IMPRESSIONISM: TRENDS AND PARALLELS IN MUSIC AND PAINTING

AS RELATL'D TO THE MIROIRS' OF MAURICE RAVEL, A tECTURE

RECITAL, TOGETH R WITH FOUR RECITALS OF SELECTED WORKS

OF J. S. BACH, . A. NMuZART, L. VAN BEETHOVEN, J.

BRAHMlS, F. CHOPIN, F. LISZiT, S. PROKOFIEFF,

AND D. MATHEW

DISSERTATION

Presented to the Graduat e Council of the

North Texas State University in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

Doctor of Musical Arts

By

Phyllis Mu 2 {oz, B. Mus., V. Mus.

Denton, Texas
December, 19?3
 Mufoz, Phyllis, Imnressionism: f rendsand Parallels in
Music and Painting as Related to the Miroirs of Maurice Ravel,

A Lecture zetal, Together with Four Recitals of Selected

Works of J. , Bach, Slloart,

, L. Van Beethoven, . Brahrs,
b.
Choin, S Liszt, j. Prokofieff, and D. iathew. Doctor of
:usica Ar.ts (lano Performance), December, 1973, 38 pp.,

22 illustrat ions, bibliography, 48 titles.

The lecture recital was given April 23, 1973. A discussion

of trends and parallels in Impressionist music and painting

included information about specific technical devices and

innovations related to and common to the arts of music and

painting, as seen in the iiroirs of Ravel. BIdes of Impres

sionist paintings were used as illustrations. The five pieces

of the Afiroirs were then performed by memory.

In addition to the lecture recital, four other public

recitals were performed. These consisted of two solo piano

recitals and two concerto performances,

The first solo recital was on April 16, 1972, and in

cluded works of Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, Prokofieff and Chopin.

The second recital, on October 23, 1972, was a perfor

mance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto in 0 Pa j r, _ 8 j, with

the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in Little Rock, Arkansas,

under the direction of 1. Francis McBeth,

The third recital, on April 9, 1973, consisted of a

performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor,
K. 466, with the Graduate Chamber Orchestra of the North
Texas State University School of Music, under the direction
of John Giordano.
The final recital, on November 12, 1973, was a solo
recital, and included works by Brahms, Mathew and Prokofieff.
All five programs were recorded on magnetic tape and are
filed, along with the written version of the lecture material,
as a part of the dissertation.
 Tape recordings of all performances submitted as as
dissertation requirements are on deposit in the North Texas

State University Library.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PERFORMANCE PROGRAMS Page

First Solo Recital . . . . . . . . . . . .0 .a V

.
First Concerto Recital . . . . . . . . *
. .vi09 .

.
Second Concerto Recital . . . . . * * * ... vii

.
Lecture Recital. Impressionism: Trends and
Parallels in Music and Painting as Related
to the Miroirs of Maurice Ravel . . . .. .ix

.
Second Solo Recital and Program Notes .

.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.. . . . .q.....0 . .. .xii*
. .
IMPRESSIONISM: TRENDS AND PARALLELS IN MUSIC
AND PAINTING AS RELATED TO THE MIROIRS OF
IaURICE RAVEL . . . . . . . , . * * . , . * . * 9 .9 1

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . .
* 35
.

iv
NORTH TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
presents

Phyllis Muiioz
in a

Piano Recital
Sunday, April 16, 1972 3:30 p.m. Recital Hall

Prelude and Fugue in f-sharp minor

W TC Vol. II, N o. 14 ......................................... Bach

Sonata in A Major, Opus 2, No. 2 ......................... Beethoven

Allegro vivace
Largo appassionato
Scherzo: Allegretto
Rondo: Grazioso

intermission

Les jeux d'eaux a la villa d'Este ................................ Liszt

(Anndes de P&lerinage-Troisieme annde)

Sarcasm s, Opus 17 ...................................... Prokofieff

Tempestoso
Allegro rubato
Allegro precipitato
Smanioso
Precipitosissimo

E tudes ................................................... C hopin

C Major, Opus 10, No. 7
e-flat minor, Opus 10, No. 6
F Major, Opus 10, No. 8
c-sharp minor, Opus 10, No. 4

Presented in partialfulfillment of the requirementsfor

the degree Doctorof MusicalA rts

V
 THE ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Francis McBeth, Conductor
Phyllis Mu'noz, Piano Soloist
October 23rd, 1972 8:15 P.M. UALR Fine Arts Auditorium
October 24th, 1972 7:30 P.M. Pine Bluff High School
PROGRAM
CARNEVAL OVERTURE, OP. 92
PIANO CONCERTO IN G MAJOR, OP. 58 DVORAK
BEETHOVEN
Allegro moderato
Andante
Rondo: Vivace
Intermission
THREE PIECES FOR ORCHESTRA
KENT KENNAN
Wilbert Delaine, Viola Soloist
Promenade
Nocturne
17 Carnpo dei Fiori
FANTASIA ON THE ALLELUIA HYMN
GORDON JACOB
FOUR SCOTTISH DANCES
MALCOLM ARNOLD

