Final answer:
Claude Debussy was one of the immediate predecessors of Expressionism in music with his impressionistic approach that influenced the expressionist composers. Unlike Edvard Munch, a visual artist, Debussy's pioneering use of dissonance and focus on tonal color and atmosphere in music made him a key figure leading towards the Expressionist movement.
Step-by-step explanation:
The composer who was one of the immediate predecessors of expressionism is Claude Debussy. Debussy was a notable figure who pushed the boundaries of music before the formal emergence of the Expressionist movement. While the Expressionist movement in art was significantly influenced by Edvard Munch and his focus on expressing inner psychological states, this movement in music was characterized by a departure from traditional tonality and formal structures, often seeking to express the inner emotional experience.
Expressionism in music often aimed to evoke complex emotions and psychological states, a direction heavily inspired by Post-Impressionist visual artists who used bold colors and expressive techniques to depict their inner feelings. Debussy's use of dissonant harmonies, innovative chord structures, and a focus on atmosphere and tonal color were groundbreaking. While other composers such as Richard Strauss and Charles Ives also explored new musical territories, Debussy's impressionistic approach is often seen as a direct precursor to the Expressionist music of composers such as Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, who would take such ideas further into the realm of atonality and complex emotional expression.
It's important to mention that Edvard Munch is a visual artist, not a composer, and therefore not the correct option for this question. Richard Strauss and Charles Ives were also innovative composers of their time, but their music is not typically considered a direct precursor to Expressionism in the same way as Debussy's.