Short Explanation of the music styles of Impressionism and Expressionism, its characteristics and composers

1. MUSIC 10
MUSIC OF
IMPRESSIONISM
&
EXPRESSIONISM

3. IMPRESSIONISM
is a philosophical and aesthetic term borrowed from late 19th-century French
painting after Monet's Impression, Sunrise. Composers were labeled
impressionists by analogy to the impressionist painters who use starkly
contrasting colors, effect of light on an object, blurry foreground and
background, flattening perspective, etc. to make the observer focus his
attention on the overall impression.
The most prominent feature in musical impressionism is the use of "color", or
in musical terms, timbre, which can be achieved through orchestration,
harmonic usage, texture, etc. Other elements of music impressionism also
involve new chord combinations, ambiguous tonality, extended harmonies, use
of modes and exotic scales, parallel motion, extra-musicality, and evocative
titles such as Reflets dans l'eau

5. CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPRESSIONIST MUSIC
1.Melodic characteristics which vary from short dabs of sound to long, free flowing lines
2. Harmonic characteristics are primarily homophonic and frequently move in parallel
motion
3. Rhythmic characteristics are usually free and flexible with irregular accents and
rhythmic ostinatos used to give feeling of stasis rather than movement
4. Modal influences which emphasized primary intervals; octaves, fourths, and fifths in
parallel motion
5. Whole-tone scale divides the octave into equal major/minor system and leads to
obscured fluidity
6. Pentatonic scale is sounded when the black keys of the piano are struck
7. Escaped chords were harmonies that gave the impression of having escaped to
another tonality

7. CLAUDE DEBUSSY
He was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer,
although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential
composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Debussy's orchestral works
include Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894), Nocturnes (1897–1899) and Images
(1905–1912). His music was to a considerable extent a reaction against Wagner and
the German musical tradition. He regarded the classical symphony as obsolete and
sought an alternative in his "symphonic sketches", La mer (1903–1905). His piano
works include two books of Préludes and one of Études. Throughout his career he
wrote mélodies based on a wide variety of poetry, including his own. He was greatly
influenced by the Symbolist poetic movement of the later 19th century. A small
number of works, including the early La Damoiselle élue and the late Le Martyre de
saint Sébastien have important parts for chorus. In his final years, he focused on
chamber music, completing three of six planned sonatas for different combinations of
instruments.

8. CLAUDE DEBUSSY

9. MAURICE RAVEL
He was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with
impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although
both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was
internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer. A slow and
painstaking worker, Ravel composed fewer pieces than many of his
contemporaries. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano,
chamber music, two piano concertos, ballet music, two operas and eight song
cycles; he wrote no symphonies or church music. Many of his works exist in two
versions: first, a piano score and later an orchestration. Some of his piano music,
such as Gaspard de la nuit (1908), is exceptionally difficult to play, and his
complex orchestral works such as Daphnis et Chloé (1912) require skillful
balance in performance.

10. MAURICE RAVEL

12. EXPRESSIONISM
a high level of dissonance extreme contrasts of dynamics
constantly changing textures ‘distorted’ melodies and
harmonies angular melodies with wide leaps extremes of
pitch no cadences

14. CHARACTERISTICS OF
EXPRESSIONISM
1. A high level of dissonance
2. Extreme contrasts of dynamics
3. Constantly changing textures
4. ‘Distorted’ melodies and harmonies
5. Angular melodies with wide leaps
6. Extremes of pitch
7. No cadences

16. ARNOLD
SCHOENBERGHis music became increasingly dissonant and chromatic in the style of
Expressionism.
The sense of key became less and less obvious eventually resulting in atonality.
Audiences and critics found Schoenberg’s atonal music difficult to understand.
There was so much unrest at one concert that the police were called. Some years
after the composition of Five Pieces for Orchestra, Schoenberg evolved a new
system to replace tonality in his music. This was called serialism

18. IGOR STRAVINSKY
He was a Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered
one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century.
Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He
transformed the way in which subsequent composers thought about rhythmic
structure and was largely responsible for Stravinsky's enduring reputation as a
musical revolutionary who pushed the boundaries of musical design. His "Russian
phase", which continued with works such as Renard, L'Histoire du soldat, and Les
Noces, was followed in the 1920s by a period in which he turned to neoclassicism.
The works from this period tended to make use of traditional musical forms
(concerto grosso, fugue, and symphony) and drew from earlier styles, especially
those of the 18th century. In the 1950s, Stravinsky adopted serial procedures. His
compositions of this period shared traits with examples of his earlier output:
rhythmic energy, the construction of extended melodic ideas out of a few two- or
three-note cells, and clarity of form and instrumentation.