PROGRAM NOTES
By Jerry E. McSpadden
ANTONIN DVORAK (1841-1904): CONCERT OVERTURE
Dvorak spent most of his life in Czechoslovakia, working "CARNEVAL", opus 92
his way up in musical circles from a
background of proverty. After coming to the attention of
Brahms, who was judging a composition
contest in which Dvorak had entered a set of piano duets,
Dvorak rose rapidly in fame. He eventually
became recognized as the chief representative of Czech nationalism
in music, and received honorary
degrees in several countries. Tonight's composition, which
was written on the occasion of such a
degree from the University of Prague in 1891, depicts a European
Mardi Gras celebration in which the
solemnity of Lent is prepared for in almost wanton abandon.
Dvorak once described the overture as
depicting "a lonely, contemplative wanderer reaching at twilight a city
is in full sway. On every side is heard the clangor of instruments, where the Mardi Gras carnival
mingled with joy and unrestrained
hilarity of the people giving vent to their feelings in songs
and dance tunes." After the orgiastic
opening section, a middle episode of quiet romantic quality suggests
encounter by the wanderer. At the end, the merrymaking
a more intimate and personal
resumes with the return of the opening
Slavic dance theme.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827): CONCERTO FOR
PIANO & ORCHESTRA NO. 4 IN G
MAJOR, opus 58
This concerto was first performed publicly in an all-Beethoven
program with the composer himself
presiding at the pianoforte. Various accounts have been given,
some of which suggest that Beethoven's
increasing deafness, plus a somewhat out-of-tune piano left something
to be desired. Nevertheless, the
concerto has survived on its compositional mertis to hold
a most honored place in the standard
concert repertory.
The concerto begins, unusually, with the main thematic
material being presented by the solo
instrument alone. The orchestra takes up battle with the piano
in alternating moods and themes. A
virtuoso cadenza creates the climax of the first movement; and
a short coda brings it to a close with an
expansive crescendo.
The 2nd movement also contains many oppositions of moods between
the end of the movement, the contrast lessens, and the contemplative
piano and orchestra. Towards
mood of the piano prevails.
The last movement, succeeding the "Andante" without pause,
begins with strings. In loose rondo
form, the piano and orchestra engage in boisterous, rhythmic
interplay. The movement ends with a
brilliant virtuoso cadenza, followed by restatements of the opening theme and brief concluding
passages.
KENT WHEELER KENNAN: THREE PIECES FOR ORCHESTRA
Kent Kennan was born in Milwaukee, Wis. in 1913. He studied
at the University of Michigan, at the
Eastman School of Music, and in Rome with Pizetti. Several
of his compositions have been recorded
by Mercury Records. He has taught composition at the University
of Texas at Austin since 1949. His
textbook "Orchestration" is standard in many schools throughout
the country, including several
colleges in Arkansas.

Vi
 NORTH TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
presents

THE GRADUATE
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
John Giordano
conductor

Phyllis Mu~oz
piano

Mary Beth Armes

soprano

monday
april 9

8:15 p.m.

recital hall

vii
 '4.

program

Signals ....... ............................. John W atts

Warning
Certification
Notice
Mary Beth Armes

Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 ...... W. A. Mozart

Allegro
Romanza
Rondo
Phyllis Mufioz

intermission

vii i
 NORTH TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF MUSIC

presents

PHYLLIS MUNOZ, Pianist

in a

LECTURE RECITAL

IMPRESSIONISM: TRENDS AND PARALLELS IN MUSIC & PAINTING

as related to The Miroirs of Maurice Ravel

Monday, April 23, 1973 4:00 P.M. Recital Hall

MIROIRS (Mirrors)............................ Ravel (1905)

Noctuelles (Moths)

Oiseaux Tristes (Mournful Birds)

Une Barque sur l'ocean (A Boat on the Ocean)

Alborada del gracioso (Morning Music of a Minstrel

-Clown)

La Vallee des cloches (The Valley of the Bells)

Presented in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree
Doctor of Musical Arts

ix
NORTH TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY

School of Music

presents

PHYLLIS MUNOZ, PIANIST

Monday, November 12, 1973 8:15 p.m. Recital Hall

program

Walzer, Op. 39....................Johannes Brahms

Moods II.............................David Mathew

first performance

intermission

Sonata No. 8 in B-flat Major, Op. 84.....

...... Sergei Prokofieff
Andante dolce

Andante sognando

Vivace

Presented in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree Doctor of Musical Arts

x
 NOTES ON MOODS II

1. The pianist is to construct a multi-colored overlay.

This may be done by randomly placing small pieces of
self-adhesing colored acetate on one score-sized piece
of clear acetate, or by painting clear acetate with
thinned acrylics. The overlay should be affixed to
the score.

2. The pianist is to follow the route indicated in the

score, making choices as desired. Repetition of an
event is possible.

