | 12.15pm, 24 March

Debussy’s contemporaries
Yan Pascal Tortelier introduces music from the Parisian Belle Époque by Maurice Ravel, Paul Dukas, Florent Schmitt, Jacques Offenbach, Camille Saint-Saëns and Lili Boulanger.
Saturday Classics | 1pm, 24 March

A thirst for the exotic
Matthew Sweet explores 19th-century Paris’s spirit of decadence with music and poetry performed by the Nash Ensemble with French actress Lesley Caron.
Invocation to Pan | 3pm, 24 March

Debussy and Jazz
Julian Joseph presents Gwilym Simcock's jazz-influenced version of Debussy's Children's Corner Suite, especially arranged for piano, saxophone and string quartet.
Jazz Line Up | 5pm, 24 March

A night at the opera
Tom Service presents a performance of Debussy's 1902 opera Pelléas et Mélisande, with Olga Bezsmertna and Adrian Eröd in the title roles.
Opera on 3 | 6.30pm, 24 March

Inspired by Debussy
Kate Molleson presents works by Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail and Linda Catlin Smith.
Hear and Now | 10pm, 24 March

Georgia Mann travels to Paris to recreate the heady world of the Belle Époque

Discover much, much more about Debussy with this collection of audio from the BBC Radio 3 archive.