Achille-Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was associated with the Impressionist movement, though he rejected the term as applying to his music. He achieved fame early, winning the Prix de Rome in 1884 for his ballet L'enfant prodigue, but he chafed against the constraints of academic French music, being influenced instead by Wagner’s operas, Javanese gamelan music, and Symbolist poets such as Baudelaire. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1903.

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