IMPRESSIONISM (1870-1920) 

 
ABOUT 
- A movement among various composers whose music focuses on suggestion and atmosphere. 
- “Conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subject rather than a detailed tone-picture” 
- Most prominent feature is the use of “colour”/ “timbre”  
 
PROMINENT CHARACTERISTICS 
 
MODAL INFLUENCES: 
- Medieval modes were attractive to composers who sought to escape the “tyranny” of the major/minor 
sound 
- Primary intervals emphasised (octaves, fourths, fifths) in parallel motion 
- Resembled a medieval procedure known as “organum” 
WHOLE TONE SCALE: 
- Debussy was fascinated by music of the native orchestra, gamelan (balinese instrument) and 
instrumental colours.  
- The music of the far east makes use of a scale that divides the octave into equal major/minor system​ ​→ 
leads to obscured fluidity 
PENTATONIC SCALE: 
- Five note scale 
- Scale is popular with oriental music and Scottish, Irish and English folk tunes 
IMPRESSIONIST HARMONY: 
- Impressionism released the chord from its function as harmony ​→​ Movement within the melody 
PARALLEL MOTION: 
- Chords were seen as melodic entities in impressionism 
- Therefore, it was “proper” to move voices in a parallel fashion (forbidden in classical era music) 
ESCAPED CHORDS: 
- Harmonies that gave the impression of having “escaped” to another tonality 
- Not usually prepared for nor resolved 
 
Other Musical Characteristics:​ There was little room in Impressionism for the "heaven-storming" climaxes of 
Romanticism. Instead, there is a veiling of sonority and delicate texture. Impressionism is "opalescent" and 
"transparent", shimmering from time to time with showers of sound. Within the orchestra, flutes and 
clarinets are used in their dark lower registers. Violins reach for upper sonorities while trumpets and horns 
are muted. There is much use of the harp, celeste, triangle, glockenspiel and cymbal (usually brushed with a 
drumstick). Phrases tend to be fragmentary and speckled with color. Rhythm tends to be vague and free, with 
cadences being not so clearly defined. Also, phrases tend to overlap and are fluid in character. 
 
COMPOSERS 
- Claude Debussy 
- Maurice Ravel