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Chapter 27: Impressionism and Exoticism

Explore the anti-romantic movement of Impressionism in music, focusing on Claude Debussy's innovative approach and Ravel's exotic influences like Bolero. Travel through this musical journey that challenges conventions and embraces the allure of the exotic.

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Chapter 27: Impressionism and Exoticism

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  1. Chapter 27: Impressionism and Exoticism

  2. Modernism: An Anti-Romantic Movement • Turning away from the predominantly idealistic, sentimental aesthetics of Romanticism • Partially due to the upheaval of the Franco-Prussian War and WWI • Developments in the arts mirrored the unsettled times • Move away from conventional musical expression

  3. Impressionism • Impressionism: late 19th-century movement that sought to re-create the impression of a single, fleeting moment; began in France and centered around Paris • Began in the visual artists: • Claude Monet (1840-1926) • Edgar Degas (1834-1917) • Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) • Artistic style: • Against representational art • Importance of light • Spots of color create movement and fluidity

  4. Impressionism in Music • Melody: Motives rather than long themes; use of whole-tone, pentatonic, and chromatic scales to obscure tonic • Harmony: Static harmony instead of strong cadences; use of 7th and 9th chords; parallel motion • Rhythm: Free, flexible rhythms with irregular accents • Color: emphasis on woodwinds and brass; “new “colors” • Texture: Varies from thin and airy to heavy and dense; • Form: Adapted to the particular composition; avoidance of traditional forms

  5. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) • Career spent in Paris • Studied piano, composition, and music theory at the Paris Conservatory • Travelled to Italy, Russia, and Vienna thanks to his patron Nadezhda von Meck • Won the Prix de Rome in 1884

  6. Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun (1894) • Written to precede a stage reading of the poem The Afternoon of a Faun by Stéphane Mallarmé • Symbolist poetry • Dream-like mood, vague and elusive • Use of distinctive orchestral colors, especially woodwinds • Tonal impressions swirl, dissolve, and form again • No repeating rhythms or clear-cut meters • Languid beauty

  7. Préludes for Piano (1910, 1913) • Debussy’s last and most far-reaching attempt at evocative writing in music • Challenge to create musical impressions without the use of the colorful orchestra • Voiles (Sails) from the first book of Préludes (1910) • Depiction of the sea • Fluid descent in mostly parallel motion • Hazy, languid atmosphere • Use of the whole-tone scale andthe pentatonic scale • Use of ostinato

  8. Voiles

  9. Exoticism in Music • A fascination of the “other” • Classical composers imitated Turkish bands • Spain: Bizet, Debussy, Ravel • African art may have influenced Cubism • The Far East was particularly intriguing • Any sounds drawn from non-Western music • Scales or harmony • Folk rhythm • Musical instruments • Foreign subject for a program

  10. The Exotic of Spain: Ravel’s Bolero (1928) • Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Bolero (1828) • Bolero: A sultry Spanish dance in a slow tempo and triple meter • Repetitive, hypnotic music, moving inexorably towards a frenzied climax • A single melody • Instrumental color and gradual crescendo create a spellbinding atmosphere

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