3. Each event (square) is to be repeated ad lib., as deter

mined by the pianist. Duration of the work is dependent
upon the pianist's artistic sense.

4. The pianist is to derive all interpretive directions

(tempi, dynamics, attacks, releases, pedaling, etc.
from the colors on the overlay. Thus, the pianist's
feelings about the various colors directly determine
content,

5. The pianist may transpose or double any written pitch,

David Mathew, 1973

xi
 LUP TF IL LU TR A TONS

Figure Page
1. Claude Monet: Imression: Sunrise * . * 2
2. Thirteenth-century French: A usician . e , 3
3. if teenth-century Burgundian.
Virgin and Child . , , . , , , ,
3

,
, 5 ,

4. idr Degas: In -the. Jins

5. Gustave Courbet: Young Women on the Banks *, , 6
of the Seine . - .
*

6. ionet: the Water-Garden at Giverny * . . 10

.
70 ."aurice Rnavel Airoirs:
"Nortuelles," mm. 1-2 . . . . . . . * S . .p 11
8. Pavel: iroirs: "Alborada del gracioso," .
mm, 43-45 . - - # - . - *0 . . . .. .. 12
#

. .

.
9. Ravel: Pir oirs: "Oiseaux tristes,"
mm. 13-15 , . . . . . . * . . * , * . . . 14
,

10. M
Geor Es Seurat: Study for Le Chahut . 15
*

* S -P

11. Monet:* Ch ar ingQros Bridge ,..,.., , , ,S 17

12. Vonet: Lo.1-a tacks * * * * . . * S . 19
*

13. Ravel: Miroirs: "Une Barque sur l'oc*#an,#"

mm. 1-10 , , . - . . . . * * . . . . 21
.

. S .S

14. Rarel: Miroirs: "Ciseaux tristes,"

# , ,**,, ,, . ,, mm. 1-2 - - ,
23
.

* . .S

15. Ravel: Miroirs: "La Vallge des cloches,"

*#.
.* .. mm. 1-4 a . . .- # *. . . 25
.

. S .S

16. Ravel: Diroirs: "oiseaux tristes," m. 24 . * .S 27

17. Ravel: Miroirs: "Noctuelles," mm, 37-39 m . * .5 27

xii
 Figure Page
18, Ravel: Miroirs: "'Une Barque sur 1'oc6an,"
. 49 - - # t o - -o - -A... ..28
19. Vincent Van Gogh: The Sower , . . . . . . . . 29
20, Ravel: Miroirs: "Alborada del gracioso,f"
mm. 114-119 - - - * * - - - - - - - - . - - . .
30
21. Seurat: Sunda Afternoon on the Ile de la
.. -. 32 Grande-Jatte . . ,
22. Paul Cezanne: t
'hocquet Seated 0
, , -. -, -, * 33

xiii
 IMPRESS IONLS :$ TRENDS AND PARALLELS IN MUSIC AND PAINTING

AS RELATED TO THE MIROIRS OF MAURICE RAVEL

The end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the

twentieth century witnessed a fine flowering of the Arts.

Developments in literature, painting and sculpture culminated

in France in the last decades of the nineteenth century in

the movement known as "Impressionism." This movement pro

vided a point of departure for the art of music to escape

from the extravagant emotional and tonal proportions to which

it had grown in Germany in the late nineteenth century.

The term "Impressionism" was derived by art critics

from a painting by Claude Monet entitled Impression: Sunrise

in which the artist depicted an impression of the sun rising

through mist over the Thames (Fig. 1, p. 2). The painting

was first exhibited in Paris in 1874, and its title was

launched asER label for the works, not only of Monet, but of

several Painters, including Renoir, Sisley, Gauguin, Pissarro,

Toulouse-1Autrec, 3eurat and Cezanne.

Monet's aim in Impression: sunrise was to suggest the

shifting, transitory aspect of the morning mist as it was

being dissolved by the rising sun. The desire to capture the

fleeting, momentary aspect of a subject was not a new element

in the art of the Impressionists. The power to depict the

momentary appearance of a subject has long been an important

 2

Fig, 1--Claude Monet, Impression: Sunrise (1872),

Musee ilarmottan, Paris. Reprinted in i6aurice 3erullaz,
The Impressionist Painters, translated by L.
J. Jtrachan
(New York, 1960), no 8.

characteristic of "rench painters and sculptors. Roger Pry

observes this peculiar trait in an anonymous thirteenth

century figure of a boy musician (Fig. 2, . 3). Fry writes,

In the movement of the head and the expression of the
face he [the sculptor] has made us vividly aware not
only of the character of the boy but of his state of
mind. In his intentness on the music which he is
playing he is scarcely aware of the outer world--his
face has that vague unseeing regard which comes from
a withdrawal from the outside, from concentration on
what is passing within the mind. 1
In a fifteenth-century Virgin and Child the extem

Yraneous quality is again noticeable (Fig. 3, p. 3).

oger ry, JiiaracteriStics o;? _ronch Art (inew ork,

i177), n. 9
 3

-Pig. 2--Thirteenth-century French, A !Thusician, Rheiims.

