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CHAPTERfi49 Mythical Impressions: Program Music
at the End of the Nineteenth Century
2. age 11, attended Paris Conservatory
a. shocked professors: bizarre harmonies, defied
rules
3. age 22, won Prix de Rome
4. Pelléas and Mélisande (1902), opera: interna–
tional success
5. 1889 Paris Exhibition: interest in non- Western
styles
6. helped establish French art song (mélodie)
7. 1918, died during bombardment of Paris
8. style: subtlety of expression, light airy textures,
short flexible forms
9. small output: orchestral compositions, dramatic
works, chamber music, piano music, songs
C. Prelude to “The After noon of a Faun”
1. Debussy’s best– known orchestral work
2. symphonic poem: Symbolist poem by Mallarmé
a. landscape of antiquity
b. faun (mythological creature: half man, half
goat) symbolizes raw sensuality; dreams of
three nymphs
3. later choreographed by Rus sian dancer, Vaslav
Nijinsky
D. LG 41: Debussy: Prelude to “The After noon of a
Faun” (Prélude à “L’a p rès- midi d’un faune”) (1894)
1. loose A– B- A′ structure; fluid and rhapsodic
2. A section: opens with lyrical, chromatic flute
melody in lower register
a. free- flowing rhythms, vague sense of pulse
b. harp glissandos follow
c. dialogue in the horns
3. B section: clarinet introduces animated idea
a. new theme carries to emotional climax
4. A′ section: antique cymbals, “blue” chords
5. piece dissolves into silence
OUTLINE
I. Symbolism and Impressionism in Paris
A. Impressionism
1. French movement in painting: Claude Monet’s
Impression: Sun Rising (1867)
2. “Impressionism” derisive term in academic
circles
3. freshness of first impressions
a. fascinated with changing appearance of light
and color
b. hazy, luminous style
4. artists: Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre–
August Renoir
B. Symbolism
1. parallel development in poetry
2. literary revolt against tradition
3. poetic images through suggestion, symbols;
abstract quality
4. French writers: Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine
II. Translating Impressions into Sound
A. Late 1800s: composers break traditions
1. inspired by Impressionist, Symbolist movements
2. greater subtlety, expressive ambiguity
3. modal and exotic scales (chromatic, whole– tone,
pentatonic)
4. dissonance as goal, freed from need to resolve
5. floating harmonies, ninth chords: hover between
tonalities
6. rich orchestral color, free rhythm
7. subtle colors, veiled sounds: lower registers,
muted brass, use of harp and celesta
8. small- scale programmatic forms
B. Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
1. most impor tant French Impressionist composer
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stylistic and aesthetic categories of Romanticism and
Impressionism dif fer ent? How are they similar? Do they
complement or negate each other? Are there any Roman–
tic ele ments in Debussy’s Prelude to “The After noon of
a Faun”?
2. If line, color, shape, and light make up the content of
Impressionist art, what makes up the content of Impres-
sionist music? How does Debussy employ this content in
Prelude to “The After noon of a Faun”? Can you make
similar kinds of connections between the content of
visual art and music in other styles we have explored (for
example, Re nais sance, Romantic, and Classical)?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cummins, Linda. Debussy and the Fragment. Amsterdam and New
York: Editions Rodopi, 2006. Cummins focuses her study on the
ton University Press, 2001. A collection of essays on Debussy and
fin– de– siècle France. Leon Botstein’s “Beyond the Illusions of
Realism: Painting and Debussy’s Break with Traditions”
addresses the connections among Debussy, his music, and the
Impressionists.
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Pick a movie, TV show, or video game that includes music
and draws on my thol ogy. How are specific ele ments like tim–
OVERVIEW
The Impressionistic music of Debussy is discussed within the
context of con temporary French painting and lit er a ture.
Debussy’s Prelude to “The After noon of a Faun” is explored
here to illustrate French artists’ fascination with my thol ogy
and exotic cultures at the turn of the twentieth century.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand Impressionism in music as defined by the
use of modal and nontraditional scales, sustained disso–
nance, and diverse orchestral tone colors, typically
composed within the subgenres of program music
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
content/subject matter. Why is the term Impressionist
used to describe the style of these paintings? Next, have
students read the excerpt from the poem by Stéphane
Mallarmé that serves as the program for Debussy’s Pre–
2. Play Debussy’s Prelude to “The After noon of a Faun”
and ask students to think about how the concepts of
Symbolism and Impressionism are pres ent in the piece.
Encourage students to connect the ideas of literary Sym–
bolism and artistic Impressionism to the musical ele-
ments (melody, rhythm/meter, harmony, etc.) they hear
in Debussy’s symphonic poem.
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
Mythical Impressions: Program Music at the End of the Nineteenth Century | 193
seductive song. In O Brother, the three main characters are
driving down a country road when one of them hears the
singing of three women washing clothes in a nearby river.
Mirroring the effect of the mythical Sirens’ song, the men
MODEL RESPONSE
Modeled after Homer’s The Odyssey, the film O Brother,
Where Art Thou? uses music at key moments of the story that