Impressionist music

Impressionist music

Infobox Music genre
name=Impressionist music
bgcolor=507070
color=AACCCC
stylistic_origins=Reaction to 19th century Romanticism
cultural_origins=Late 19th century in Paris, France
instruments=woodwind, strings, harp, piano, small chamber ensembles
popularity=ca. 1890 to 1940
other_topics=

The impressionist movement in music was a movement in European classical music, mainly in France, that began in the late nineteenth century and continued into the middle of the twentieth century. Like its precursor in the visual arts, musical Impressionism focused on suggestion and atmosphere rather than strong emotion or the depiction of a story as in program music. Musical Impressionism occurred as a reaction to the excesses of the Romantic era. While this era was characterized by a dramatic use of the major and minor scale system, Impressionist music tends to make more use of dissonance and more uncommon scales such as the whole tone scale. Romantic composers also used long forms of music such as the symphony and concerto, while Impressionist composers favored short forms such as the nocturne, arabesque, and prelude.

Musical Impressionism was based in France, and the French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel are generally considered to be the two "great" Impressionists. However, composers are generally not as accurately described by the term "Impressionism" as painters in the genre are. Debussy renounced it, saying, "I am trying to do 'something different' – in a way realities – what the imbeciles call 'impressionism' is a term which is as poorly used as possible, particularly by art critics."Tsai, Shengdar. [http://www.tcd.ie/Music/JF%20History/debussy.html Impressionistic Influences in the Music of Claude Debussy] . Accessed 22 July 2006.] Maurice Ravel composed many other pieces that aren't identified as Impressionist. Nonetheless, the term is widely used today to describe classical music seen as a reaction to 19th century Romanticism.

Accordingly, many musical instructions in "impressionist" pieces are written in French, as opposed to the traditional Italian.

Impressionist composers

Besides the two "great" impressionist composers, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, other impressionists include Karol Szymanowski, Charles Griffes, Alexander Scriabin, Paul Dukas, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Impressionism also influenced the music of Manuel de Falla, Frederick Delius, Isaac Albéniz, Erik Satie, Camille Saint-Saëns, Zoltán Kodály, Ottorino Respighi, and Francis Poulenc,cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Columbia Encyclopedia |title=Impressionism, in music |url=http://www.bartleby.com/65/im/impress-mus.html |accessdate=2006-07-22 |edition=6th ed. |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York] as well as jazz musicians such as Bill Evans.

References


*cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encarta Concise Encyclopedia |title=Impressionism |url=http://www.vincent.nl/?/gallery/about/impressionism.asp |publisher=Microsoft Corporation
*cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Columbia Encyclopedia |title=Impressionism, in music |url=http://www.bartleby.com/65/im/impress-mus.html |accessdate=2006-07-22 |edition=6th ed. |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York
* Machlis, Joseph and Forney, Kristine. "The Enjoyment of Music: Seventh Edition", W.W. Norton & Company, 1995, ISBN 0-393-96643-7


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Music — For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). Music …   Wikipedia

  • impressionist — I noun a painter who follows the theories of Impressionism (Freq. 1) • Derivationally related forms: ↑Impressionism • Hypernyms: ↑painter II adjective relating to or characteristic of Impressionism …   Useful english dictionary

  • Music in the Tuileries — Artist Édouard Manet Year 1862 Type Oil on canvas Location National Gallery, London …   Wikipedia

  • Impressionist (entertainment) — This article is about the comedic performing art. For the art movement of the 19th century, see Impressionism. An impressionist or a mimic is a performer whose act consists of imitating the voice and mannerisms of others. The word usually refers… …   Wikipedia

  • Impressionist — UK [ɪmˈpreʃ(ə)nɪst] / US noun [countable] Word forms Impressionist : singular Impressionist plural Impressionists 1) art a painter who works in the style of Impressionism 2) music a composer who writes music in the style of Impressionism Derived… …   English dictionary

  • Music hall — This article is about the British form of theatre and the venues associated with it. For other uses of the term Music Hall, see Music Hall (disambiguation). The Oxford Music Hall, ca. 1875 Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment… …   Wikipedia

  • Music of New York City — Carnegie Hall, a major music venue in New York The music of New York City is a diverse and important field in the world of music. It has long been a thriving home for jazz, rock and the blues. It is the birthplace of hip hop, Latin freestyle,… …   Wikipedia

  • Music of the Mana series — The Mana series, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu (聖剣伝説?, lit. Holy Sword Legend ), is a console role playing game series from Square Enix, created by Koichi Ishii. The series began as a handheld side story to Square s flagship franchise Final… …   Wikipedia

  • impressionist — impressionistic, adj. impressionistically, adv. /im presh euh nist/, n. 1. a person who follows or adheres to the theories, methods, and practices of impressionism, esp. in the fields of painting, music, or literature. 2. an entertainer who does… …   Universalium

  • Impressionist — Im|pres|sion|ist1 [ ım preʃnıst ] noun count 1. ) a painter who works in the style of Impressionism 2. ) a COMPOSER who writes music in the style of Impressionism Impressionist Im|pres|sion|ist 2 [ ım preʃnıst ] adjective connected with… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”