Towards the end of the 19th century, a new movement had emerged in European classical music. Rooted primarily in France and lasting until the mid-20th century, Europe witnessed what we call "Impressionism", an idea of ​​music wonderfully described by Oscar Thompson in 1937 when he stated that the aim of such art was to "suggest rather than represent". ; reflect not the object, but the emotional response to the object; interpret a fleeting impression rather than grasping and fixing permanent reality. "Impressionism, in its most fundamental definition, is therefore the reverse of realism. A fairly important feature of impressionist music was the striking predominance of modal and exotic scales, free rhythm, unresolved dissonances and form programmatic obviously smaller. Apart from this, Impressionist music is characterized more broadly by a dramatic use of minor and major scale systems. Claude Debussy is known to this day as one of the greatest Impressionist composers. believe that the Impressionist movement was a liberating intrusion into the otherwise fixed notions of Western classical music. However, Impressionism also presented a set of restrictions, inabilities and difficulties, which we will discuss later in the essay in. relation to their influence on Debussy's composition Born on August 27, 1862, Claude Debussy came from an ancestral background consisting of merchants, suburban clerks and peasants, none of whom had any musical talent or affiliation. . Unlike the majority of known composers of the classical and romantic eras such as Mozart or Rachmaninov, not only did he not have any family musical origins, but he also had no in-depth musical training...... middle of paper. ... ..s and syncope. Although a passepied is traditionally written in triple measure, Debussy employs an interesting choice of measure throughout his piece that deviates from the norm for such a form. The modal chords give it a rather perpetual moto feel, i.e. a fast tempo and a steady, continuous flow of notes. Present in almost every measure is a crisp staccato accompaniment under which the melody offers us two themes: the acicular introductory theme and the more graceful second theme. Throughout this last piece, the second theme is very varied, oscillating between double measure and triple measure and containing multiple inversions. The piece ends beautifully with a cascade of eighth notes as Debussy plays with the modal conflict of F sharp and B. We also encounter a flurry of pianississimo chords which ultimately end in a series of sporadic staccato chords..