# "Symbolist" Composers



## nature (Jun 25, 2017)

Symbolism is a particular aesthetic in the arts - mostly in the realm of poetry and painting that grew in the latter half of the 19th century. I can best describe it as a branch of romanticism that is focused on creating prose and artwork that evoked intense emotions, the fantastic, mystical, mythical, morbid and dreamlike. Poets include Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Stephane Mallarme among others. Some of my favorite symbolist painters include Jean Delville, Gustave Moreau, Arnold Bocklin, Fernand Khnopff, etc.

Most of the symbolist poets were heavily influenced by Wagner, Beethoven and Brahms, though the most accurate musical equivalent in terms of music is the Impressionists, who strangely enough were influenced more by Symbolism than Impressionism in the arts for the most part. Debussy's famous "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" was composed in response to set dreamlike music to Mallarme's poem. Erik Satie composed solemn, enigmatic piano music for the Salon de la Rose + Croix, a very important salon for Symbolist artists. The Symbolist play "Pelléas and Mélisande" by Maurice Maeterlink was so popular among artists that Debussy, Faure, Sibelius and even Schoenberg used it as a subject for their music. One composer who seemed absolutely enveloped in the Symbolist thought was Alexander Scriabin, obsessed with lofty mysticism and idealism.

Are there any other composers whose music you feel are very similar to the Symbolist aesthetic? For a newer contemporary composer, I believe Einojuhani Rautavaara's work fits the bill.


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## Agamemnon (May 1, 2017)

I think of Richard Strauss (Salome, Elektra) but maybe I am mixing up symbolism and decadence...


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## nature (Jun 25, 2017)

Agamemnon said:


> I think of Richard Strauss (Salome, Elektra) but maybe I am mixing up symbolism and decadence...


Its both, I think. But if we want to draw lines in the sand, Decadence is more nihilistic and focused on opulence and morbidity.


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