I,

~
~

r 11niInli ini i-, 3-- iteenth-culouse. I

~usee des Augustins, Toulouse. Reprinted in Fry, n. 10.
 4

The mother's glance appears to be directed toward

something that attracts her attention momentarily, Again,

the sculptor has created a "vivid imaginative grasp of a

particular moment in an everyday incident." 2

From the nineteenth century, Edgar Degas' In the Wijgs

likewise gives the viewer the impression of a "first glance."

The characters are depicted as they might be seen in a brief

moment, when passing by (Fig. 4, p. 5).

The most distinctive contribution of the Impressionist

painters to traditional French painting was their emphasis on

outdoor painting, as opposed to the traditional practice of

painting inside the studio. Gustave Courbet, in the late

nineteenth century, was one of the first artists to paint in

the open air1 Fry observes that the habit of painting pictures

in the studio was deeply ingrained, however, and was not easily

discarded. He writes that many of Courbet's subjects are

"painted from the model in the studio light and then sur

rounded with a woodland landscape." 3 This characteristic may

be observed in Fig, 5, p. 6.
Once completely out of their studios, however, painters

discovered that changing qualities of sunlight gave to a

subject a different appearance at every moment. It was the

achievement of this "atmospheric effect" in Monet's

2 Fry, p. 8.
3 Ibid., p. 108.
 5

OI

4
4i--idgar Degas: In the jvings (1882-1885),
collection, Paris. Reprinted in Albert Skira, editor,Private
"he Taste of Our Time: Degas, translated by James
Emmons
7eneva, owitzerland, 1o5 , n. 74.
 6

7 If

Fig. 5--Gustave Courbet, Young Vomen on the Banks of the

3eine (1856), Petit-Palais, Paris. Reprinted in Mfarcel Zahar,
Gustave Courbet (New York, 1950), Plate 23.
 7
Impression: Sunrise that launched the new ideals and
techniques of the Impressionist painters. In their art, the
emphasis is on color, shadings and textures, and their aim

was to capture the transient and illusory quality of objects

as they are perceived by the eye in a given moment.

French music shares a common heritage with French painting

in its tendency to appeal directly to the senses. The primary

aim of the music has traditionally been to give pleasure, and

not to challenge the mind with intellectual complexities.

Claude Debussy summed up the French musical aesthetic when he

stated,
Music should humbly seek to please; within these
limits great beauty may perhaps be found. Extreme
complication is contrary to art, Beauty must appeal
to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoy
ment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us
without any effort on our part.4
The bond of "sensual delight" between French painting

and music was particularly strong in the Impressionist move

ment, Ideals and techniques of Impressionist painters had

profound influences on contemporary music. In a public lecture

delivered about 1922, the composer Erik Satie stated that he

had suggested to Debussy during their early acquaintance,

"Why not use the means of representation introduced to us by

Claude Monet, C6zanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, etc? Why not transpose

these means musically?"5

4 Claude
Debussy, cited in I~on Vallas, The Theories of
Claude Musicien Franais, translated by Maire O'Brien
(New York, 1967), p. 13.
5Erik Satie, Lecture on Debussy, cited in Pierre-Daniel
Templier, Erik Satie (Paris, 1932), p. 19.
 8

The term "Impressionism" is often applied to music in a

vague sense, simply to distinguish the styles of its two

most distinctive composers, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel,

from earlier and later musical styles. Not all the works of

either composer, however, may be termed "impressionistic."

The term itself was rejected by Debussy, who resented its

use in regard to his works. In a letter written in 1908 to

his publisher, concerning his Images for orchestra, he

wrote, "I am trying to make something new--realities, as it

were; what imbeciles call 'impressionism'. "6

Regardless of his objection to the use of the term

"Impressionism," much of the music of Debussy and Ravel may

be seen to have many points of similarity to Impressionist

painting. Often in the two arts are to be found similar

techniques and "a related manner of execution. "7

The most distinctive feature of Impressionist painting

was the novel treatment of color. As the painters moved out

of-doors they realized that individual colors changed

appearances with various atmospheric effects. The color

"yellow," for example, might appear in many hues, depending

on the time of day when viewed, whether viewed in bright

sunlight, in shadow, in fog, etc. The result of this

6 claudeDebussy, Lettres de Claude Debussy A son Editeur

(Paris, 1927), p. 58.
?Donald Ferguson, A History of Musical Thought (New York,
1935), p. 560.
 9

discovery was that painters created for every color an

infinite number of divergent hues, to be used side by side

on the canvas for the prpose of achieving a realistic

anpearance of a subject. Individual color was thereby "dis

solve d" into many colors.

