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Throughout his life the one genre in which Stravinsky
expressed himself repeatedly was ballet music. The three early ballets,The
Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring (all commissioned by Diaghilev
for the Ballet Russe, resulted in world wide recognition for Stravinsky
by the year 1912) represent a sequence of works in which a thread of continuous
growth can be observed. It is on these three works that this paper will
focus; firstly, by discussing the influences which effected Stravinsky
in his formative years; secondly, by examining the foundations of his
compositional technique; and finally, by an analysis of the innovations
which Stravinsky introduced in his three early ballets.
Stravinsky's major musical influences during his formative
years were the two great Russian nationalistic composers Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
and Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), and the more cosmopolitan Glazunov (1865-1936).
Stravinsky came under the musical influence on Rimsky-Korsakov when he
became his pupil in 1903. His first Symphony in E flat showed the obvious
trademarks of his masters influence. Stravinsky (1936, p.11) states "I
was fervent admirer of Rimsky-Korsakov. I was specially drawn by his melodic
and harmonic inspiration, which then seemed to me full of freshness".
He also claims he was particularly drawn to the "feeling for symphonic
form, and scholarly workmanship" evident in the symphonies of Glazunov
(1865-1936), and whilst taking these works as his orchestral models, freely
admits to 'fervently' studying the scores of Wagner. Druskin (1979, p.30)
suggests that the influence of Mussorgsky was also of major significance:
"Mussorgsky gave him a glimpse of the ancient Russian way of life before
Peter the Great, and, more particularly, its association with church ritual".
The role played by Serge Diaghilev, the director of the
Ballet Russe, was of utmost importance to Stravinsky's early success.
He recognised the extraordinary talent which the young Stravinsky possessed
and immediately commissioned him to write The Firebird. The outstanding
success of this ballet, and its sequels, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring,
resulted in the world wide acceptance of Stravinsky as a leading composer
of the early twentieth century, as well as assuring Diaghilev an elevated
position in the history of the arts. (Austin, 1966, p.251). Deri's (1968,
p.169) suggestion that Diaghilev may have been the "unique driving force
behind Stravinsky's early primitivistic style" is reinforced by the fact
that Stravinsky's leaning towards a neoclassical style occurred at the
time of a low ebb in their personal friendship.
The first performance of The Firebird, composed whilst
Stravinsky was still under the influence of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov,
was given by Diaghilev's ballet company at the Opera in Paris on 25 June
1910. Deri(1968, p.171) draws a parallel between Stravinsky's work and
that of Rimsky-Korsakov's ballet Le Coq d'Or by suggesting the following
similarities. Firstly, both compositions are based on Russian fairy tales
and both deal with the conflict between good and evil. Secondly, he points
out Stravinsky's adoption of Rimsky-Korsakov's technique of employing
harmonic principles to differentiate between human and supernatural forces.
For example, diatonic harmonies are used to depict human characters whereas
chromaticism or the predominant use of modes (other than the traditional
major-minor) are used to signify supernatural elements. Finally, the unrestricted
use of the tritone interval occurs frequently in both works.
The Firebird marks the beginning of Stravinsky's use of
borrowed folk tunes in his music. Deri (1968, p. 171) suggests that Stravinsky's
source is the anthologies edited and collected by Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov
from which he draws his material basically unchanged. There is no sign
yet of "the individual manner of setting which gives such freshness to
the folk tunes in Petrushka" (Walsh, 1988,p.21). Example 1 is an illustration
of Stravinsky's incorporation of folk song, taken from the Balakirev anthology,
into the fourth movement of The Firebird. Another well known example is
the popular ballad from the district of Smolensk, which Stravinsky uses
as his theme for the beautiful 'Berceuse' which leads into the finale
(Vlad,1978, p.14). As well as the obvious Russian flavour, imparted by
the use of traditional Russian folk song, and the frequent use of the
interval of a fourth, (see example 2) the Firebird also shows traces of
a French harmonic influence, which Vlad (1978, p.14) describes as a "certain
post-Wagnerian harmonic flavour that links sensuousness of Skryabin and
the decorative chromaticism of Dukas, Debussy, and Ravel".
