Impressionism (1880-1920)

Impressionism

Welcome to Impressionism! At this stop on Leon’s Music History Train, we learn about how composers painted sound pictures with their music.

Impressionism – Late 19th and Early 20th Century

Impressionism was a musical movement that grew out of the Romantic era. While Romantic composers often used music to express strong emotions and tell stories, Impressionist composers focused more on creating moods and atmospheres. This music complemented French art of the time, including paintings by artists like Monet, as well as French Symbolist poetry, which used suggestive and symbolic language to create moods and images. Impressionist composers experimented with instrumentation, scales, and harmony to create moods, atmospheres, and audio pictures.

How Did Impressionist Composers Create These Musical Colors?

Impressionist composers relied on a variety of instruments to create soundscapes.

Piano

The piano was an important instrument in Impressionism. Composers often used different scales to create exotic sounds. One scale they used was called the whole-tone scale.

Woodwinds

Woodwinds were used to create an exotic sound. Some of their inspiration was taken from Asian music.

Harp

The harp was a good instrument for creating soft moods. Its wide range and mellow tone created a mysterious and mesmerizing sound.

Strings: Violins, Cellos, Violas, and Basses

Strings were used in Impressionism to create atmosphere. Tremolo and muted strings were used to create different timbres and effects.

Brass

Brass was used experimentally in impressionist music. These instruments could be muted or paired in unconventional combinations.

Percussion

Cymbals, tambourines, and other percussion instruments were used with less emphasis on a beat to create effects and moods.

The Lives and Important Works of Impressionist Composers

Click on the names below to learn more about Impressionist composers.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Achille Claude Debussy was an important French composer of Impressionist music. Debussy was a very talented child. Although he was born in a modest household, he was admitted to the Conservatoire of Paris at the age of ten. His primary instrument was the piano, but he soon found his talent in composition. He studied at the Conservatoire of Paris for eleven years. The faculty disapproved of his compositional technique because it did not adhere to traditional rules. But in 1884, Debussy won the Prix de Rome, a very prestigious compositional award. The winning composition was his cantata L’enfant Prodigue. 

After winning the Prix de Rome, he moved to the Villa Medici to continue his studies. Debussy found the music there boring but was inspired by Franz Liszt, who would sometimes visit and perform at the Villa Medici. After many years of study, Debussy completed his only opera, Pelleas et Melisande, and finally achieved international fame.