Musical Examples Flashcards
Petrushka prem. June 1911
Narrative summary
In four scenes. In the first, a magician at the Shrovetide Fair in a St Petersburg square brings three puppets to life, The Moor, the Ballerina, and Petrushka. It is clear that Petrushka loves the Ballerina but she has eyes only for the Moor. In the second we join Petrushka inside the puppet theatre as he curses a portrait of the magician and pities himself; his frantic leaps and gestures frighten away the Ballerina when she enters, leading to a new round of curses. In the third, we enter the Moor’s room as he reclines on a divan. The Ballerina is put into it and dances with the Moor in a waltz. Petrushka breaks free of his room, attacks the Moor, realises that he is too weak, is beaten, and escapes with the Moor in pursuit. In the fourth we return to the carnival, the crowd scene interrupted as Petrushka runs across in terror and is slain by the Moor’s blade; the Magician holds up Petrushka’s body as proof that he’s just a puppet and everything’s fine. But as everyone disperses Petrushka’s ghost appears and frightens the Magician away.
Petruska 1911
Kenneth Gloag 2003
• Petrushka borrows and transforms pre-existing materials in a way that marks the beginning of an individual, modernist manner e.g. the use of Russian folk tunes to characterise the carnival crowd scenes, the introduction of the puppets by having them perform a Russian Dance
• Focuses on the opening: A-D movement in flutes evoking street vendors juxtaposed with theme rising from B-natural to E, defying implied D minor stability; thematic idea from ‘Song of the Volochnobiki’ in lower strings focuses on G without functional harmonic movement
o Paradigmatic juxtapositions of formal, textural, and thematic elements, as well as a focus on specific pitches over functional tonal relationships
o Dislocation of Russian folk materials as reflecting the dislocation of Stravinsky’s relationship to Russian tradition
• First tableau can be treated as movement from G to C – G major is juxtaposed with D minor in the opening harmony and C major is part of the closing harmony – connected with an almost perfectly diatonic collection also emphasising B
• Second tableau has been analysed by Taruskin, showing how it is organised around octatonic collections, an “integral part of Stravinsky’s Russian inheritance”
o Controlled by a polarity of C and F# established in their juxtaposition in the opening; movement traces a general movement of C-D-E-F#
Petruska 1911
Taruskin 1996: general comments / structure
Taruskin, citing contemporaries, argues that Petrushka represented something of a complete work of art, and is deserving of the “reverence” it is often afforded in revival. He claims that through Petrushka “Stravinsky at last became Stravinsky”; it was a process of self-discovery, though one aided by Alexander Benois, the importance of whom his chapter aims to emphasise. It doesn’t need much emphasising here though.
• The important point to make about the genesis of Petrushka is that Stravinsky’s key contributions were in first imagining music oriented around the Russian figure, and then taking Benois’ scenario and introducing certain ideas – Petrushka being killed by the Harlequin figure at the end, for example, and returning as a ghost – that made it a defining modernist text
• Structure
o Taruskin interprets the outer acts of Petrushka as reflecting Benois’ concern for genre detail through the gaudy display of folk and popular tunes on the musical surface; Taruskin identifies seven different references framing the first tableau, and a further six in the fourth
• Incorporation and treatment of folk material: his use of Russian popular tunes was such that Russians back home, including Prokofiev and Andrey Rimsky-Korsakov, questioned their suitability to art music and saw Petrushka as based on “moldy garbage” (Prokofiev)
o His use of the gaudy popular tunes ‘Pod vecher, osen’yu nenastnoy’ (“Toward evening, in Rainy Autumn”) and ‘Chudnï mesyats plïvyot nah rekoyu’ (“A Wondrous Moon Plays upon the River”) was apparently inspired by his discovery at the keyboard that they could be put in counterpoint, which says a lot
o Precedent: Taruskin repeatedly cites Alexander Serov’s The Power of the Fiend, which Stravinsky’s father starred in, as a model for his treatment of the Shrovetide Fair
o The Lanner waltzes referenced in the third tableau are actually still part of the authenticity to the actual Petrushka puppet shows, as waltzes were reportedly played in them in contexts similar to narrative context of the tableau
o Taruskin argues that Stravinsky’s treatment of folk materials here was influenced/inspired by phonographic transcriptions made by Yevgeniya Linyova around the turn of the century, which emphasised their polyphonic character
Petruska 1911
Taruskin 1996: modernism and subsequent influence
o In the ‘Song of the Volochobniki’ in the first tableau Stravinsky employed rhythmic groups of fives and sevens in the piccolos and oboes to mimic the irregularity of street criers; Taruskin argues that this marks the first coincidence of folklorism and modernism in Stravinsky, as the result is a series of static ostinato of variable length that break off and restart continually; a feature that was new to Russian art music and became his trademark
o Narratively we can point to the fact that in Petrushka the people are represented facelessly by the corps de ballet while the puppets have “real” personalities and act in a more organic, human way; idea that the “folk-like” diatonicism and rigid metre of the crowd scenes are applied so heavily that they become unnatural and inexpressive, and characterise the crowd as such
o Taruskin points out that in the second tableau octatonicism is raised structurally to the level of “key”, operative to a point without precedent in Stravinsky and therefore important in his stylistic development; however, in general his use of octatonicism and general harmonic style was still quite indebted to Rimsky-Korsakov
o He does argue that treating the second tableau as “polytonal” between C and F# is valid given that Stravinsky seems to regard the two triads adumbrated in the “Petrushka chord” as independent agents, but with a note that the choice of the two comes from an overriding octatonic complex; choices reflective of an “animistic opposition” central to the function of the scene
o Taruskin argues that the most influential aspect of Petrushka was the interpolation of street music, specifically the international musiquette and not the Russian examples; the incorporation of ‘musique de tous les jours’ became a defining aspect of the Parisian aesthetic of the twenties, promoted by Satie and Poulenc for example
Petruska 1911
Taruskin 1996: critical interpretation
o While violating the academic norms of contemporary Russian composition – in its parallel fifths and sevenths, “harmonic poverty”, rhythmic automatism and ostinato patterns etc., which violated expressive ideals – Taruskin argues that Petrushka does not represent conscious rebellion against his former circle, given the many borrowings from Rimsky-Korsakov and the influence of Tchaikovsky on certain choices of orchestration
o Argues that the use of folklorism to ultimately characterise people in inhuman, inexpressive ways was a key part of the rejection of the ballet in Russian musical circles
o In Russia the reception from the “Rimsky” circle was negative but was positive elsewhere. Andrey Rimsky-Korsakov’s quite damaging critique was oriented around its pseudo-nationalism, emphasis on theatrical fantasy over the “folk’s poetic outlook on nature”, French influence, the monotony of its orchestral effects
Petruska 1911
Jonathan Cross 1998
First Stravinsky work to employ clearly the oppositional, block-like writing that would become his trademark.
• Block-like form: ‘static, additive, nondeveloping ostinati of variable length that continually break off and start up again’
o Proto-cinematic idea
o Allows quotation from wide range of Russian folk melodies and other popular tunes
o Anticipates ‘eclectic juxtaposition of a wide range of material’ in later works
• Cross identifies 7 blocks (A-G) distinguished by abrupt changes in melody, orchestration, ostinato etc.
o Static, but dynamism generated through
Rhythm
Altering the rate of change between blocks
• E.g. 6 changes between figs. 42-51
Simultaneously layering different musical ideas e.g. F + E + A at figs. 24-6
o F is not static: maintains the I-V alternation of its original song ‘Elle avait un’ jambe au bois’
• However, Cross also stresses the continuities between the juxtaposed blocks; not a “unification” but presents “rules of containment” that account for why the ideas belong there but do not specify fixed relationships between them
o Harmonic e.g. in the shared diatonic D scale or diatonic-octatonic interaction
o Motivically e.g. all melodic ideas except for F characterised by a rising fourth
o Rhythmically e.g. maintaining constant pulse across changing metres
o Connection gestures e.g. Bb pedal across blocks C and E in figs 17-19
Rite of Spring 1913
Narrative summary
Two parts. Part 1, ‘Adoration of the Earth’: a celebration of spring begins; a group of young girls arrive at a river, begin the ‘Dance of the Abduction’, dance a spring khorovod, divide into groups for the ‘Ritual of the Rival Tribes’; a holy procession leads to the entry of the wise elders, led by a Sage who pauses the games and blesses the earth; the people break into a passionate dance sanctifying and joining with the earth (‘Danse de la terre’). Part 2, ‘The Sacrifice’: the young girls engage in mysterious games, ‘Mystic Circles’; one of the girls is selected and is glorified as the Chosen One with a martial dance, followed by an invocation of the ancestors; the Chosen One is entrusted to the elders; the Chosen One dances to death in the presence of the old men.