Stravinsky's use of the orchestra in The Firebird for
the most part follows the normal romantic principle: the strings are used
for their mellowness, and the brass and woodwind play their traditional
role of lending tone colour. Even so, it is apparent that Stravinsky is
starting to experiment with new ideas, beginning to "delight in his own
discovery of orchestral effects&emdash;trombone glissandi, glissandi for
strings using natural harmonics". The overall effect is one of "glitter,
sparkle and brilliance; of extremes of contrast; of orchestral virtuosity"
(Routh,1975, p.72). The gradual evolvement which has been the feature
of Stravinsky's work up to this point is suddenly swept aside by the dramatic
changes which occur in 'The Infernal Dance'. This movement features a
shift in emphasis towards the brass and percussion, which hammer out hard
syncopations, displaced accents and cross rhythms, resulting in a driving
primitive sound dispersed with audacious discords. The strings now take
on a more percussive role and the "rhythm is already beginning to achieve
a discursive quality in its own right" (Vlad,1978, p.14). All these developments
anticipate the dramatic changes which are about to come in Petrouchka
(Ewen, 1969, p.785-86).
Whilst composing Petrouchka Stravinsky had in mind a "distinct
picture of a puppet, suddenly endowed with life, exasperating the patience
of the orchestra with diabolical cascades of arpeggios"(Stravinsky,1936,p.31).
Originally conceived as a Konzertstueck for piano and orchestra, Diaghilev
quickly persuaded Stravinsky to expand his ideas into a ballet, a work
which was to signal Stravinsky's ultimate break with rigid convention
and the end of his "direct interest in the Russian academic tradition"
(Walsh, 1988, p.8). Spurred on by his "restless, curiously inquisitive
musical mind, forever in search of new settings and new self-limitations"
(Deri, 1968, p.170), Stravinsky now embarked on a series of dramatic changes
which culminated, upon completion of The Rite of Spring in 1913, with
the virtual redefinition of the direction of music in the early twentieth
century.
Petrushka appeared on the musical scene in 1911, when
the prevailing musical language ran from an "impressionist haziness to
the boisterousness of the post-Wagnerian symphony a la Strauss". Against
this background, "unleashing of the crude, spiky, and the incisive sonorities
we find in Petrushka was bound to appear startlingly revolutionary"(Vlad,1978,
p.18). One of the most immediately striking features of Petrouchka is
the use of the piano&emdash;not as a featured soloist but as an integral
part of the orchestral sound&emdash;which imparts a distinctive flavour
to the ensemble (Austin, 1966, p.251). Spencer (1990, p.19) suggests that
Stravinsky composed at the piano keyboard and much of Petrouchka resulted
from the direct contact of fingers on keyboard. The Russian Dance which
features a toccata-like character is dominated by the percussion instruments
and the "percussive intonations of the piano" (Asaf'Yev,1982,p.24) (Example
3).
Petrouchka's motif (Example 4) represents an instance
where "for the first time we find a polytonal passage not used casually,
as an oddity, but having a structural significance"(Vlad,1978, p.16).
Vlad (1978, p.17) goes on to describe the effect produced by the superimposing
of two scales, and the dissonances produced by the resulting major and
minor seconds, as a "musical effect at once burlesque and harrowing which
admirably expresses the 'musical soul' of Petrouchka". Stravinsky's experiments
with polytonality were both brilliant and successful and from this point
became an accepted and much copied technique used by many twentieth century
composers (Ewen, 1969, p.787).
Example 5 presents another example of polytonality. In
this example the harmony is based on the superimposition of diatonic chords,
a technique called pandiatonicism. It is also an excellent example of
Stravinsky's growing sophistication in incorporating folk song into his
work. The melody used here by Stravinsky is based on a Russian folk song,
'Christ is Risen', found in Rimsky-Korsakov's Collection of 100 Russian
Folk Songs of 1876. In the given example the melody is taken over almost
unchanged, but by applying the technique of pandiatonicism Stravinsky
produces a result much more sophisticated than he achieved in his earlier
efforts in The Firebird (Deri, 1968, p.175). As well as examples of Russian
folk song other borrowings by Stravinsky occur. For example he uses a
popular Tyrolese Waltz by Lanner, "set with mocking banality for solo
cornet and flutes to a childish tonic-dominant accompaniment" (Walsh,
1988, p.27), as his theme for the 'Valse' in the third part of Petrouchka.
The tremendous rhythmic vitality which is present in Petrouchka
is most evident in the 'Dance of the Coachmen'. In this section Stravinsky
obtains from his orchestra a "sonority of drones combined with heavy clangs
of bells that sounds almost elemental, the rhythm is one of colossal hardness
and firmness. Against this striking background the dance motive is projected,
inflexible, brutishly despotic" (Asaf'Yev,1982,p.25). The rhythmic intensity
of the composition appears to exert a considerable influence on the melodic
characteristics of the piece, which appear to be more fragmented and built
on a restricted range of notes when compared to the flowing melodies of
The Firebird . In fact the melody could be said to be almost subordinate
to the striking rhythmic vitality which drives the whole composition onwards.
