Music 10

Quarter 1 Week 1

Impressionism

Since 1900 there are a number of stylistic trends in music. These trends do not follow a
chronological sequence. They are not developed one after the other. Instead, these developments
overlap each other. Some last longer. Others are widely and favorably known. Even a single
composer could utilize more than one trend in his style by synthesizing these trends.
One of the earlier but concrete forms declaring the entry of 20th century music was known
as impressionism. It is a French movement in the late 19th and early 20th century. The sentimental
melodies and dramatic emotionalism of the preceding Romantic Period (their themes and melody are
easy to recognize and enjoy) were being replaced in favor of moods and impressions. There is an
extensive use of colors and effects, vague melodies, and innovative chords and progressions leading to
mild dissonances
The term impressionism in music was borrowed from the field of visual arts particularly
painting. In 1874. Claude Monet along with other French painters had an exhibition in Paris. His
painting entitled Impressionism: Sunrise did irritate an art critic because it was viewed as an
incomplete work. These painters had decided to move away from the tradition of describing reality
to depicting joys of life and beauties of nature through unconventional brush strokes. The primary
aim of this school of painting is to capture a momentary glimpse of s subject. Not only in visual arts,
but also in the field of literature do writers break from the traditional ways, and they are called
symbolists.

Characteristics of Impressionistic Music

Music with impressionistic style has the following characteristics:
 Neomodality- going back to the use of old church modes
 Open Chords- chords having fifths and octaves but without thirds
 Whole tone mode- a scale having six whole steps in the octave
 Parallelism- two or more melodies moving simultaneously in the same direction and by the
same intervals
 Free rhythms and less use of regular rhythms
 Wide intervals and extreme registers like in piano music.
The impressionistic movement in music had its foremost proponents in the French composers
Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Both had developed a particular style of composing adopted by
many 20th century composers.
CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)
One of the most important and influential of the 20th century
composers was Claude Debussy. He was the primary exponent of the
impressionist movement and the focal point for other impressionist
composers. He changed the course of musical development by
dissolving traditional rules and conventions into a new language of
possibilities in harmony, rhythm, form, texture, and color.
Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Layein France on August
22, 1862. His early musical talents were channeled into piano lessons.
He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1873. He gained a reputation as
an erratic pianist and a rebel in theory and harmony. Headed other
systems of musical composition because of his musical training. In
1884, he won the top prize at the Prix de Rome competition with his
composition L’ Enfant Prodigue (The Prodigal Son). This enabled him
to study for two years in Rome, where he got exposed to the music of
Richard Wagner, specifically his opera Tristan und Isolde, although he
did not share the latter’s grandiose style.
Debussy’s mature creative period was represented by the Figure 1. Claude Debussy
following works:
 Ariettes Oubliees
 Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
 String Quartet  Pelleas et Melisande (1895)—his famous operatic work that drew mixed
extreme reactions for its innovative harmonies and textural treatments.
  La Mer (1905)—a highly imaginative and atmospheric symphonic work for orchestra about
the sea
 Images, Suite Bergamasque, and Estampes—his most popular piano compositions; a set of
lightly textured pieces containing his signature work Claire de Lune (Moonlight)
His musical compositions total more or less 227 which include orchestral music, chamber
music, piano music, operas, ballets, songs, and other vocal music.

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)

Joseph Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, France to a Basque
mother and a Swiss father. He entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of
14 where he studied with the eminent French composer Gabriel Faure.
During his stint with the school where he stayed until his early 20’s, he
had composed a number of masterpieces.
The compositional style of Ravel is mainly characterized by its
uniquely innovative but not atonal style of harmonic treatment. It is
defined with intricate and sometimes modal melodiesFigure 2. and extended
Maurice Ravel
chordal components. It demands considerable technical virtuosity
from the performer which is the character, ability, or skill of a virtuoso—a person who excels in
musical technique or execution.
The harmonic progressions and modulations are not only musically satisfying but also
pleasantly dissonant and elegantly sophisticated. His refined delicacy and color, contrasts and
effects add to the difficulty in the proper execution of the musical passages. These are extensively
used in his works of a programmatic nature, wherein visual imagery is either suggested or
portrayed. Many of his works deal with water in its flowing or stormy moods as well as with human
characterizations.
Ravel’s works include the following:
 Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899), a slow but lyrical requiem
 Jeux d’Eau or Water Fountains (1901)
 String Quartet (1903)  Sonatine for Piano (c.1904)
 Miroirs (Mirrors), 1905, a work for piano known for its harmonic evolution and
imagination,
 Gaspard de la Nuit (1908), a set of demonic-inspired pieces based on the poems of Aloysius
Bertrand which is arguably the most difficult piece in the piano repertoire.
 These were followed by a number of his other significant works, including Valses Nobles et
Sentimentales (1911)
 Le Tombeau de Couperin (c.1917), a commemoration of the musical advocacies of the early
18th century French composer Francois Couperin,
 Rhapsodie Espagnole
 Bolero
Comparative Styles of Debussy and Ravel
As the two major exponents of French Impressionism in music, Debussy and Ravel had
crossed paths during their lifetime although Debussy was thirteen years older than Ravel. While
their musical works sound quite similar in terms of their harmonic and textural characteristics, the
two differed greatly in their personalities and approach to music. Whereas Debussy was more
spontaneous and liberal in form, Ravel was very attentive to the classical norms of musical
structure and the compositional craftsmanship. Whereas Debussy was more casual in his portrayal
of visual imagery, Ravel was more formal and exacting in the development of his motive ideas.