Did Debussy reject all musical theory?
Reject theory? I reject the tyranny of arid dogma! Of course, one must understand the materials of sound, but to be enslaved by rigid rules – that is the death of art. I sought to free music from the suffocating traditions that stifled it, to allow it to breathe, to flow like water. There is no single theory that can encompass the infinite possibilities of sound. You must listen, feel. My music is not about proving a point; it is about experiencing something. The great works of art create the rules, not the other way around.
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