Claude Debussy is regarded by many as the quintessential French composer, with music that invited both warm applause and frosty criticism in his day. While our ears no longer hear him as controversial, his works heralded the dawn of an artistic period founded on innovation and experiment, and a desire to break with the past in search of new expressive means. With never a dull moment, Debussy went from being a musical misfit at the Paris Conservatoire to bohemian life amongst the Symbolist poets and some scandalous love affairs. The transformative effect of pieces such as the Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune eventually saw him awarded the Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1903. The narrative is illustrated with musical excerpts from Children's Corner, String Quartet No. 1, Images, Nocturnes and Pelléas et Mélisande, among many others.