The late paintings of onet, such as the many canvases

of his aquatic garden at Giverny (Fig. 6, p. 10), prove the

extent to which his colors had dissolved into an infinite

variety of shades and combinations, Roger Fry observes that
as Tonet grei older "his attitude became almost that of a

scientific researcher of color, his pictures demonstrations

of what he had discovered."8

The disintegration of color in painting was paralleled by

techniques in contemporary music. The expansion of tonality

in the nineteen t h century resulted in what may be termed an

"explosion" in the late decades of the nineteenth and early

years of the twen t ieth century, in which traditional tonality

was dissolved. Regarding this expansion, Salazar states,

The tonal landscape widens limitlessly, as if we were

to open a photographic lens with which we are focusing.
Anpoint will be reached at which the landscape will
dissolve in blobs of vague colors; all form is lost
in the "unfocusing" which is the road to atonality.9
In France in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century, the musical canvas became highly colorful. As in

8Fry, p. 127.

9Adolfo Salazar, rflusic in Our Time: Trends in Vusic

3ince the Romantic Era, translated by Isabel Pope7New York,
1946)1, p 1
 I

10

ig. 6--Monet, The ater-Garden at Giverny (1917),

P usee des Beaux-Arts, Grenoble. Reprinted in Albert
Skira, editor, The Taste of Cur Time: Monet, translated by
James Snmmons (Geneva, Switzerland, 1958, . 105.
 11

painting, virtuoso coloristic devices were introduced

into
muSc SNew and colorful instrumental effects
were exploited,
giving rise to t.he term "orchestral palette" in regard
to the
kaleidoscopic orchestral colors of Debussy and Ravel.
The
tonal language itself absorbed new and exciting
colors:
The harmonic world was enriched and enlarged by the
introduction and acceptance of exceptional
consecutive ninths and elevenths, sequences resolutions,
of fourths
and fifths, unprepared dissonances, foreign pedal
and unresolved appoggiaturas. "10 notes,

In the music of the Impressionists, diatonic, modal,

chro
matic and whole-tone sounds appear side by side
and I
nombia.tion, This characteristic is observable in the
opening measUres of Ravel's Miroirs, a set of five
pieces
for solo piano, written in 1905:

Tres leger
.

[~~I IL~L

-- I

F g -- 'aurice Ravel, iroirs: "octuelles," mm. 1-2,

Paul Collaer, A istoyof Modern vusic (New

l961) , p. 16..> ~_~~~c~ ~e York,
 12

In the example cited, the left hand pattern consists of a

whole-tone scale:

This scale is combined with a highly chromatic figure in the

right hand to produce a colorful and descriptive effect.

In the following example, a "splash of color" effect is

created by the sudden outburst of a rapid lydian scale in the

midst of an otherwise diatonic passage:

Assez vif.

p sub/to

ig. 8--Ravel, IMiroirs: "Alborada del gracioso,"

mm. 43-43.
 13

In the Preceding examples, contrast is obtained within the

musical frame in much the same way that the painters created
color contrasts by freely placing all possible combinations

of color on a single canvas,

Herbert Veinstock
Wt points out that in. both the painting
and the music of the Impressionists, "unprepared and inex
plicable irruptions" are characteristic, and that these are

used "for the Purpose of contrast and integral decoration, "l

This feature may be singularly observed in the following

example rom the trojrs, in which the hurried outburst

beginning in measure fifteen is in direct contrast to the

quiet and slow-paced material which has preceded it from

the beginning measure of the piece:

express/f

C
*-
r
-.

llHerbert Weinstock, lusic as an Art (New York, 1953),

p. 279.
 14

B -P

- ---- LL

~~ -. - - -

- I F --.

et
.

ave, Eirors: "Cuiseaux tris tes, " mm, 13-15.

 15

Not only did the Impvressionist painters dissolve color

into an infinite number of hues to be used side by side on

the canvas, but the actual treatment of the pigment itself

underwent a similar process of disintegration. "Pointillisme"

was the name for a technique of painters, particularly Georges

Seurat, in which a patch of color is actually made up of

many separate dots of oaint. From a distance, the tiny dots

appear as a solid patch of color:

Fig 10--Georges Seurat, Study for Le Chahut (1889-1890),

Oourthauld Galleries, London. Reprinted in Roger Fry and
Sir Anthony Blunt, Seurat (London, 1965), Plate 41.
 16

The term "Pointillisme" is often applied to

the orches
tration Of both Debussy and Ravel to indicate
the use of
isolated "dots" of instrumental sound, which combine
to
create a succession of orchestral colors. Both the
Impressionist painters and musicians agreed
that their
aim was a "dissolution in color, that they
wanted to create
aesthetic enjoyment through color rather than
through
design. "12

In painting, the use of an infinite number of divergent

hues caused the surfaces of painted objects
to appear dis
solved into small touches of color. This freedom
from linear
design, characteristic of Vonet's surfaces,
is observable in
his painting, CharLn Cross Bridge (Fig, , p. 17). In this
canvas, line and design are "resolved into the
flat mosaic
of color patches." 1 3 Paul Henry Lang points out that "in
such works, the juxtaposition of different colors...which
are
not held together by definite lines...gives the
desired
effect only if 'viewed' from a certain distance."
4
The freedom from linear clarity in Monet's paintings

corresponds to contemporary musical innovations,

particularly
those of Debussy. In Debussy's music, a dissolution of design
is created by his avoidance of clear, sharp melodic
and formal

12Tul Henry Lang, Music in Western Civilization (New

York, 1941.), p. 1020,
13Fry, ). 127.
14Lang, P. 1018.
 l

17

ij. ll-- onet, -haring Cross Bridge (1899-1904).