The first performance of The Rite of Spring was given
by Diaghilev's company in Paris in 1913, resulting in a riot. "Never had
an audience heard music so brutal, savage, aggressive, and apparently
chaotic; it hit the public like a hurricane, like some uncontrolled primeval
force" (Vlad, 1978,p.31). The music seemed to oppose all of the concepts
of traditional music, harmony, melody, and formal design; it violated
long held concepts of beauty and was condemned as a "barbaric annihilation
of all that musical tradition stood for"(Griffiths,1978, p.41). Vlad (1878,
p.30) suggests that as a result of the furore surrounding the first performance
of The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky was seen as the "arch-revolutionary,
an iconoclast out to destroy all the most sacred canons of musical aesthetics
and grammar"; nevertheless, he was immediately hailed as a revolutionary
and regarded as their leader by the Avant-garde movement (The Concise
Oxford Dictionary of Music, p.629).
The Rite of Spring is seen by Vlad (1978,p.31) as a work
which expands and intensifies the developments which Stravinsky had initiated
firstly in The Firebird and then in Petrushka. The elevation of rhythm
to a place of primary importance; the use of polytonality, polymodality,
and Pandiatonicism to blur the boundaries of traditional tonality; his
assimilation of folk melody; all these elements which first appeared in
his first two ballets are now applied with a greater intensity in The
Rite of Spring. These elements will now be considered in turn, commencing
with the rhythmic component in which Stravinsky places so much importance.
Routh (1975, p.74) states that in The Rite of Spring Stravinsky
reverts to the Medieval practice of treating the rhythmic component on
equal terms with the other musical elements. Stravinsky uses rhythm as
a "constituent structural element" in much the same way as the Medieval
composer used isorhythm&emdash;to provide formal cohesion. One of the
most striking features of the Rite of Spring is the continual changes
of metre which abound throughout the composition. A typical example of
the continual change of metre is found in the 'Glorification of the Chosen
One' where the first 20 bars are grouped as follows:
Routh (1975, p.74) suggests that the method Stravinsky
uses to achieve this rhythmic subtlety is by the addition of extra pulse-units.
Example 7 illustrates this technique clearly. The first two bars are identical
whilst the third bar begins with the same six quavers before adding another,
"as a kind of trigger to the continuation of the theme" (Walsh, 1988,
p.46). The concepts of added value and variable cell length underlies
much of the rhythmic innovation in The Rite of Spring, and although Stravinsky
was not the first composer to use added value technique&emdash;examples
are found in the works of Debussy&emdash;his ballets are certainly the
first works to implement the technique as a structural entity.
The harmony in The Rite of Spring is a direct continuation
of Petrouchka. Stravinsky favours the primary triads along with the dominant
and diminished seventh chords, although their function is far removed
from the familiar role they occupied in traditional harmony. Stravinsky's
more liberal use of traditional resources, revitalised by his experimentation
with new harmonic devices such as bitonality and pandiatonicism, resulted
in harmonic successions quite unfamiliar to ears accustomed to traditional
harmony. A prominent example of bitonality is found in the rhythmic and
harmonic superimpositions of the opening chords to the "Dance of the Youths
and Maidens" (example 8). Upon analysis it can be seen that the example
is but an E flat dominant seventh chord superimposed on the chord of F
flat major. This exerts a strained quality to the music which often approaches
breaking point (Deri 1968, p.184). The persistent repetition of this chord,
which according to Vlad (1978, p.33) was Stravinsky's original inspiration
for The Rite of Spring , continues with a primitive asymmetrical rhythmic
accent, first for 8 bars, then for 9, and finally for a solid 35 bars.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (1980, Vol.18, p.247)
claims that the superimposed chord in question serves as a sort of germ
cell for the entire composition. This claim is supported by Vlad (1978,
p.33) who suggests that the cello part at rehearsal letter 14 of the score
(Example 9) are in fact an arpeggiation of the lower chord of F flat (written
enharmonically as E major); he goes further by pointing out that the cor
anglais part, commencing at the same letter, is based on the higher chord
of E flat seventh (Example 9). The technique employed here by Stravinsky
is typical of his usage throughout the work. Vlad sums up his claim as
follows: "A careful analysis of the whole piece leads to the conclusion
that the chord in question serves as a sort of germ in exactly the same
way as the polytonal clarinet arpeggios in Petrouchka" (Vlad 1987, p.33).
