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In music, the term impressionism refers
primarily to many of the compositions of Claude DEBUSSY, which
achieved effects somewhat like those of impressionist paintings
and which, like the paintings, were strongly evocative of
mood and of certain aspects of nature--notably the play of
light, wind, and water. Other composers--among them Maurice
RAVEL, Frederick DELIUS, Ottorino RESPIGHI, Isaac ALBENIZ,
and Charles GRIFFES--are also often called impressionists,
although it might be more accurate to describe them as having
been influenced by Debussy's work and in particular by his
innovative uses of harmony and orchestration.
In his impressionist mode Debussy has been called a visual
composer (he describes the ending of his "Nuages,"
for example, as a "gray agony, gently tinged with white"),
a musician of light, clouds, and water. Effects are achieved
through the use of shifting tonalities, musical understatement,
broken rhythms, and the repetition of short melodic fragments.
Although these qualities might seem to be characteristic of
music that lacks form and definitiveness, Debussy's impressionist
works, paradoxically, are notable for their elegance and clarity.
Among these must be included Prelude to the Afternoon of Faun
(1892-4), the opera Pelleas et Melisande (1902), the orchestral
piece "Nuages" ("Clouds," from the Nocturnes,
1897-9), the orchestral suite La Mer (1905), and several of
the Preludes (1910-13) for piano.
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