Reprinted in Katharine 7Kuh, Break-Un: The Core of modern
Art (Greenwich, Connecticut, 1965), ~. 19.

nrofiles and his use of a "mosaic" tyPe melody "formed out of

fragments of divergent sizes and shapes." 15

The anpearance of naintings in series, such as Monet's

many canvases of Haystacks and dater Lilies, illustrates an
important feature of Imnressionism, which Curt Sachs refers

to as "the trend to oversterming the natural boundaries im

nosed on every art by its very nature and to prescribing for

one art such themes as would more convincingly be treated by

some other art."16 The natural boundary of painting is that

15
7einstock, n. 279.
lCurt Sachs, The Commonwealth of Art: Style in the
'ine Arft, mu susic, and the Dance (New York, 1946), p 219.
 18

it does not develop in time. A painting is static. Although

a great degree of movement may be depicted on the canvas, the

painted objects themselves do not move. A canvas is a com

plete work, and one may see or "experience" the complete
work in any given moment. Music, on the other hand, has as
a basic characteristic its development in time. One may not,
in any given moment, experience an entire musical composition,
en onet's series canvases, such as the L-aystacs
(Fig. 12, p. 19), are viewed progressively, they appear
almost as if the artist had intended them to be viewed in
succession. Observing such canvases, one easily discerns
3alazar's meanin;, when he states that the colored fragments

follow one after the other with scarcely a break,

somewhat as if the painter had had the intention of
Presenting a cinematographic series (or "vanishing
pictures" as they were called at that time) the
constant and insensible change of atmospheric color
with the passing of the hours.1?
The illusion of "development in time" is particularly
notable in one of onet's last works, an oval canvas of
water lLIies, painted on the walls of the Musge de l'Orangerie
in Paris. As the eye followis the band around the room, the
scene asses from mornin: to afternoon and finally to sunset,

creating the effect of an "imagery &ith no boundaries. "18

alazar, .184.
8r yr p . 12 (.
 19

40

Fig. 12--Monet, Two Haystacks (1891), Private Collection,

Paris. Reprinted in Kuh, p. 17.

While the painting of the Impressionists in many

cases adapted the musical quality of development in time,

contemporary music readily adapted the static quality of

painting. Regarding the early piano music of Erik 2atie,

F. 3. Kirby states, "What is perhaps most striking... is the

directionless quality; the pieces seem static, they lack a

climax and central point and they do not go anywhere--they

 20

simnly are. "19

The static quality is a particular musical character

istic of Debussy, whose refusals to modulate in his keyboard

Improvisation class used to infuriate his teacher, Ctsar

Tranck.2M
c A favorite compositional device of both Debussy

and avel was the use of stationary chords. These chords

contained no activating tendency tones, and their function

was simply to create harmonic stillness. A striking example

of such a chord appears at the beginning of "Une Barque sur

l'ocean," from the liroirs, where the F-sharp minor ninth

chord of the opening measure is sustained for ten measures

(Fig. 13, p. 21). Richard Qrocker observes that such chords

were "animated from within, either by some...insistent

rhythmic pattern or by novel orchestration. Such chords

shimmere d, but showed no inclination to move toward another

chord. "21

While the natural boundaries of painting may at times

expand to include aspects of music, and while music at times

may introduce a static quality associated with painting, it

is in the music of the Impressionist composers that one

perceives the striking phenomenon of music as an "art of

19F. E. Kirby, A Short Hibtory of Keyboard Music (New

York, 1966), P. 391.
2 0R-ichard Crocker, A Hstory o Musical Syle (New
York, 1966), p. 479.
2 1 Ibid,0, pp. 478-479.
 21

Dun rythme souple - rr 4s enveloppie poes

Pt

-I -.-Itsmirii.t

This pattern continues through measure ten.

Fig. 13--Ravel, ?'iroirs: "Une Barque sur l ' ocan,"

mm, 1-10.
 22

visual imagery." Although descriptive music has existed

since earliest times, concepts of music as a visual art and

painting as an improvisational art have been particular

twentieth century concepts.

The visual inspiration of Impressionist music is clearly

discernible in such works as Debussy's Estampes ("Prints,"

1903), his two sets of Images (1905, 1907), and the Miroirs

("Mirrors") of Ravel. The visual imagery suggested by the

titles of the collections is further indicated in the titles

of the individual pieces. From Debussy's collections, such

titles as "Jardins sous la pluie" ("Gardens in the Rain"),

"Reflets dans l'eau" ("Reflections on the Water"), and

"Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut" ("And the Moon

Descends on the Temple Which Was") might easily have been

titles of contemporary paintings.

