Music. Learn, enjoy, appreciate.

The period from around 1880 to 1920, sometimes described as Impressionism, elicited some of the most beautiful and bewitching compositions of western music history. Composers such as Sibelius, Elgar, Mahler, Debussy and Ravel gave the world exotic and rich new sounds, in the last moments before many composers abandoned ‘normal’ music and went atonal. This study day examines the music of this period in its historical and social context.

This course is the last of a series of four one-day music courses that will guide you through the main periods of classical music history. Over four Saturdays throughout the year you we will see the progression of music from the richness of the Baroque, through the elegant simplicity of the classical period, the passion and drama of the Romantic period to the mysterious beauty of the Impressionist period.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• list some of the main composers of the Impressionist period
• list some music from the Impressionist period
• describe some of the musical characteristics of the Impressionist period.

Content

This course covers the following topics:

• the turn of the twentieth century: a fascinating period of history
• what is Impressionism? What is Impressionism in music?
• social, cultural and historical background: Europe, 1880-1920
• the art of the Impressionist period: we look at art and architecture of the period, and see parallel tastes in art and music
• musical genres