About Impressionism

Impressionist music is a movement in Western Art Music began in the late 19^th century and continued to mid-20^th century. (Tsai, S, http://www.tcd.ie/Music/JF%20History/debussy.html)

The notion of impressionism is to create descriptive impressions that are not necessarily clearly depicted. Music is composed with vague vision in order to create an atmospheric effect. (Tsai, S, http://www.tcd.ie/Music/JF%20History/debussy.html)

The timbre of the music is created through exotic scale systems namely the pentatonic scale influenced by Asian music. Impressionist’s use of harmony was different to the traditional style in Western Art Music, that is, chords are used to set the mood of the piece rather than building up and releasing tension. (McGraw 1998, http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/music/kamien/student/olc/29.htm)

(Courtesy of: Tsai, S, http://www.tcd.ie/Music/JF%20History/debussy.html)

This is an impressionist painting by Claude Monet, it gave rise to the Impressionist movement.