Lesson 2: Debussy and Impressionism

Toward the twentieth century,

the first important stylistic
trend in music is
Impressionism . The term
“Impressionism” in music was
borrowed from the field visual
arts, particularly. In 1874,
Claude Monet along with other
French painters had an
exhibition in Paris. His
painting titled Impression:
Sunrise did irritate an art critic
because it was viewed as an
incomplete work.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
IMPRESSIONISTIC MUSIC

Specifically, music with Impressionistic style has the following

characteristics:
 Neomodality
 Open chords

 Whole-tone mode
 Parallelism
 Free rhythms
 Wide intervals
 CLAUDE DEBUSYY (1862-1918)

The foremost Impressionist composer,

Claude Debussy, was born in France
on August 22, 1862. At age 10, he
entered the Paris Conservatory. He
worked as a Piano teacher for the
children of Madame Nadezhda von
Meck, Tchaikovsky’s patroness and
had the chance to travel to Russia,
Italy, and Switzerland. He graduated
at the conservatory in 1184 and won
the Prix de Rome, a prize that paid
expenses to study and compose in
Rome.He wrote some choral
compositions and cantatas then
returned to Paris.
Other compositions written by Debussy are the following:

Orchestral Works
 Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
 La Mer (The Sea)
 Nocturnes
Piano Compositions
 Petite Suite
 Suite Bergamasque-including “Clair de lune”
 Children’s corner
 Estampes
 Images
Stage Works
 Jeux-Debussy’s ballet
 Pelleas and Melisande-Debussy’s only opera
SCHOENBERG AND EXPRESSIONISM
(1862-1918)
 CHARACTERISTICS OF EXPRESSIONISTIC
MUSIC

As significant a movement as
Impressionism is Expressionism in • Pierrot Lunaire,
music. This term, like Op. 21 (1912)
Impressionism, is also borrowed and
from the visual arts. Expressionism • A survivor from
emphasizes intense and subjective Warsaw, Op. 46
emotions rather than portraying the (1947) by
outward appearances. Schoenberg
There are three composers who are • Five Pieces for
identified with Expressionism: Orchestra, Op.
Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and 10 by Webern
Anton Webern. Examples of their
compositions with the
Expressionistic style are:
ATONALITY
The feeling of having a home key has been used for so many centuries
throughout music history.
Sample of atonal passage:

Twelve-Tone System
When you hear the describing words twelve-tone or dodecaphonic , it refers
to music based on a serial manipulation of the twelve chromatic pitches.

Multiple Serialization
The twelve-tone system is just one form of serialism, in which only the
pitches of the tone row are manipulated in series.
 ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874-1951)

One of
the most influential composers of
the twentieth century, Arnold
Schoenberg, was born in Austria in
1874.
Schoenberg wrote a string sextet
Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured
Night), Op. 4 in 1899. It was his
first masterpiece, a story of two
lovers. He also wrote a huge cantata,
Gurrelieder (Songs of Gurre) from
1901-1910. In 1904, he taught music
theory and composition in Vienna.
Alban Berh and Anton Webern were
his students.
 Schoenberg’s works with Expressionistic style include the
following:
1. Pierrot Lunaire, (Op. 21 (Moonstruck Pierrot, 1912)
This composition is a cycle of twenty-one songs for female and
chamber group accompaniment played by five musicians. In this wor,
Schoenberg developed a gliding speech-long called sprechstimme or
sprechgesang. This unique vocal style is half-spoken, half-sung text
that he employed in this composition.

2. A survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46 (1947)

3. The violin Concerto, Op. 36 and Piano Concerto, Op. 42

The End…….
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