<P> Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel are two leading figures in impressionism , though Debussy rejected this label ( he mentioned in his letter that `` imbeciles call ' impressionism ' , a term employed with the utmost inaccuracy '' ) and Ravel displayed discomfort with it , at one point claiming that it could not be adequately applied to music at all . Debussy 's impressionist works typically `` evoke a mood , feeling , atmosphere , or scene '' by creating musical images through characteristic motifs , harmony , exotic scales ( e.g. , whole - tone and pentatonic scales ) , instrumental timbre , large unresolved chords ( e.g. , 9ths , 11ths , 13ths ) , parallel motion , ambiguous tonality , extreme chromaticism , heavy use of the piano pedals , and other elements . Some impressionist composers , Debussy and Ravel in particular , are also labeled as symbolist composers . One trait shared with both aesthetic trends is `` a sense of detached observation : rather than expressing deeply felt emotion or telling a story , '' as in symbolist poetry , the normal syntax is usually disrupted and individual images that carry the work 's meaning are evoked . </P>
<P> Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel are two leading figures in impressionism , though Debussy rejected this label ( he mentioned in his letter that `` imbeciles call ' impressionism ' , a term employed with the utmost inaccuracy '' ) and Ravel displayed discomfort with it , at one point claiming that it could not be adequately applied to music at all . Debussy 's impressionist works typically `` evoke a mood , feeling , atmosphere , or scene '' by creating musical images through characteristic motifs , harmony , exotic scales ( e.g. , whole - tone and pentatonic scales ) , instrumental timbre , large unresolved chords ( e.g. , 9ths , 11ths , 13ths ) , parallel motion , ambiguous tonality , extreme chromaticism , heavy use of the piano pedals , and other elements . Some impressionist composers , Debussy and Ravel in particular , are also labeled as symbolist composers . One trait shared with both aesthetic trends is `` a sense of detached observation : rather than expressing deeply felt emotion or telling a story , '' as in symbolist poetry , the normal syntax is usually disrupted and individual images that carry the work 's meaning are evoked . </P>
who was the leading composer of impressionist music
who was the leading composer of impressionist music
Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel
Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel