Lecture 21. Musical Impressionism and Exoticism: Debussy, Ravel and Monet

Listening to Music (MUSI 112)

In this lecture, Professor Wright teaches the students about musical Impressionism. While his discussion focuses on the music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, he nonetheless draws examples from other composers, as well as painters and poets who worked with a similar aesthetic style during the same time period. The class concludes with a performance of Ravel's "Ondine" by guest pianist Naomi Woo.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to Musical Impressionism
09:00 - Chapter 2. Debussy's Musical Responses to Mallarme's Poetry
27:00 - Chapter 3. La Cathedrale Engloutie -- Interactions between Impressionist Painters and Musicians
35:18 - Chapter 4. Ravel's Ondine: A Violin Performance by Naomi Woo

Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu


This course was recorded in Fall 2008.