An Analytic Approach to the Roman Sketches, Op. 7 by Charles T. Griffes

Abstract

Charles Griffes (1884-1920) was one of the influential American composers in the early twentieth century who sought and experimented with new musical idioms. He was conscious of the newest trends within a rapid changing musical world, resulting in the development of his individual harmonic language. He was often called the American Impressionist by his contemporary critics and authors, but this title needs to be re-examined in light of new research and analysis of his music. He not only absorbed Claude Debussy (1862-1918)'s and Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)'s impressionistic techniques, but also developed his own techniques to create his individual style. One of his well-known impressionistic works, the Roman Sketches, op. 7 reveals how he treated impressionistic techniques and how he established his own style within them. It is my intention to examine the Roman Sketchesfrom a formal, harmonic and pianistic standpoint in order to show the ways that Griffes used Debussy's and Ravel's impressionistic techniques and to further show how he developed his own techniques into an individual style.