"Mark Birnbaum's Dreamland: Piano Gems Circa 1903"

at the age of ten. He was a fine pianist, but was often in trouble for asking embarrassing questions and deploring the "rules" of harmony and form.

His mature style has been called "Impressionism," a term borrowed from French painting at the time and one he detested. But some of his best friends were impressionist artists (Monet, for example, who started it all). He also ran with the group of young poets specializing in the new poetry, "Symbolism," including Paul Verlaine, whose words he would set to music.

Still, Debussy's compositions feel painterly; his use of the whole-tone