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The Impact of Impressionism on arts and music

  • Writer: The sound of Experiment
    The sound of Experiment
  • Oct 21, 2024
  • 6 min read

  1. Introduction

Modern art and "isms" were not born evolutionarily from the art of the early 19th century. Rather, it was the result of the collapse of this century's values following the unprecedented changes that had come to the West from modernity, capitalism, and sweeping technological evolution.

 

The 19th century was marked by great social confrontations between rich and poor, progressives and conservatives, those who clung to the past and those who sought new outlets. The population in Europe and North America doubled after 1850, while the increase in agricultural production, due to technological development, created the migration of peasants to the cities in search of work (History of Art, n.d.).


2.  Starting Point

The first phase of modernism is the beginning. It is thought to have lasted in the 19th century. Modernism began with painter J.M.W. Turner, who decided to break with traditional patterns of visual art and later helped form the first school of modernism: The French Impressionist School.

 

Impressionism is an artistic movement that developed in the second half of the 19th century and specifically during the period of Napoleon III's empire in France [1]. It developed in Paris in the 1860s, yet its influence spread throughout Europe and eventually to the United States [2]. While initially cultivated in the field of painting, he later influenced literature and music. The term impressionism probably came from the work of Claude Monet. The main characteristic of impressionism in painting is bright colors, outdoor compositions, and emphasis on the representation of light. Impressionist painters wanted to capture the immediate impression caused by an object or an everyday image. The main representatives of impressionism are: Monet (1840-1926), Renoir (1841-1919), Filipini (1841-1870), Edouard Manet (1853-1906), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Degas (1834-1895) and Morizot (1841-1895) [1].


3.  Arts influenced

The figures in impressionist works are molded with light and color. The impression of light, as it falls on things, is studied on the spot, outside in nature, in plenty of light or, as the Barbizon outdoors used to say, "en plein air" (in the open air). Things can be seen through the flickering of the atmosphere. Air, water, light seem to be composed only of colors.


4. Impact on music

Impressionism flourished in the 1870s and helped crystallize modernism. In the field of music, Impressionism followed the visual arts by a few decades and is identified with the first decades of the 20th century, the famous Belle Époque [3]. Musical impressionism was identified with the work of Claude Debussy [4] who led the movement in music. It is worth noting that many composers reacted to post-romantic and impressionist styles and moved in different directions. One thing that the musicians of the period seem to have had in common was a broad break with traditional tonality, however it was realized in various ways by different composers in the first decade of the century. Although there is a wide range of characteristics of impressionist works, they have some common characteristics such as static harmony, emphasis on timbres, melodies without direction or movement, surface decoration that hides or replaces melody and avoidance of traditional musical form [6].

 

Examples of modernism include the rejection of tonality and the removal of metric rhythm. Finnish musicologist and semiologist Eero Tarasti defines musical modernism directly in terms of "the dissolution of traditional tonality and the transformation of the very foundations of tonal language, the search for new models in atonalism, polytonism or other forms of altered tonality",  which took place at the turn of the century.

 

Some of the composers associated with impressionism are: Olivier Messien, Toru Takemitsu and Duke Ellington. On the other hand, conductor and scholar Léon Botstein (1946- ) describes musical modernism as "a consequence of the fundamental conviction of successive generations of composers since 1900 and that the means of musical expression in the 20th century must be appropriate to the unique and radical character of the era" which led to a reflection in the arts of the progress of science.  technology and industry, mechanization, urbanization, mass culture and nationalism.

 

The era of Impressionism in music ended with the death of Claude Debussy in 1918. However, the term resurfaced in the 1950s to describe some radical trends in contemporary music and survives to this day. The term today is used to describe music of mild tones, atmospheric, where fluidity prevails in the form and structure of the work and refinement and perhaps even sophistication, in search of new timbres or harmonic combinations [3].


Musical Examples

  1. Reflections in the Water (Images) - Claude Debussy (5:31)

Reflections in water". It was written by Claude Debussy in 1905.

