No French composer active in the twentieth century could avoid being affected by Debussy’s music, and Boulez was no exception. The two composers shared a number of poetic interests, with Mallarmé being important to both Debussy and Boulez for different reasons. An interest in music from non-Western traditions was also central to both composers, and Boulez wrote approvingly that for Debussy, this was a ‘corrosive influence.’ Boulez considered Debussy to be a revolutionary composer. He always pushed back against the notion that Debussy was a composer of delicate and floppy music, preferring to focus on the emotional intensity of his work. Boulez understood that the rigour and freedom that Debussy sought in his music were two sides of the same coin, and he sought the same balance in his own compositions. In his writings, Boulez constantly portrays Debussy as a revolutionary modernist – as a harbinger of his own work.