DEBUSSY AND IMPRESSIONISM: THE TRIUMPH OF LIGHT
Elizabeth Handley, accredited lecturer with The Arts Society (NADFAS), United Kingdom
Thursday 30–Friday 31 January 11.15 am COURSE FEES R220; Staff and students R110
These two lectures are an exploration of the music and ideas of Claude Debussy and his significant followers, and the artists who inspired them. We discover how Debussy, born over a century and a half ago, liberated music from traditional Germanic modes of expression and initiated new ways of composing.
To understand Debussy’s music, we explore the creative milieu in which he worked – that strangely mysterious period in the arts – Impressionism. Initially a term of derision, it came to be applied to the work of a group of controversial French artists who revolutionised painting with shimmering, colourful pictures. Active during the last part of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, their work was imitated by a group of composers, led by Debussy, who sought to create similar effects in music. Richly illustrated with images and music, these lectures examine Debussy’s oeuvre, as well as that of other Impressionist composers and poets.
In the first lecture the meaning of the term Impressionism is explored, its characteristics and aesthetic in the visual arts, and the catalysts that gave rise to this innovative style. Debussy, the leader of Impressionism in music, is introduced, and the manner in which he transferred these ideas to music is discussed.
The second lecture explores the work of the Impressionist painters and their influence on composers in countries other than France. We see how their ideas influenced the succeeding generation of artists, paving the way for explosive new trends in the twentieth century.
Lecture titles
- Introducing Debussy and Impressionism: reimagining the arts
- Other Impressionists and Post-Impressionism
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