THE ENJOYMENT OF MUSICESSENTIAL LISTENING

EDITION

by

Kristine ForneyAndrew Dell’Antonio

Joseph Machlis

THIRD EDITION

Lecture Slides

Chapter 43 Mythical Impressions:

Program Music at the End of theNineteenth Century

Symbolism and Impressionism in Paris

• Escaping from refinement– adopted primitive, uninhibited, spontaneous style

• Non-Western sources • Futurism, Dadaism• Surrealism, Cubism

Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, “Dance of the Youths and Maidens”

Translates Impressions into Sound

• French Impressionist Painters

– Monet

– light and color

Impressionism

• First, an artistic movement advanced by French painters like Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir, and Edgar Degas, in late 1860’s

• Used short, visible brush strokes to produce sensations, rather than representations of objects

• Impressionist music: blurring of harmonies, rhythms, forms; avoiding clear cadences ad rhythmic patterns

• Orchestral Colors: delicate sounds preferred: flutes, oboes, clarinets, muted strings, harp, muted brasses, antique cymbals and triangles, gentle percussion sounds

Impressionism in Music

• Scales: nontraditional scales: tendency to avoid key center– Debussy exposed to these at Paris Expositions of

1878 and 1889– Pentatonic: 5 notes to octave– Whole tone: all intervals equal: 7 tones to octave– Chromatic: using half steps; 12 tones in the

octave

Impressionism in Music

• Rhythms– Asymmetrical and vague beats with complex

subdivisions (7, 11, 13)

• Harmony: extended chords stacked in 3rds: the 13th chord has all notes of diatonic scale;, Chords move in parallel motion(forbidden in traditional harmony

• Melody: wandering, relaxed, unstressed

Claude Debussy(1862 - 1918)

• Born just outside of Paris during the U.S. Civil War and died just before the end of WWI--life straddled 2 centuries.

• Studied piano and composition at the Paris Conservatory.• Won Prix de Rome and studied there for a while, but returned to

Paris.• Rejected many of the conventions of composition and sought to

create new sounds.• A master of orchestration• Expanded the limits of harmony.• Didn’t like the term “Impressionism.”

Claude Debussy in 1911

Claude DebussyOther Compositions

• Préludes (Books 1 and 2)• Nocturnes--”Clouds,” “Festivals,” “Sirens”• Pelléas et Melisande--an opera• Children’s Corner--a suite of dances for piano

including “Golliwogg’s Cake-Walk”• String Quartet in G Minor

• Orchestral works: – La mer

• Piano works: – Clair de lune– Evening in Granada– Reflections in the Water– The Sunken Cathedral

• French songs• Chamber music

Debussy’s Output

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, 1894

• “Free illustration of the beautiful poem by Stephane Mallarme”

Debussy: Prelude to “The Afternoon of a Faun” (Listening Guide)

• Mythological faun• Free ternary form• Chromatic melody

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvnRC7tSX50

by

Kristine ForneyAndrew Dell’Antonio

Joseph Machlis

Lecture Slides

THIRD EDITION

THE ENJOYMENT OF MUSICESSENTIAL LISTENING EDITION

http://wwnorton.com/web/enjoyess2