As 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of romantic composer Debussy’s death, Ulysses delves into his tempestuous- and oftentimes scandalous- love affairs, which curiously took him from the dingiest Parisian street corners to the most prominent English seaside resorts…

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1. Debussy began an intense affair with the married Madame Vasnier aged 18: “he wrote pieces for her high voice, and she introduced him to poetry” tells Debussy expert Professor Richard Langham Smith. It ended with his winning of the Prix de Rome in 1884, and obligatory stay at the Roman Villa Medici. The two-thousand-year-old Renaissance palace is situated near the famous Spanish steps.

2. Back in Paris, Debussy romanced Gabrielle Dupont, “affectionately nicknamed green-eyed Gabby” says George Benjamin, Professor of Composition at Kings’ College London. They settled in the north of rue de Londres, from which the basilica Sacré-Cœur is still strikingly visible today.

3. By the spring of 1904 Debussy was involved with the married Emma Bardac. In 1905 the lovers fled France, unable to bear the hostility to their partnership. They settled at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne, East Sussex. You can visit the five-star residence à la Debussy and stay in his room, Suite 200.

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The composer’s great love story was made complete in the city of love itself. He bought a family house just off Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, where he died on 25 March 1918. Today the street is one of the most lavish in Paris.