1. Chapter 20: The Twentieth Century: Early Modernism Debussy and Impressionism

2. Key Terms Impressionism Nocturne

3. The Twentieth Century: Early Modernism (1)

4. The Twentieth Century: Early Modernism (2) 1st phase of modernist music 1890-1914 Took place mostly in Paris & Vienna Leading figures were Debussy, Stravinsky, & Schoenberg Other modernist rumblings in Russia, Hungary, Italy, & the United States A period of rapid change & development Revolution in tonality especially captured early 20th century imagination Along with rethinking of melody & harmony

5. Debussy and Impressionism On the border between late 19th & early 20th century styles Some features remind us of Romanticism Investigation of sensuous new tone colors Development of new rich harmonies Search for new ways to express emotion Some features rebel against Romanticism Favors subtle, mysterious shades of sound Fragmentary melodies based on vague scales Ambiguous harmonies & clouded tonality

6. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) The leading impressionist composer Trained at Paris Conservatory Influenced by the kuchka, gamelan, & Wagner Style crystallized in his early 30s Influence of impressionism & symbolism Innovations in orchestration & piano writing Brief career as a music critic Wrote orchestral works, piano music, songs, chamber music, & an opera La Mer, Preludes, Pelléas et Melisande

7. Debussy, Three Nocturnes (1) Impressionistic symphonic poems Vague & evocative – no clear-cut narrative Title suggests Chopin’s piano nocturnes But Debussy was thinking of a set of atmospheric paintings by Whistler Three character pieces for orchestra Clouds – a pure nature piece Festivals – mysterious night-time fairs & parades Sirens – wordless women’s chorus evokes alluring but deadly singers from The Odyssey

8. Three Nocturnes Clouds (1) Very loose ternary form – A B A’ No literal return of A – only vague recollection No full-blown melodies in the A section Motives & melodic fragments only “Cloud theme” built on oscillating chords Haunting octatonic English horn motive Focus on subtly shifting textures, tone colors

9. Three Nocturnes Clouds (2) B section more melodic & complete Pentatonic tune repeats three times A’ even more fragmentary than A

10. Conclusions on Debussy The 1st great modernist composer Breaks down traditional approaches to melody & harmony Tone color takes on a new importance Few tunes – mostly motives & melodic fragments based on exotic scales Pedal tones & ostinatos anchor the tonality Frequent use of parallelism & rich chords Static, fragmentary quality draws attention to his exquisite tone colors