Nowhere is the descriptive character of Impressionist

music more pronounced than in Ravel's Miroirs. The precise

visual imageries which the composer intended are suggested in

the individual titles of the five pieces: "Noctuelles"

("Night Moths"), "Qiseaux tristes" .("Mournful Birds"), "Une

Barque sur l' ocean" ("A Boat on the Ocean"), "Alborada del

gracioso" ("Morning Music of the Minstrel Clown"), and

"La Vallee des cloches" ("The Valley of Bells").

In the first piece, "Noctuelles," a descriptive visual

imagery is established in the opening measures. Ravel's

combination of the whole-tone scale pattern in the left hand

 23

with a chromatic figuration in the right hand (Fig. 7, p. 11)

obscures the D-flat major tonality and creates an "unfocused"

tonal canvas, particularly suggestive of early Impressionist

paintings.

The descriptive character of the second piece, "Oiseaux

tristes, " is established at the outset by the opening figure:

Tres lent $=Q

res doux pp

Fie, 14--Ravel, Miroirs: "'iseaux tristes," mm. 1-2.

This figure is sounded almost incessantly throughout the

piece. Its ostinato-like recurrence suggests a visual

imagery that remains constant, almost unwavering.

The descriptive character of "Oiseaux tristes" was

clearly iden t ified by the composer. Victor Seroff writes

that when Ravel performed the Miroirs for the first time for

his friends, they were particularly perplexed by the dis

sonant and slow-moving piece. Seroff writes,

 24

Their confusion upset the composer himself and he

played the piece to them over and over again. "This
one," he explained, "is the most characteristic of
them all. In it I evoke birds lost in the torpor of
a somber forest during the most torrid hours of
summer. "22
The Miroirs centers around the two large middle pieces,

the virtuosic "Une Barque sur l'ocean," and the Spanish

piece, "Alborada del gracioso." Particularly striking in

"Une Barque sur l'ocean" are the long passages of static

harmony which begin and end the piece (Fig. 13, p. 21),

creating a "background" against which is outlined a con

stantly shifting kaleidoscope of color.

Of the five pieces, "Alborada del gracioso" has won the

most favor with pianists and audiences. The art of illusion

in music is perfectly defined in this brilliant piece. The

Spanish flavor is complete with the rhythms of Spanish

dances, clearly marked passages imitating the guitar, lyrical

passages quoting song-like fragments, and passages of re

peated notes imitating castanets.2 3

The last piece in the Piroirs reflects the vague, un

focused quality of the first piece. "La Vall'ee des cloches,"

with its bell-like chords and dissonant echo effects, has for

its objective the "unfocusing" of the set. In this piece,

length and intensity are decreased, and, as in the first

2 2 Victor Seroff, Maurice Ravel (New York, 1953), p. 89.

2 3 1bid.,
p, 90.
 25

piece, the tonality is obscured, in this instance by the use

of quartal harmony.

Tres lent
n IkVilt - Ift - R, I - I -1. AWL

*~~'~-4- I~-~ X I ~71- f~I J~ I~ ~F F#~ i~ m i~ P

m.d. I -L-

T
I

DD

p un peu mqrque'

ig, 15--Ravel, Miroirs: "La Va11'e des cloches,

MM. 1-4o
"
 26

Although the 'iroirs was a culmination of the art of

visual imagery in music, reactions to the pieces were often

critical. Many of Ravel's friends accused him of trying to

oaint ictures rather than to express emotion or to capture

the "erotic," as Debussy had done. 2 4 One of the chief ele

ments of this criticism, and the one which baffled even the

composer's closest friends, was the unprecedented level of

dissonance in the pieces. As the late paintings of Monet

achieved an ultimate complexity of color, the Miroirs achieve

an ultimate complexity of tonal color,

The most dissonant intervals--major sevenths and minor

ninths--appear frequently. The extensive use of the minor

second interval, the shifting of major and minor ninth over

a sustained triad (Fig. 16, p. 27) combine to create what

Paul Collaer calls a "sort of postimpressionism based on

great refinement of harmonic perception." 2 5

Dissonances often appear in very thick textures. In

tervals of the major seventh in root position are often

combined with dissonant pedal tones, as in the middle section

of "Noctuelles" (Fig. 17, p. 27). Chords of the ninth and

eleventh often appear with added tones or with dissonant

non-harmonic tones. Eleventh and thirteenth chords are

2 4 S'eroff, p, 115.
25collaer, p. 46.
 27

Lent
pre squa0 ad Imoi

ppp

LT
-.-J6 j- -- I

i,16--Ravel Miro irs "Ciseaux tristes" m. 24.

