ABSTRACT
Few musical eras can equal the excitement of the Parisian transition into the twentieth century, with its interaction across the arts and between science and art, often in ways that are still being discovered. If only a handful of composers have changed the perception of music as radically as Claude Debussy did, the appearance of Maurice Ravel at almost the same time is just as astonishing. Even before Debussy and Ravel were active, a velvet revolution was under way, mostly in the hands of Gabriel Faure and Emmanuel Chabrier. One of the most remarkable historical bridges – especially coming from one who was not then a professional musician – emerges from Chabrier's piano Impromptu of the 1860s, whose central part is effectively a study in redirection of the major seventh. Faure's role in similarly prising away the leading note from the tonic emerges towards the end of his piano Ballade.
