Impressionism

The arrival of the twentieth century brought with it an abundance of new, distinct styles. For what seems like the first time in music history, composers chose the path of their liking to create their own unique sound. This independence led to an explosion of style in the story line of music history and included movements such as Expressionism, Exoticism, Impressionism, Primitivism, ism, ism, ism... The list could go on.

My favorite of these new "isms" originated in France at the end of the nineteenth century. Impressionism, as it is known today, deals with sensual beauty. It seeks to capture the immediate impression of a sudden glance. Because the eye does not retain distinct features such as line and form in a moment's glimpse, Impressionist art does not have sharp lines or defined forms. Each color and line flows freely into its neighbor, creating an inviting, flowing palette of color and sound on which the senses can feast. Below are two works of Claude Monet, Impression: Sunrise (1872) and San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk (1912). Notice the melding of colors, the unfocused lines and the glimpse of consciousness that Monet communicates.

Similar impressionist effects were created in the music of Claude Debussy. Just as Monet created ambiguity with blurred lines and merging colors, Debussy puts little emphasis on the form of his compositions. Of higher importance in his music is the timbre of instruments and the awakening of colors through harmonic language. In his Prelude to "The Afternoon of a Faun", Debussy employs glimpses of the whole tone scale to create a cloudy sensation. The colors of the flute and harp seem to go hand in hand with the colors of Monet's works shown above. Classical era musicians who glorified the use of form would have been lost in their search for structure upon hearing this work.

I've included two renditions of the piece below. The first is the original Debussy score. The second is a jazz/funk influenced version. If for no other reason, this shows a glimpse into the explosion of genres that were taking shape at the beginning of the twentieth century.