Impressionism

Late Romantic Period to Early 20th century Before WWI

-peace in Europe
-optimism in progress
-inventions (telephone, hygiene, light, movies, radio, recording)
-economy (more colonies)
-theory of relativity, psycho-analytic theory (Freud)
-WWI (1914): disillusionment

Impressionism: French movement of the visual arts (1860-70s)

-1874: Salon des Rfuss (Cezanne, Pissarro, Renoir, Degas, Monet,
Manet, Morisot), a bunch of lunatics and a woman
:among the paintings featured: Pisarros Hoarfrost and
Monets Impression: Sun Rising
-name of Monets painting became attached to the artistic style in
general
-traits of traditional Academic Salon Art
1) smooth finish
2) dealt with allegory, Classical subjects, heroic scenes, ideal
human forms
3) hierarchy of subjects: 1) history /religion, 2) portraiture,
3) still life, 4) landscape
-traits of Impressionist art:
1) bold brush strokes, rough textures, broken strokes, striations
2) interested in contemporary subjects, urban, middleclass,
plein-air
3) inversion of hierarchy of subjects
4) pure, unmixed colour juxtaposed on canvas (optical colour
mixing)
5) effects of light (odd colours)

6) lack of hard lines

-1874 reviews: They are Impressionists in the sense that they render
not the landscape, but the sensation produced by the landscape.
-Review of Pissarros Hoarfrost: He commits the grave error of
painting fields with shadows cast by trees placed outside the frame.
As a result the viewer is left to suppose they exist, as he cannot see
them.
-Review of Monets Sunrise: Wallpaper in its embryonic state is
more finished than [Monets] seascape!

Bouguereau: Birth of Venus (1879)

Pissarro: Hoarfrost (1874)

Mo
net: Impression: Sunrise (1874)

Claude Monet, Boulevard des Capucines, 1873

French Impressionism in the music of Debussy (1862-1918)

-1880s, Debussys music described as Impressionistic
1. emphasizes momentary beauty of sound and tone colour
1) expanded orchestral colour (eg. Antique cymbals, muted cymbals),
orchestral effects
2) new way of piano writing; non-percussive, heavily pedalled to let
sounds blend; make piano hammerless
3) use of new scales: whole tone, pentatonic, octatonic
4) new harmonies: built up on traditional chords
5) new way of treating dissonance/consonance; dissonances dont
resolve in the same way
6) gamelan influence
2. flexibility in forms, syntax, metre, hazy outlines
1) worked a lot in miniatures; not tied to Classical forms
2) fluidity of rhythm; written in metrical systems, but sounds free
without a sense of a beat
3. impressionist and symbolist subjects
1) programmatic music referred to urban, natural subjects (goldfish,
sails, sunken cathedral, clouds, garden in the rain)
2) inspired by symbolist literature (Prlude a laprs midi dun faune,
Pelleas et Melisande-libretto based on Maeterlincks play)
Three Nocturnes (1899) - Clouds
-a group of 3 programmatic symphonic poems: 1. Clouds; 2. Festivals;
3. Sirens
-listen for: 1) ambiguity of mode (uses octatonic scale)
2) instruments as spots of colour
3) large, chunky, static chords gliding in parallel motion
4) interplay of movement and stillness
5) an ABA structure?
6) pentatonicism in B