Pas trop lent

t i- St 4, ~ 4ALz7r~
-

4-=-W-- ----- --- -

IF
A tat__ z L-r"fL, TIEez

off
lp r
-j- -L

7-
-

Fig. I?--Ravel, Wiroirs: "Poctuelles," mm. 3-39.

 28

common, and are frequently voiced in such a way as to pro

duce the harshest effects of dissonance, as in the following
example from "Une Barque sur l'oc an:"

sff

---- ____

Fig. 18--Ravel, Miroirs: "Une Barque sur l'ocean,"

mO 49.

Trequently, such chords apear without resolutions, or with

dissonant resolutions,

The thickness of dissonance in the Miroirs reflects

the thick textures of many of the Impressionist painters,

particularly those of the Dutch painter, Vincent Van Gogh,

who, living in Paris, was much influenced by Impressionist

techniques. Van Gogh's use of thick textures on his canvases
to create emotional expression (Fig. 19, p. 29) foreshadows
the techniques of the later Expressionist painters; similarly,
the level of dissonance attained by Ravel in the 4iroirs
foreshadows the techniques of the later Expressionist
 29

Fig. 19--Vincent Van Gogh, The 3ower (1888). reprinted

in 4ilton 3. Fox and Meyer Schapiro, editors, Vincent Van
Go:h (New York, 1928), p. 81.

composers--,-choenberg, Berg and Webern.

The complex dissonance of the Miroirs is combined with

a clarity of melody and design which are immediately dis

cernible to the listener. Even in the most impressionistic

of the nieces, such as "Noctuelles" and "Une Barque sur
l'ocean," Ravel dissipates his Impressionism "beneath a
crystalline light which shines with a dazzling and gemlike
brilliance. "26

This characteristic is particularly evident in the strong

lines and design of "Alborada del gracioso." A melodic line

2 6 Salazar, n. 191.
 30

such as that shown in the following example is easily per

ceivable to the ear, in spite of the often complex rhythmic

and harmonic activity which surround it,

p/us /ein7 _ _ _
.01

-I

IL

'RW
,

I' % 3 0
I

F.ig, 20--Ravel, Miroirs: "Alborada del gracioso,"

mm. 114-119.
 31

Ravel's melodic clarity is an obvious influence of

Satie, who once remarked, "...the melody is the Idea, the

contour just as much as it is the form and content of a

work. Harmony is lighting, an exhibition of the object,

its reflection,."27

The clarity of line and design apparent in the Miroirs

represents one of the chief elements of Ravel's style. It

is a characteristic which is paralleled in the work of

several painters, who, like Ravel, took their departure from

Impressionist techniques, but to whom form and design were of

prime consideration. Of these painters, Georges Seurat rep

resents the height of linear clarity and formal precision.

In his paintings, the intervals between things are dis

covered with almost "mathematical orderliness." 28 In the

formal rigidity observable in such paintings as Sunday After

noon on the Ile de la Grande-Jatte (Fig. 21, p. 32), it is

apparent that the artist left not the slightest effect to

chance.

27Erik Satie, cited in Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years,

rev. ed. (New York, 1968), p. 167.
2 8 Fry, p. 147.
 32

17. 21--Georges Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Ile

e la Grande-Jatte (1883-1886), Chicago Art Institute.
inrinted in Roger 7ry and 3ir Anthony Blunt, Plate 21.
 33

Paul Cezanne, also like Ravel, was not content with

the loose formal designs of many Impressionist painters.

In his art he sought to recognize the importance of under

lying form. His study of forms and planes laid the foundation
lor the later techniques of Cubism.

464

Fig. 22--saul Cezanne, Chocquet Seated (1887), Gallery of

Fine Arts, Columbus, Chio. Reprinted in Mlilton S. Fox and
Meyer Schaniro, editors, Paul Cezanne (New York, 1952), P. 51.
 34

In the Miroirs, Ravel's peculiar combination of linear

and formal clarity with an unprecedented level of dissonance

perhaps reflects most clearly the trends evident in the

Paintings of Van Gogh, Van Gogt's paintings, like Ravel's

Miroirs, are based on Impressionist techniques. In the
works of both men, form, line and design are readily per

ceivable. The thick textures of Van Gogh's paintings

parallel the thickness of dissonance in the Miroirs, and

the beginnings of the later techniques of Expressionism are

evident in the works of both artists.

Ravel's Miroirs reflects tendencies drawn from the

entire Impressionist movement, The vague, unfocused quality

of the early Impressionist canvases is paralleled in the

"Noctuelles," and "La Vall'6e des cloches." The clarity of

line and design obvious in all the pieces, and especially
notable in "Alborada del gracioso," reflects similar

tendencies in the art of the painters, Seurat and C'ezanne.

Ravel's tendency toward great dissonance and thick textures

reflects the Expressionist tendencies of Van Gogh. Thus,

in the i'iroirs, Ravel reflects the trends which characterize

the art of the Impressionist painters, and points the way

to further twentieth century techniques.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 36

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 37

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 38

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