Impressionism in music was a movement among several composers in Western classical music. In the works of these composers, atmosphere was used to express emotions rather than specific melodies. In this section of Saed News, we introduce Impressionism in music.
The Impressionist movement in classical music emerged at the end of the Romantic era and focused on emotions, moods, and symbolism. In the world of classical music, Impressionism refers to a style that seeks to create an atmosphere through tone, orchestration, and progressive harmonic concepts, rather than focusing on specific melodies. Impressionism developed towards the end of the Romantic period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is often associated with French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, although neither of them used the term to describe their works.
Impressionist music has a connection to the visual arts of the Impressionist movement. Both movements were centered in France and emphasized perception and feelings toward traditional forms. Just as Impressionist painters like Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas used broad brush strokes and ambiguous landscapes to convey emotions, Impressionist composers like Debussy, Ravel, Ottorino Respighi, and Erik Satie used whole-tone scales, pentatonic scales, and parallel motion to emphasize the mood and symbolism in music. However, in the end, both visual and musical Impressionism were more about the critics' perceptions rather than the composers' or artists' own labels.
The Impressionist era began in the late 1800s. During this time, Maurice Ravel (born in 1875) was a student at the Paris Conservatory, and Claude Debussy (born in 1862) began working as a professional composer. Debussy, who strongly disliked the term "Impressionism," shocked audiences with his symphonic poem Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun). In this short piece, Debussy used multiple motifs, drawing inspiration from the lyrical style of Berlioz and the prominent texts of Richard Wagner. Debussy also made notable use of color scales, another technique praised in Wagner's music.
This use of color, along with whole-tone scales and unusual tonalities, helped separate Debussy’s Prélude from the music of his time. Other significant orchestral works by Debussy, such as La mer (1905), moved away from the standard symphonic form that was still practiced by contemporaries like Gustav Mahler and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Maurice Ravel, although more traditional than Debussy in many ways, was still considered radically conservative by the Paris Conservatory. Ravel initially gained recognition through his piano music, including Pavane pour une infante défunte (1899) and Gaspard de la nuit (1908), as well as his string quartet (1905). He became especially well-known for his orchestral works, including Boléro (1928) and his orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (1922).
Impressionism in music was introduced by French composer Claude Debussy at the end of the 19th century. This term, which is somewhat ambiguous in relation to music, was also introduced alongside French painting. Impressionism is a philosophical and aesthetic term borrowed from the late 19th-century French painter Claude Monet’s work Impression, Sunrise. Interestingly, Debussy himself disliked the term Impressionism. In music, Impressionism was a movement among composers of Western classical music, primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where the focus was on atmosphere and mood rather than on creating precise images or forms.
Impressionist painters used contrasting colors, the effect of light on objects, blurred backgrounds, flat perspective, etc., to focus the viewer’s attention on the overall impression rather than on details. Similarly, in music, static harmonies, a focus on tonal colors that create interplaying effects of sound, melodies without a clear directional movement, ambiguous or alternate melodies, and avoidance of traditional musical forms define the genre. Impressionism can be seen as a reaction against Romanticism, which emphasized forward-moving harmonic progressions. Another composer often associated with this style is Maurice Ravel. Earlier works by composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Richard Wagner, and later works by composers like Charles Ives, Béla Bartók, and George Gershwin, can also be considered precursors to musical Impressionism.
The most prominent feature of Impressionist music is the use of color, or timbre, which is explored through various harmonies and orchestrations to evoke emotions and create atmosphere.
Claude Debussy
Maurice Ravel
Ernest Fanelli
Frederick Delius
Erik Satie
Ottorino Respighi
Ralph Vaughan Williams
It’s interesting to note that while Debussy is often regarded as an Impressionist, he rejected the label. Ravel also disliked the term, arguing that it could not be precisely applied to his music.
Rejection of Traditional Structure: Impressionist composers spent little time imitating the formal structures of titans like Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms. Debussy especially focused on the interaction of motifs and short phrases. Ravel showed relatively more respect for form, as did the teaching of Ralph Vaughan Williams. However, none of these composers strictly adhered to traditional forms.
Progressive Harmony: Impressionist music utilizes color scales, pentatonic scales, whole-tone scales, and brief bursts of unemotional harmony. While these techniques were not entirely radical, the full acceptance of such harmonic concepts was still considered a bold step forward.
Emphasis on Mood and Atmosphere: Impressionist composers are famous for experimenting with emotional moods and atmospheres, testing the structural potential of orchestral instruments. Some Impressionist pieces are lyrical poems that tell stories, while others simply evoke general feelings.
Impressionist music often has a nostalgic or evocative quality. For example, Clair de lune (Moonlight), a piece by Debussy, is actually the third movement of a larger work known as Suite bergamasque. The piece, when performed as a standalone piano solo or orchestral adaptation, evokes lush melodies and dramatic waves that make it easy to understand why it’s considered a prime example of French Impressionism.
Summary
Impressionism in music was a movement among several composers in Western classical music (mainly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries). In the works of these composers, atmosphere was used to express emotions rather than specific melodies. Impressionism is a philosophical and aesthetic term borrowed from the French painter Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise in the late 19th century.
