MUSIC APPRECIATION-HUMA 118

Impressionism Era c.1880 – c.1930

Impressionism was a movement that described both Art and music back in the 19th Century. The movement first originated from France in Paris with a group of prominent artists. In art, Impressionism was characterized by the use of a brush with thin or small strokes for painting or drawing. The technique emphasized “an accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities” or elements in arts such as the composition, subject matter, visual angles, experience, and human perception (Impressionism, 2019, July 11). Through Impressionism, most of the artists were believed to violate the rules of academic painting. The artists constructed “pictures from freely brushed with unmixed colors that took precedence over lines and contours” and also painted outdoor and realistic scenes that depicted modern life (Impressionism, 2019, July 11). Some of the remarkable impressionist’s painters included Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoira and Berthe Morisot. Despite most of the impressionists facing a lot of criticism from the public, their artworks were recognized as a style that “captured a fresh and original vision” (Impressionism, 2019, July 11). The artists wanted the viewers to view the subject of their artworks rather than “delineating the details of the subject” (Impressionism, 2019, July 11). Impressionism also led to the development of other modern styles of art, such as Cubism and Fauvism. The style also was developed in visual arts, music, and literature (Impressionism, 2019, July 11).

In music, Impressionism emerged from composers of classical music in the late 19th Century.  Musical Impressionism focused on “conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subject rather than a detailed tone‐picture” (Impressionism in music, 2019, May 25). We saw that the art impressionism concentrated on “color” on the other hand the musical impressionism concentrated elements of music such as extended harmonies, parallel motion, timbre, texture, extra musicality, ambiguous tonality, exotic scales, uses of modes, and orchestration. The leading composers in musical impressionism were Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy (Impressionism in music, 2019, May 25).

Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy was a French composer, and he is believed to be the first impressionists. He was born in France, 1862 and started showing talent in music when at the tender age of ten years. To explore his talent, he joined a music college in France known as the “Conservatoire de Paris” and started learning piano. At forty, he composed his first opera, “Pelleas et Melisande.” He went on with his music career and began writing melodies that were based on symbolist poetry and in the French language. He later developed a new style of “harmony and orchestral coloring” that influence several composers and pianists (Claude Debussy, 2019, July 12). Debussy music was so much connected with impressionism in that it had “subtle textures suffused with instrumental color” (Claude Debussy, 2019, July 12).  He was interested in impressionism, and most of his piano piece used titles that were “evocative of nature” such as “Reflets dans l’eau” of 1905, “Les Sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir” of 1910 and “Brouillards” of 1913. Some of the orchestral works of Debussy included “Nocturnes, “Images” and “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune of 1894. It was mentioned that the idea of “Impressionist painters of using a brush-strokes and dots was paralleled in the music of Debussy” (Claude Debussy, 2019, July 12). Debussy married his long term friend Marie-Rosalie Texier but divorced after five years. He later married Emma Bardac. Before he died at the age of 55, he was believed to have one daughter, Claude-Emma Debussy (Claude Debussy, 2019, July 12).

“The Afternoon of a Faun”

One of the great orchestral works of Claude Debussy was “The Afternoon of a Faun” and in French, it was referred to as “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune.” It was a symbolic poem that was composed in 1894 and performed the same year. The story behind this work is about a young “faun” who met several “nymphs” and started flirting and chasing with them. The story is part of Greek mythology (Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, 2019, May 13).

12 point listening:

1. Medium: Flutes, harp, oboes, clarinets, horns, clotales, and some string instruments.
2. Meter: Triple meter, have a 1, 2, 3 feeling like a waltz.
3. Tempo: Slow and soft
4. Rhythm: No beats but an orchestral combination.
5. Melody: Slow and mediated melody that is contour follow a step-wise pattern or “jumps” all around.
6. Harmony: Atonality with plenty of chords and harmonization of the central theme
7. Texture: Homophonic
8. Form: Modified ternary AA’BA” form, which is irregular and unclear.
9. Dynamics: Piano and Soft
10. Text: There are words
11. Era: Impressionism Era c.1880 – c.1930
12. Composer: Claude Debussy
13. Write a brief bio on Ravel and the story behind his opus (work), “Bolero.” What did Ida Rubenstein have to do with this music?

Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel was also a French composer and influential impressionists like Claude Debussy. He was a great pianist and conductor born in a music-loving family in Baaque, 1875. He attended a music college in “Paris Conservatoire” and started expanding his talent in music. Ravel began composing pieces for piano concertos, operas, chamber music, ballet music, and different orchestral works. Some of his skillful pieces include “Gaspard de la Nuit” and “Daphnis et Chloe” (Maurice Ravel, 2019, July 02). One of his great work was Bolero he composed in 1928. He was among the artists who never wrote church music or symphonies. He became a member of “Les Apaches” a group of young artists who referred to themselves as “The Hooligans” (Maurice Ravel, 2019, July 02).He also tried to join the French Air Force when France started a war with Germany. Did you know Ravel completed more than eighty-five works? And most of his works were in the French language. Among them were operas; Olympia, La cloche engloutie, Olympia, L’enfant et les sortilèges and Jeanne d’Arc. His local vocal works included Cinq mélodies populaires grecques, Chants Populaire, and Deux mélodies hébraïques. Ravel was also interested in mixed choirs and male solo with soprano and mezzo-soprano voices. His Orchestral works included Rapsodie Espagnole and La Valse. In his career, he has won several honors such as “Légion d’honneur.” He died in 1960 (Maurice Ravel, 2019, July 02).

“Bolero”

“Bolero” was one of a great orchestral piece composed by Maurice Ravel. It was that last work he did before he retired from music career due to illness. The music appeared as a ballet, but Ida Rubenstein, a Russian actress, and dancer commissioned it and asked Ravel to create an “orchestral transcription of six pieces” in the piece (Boléro, 2019, July 08).

12 point listening:

1. Medium: Flutes, oboes, Piccolo, clarinets, horns, trumpets, timpani, strings, and more woodwinds.
2. Meter: Triple meter a 1, 2, 3 feeling like a waltz
3. Tempo: Slow tempo
4. Rhythm: There are orchestra beats going on in the music.
5. Melody: Different melodies; diatonic, octave, passing through different instruments.
6. Harmony: Atonality, no tonal center and plenty of diatonic chords
7. Texture: Homophonic
8. Form: Different, forms, Sonata, Allegro
9. Dynamics: Soft and slow
10. Text:  There are words
11. Era: Impressionism Era c.1880 – c.1930
12. Composer: Maurice Ravel

References

Boléro. (2019, July 08).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol%C3%A9ro

Claude Debussy. (2019, July 12).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy

Maurice Ravel. (2019, July 02).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ravel

Impressionism. (2019, July 11).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism

Impressionism in music. (2019, May 25).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism_in_music

Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. (2019, May 13). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr%C3%A9lude_%C3%A0_l%27apr%C3%A8s-midi_d%27un_faune