Throughout much of the 18th and 19th centuries, classical music artists concentrated on emotional expression in their compositions. However, by the end of the 19th century, budding musicians like Debussy and Ravel, known as impressionists, were craving new and exciting ways of exploring their talents.
Impressionism shook the music world from the 1890s to the 1920s. It was a rupture from two centuries of Germanic musical tradition; the totalitarianism of the relationship between tonic and dominant, tension and resolution collapsed. With impressionism, artists focused on creating specific suggestions and atmospheres for their audience.
Musical style
Impressionism is a term most familiar to devotees of late 19th century painters such as Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and Degas, among others. The word derives from Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (1872). In general, impressionist painters focused on using visual brush strokes to paint overall visual effects and capture light and its changing qualities rather than focusing on details.
The development of impressionism in the visual arts was soon followed by similar styles in other media that became known as impressionist music and impressionist literature.
Impressionist paintings depict experiences, moods, and movement. Similarly, impressionist music conveys moods, scenes, and emotions rather than detailed stories. This style of classical music was written around the same time and used “color” or timbre through different textures, harmonics, and orchestrations to arouse feelings and create an atmosphere.
Orchestration
In the Impressionist era, instruments were played in new ways, sometimes with darker, lower sounds. For example, the harshness of horns was mellowed by being muted. Most impressionist composers also preferred composing music for the solo piano. However, orchestras of many instruments like brass, horns, and percussion instruments featured prominently in their compositions. Apart from wind instruments, the harp and triangle were also used.
Prominent musicians Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel in the Impressionist Era
Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel were at the forefront of impressionist music. They were both French composers active early in the 20th century.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Claude Debussy is arguably the most prominent composer of this Impressionist era. He influenced numerous composers; subsequently, many adopted his use of chromaticism and non-traditional scales. His music is famous for its sensory content and non-traditional tonalities. However, he did not like it when anyone considered his compositions Impressionism.
Nature was a significant source of inspiration for Debussy’s compositions.
He once said: “When I gaze at a sunset sky and spend hours contemplating its marvelous ever-changing beauty, a great emotion overwhelms me. Nature in all its vastness is truthfully reflected in my sincere though feeble soul. Around me are the trees stretching up their branches to the skies, the perfumed flowers gladdening the meadow, the gentle grass-carpeted earth… To feel the supreme and moving beauty of the spectacle, nature invites her ephemeral guests!… that is what I call prayer.”
Debussy’s most famous works include Clair De Lune (1890–1905), Prélude à l’Après-Midi d’un Faune (1894), the opera Pelléas Et Mélisande (1902), and La Mer (1905).
However, Deux Arabesques (1888-1891) is one of my favorite Debussy pieces. Although an early work, it hints at the composer’s developing musical style. The suite is one of the very early impressionistic pieces of music that covers many impressionist music characteristics – the harp-like undercurrent, the pentatonic movement in the right hand, and a rhythm that lacks a driving beat and is more free-form.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Maurice Ravel was in the generation after Debussy, and like Debussy, he didn’t enjoy the Impressionist comparison. One difference is that he was a classicist; he liked taking old forms and revitalizing them with something new and fresh. For example, he was inspired by jazz music in later life and incorporated jazz elements into his piano concerto. However, his compositions were highly complex, requiring great technical skill to play them.
Ravel’s best-known works include Boléro (1928), Daphnis Et Chloé (1909-1912) and Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte (1899).
Another piece is Jeux d’eau (1901), which is my favorite and maybe a more unusual choice.
This is what Ravel had to say about it: “This piece, inspired by the noise of water and by the musical sounds which make one hear the sprays water, the cascades, and the brooks, is based on two motives in the manner of the movement of a sonata—without, however, subjecting itself to the classical tonal plan.”
Other composers of the Impressionist era include:
- Ernest Fanelli
- Isaac Albeniz
- Manuel de Falla
- Joaquin Turina
- Jean Sibelius
- Howard Hanson
- Erik Satie
- Ottorino Respighi
- John Ireland
Today, the influence of impressionism is total. Whether it is in its descriptive essence, its wish to constantly break from convention, curiosity for external effects and cultures, or its unorthodox use of musical tools. Just as every composer has been influenced, one way or another, by Romantic era composers such as Beethoven, they have equally been affected by Impressionist era composers such as Debussy and Ravel.
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