Rite of Spring 1913
Taruskin 1996: conceptual basis of the Rite
Notable that in Taruskin’s view the subject matter of the Rite was practically conventional in St Petersburg in 1910, and that despite Stravinsky’s testimony to the contrary a large part of its scenario came from Nikolai Roerich, his collaborator: similar situation to Petrushka.
Conceptual basis of the Rite as being all stikhiya, all immediacy, without conventional plot; depicting the ritual “pure”, attempting a reproduction of antiquity; accordingly the scenario appears to have been drawn fairly literally from ethnographic sources available at the time, though mashing up ritualistic practices from different prehistoric Russian cultures
Rite of Spring 1913
Taruskin 1996: incorporation of folk material
Incorporation of folk material: while Stravinsky later tried to present himself as being nonchalant in terms of ethnographic accuracy, Taruskin argues that unlike in Petrushka the melodies incorporated could not have been contested by any ethnographer
o The material incorporated were all ceremonial songs; specifically, season or calendar songs, thus chosen for their relevance to the scenario of the Rite
o However, Taruskin argues that Stravinsky’s exposure to oral traditions and transformation of his materials means we will never know exactly how much of the Rite is comprised of folk melodies
o E.g. the opening bassoon melody derives from melody No. 157 from Juzkiewicz’ Melodje ludowe litewskie and was derived by transposing it up, changing the strict triple metre into a rubato duple metre, and changing the rhythms; idea that the Lithuanian tunes from this collection were incorporated because of the strong survival of pagan rites in this area incl. sacrificial themes
Rite of Spring 1913
Taruskin 1996: derivation of stylistic procedures from folk music:
Taruskin argues that in the Rite Stravinsky used Russian folk music as emancipation from the traditions of Russian art music, though this leap was made in the neonationalist spirit of his upbringing; it was not ironic, he sincerely hoped that his ballet would be received well in Russia
o To create the Mystic Circles melody he took a khorovod associated with the family of wedding songs, abstracted individual melodic tunes, subjected them to processes of juxtaposition, internal repetition etc., and knitted them together
o The ‘Dance of the Earth’: derived from two source melodies; out of a chromatic derivation from the first he drew the octatonic ostinato found in the second violins and the whole-tone ostinato that would be sounded in the low strings and woodwinds throughout; tension between octatonic and whole-tone collections on a common tritone “fulcrum” of C/F#, the opposition of which also becomes a structural basis of the movement e.g. in timpani repeating F# then alternating F# and C towards the end, ending on C; punctuating chords also derived from melody 1 to form a “specious C major”; original technical innovations in the Rite derived from folk materials
Rite of Spring 1913
Taruskin 1996: harmonic/tonal/thematic structures:
Harmonic idiom based to a highly unusual partition of the octatonic collection into two tetrachords pitch a tritone apart
o Still contains a lot of “traditional” octatonicism based on minor third relations, and the tetrachordal partition can be found in Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and early Stravinsky works; however, it is only here that it becomes a fundamental aspect that is verticalized as well as heard in succession
o Dominance and unifying power of the harmonic cell (0 6 11) and its inversion (0 5 11)
Anticipation in Petrushka
Despite the lack of obvious superficial unity, the tonal coherence and integrity of the Rite are evident “to the naivest ear”
The “Rite chord” along the lines of the “Petrushka chord”
o In terms of thematic correspondences, initially dances had been linked together in pairs e.g. the goroda and unïkaniya, but the latter was removed and other pairs were divided as he restructured it: thematic relationships were thus deliberately obscured, and in the second half of the ballet aren’t there at all (apart from one)
Rite of Spring 1913
Taruskin 1996: rhythm
Taruskin identifies two distinct types of rhythmic novelty
o The hypnotic, immobile ostinato e.g. in the Ritual Action, which has a rigid beat-rhythm to match the hypnosis of the Chosen One by the Elders
o The “invincible and elemental” rhythm of irregularly spaced downbeats; developed in the vertical alignment of rhythmic/metric situations, with neither dominating nor determining the other
o The “variable-downbeat” technique was also developed into one in which the shifting meters are coordinated on the “subtactile” level i.e. by an equal value less that the duration of a felt beat e.g. in the relationship between the goroda and umïkaniya music based on a coordinating eighth-note pulse; apparently no precedent for this in earlier Russian art music
