Stravinsky 1913 Flashcards
Context
20th century was a period of exploration and experimentation
Impressionism, Debussy, Ravel
Later, Aleatoric music, Cage, Saariaho
Earlier, Stravinsky, Nationalistic music
About pagan rituals of ancient Slavic tribes, at beginning of spring, young girls sacrificed themselves by dancing themselves to death
Melody
Tends to be derived from Russian and Easter European folksongs
Repetitive fragmentary nature
Detaches short motifs from longer melodies and reorders the notes
Ostinati
Pentatonicism
Tends to be derived from Russian Eastern European folksongs
Opening bassoon melody based on Lithuanian folk song
With acciaccaturas, desc minor triad V ornamented and modal, Nationalistic music often used folk songs
(Just before, Petrushka, first theme of Russian Dance based on Russian folk tunes)
Repetitive fragmentary nature
LAP, chromatic, desc solo trumpet fragment repeated in 1st vln
(Before, Firebird, Stravinsky)
Developing short melodic fragments
Detaches short motif from longer melodies and reorders the notes
LAP, alto flute plays diatonic melody, repeats last 2 notes with acciaccatura,
Most melodic fragments tend to be angular, leads onto the next part of the story
Ostinati
LAP, cor anglais quaver ostinato, limited notes driving force for the music
(After, Ravel, Bolero)
Pentatonicism
JDR, Flute pentatonic melody, folk influence (Before, Bartok, String quartet)
Harmony
Constant use of harsh dissonance
Constant use of harsh dissonance
LAP, C maj against E min chords in bassoons EP tonal confusion, breaking the tonal boundaries, exploration
Achieved by bitonality, atonality
(Just before, Petrushka, Stravinsky, dissonance created from bitonality)
Tonality
Did not reject tonality completely like Schoenberg, never a clear sense of key
Bitonality
Atonality
Folk music elements, modal style melodies
Bitonality
LAP, Eb7 chord in upper strings against Fbmaj chord in lower strings, primitive, unorganized chaos
(After, Ravel, Bolero, melody doubled in different keys)
Atonality
I, broken C7 chords in violas against E min, Emaj harmonies in bassoon, chromatic scales in woodwind, atonality achieved by tonal means, pushing the boundaries, moving towards atonal music
(Just before, Schoenburg, Peripetie, atonal due to use of hexachords)
Folk music elements, modal style melodies
Diatonic aeolian folk song, Nationalistic influences
Texture
Polyphony
Constantly evolving texture to climax
Abrupt change from homophonic stamping chords followed by mel dom hom
Homorhythmic texture
Polyphony
I, climax, frequent use of simultaneous fragmentary melodies
LAP, multiple ostinato fragments as well as a countermelody in trumpets, cellos, chaos of spring, chaotic changes towards Nationalism (Just before, Schoenburg, Peripetie)
Constantly evolving texture to climax
Monophonic bassoon, 2 part texture duet with french horn, 4 part texture, awakening of spring (Before, Stravinsky, Firebird)
Abrupt change to homophonic stamping chords chords, followed by mel dom how
LAP, stamping string downbows suddenly changes with trumpet solo, EP transition in storyline
Homorhythmic texture
JDR, in climax
After, Holst, Mars
Structure
Mixture of through composed and a mosaic of short contrasting fragments
Mixture of through composed and a mosaic of short contrasting fragments
I, throughcomposed musical representation of the gradual awakening of the earth after a long Russian winter
(Before, Stravinsky, Firebird)
LAP, through composed contrasting short fragments, create antipodal contrasts
JDR, through composed
Sonority
Largest orchestra ever assembled
Huge wind sections
Standard sized string section, avoid emotional Romantic sound
Percussion
Huge wind section
Quintuple woodwind (3F, P, AF, 4O, CA, 3C, BC, 4B, CB) Huge brass (8H, 5T, 4T, 2T), larger range of timbres, reflect story Use of transposing instruments, can handle a larger range of keys Intro, solo bassoon, octave above MC in tenor, sounds like O/C, shows how far Stravinsky was prepared to go, breaking the boundaries (Just before, Schoenburg, Peripetie, muted horns blast out loud notes)
I, upper woodwind flutter tongue, bird song
Standard sized string section, extended techniques to avoid emotional Romantic sound
LAP, repeated down bows and stopped chords, rough, primitive sound, relentless sense of movement
(Before, Tchaikovsky, 2nd Symph, similar)
Cello harmonics, unease, pizz, sense of anticipation before LAP, antipodal change
I, viola col legno, woody rustic sound, pagan story
(Before, Stravinsky, Firebird)
Percussion
2 timpani, tuned cymbals, gong, larger range of sonorities
Rhythm, tempo and metre
Rhythm, most important feature Free rhythm and rubato Polyrhythms Cross rhythms, syncopation Ostinati Polymetres Metre constantly changing
Free rhythm
Begins like this to show how the new plants in spring are just starting to grow
Polyrhythms
Pace increases with triplets, quintuplets, straight quavers and septuplets, obscure pulse, nature does not stick to fixed pulse, unusual as dancers rely on a strong sense of pulse.
(Just before, Sim to earlier Stravinsky’s Petrushka)
Cross rhythms, syncopation
LAP, solo trumpet triplets against straight quavers in strings, obscures metre, hard to dance to
(At a similar time, Holst, 2/4, 6/8 ostinatos, Mercury)
Ostinati
LAP, cor anglais ostinato, appear at irregular moments, obscures metre
(At a similar time, Holst, Mars, ostinati drive piece)
Polymetre
JDR, strings in 9/8, double basses in 4/8, 5/8 (Before, Stravinsky, Firebird)
Unusual meters used
Metre almost constantly changing
I, 4/4, 3/4, 2/4 alternate, obscures metre