 

 

Claude Debussy was a French composer. He is considered the first impressionist composer, although he rejected the term [5]. "Reflections on Water" is the first of three piano pieces from the first part of the album entitled "Images", which are often performed separately. The work, like many of Debussy's other works, is often referred to as impressionistic. This means expressing emotions and sensations using non-functional harmony and ambiguous keys. In addition, its tonality is mainly non-diatonic and usually gives the feeling of modality [10].

 

The work begins with a slow tempo which is repeated throughout much of the piece, while the right hand plays a set of chords that act as an accompaniment to the melody. It has several characteristics in common with other works of French music of the period, such as Ravel's "Water Games" [10].

 

The work consists of several short melodic movements and climaxes, which are musical glimpses rather than complete ideas, which is a main feature of the musical works written by Debussy at the time [10].

 

Debussy, while composing the album "Images", did not intend to create music with linear evolution, but a sonic representation of water. The work "Reflections on the Water" serves as an excellent example of the new tonal colors that Debussy discovered for the piano in this part of his life and is representative of an important discovery in piano writing, although he later improved it [10].


  1. String Quartet in F major - Maurice Ravel

The next work is called the "String Quartet in F major" by composer Maurice Ravel. The composition of the work was completed in 1903 and premiered in Paris in March of the following year [11].

 

 

Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor. It is inextricably linked to impressionism. The work "String Quartet in F major" consists of four parts, the opening movement/part, a playful second movement, the third movement is lyrical and slow, and the finale brings back themes from the previous movements and the work ends dynamically. The structure of the work is modelled on Depysy's "String Quartet" [11].

 

  1. Danse Macabre - Camille Saint-Saëns (1875, 7:09)

We continue with the 1875 work "Macabre Dance Number 40" by Camille Saint-Saëns. It was written in 1874 and premiered on January 24, 1875.[12]

 

 

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-) was one of the most important French composers. He was widely regarded both in France and more widely in Europe. His music is characterized by purity of expression and musical form, deep intellect, but also emotion [7].

 

The work "Macabre dance number 40" is a tonal poem for orchestra written in G minor. The work began in 1872 as an artistic song for voice and piano with text written in French by Henri Kazalis and is based on an old French superstition. In 1874, the composer expanded it and reworked the piece into a tonal poem, replacing the voice line with a violin solo [12].


  1. Myths about violin and piano number 30 – Szymanovsky Karol (1921)

We continue the show with Karol Szymanowski's 1921 work Myths for violin and piano.

 

 

Karol Szimanowski (1882–1937) was a Polish composer and pianist.

 

Myths Number 30 is one of the composer's most famous violin works. It was written in the spring of 1915 and dedicated to the wife of the famous violinist Pavel Kochanski [8].


  1. Cocktail's Dance for solo piano – Alfredo Casella (1909)

We will close today's show with Alfredo Casella's Coctail's Dance of the year 1909.

 

 

Alfredo Casella (1883-1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor [9]. Coctai's Dance is a work for piano. He dedicated it to Mademoiselle Elisabeth Faà di Bruno, scion of the famous family [10].


Bibliography 

  1. https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%99%CE%BC%CF%80%CF%81%CE%B5%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BC%CF%8C%CF%82 

  2. http://arutv.ee.auth.gr/istoriart/artguide/movement-impressionism.htm 

  3. https://impresionismos.wordpress.com/%CE%BC%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%82-%CE%B9%CE%BC%CF%80%CF%81%CE%B5%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BC%CF%8C%CF%82/ 

  4. https://artic.gr/impresionismos/ 

  5. http://lyk-mous-laris.lar.sch.gr/arxeia/music/impresion.pdf 

  6. https://delphipages.live/el/%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%AC%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B1/impressionism-music 

  7. http://lenageorgali.blogspot.com/2014/05/1920.html 

  8. https://culture.pl/en/work/myths-op-30-karol-szymanowski 

  9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Casella 

  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fa%C3%A0_di_Bruno

  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflets_dans_l%27eau 

  12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_(Ravel) 

  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_macabre_(Saint-Sa%C3%ABns) 

  14. Ιστορία της Τέχνης. (n.d.). Retrieved August 31, 2022, from http://ebooks.edu.gr/ebooks/v/html/8547/4706/Istoria-tis-Technis_B-G-EPAL_html-apli/

 
 
 

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