What is impressionist music?
Impressionism in music is a style that composers root for by deviating or maneuvering moods, emotions and even employing stories to express themselves better to the audience or listeners.
The ways of doing so have reached a lot of altitudes to the extent that orchestration and/or progressive harmonic styles are tweaked by the use of timbres, expanding even larger the impressionism.
The style has long been established in the industry of classical music, specifically during the late Romantic music era of the nineteenth century to early twentieth century.
Even up to now, the impressionistic music is well known, especially through some of their famous pioneers such as Frédéric Chopin from the early era and later on by George Gershwin.
What are characteristics of Impressionist music?
Impressionism in music is also well-accepted for its characteristics, including but not limited to, rejection of traditional structure, progressive harmony, and emphasis on atmosphere and mood, which shall be tackled one by one.
Most of the impressionist composers do not harmonize with the accustomed structural forms of music which had its origin from the time of Mozart. They rather explore the in between pattern or design by the early music.
This is close to saying that most of the pioneers of the impressionist music do not adhere to the usual or traditional style of the music before.
Next is the progressive harmony which includes the acknowledgment of scales, whichever of that of chromatic, pentatonic, whole tone, and few accounts of atonality. The critiques rather described the concepts known during such time as bold step to move forward and develop the existing styles of classical music.
Last is the emphasis on the atmosphere and mood of the music, this involves the experimental attitudes of the composers jumping and combing different texture and timbres potentiality of instruments, typically the orchestral ones. The vision is to create emotive impressions that shall linger or even re-tell narratives of the composers with the tonality same of that of poems.
What defines Impressionism in music?
Impressionism in music is usually defined as the music that focuses on atmosphere because it mostly “conveys moods and emotions induced by the subject rather than a detailed picture.”
In fact, the term “impressionism” is a term borrowed from the nineteenth century painting of Monet’s “Impression, Sunrise.” After such, the composers were called as impressionists in the likeness to the impressionist painters.
This is akin to saying that impressionism in art and impressionism in music can be closely related and associated with each other. So how does impressionism in art and in music similar?
Impressionism in art and in music
Impressionism in art is often depicted through the use of fancy and contrasting colors, emphasizing the effect of light to an object from the subject. These may be foreground and background that are usually artistically blurry.
They even have a perspective that is flattening with the obvious reason to have the observer or viewer focus his attention on the whole impression of the work. Such an art is also characterized by strokes that are relatively thin but also visible.
This style which transgresses time from the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century carried over by prominent artists or painters of impressionism such as Monet, Pierre, Bazille and Cézanne.
Music Impressionism
Impressionism in music includes a bold move and style by the composers which introduces an unconventional harmony from the typical classical music, stress on the “color” or “timbres” by orchestral instruments and an unguided or lack of direction on motion which substitute for the melody, a way of avoidance to the existing traditional music form.
Thus, impressionism in music who takes after the impressionism in art is motivated by liberalism of both the composers, as parallel with those of the painters. Since both highlights the freedom on both fields, the craft in each has been well received by the public.
The Impact of impressionist music
The impressionist music which liberated the craftsman from bounds of traditional structure of a musical composition form paved way for more composers to challenge themselves to create or improve a whole line of style or taste in music.
One of which is the impressionism in music, which can take par even above with the traditional musical form. The variety that the impressionist music delivered to the public also widens their view as well on the musical field which result to the more appreciation of them by the new starring music style.
With the innovation on the process, this encourages more composers to be bold with their style. They delve to have an in-depth analysis of what instruments which do not go well before. Yet, it somehow can be accepted through because of the woke perspective of the many.
Since the style has been taken from the freedom of the painters during that time, the critics then view the new evolving music with more leniency, less constricting which entails the precept that no impression in the music can be considered wrong and unethical.
In fact, it is more engaging since it would allow people to express their preference without the fear of being criticized or frowned upon. Much art is being elicited from exuding expression, which will, wittingly or unwittingly, produces impressions.
What is the main idea of Impressionism?
Impressionism’s idea of expressing or exhibiting various emotions, moods, and atmosphere is what the music style imparts to the public, and this is the main objective why composers directed their musical composition to such sound and style.
They want the listeners to just enjoy the mood, which listening to the music is bringing to them while also having relaxation. Invariably, such music can bring quite an eargasm((Eargasm, Urban Dictionary)) to everyone that may be hooked up with the artwork musical style.
What makes Impressionism unique?
The very existence of the impressionism in music is the unique aspect of its style. The reason is that its purpose of eliciting a feeling or conveying a mood which can be shown by the composers’ way of altering the usual chord sequences and combinations or scales–a new way to produce sound from different instruments.
This probes the characteristic of the impressionist music to adopt a less structured pattern or approach to composition. Prior to the evolvement of music into a more free style, it follows a sophisticated yet imposing structures that all composers must abide, this is what the impressionism is rejecting.
Even the rhythm can be deviated and this is to the advantage of using more of “free time” or that the rhythm kept changing all through-out the musical piece.
Illustrating the whole concept, the old style of music prior to the impressionist is that of emphasizing on a first person view, where people and/or listeners are more focused on the protagonist.
On the other hand, while being under the impressionist music, it is a 180 degree turn. The view is that of a narrator. They see the picture as a whole, appreciating the aspects of it from afar capturing the same in its entirety. As most musicians speak of, the motto was “suggest or evoke, but do not describe.”
Why is it called Impressionism?
It is called impressionism because of its ability to reproduce the reality of emotions, mood, or atmosphere. At the same time it mirrors the reaction of the artists to the presented challenge, instances, and life experiences they acquire over time, as they go further in life.
This is the artists’ story on how they view the things around them and what emotions or mood that is impressed or imprinted on such virtual canvass. This is close to trying to get to know the artist perspective which is the very goal of anything that is art, such as in this case the impressionism in music.
As per quoted by Francesco Salvi, “impressionism is at the root of all modern art, because it was the first movement that managed to free itself from preconceived ideas, and because it changed not only the way life was depicted but the way life was seen.
Conclusion
Way back in the eighteenth century, there had been already an occurring style of music reigning for hundreds of years until the old custom was finally let go. This talks about how the composers are gradually breaking apart from the usual trade of music, that is, restrained in the known and established musical form or structure.
They did not abandon the style altogether; but rather, they created a whole one that is characterized as more liberating that hones or enhances the creativity and give more opportunities to the composers to delve in a whole new matter that is distinct, yet, still related from what they have grown up on.
Nonetheless, the musical field must acknowledge that such occurrences happened all thanks to the influence of the impressionism in art. The worked hand in hand to have people accept more of the style and the changing pace of both art and music.
It is, as if, the art has initiated or introduced the scheme; and music was influenced and has adopted the concept and incorporated the same to its own craft or musical piece. Either way, it does not matter which influence which. What matters is that the public accepted the idea without protest.
The people’s view of enriching such concepts help the fields of study to spread, enough to diversify all things in life, making the life of people more worthwhile.