o Also the variation of metrical patterns by taking small musical “tesserae”, treating them as concrete and discrete, but changing their order to vary the meter e.g. in the Sacrificial Dance
Rite of Spring 1913
Taruskin 1996: stylistic context
Naturally the Rite resonated with previous Russian music for the stage esp. that of Rimsky e.g. the second act of Mlada
o The opening bassoon melody also quotes almost directly from a bassoon melody in Mussorgsky’s unfinished opera The Fair at Sorochintsï, to the point where Taruskin posits it as a second model
o The Rite as an extension of a tradition rather than a composition against a tradition; Stravinsky’s achievement being a synthesis of folkloristic and modernistic traditions of Russian art music
• Critical interpretation: emphasis on the submergence of elements that had, for example, played on the surface of Petrushka, motivated by a belief that the deeper they went the more pervasive and determinant their influence became
o Argument that while rooted in neonationalism the Rite might be better understood as paralleling neoprimitivist art, in which the pastoralism and literalism of neonationalism was increasingly abstracted; the absorption of folk motifs to the point where nothing of the folk subject was visible but the stylistic influence was absolute
o Pushing of folk materials into abstraction seen as step on the road to esthetic neoclassicism and as bringing Russian neonationalism into the international currents of Western music and thus having “utterly transcended” its fundamental movements and sources; Roerich: “We cannot consider ‘Sacre’ as Russian, nor even Slavic – it is more ancient and pan-human”
o The Rite as ultimate break with Germanic influence: seen in deliberate obfuscation of thematic relationships, stripping down of formal procedures to basic processes of repetition, alternation, and accumulation
o Emphasises the “stasis” of the Rite, how its various octatonic and whole-tone collections and associated ostinati coexist in separate strata without interacting to produce a harmonic language both more radical than in previous music, but also simpler in conception; idea of harmonies and motifs set in stone, “hypostatised”
Rite of Spring 1913
Taruskin 1996: critical interpretation:
Emphasis on the submergence of elements that had, for example, played on the surface of Petrushka, motivated by a belief that the deeper they went the more pervasive and determinant their influence became
o Argument that while rooted in neonationalism the Rite might be better understood as paralleling neoprimitivist art, in which the pastoralism and literalism of neonationalism was increasingly abstracted; the absorption of folk motifs to the point where nothing of the folk subject was visible but the stylistic influence was absolute
o Pushing of folk materials into abstraction seen as step on the road to esthetic neoclassicism and as bringing Russian neonationalism into the international currents of Western music and thus having “utterly transcended” its fundamental movements and sources; Roerich: “We cannot consider ‘Sacre’ as Russian, nor even Slavic – it is more ancient and pan-human”
o The Rite as ultimate break with Germanic influence: seen in deliberate obfuscation of thematic relationships, stripping down of formal procedures to basic processes of repetition, alternation, and accumulation
o Emphasises the “stasis” of the Rite, how its various octatonic and whole-tone collections and associated ostinati coexist in separate strata without interacting to produce a harmonic language both more radical than in previous music, but also simpler in conception; idea of harmonies and motifs set in stone, “hypostatised”
Rite of Spring 1913
Cross 1998: form
• Rite’s basic formal procedures: ‘extension though repetition, alternation, and – above all – sheer inertial accumulation’
o Encapsulated by introduction
• Block-like construction distinguished from Petrushka and the Symphonies for Wind Instruments by:
o Blocks defined over longer spans and/or demonstrating more connectedness
o Vertical, simultaneous stratification of material, which creates more activity within each block
• Example: in ‘Les augures printaniers’ (figs. 13-37) an invariant Bb-Db-Bb octatonic subset underpins various non-progressive musical ideas, which in sequence articulate a block form
• However, again, Cross emphasises the continuity between blocks
o In the example above he only identifies two distinct ideas, ‘a’ and ‘b’, the latter of which has three variations of its presented in quick succession with sharply contrasting orchestration
