Impressionism, A Brief Overview

The Impressionist movement took place in the late 1800s in France, sparking a new style of music. With jazz influences from America, melded with traditional classical elements, composers were able to create a soundscape of music that was unheard of before. The Impressionist movement is a sub-genre within the Romantic era, a period in time known for its dramatic and emotional qualities.

Impressionism followed the symbolist movement (essentially the equivalent for authors) into the fine arts and then music. If you've ever seen a painting by Claude Monet, see: Water Lillies, then you've experienced Impressionism. Just as a Monet painting has many little swipes of paint to create a seemingly blurry, but larger image, impressionist music serves to "blur" the lines between tonality (key centers) by using different techniques.

Composers such as Claude Debussy, Erik Satie used whole-tone scales (scales utilizing only whole steps), octatonic scales (scales that followed a pattern of half-step, whole step, half-step whole step etc.) and pentatonic scales (five-note scale) to make their key centers sound ambigous. When listening to an impressionist piece of music, notice how you can't quite hum the home key. The music is a seemingly never-ending flow of melody and lush harmony. Many jazz quartal harmonies (chords made of intervals of a fourth) were borrwed to give impressionist music it's signature sound.

While we label Debussy as an impressionist, it is important to know that he disliked the term, along with his contemporary, Maurice Ravel. Nevertheless, their sound results in the sometimes "blurry" ambiguity as demonstrated by their artistic counterparts in the painting realm.

Impressionist music has some of the most beautiful melodies and can serve to accompany any relaxing summer day. Here are a few pieces you should definitely check out!

Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'un faune, Claude Debussy

Clair de Lune, Claude Debussy

Jeux d'eau, Maurice Ravel