The Impressionistic Period
THE IMPRESSIONISTIC PERIOD The Impressionistic Period took place during the
latter half of the 19th century and the beginning half of the 20th century.
Impressionistic music was first started by Claude Debussy, a French composer. He
also founded the impressionist school of music. The Impressionistic Period
started as a revolt against German romanticism. The influence of the French
impressionist paintings also helped form this style of music. Debussy’s music
was brief, elegant, and rather cold, unlike the period before, which held
sentimental music. At one point in his life, he broke away and composed a piece
which was more conventional, called La Mer, which means the sea. There were many
different composers during the Impressionistic Period. Some of them were Manuel
de Falla, Fredrick Delius, Ralph Williams Vaughan, and Ottorino Respighi. These
and other composers helped to make up the Impressionistic Period. Delius and
Vaughan were English composers. La Falla was a Spanish composer. Impressionistic
music was especially popular in the European countries. Impressionistic music
was influenced by Claude Monet’s painting, Sunrise. Other impressionistic
artists were Camile Pissaro, Auguste Renior, Edgar Degas, and Berthe Morisot.
Many people of the time rejected this style of art. The paintings were flooded
with bright colors applied directly to the canvas in small textured strokes.
This style broke the consistency of the clearly outlined and represented
paintings of this time. Impressionistic music had a vagueness of form and the
elusive mark of impressionism.
Some characteristics are the use of
unconventional chord changes, comparative unimportance of melody, and pentatonic
scales often replaced the major and minor scales. The Impressionistic Period was
also famous for its literature. Impressionism in literature often is used
broadly, including symbolism, imagism, and other styles that were not formal,
some leaders in impressionistic literature were not formal, some leaders in
impressionistic literature were American poets, Amy Lowell and Ezra Pound. The
Impressionistic Period was a great influence on many people of the time. We
still remember it today as a great step forward in musical history.
Words: 335
|
