Which French composer wrote the classical piece "Clair de lune"?

Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Born to a family of modest means and little cultural involvement, Debussy showed enough musical talent to be admitted at the age of ten to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris. He originally studied the piano, but found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire's conservative professors. He took many years to develop his mature style, and was nearly 40 when he achieved international fame in 1902 with the only opera he completed, "Pelléas et Mélisande".

He began composing his piano suite "Suite bergamasque" around 1890, at the age of 28, but significantly revised it just before its 1905 publication. The popularity of the 3rd movement, "Clair de lune", has made it one of the composer's most famous works for piano. Its title, which means "moonlight" in French, is taken from Verlaine's poem "Clair de lune". The writer Margery Halford cites the popular "Clair de Lune" as a transitional work pointing towards the composer's mature style.