Well, if we are going to look at all the influences of the composers, we might as well mention Bach, Mozart, and all those other fellows :p. But honestly, Chabrier helped shape the impressionistic composers, although he didn't take part in them. Ravel said Chabrier was basically the most important composer in shaping French Music, and even went so far as to say that he would have rather written Chabrier's Le roi malgre lui rather than all of Wagner's Ring. Debussy was reduced to tears by Chartreuse verte, and at one time, Debussy tricked a conductor into playing Chabrier's Ode a la musique during rehearsal times just to hear such beautiful music. Even Stravinsky quoted from Chabrier's music. So did Cesar Franck. Either ways, Chabrier helped impressionism, but he didn't influence it in a terribly direct way. Heck, Liszt is a thousand times more impressionistic than Chabrier, as witnessed by lots of his later works. Ravel even said that most of the composers wouldn't be here would it not be for Liszt's incredible work. Either way, we cannot classify Chabrier as impressionistic, however, he is an interesting composer to study who's music deserves a ton of more attention. Dover has released a book featuring his music. I heavily recommend ordering it. Try the first and last pieces as a start. They are amazing.
Topic: Impressionistic composers