The post-romantic French composer Emmanuel Chabrier was a pioneer of what would come to be called Impressionism. He counted among his friends many impressionist painters and was himself an art appreciator and collector. His interest in visual arts directly connects with his use of harmony and musical color and strongly influenced following generations of French composers, including Debussy and Ravel, whose works and compositional techniques came to represent in full bloom the impressionist style.

In this article, the author will discuss Chabrier’s composition style and his association with the later impressionists. Chapter 3 describes the development of the character piece and the relationship between music and paintings as it pertains to Chabrier's Pièces Pittoresques, a set of 10 piano pieces. Chapter 4 examines 4 individual movements from Pièces Pittoresques: Mauresque, Danse villageoise, Menuet pompeux and Scherzo-Valse, providing for each piece formal and harmonic analysis, as well as remarks on interpretation.