chapter 43 mythical impressions: program music at the end of the nineteenth century
TRANSCRIPT
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