music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w.

rush

Impressionism
globe theatre
london, england

“woman with a parasol - madame monet and her son”

claude monet, 1875
oil on canvas

“water lilies and japanese bridge”

claude monet, ca 1898
oil on canvas
Although its composers were
usually pretty grouchy about
the comparison, impressionism
in music has a pretty clear heritage.
it shares a philosophy with a type of
visual art: specifically, the works
of the 19th-century french painter
claude monet!

rather than replicating fine details, impressionist painters such as monet focused on light
and movement, using broad strokes of unblended color. They loved natural scenes,
often painting outdoors, away from home, and producing a finished work in a few hours!

composers who used impressionism included fellow frenchmen ravel and

satie, as well as others like griffes, respighi, sibelius and hanson...
but if monet had a counterpart in music, it was claude debussy!

through debussy’s music we can first of all, one big theme is the
see the compositional techniques avoidance of traditional harmonic
that typify impressionism: tension. for example, chords with
tritones tend to be pretty hard to find!
planing: parallel fifths and octaves?
œœ œœœ œœ œ œœ b œœ b œ œœ n n ww
& b 44 œœ œ œœ œœœ œœ b œœ œœ b œ n ww
no problem! debussy would paint
bœ œ
debus
sy melodies with entire chords moving
p più p
in parallel motion.
œ Œ
4 ? b œ œ b b œœ w œ
& b 4 Œ -̇ bœ bœ nw œ œ
the whole-tone scale: this scale, made up œ- œ nw
entirely of whole steps, was embraced by the
? b 44 Œ
d: v i v iv i N ? uh... ack
impressionists for its lack of dissonance.
œ œ œ
2 # œœ- œœ # œœ œ œ # œœ # b œœ
&4 œ b œ b œœ œœ .... non-functional harmony: chords
would often be juxtaposed in more
. . . chromatic ways... defying traditional
? 42 ‰ b œ œœ ?
& b œœ
roman numeral analysis!
# b œœœ œœ
bœ b œœ bœ œ ‰ Jœ ww ..
8
. . . . œ œœ œœ ww .. œ œœ œœ
œœ œ œ œœ œœ œ œ œœ
& 32 Œ œœœœ œœ œœ œ Œ œœœœ œœ œœ œ
augmented triads: unlike diminished triads,
œ œ œ
œ œ œœ
? 32 Œ œœœ œœ œœ œ œœ Œ œœ œœ
which listeners associated with traditional
œ
& œœ œœ
?
&œ œ
chord functions, augmented triads provided
a less tonal sound without all the tension! w. œ ww .. œ
8 w.

.
chords with added notes: adding seconds,
# n n œœœ b n b œœœ .
3

b œœœ b œœœ œœ œœ
3

& b b b b 42 ˙
b bb ˙˙˙
œœœ
fourths and sixths to triads help add color
n œ œ bœ nœ œ
#
n œ œ œ b œœ œ- œ. œœ. b b œœ.
without introducing harsh dissonance.
- œ
p F
nœ b n œœ bœ
the pentatonic scale: specifically, the
? b b b 42
bb œ œ œ œ œ œ
anhemitonic pentatonic scale... a five
Aœ. œ œ. œ œ. œ note scale with no half-steps in it!

b œ œ œ
& b b b b b 43 œ œ œ œ
p
uneven harmonic rhythm: changing chords
˙.
? b b b b 43 gggg ˙˙˙ ...
in a less predictable fashion differentiated

b b g ˙.
impressionism from traditional tonal music.

˙˙ .
.
interestingly, a lot of
these same techniques were
adopted into jazz, a style of extended harmonies: adding sevenths, ninths
music which became hugely and thirteenths introduced a rich texture to
successful in america... any chord, regardless of scale degree!
and france!
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