Level 4 · Course 30

Harmonie impressionniste et modalité avancée

Planing, whole-tone scale, octatonic, pentatonic and Messiaen modes — harmonic color as an autonomous musical language.

💧

Pause Culture · Pure harmonic colour

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)

Ravel said he was not trying to express emotions but sound colours. His Boléro — a single C major chord for 15 minutes — proves that colour can replace function. Debussy called him…

💡

À retenir : When the chord becomes colour, tension is no longer functional — it is sensory.

Techniques of Impressionist harmony

Impressionist harmony breaks with the tension-resolution logic of the tonal system. Debussy and Ravel replace harmonic function with sound colour — each chord is a shade, not a role.

Planing: moving an entire chord in parallel motion. Parallel fifths and octaves are intentional — they create the effect of a sliding sound block. Do not analyse with T/SD/D functions.

Characteristic scales and chords

Whole-tone scale

T–T–T–T–T–T (6 tons entiers)

Notes: Do–Ré–Mi–Fa#–Sol#–La#

No leading tone — tonal floating is total. Debussy is its master. All chords are augmented.

Colour: Mystery, dissolution, dreamlike floating

Typical chord: Do augmenté : Do–Mi–Sol#

Octatonic scale

T–½T–T–½T–T–½T–T–½T (alternance)

Notes: Do–Ré–Mib–Fa–Fa#–Sol#–La–Si

Alternating tone/semitone. Contains 3 diminished 7th chords. Stravinsky and Messiaen loved it.

Colour: Symmetric tension, Slavic mystery

Typical chord: Dim7 : Do–Mib–Fa#–La

Pentatonic scale

T–T–T½–T–T½ (5 notes sans demi-ton)

Notes: Do–Ré–Mi–Sol–La

5 notes without any semitone, hence no leading tension. Used in jazz, folk and oriental impressionism.

Colour: Simplicity, serenity, oriental colour

Typical chord: No dominant chord

Augmented chord

Tierce majeure + tierce majeure

Notes: Do–Mi–Sol#

Chord of 3 equal semitones. Symmetric — can resolve to 3 different keys. Characteristic of impressionist harmony.

Colour: Floating, ambiguity, mystic colour

Typical chord: = 3 accords augmentés identiques (enharmonie)

Chromatic planing example (ascending Maj7)

Three successive Maj7 chords chromatically transposed a tone upward — no resolution, pure sliding colour.

Chord 1 (C Maj7)

Do:3 – Mi:3 – Sol:3 – Si:3

Chord 2 (D Maj7)

Ré:3 – Fa#:3 – La:3 – Do#:4

Chord 3 (E Maj7)

Mi:3 – Sol#:3 – Si:3 – Ré#:4

Common mistake: Analysing Debussy's harmony with T/SD/D functions. Impressionist chords have no functional role — looking for a dominant in 'Voiles' is looking in the wrong place. Analyse by colour and register.