| Musical Impressionism is often thought to refer to subtle fragility, amorphous passivity, and vague mood music. A more accurate characterization of Impressionist music would include restraint and understatement, a static quality, and a provocatively colourful effect resulting from composers’ fascination with pure sound as a beautiful and mysterious end in itself. Technically, these characteristics often result from a static use of harmony, ambiguous tonality, a lack of sharp formal contrasts and of onward rhythmic drive, and a blurring of the distinction between melody and accompaniment. Although Impressionism has been considered a movement away from the excesses of Romanticism, the sources of many of its characteristics may be found in the works of composers who are also considered to be the Romantic precursors of Expressionism—e.g., Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, and Aleksandr Scriabin. |
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