A Rose by Any Other Name: Impressionism as Definition and Aesthetic in the Music of Claude Debussy

The premiere of Parisian composer Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune created a link between his music and the artistic Impressionism movement, which began in 1874 as a rejection of Realism. Musical Impressionism, initially an ill-fitting title, would gradually shift to encompass the compositional techniques of Debussy, and would also inspire new musical styles as a rejection of musical Impressionism. This project compares the defining features of Impressionism across artistic mediums, analyzes Debussy's music in relation to Impressionist painting, and examines his resistance to the label within a broader dialogue on evoking sensation through abstract forms. In doing so, it highlights the challenges of applying stylistic titles across mediums and demonstrates how these definitions can evolve over time. Many scholars have studied the life of Debussy and analyzed his compositional practices, but there are few English sources that discuss Debussy’s artistic ideals and how that fits into the Impressionist label. Through qualitative research on Impressionism in both music and art, research on Debussy’s life and compositional practices, and the instability of the definition of Impressionism over time, it is revealed that the shift in definition resulted in the Impressionist title becoming more fitting for Debussy, despite his complicated relationship with the term. The results highlight how a definition may retroactively come to apply to a composer, and the complications that come with taking titles from different artistic mediums.