Impressionism

• Debussy

  French composer, sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term, preferring 'symbolist'
• Debussy's lifespan

  1862-1918
• Debussy's music was to a considerable extent a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition
• Debussy regarded the classical symphony as obsolete and sought an alternative in his 'symphonic sketches'
• Debussy's famous 'symphonic sketches'

  • Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894)
  • La Mer (1903-5)
• Debussy developed his own style of harmony and orchestral colouring, derided – and unsuccessfully resisted – by much of the musical establishment of the day
• Debussy's works have strongly influenced a wide range of composers including Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, and the jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans
• Prelude


  A piece of music designed to be played as an introduction to another
• Three periods of prelude development

  • 1450-1650: Short, free, improvisatory form not connected with any other piece or pieces
  • 1650-1800: Employed as introductory pieces to dance suites and fugues
  • After 1800: Lost popularity until Chopin and later composers revived the independent, rhapsodic form
• J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier is the most important collection of preludes and fugues for the harpsichord
• Chopin wrote 24 Preludes, Op. 28 (1839) in all keys, which are short free forms with only an idea expressed and little or no development
• Rachmaninov wrote a set of twenty-four Preludes in all keys, emulating Chopin and Bach
• Shostakovich also wrote 24 preludes and fugues in the 1950s
• Des pas sur la neige (Footprints in the Snow)


  The 6th prelude in Debussy's first book of 12 preludes for solo piano, composed in 1909
• Debussy dated Des pas sur la neige

  December 27, 1909
• Des pas sur la neige was first published, along with the rest of Debussy's preludes from Book I

  April 1910
• Des pas sur la neige premiered later in 1910 at the Salle Érard in Paris, with Debussy himself performing the work
• The 12 preludes in Debussy's first book


  • Danseuses de Delphes
  • Voiles
  • Le vent dans la plaine
  • "Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir"
  • Les collines d'Anacapri
  • Des pas sur la neige
  • Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest
  • La fille aux cheveux de lin
  • La sérénade interrompue
  • 10. La cathédrale engloutie
  • 11. La danse de Puck
  • 12. Minstrels
• Des pas sur la neige

  • Second longest prelude in the first book, but only due to very slow tempo
  • Only 36 bars in the piece
• Main ostinato in Des pas sur la neige

  1. Heard in 24 of the 36 bars, representing the footsteps

  2. Syncopated figure with left foot (D-E) and right foot (E-F) motifs
• Footsteps in Des pas sur la neige

  • Pause for a moment in bar 7 before continuing, pause again in bars 12-13
  • Return in low part at end of section 1, bars 14-15, but seem stuck using a tritone (F#-C)
  • Effort to continue in bars 22-24 is not successful, as the steps stop again in bar 25
  • Footsteps doubled in octaves and transferred to higher register in coda, bars 32-36
• Form and structure of Des pas sur la neige

  Binary form with two very clear sections:

  A (bars 1-15) and B (bars 16-36)

  Each section has two sub-groups plus a codetta or coda
• Melody in Des pas sur la neige

  • Softly sighing character becoming more desolate, appears in right hand in bars 2-4, 5-7, 17-19 and 20-25
• Texture in Des pas sur la neige

  • Very sparse, heightening the pictorial atmosphere
  • Quiet dynamic throughout, sparse notes, very slow tempo increasing sense of space
• Rhythm and metre in Des pas sur la neige

  • Clear 4/4 time, with repeated and syncopated ostinato figure (the footsteps)
• Comparison of the two sections A and B in Des pas sur la neige