Concerts in the Thaulow exhibition

10 June – 21 August
Concerts every Wednesday and Friday in Permanenten
Every Wednesday and Friday
16:00

At the end of the nineteenth century, a new direction in music emerged. Instead of clear forms and a dramatic, goal‑oriented development typical of Romantic music, composers began to prioritise sound itself.

This music focuses on tone colour, atmosphere and fleeting impressions, distancing itself from rhetorical or descriptive expression. It does not aim to depict the sea, but to evoke the sensation of being by the sea.

In this way, it shares affinities with both symbolism and impressionism in poetry and visual art.

This musical direction is particularly associated with the French composer Claude Debussy. He employed whole‑tone scales, church modes and unconventional harmonies, creating music with a sensuous and ambiguous character.

We also find many examples of this approach in Norway. Edvard Grieg wrote works in which sound and harmonic colour take precedence, and similar tendencies appear in the music of Agathe Backer Grøndahl. Later, the impressionist influence can be traced in the works of Alf Hurum, Geirr Tveitt, Pauline Hall and David Monrad Johansen.

The concert lasts 30 minutes.