Stravinsky was also very fond of superimposing major and
minor versions of the same triad, which resulted from his technique of
shadowing the basic melody with lines moving in parallel motion. According
to Asaf'Yev (1982, p.42), this "conveys a sensation of shimmering luminescence"
(See example 10). The resulting harmonic progression produces a "succession
that follows no apparent calculated order" (Christ et al. 1988, p.392).
Another example of Stravinsky's shadowing technique can
be seen in example 11. This time the melodic line is paralleled by lines
a major third below and a perfect fifth above. Stravinsky was particularly
fond of this method of thickening the texture, which from the point of
view of orthodox harmonic principles is of course absurd. But as Asaf'Yev
(1982, p.35) points out, "orthodox harmony is just one particularisation&emdash;or,
more precisely, one fractional, transitory episode among many possibilities
of developing and phrasing a line".
The use of folk song in The Rite of Spring occurs on two
levels. Firstly, the direct quotation of folk song, as is the case with
the solo bassoon passage which opens the work (Example 12), which according
to Stravinsky himself, originated from an anthology of Lithuanian folk
songs compiled by a Polish priest named Anton Juszkiewiez(Taruskin, 1980,
p.502). Stravinsky's statement&emdash;made in his conversations with Robert
Craft&emdash; that "the opening bassoon melody...is the only folk melody
in that work" is refuted by Taruskin (1980, p.503). He suggests that the
"device of ostinato as Stravinsky employed it in The Rite of Spring was
directly related to the practices of Russian folk song". This claim by
Taruskin therefore suggests the presence of a second layer in which Stravinsky&emdash;either
consciously or subconsciously &emdash;employed elements of his folk heritage
as a source of thematic and structural material.
Another interesting technique is Stravinsky's use of dissonance
to achieve tone colour. Example 13 is taken from the 'Mystic Circles of
the Young Girls' in which parallel sevenths are given to the clarinets.
A further example of Stravinsky's use of dissonant intervals,
this time in the form of 'propulsive' sevenths and ninths in the bass,
coupled with a subtle use of syncopation, is again found in 'The Dance
of The Young Girls' (See example 14).
In the early twentieth century Stravinsky rescued Russian
music from the inertia of the school of musical technique initiated by
Mussorgsky and perpetuated by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov. Encouraged
by Diaghilev, Stravinsky took the basic elements of traditional music
and injected many startling innovations which were to mark his early ballets&emdash;commencing
with The Firebird in 1910 and culminating with The Rite of Spring in 1913&emdash;as
a watershed in the history of western music. His individualistic use of
the orchestra, the virtual rhythmic revolution in which rhythm&emdash;freed
from the restraints of the bar line&emdash;became the dominant structural
element, his rejection of traditional voice leading in favour of polytonality
and dissonance as a structural entity, and his subtle incorporation of
folk elements, all combine to form the basis of Stravinsky's early primitivistic
style. A style which redefined the direction of music in the early twentieth
century and resulted in many revolutionary concepts which continue to
be valid to the present day.
Bill Tyers 1994
Bibliography
Asaf'Yev, Boris 1982, "Stravinsky", trans. Richard F.
French, UMI Research Press, Michigan.
Austin, William 1966, "Music in the 20th Century", J.M.Dent
& Sons Ltd., London.
Christ,W., Delone,R., Kliewer,V., Rowell,L., Thomson,
W. 1981, "Materials and Structure of Music", Vol. 2, Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Engelwood Cliffs,
N.J. Deri, Otto 1968, "Exploring Twentieth Century Music",
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., New York.
Druskin, Mikhail 1979, "Igor Stravinsky: His Life, Works
and Views", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Ewen, David 1969, "The World of Twentieth-Century Music",
Robert Hale, London.
Griffiths, Paul 1978, "Modern Music: A concise History
from Debussy to Boulez", Thames and Hudson, New York.
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Sadie,S., Vol.18, Macmillan, England.
Routh, Francis 1975, "Stravinsky", J.M.Dent & Sons
Ltd., London. Spencer, Piers 1990,
"Stravinsky:Petrouchka", Music Teacher, Vol. 69, No.1.
Stravinsky, I. 1913, "The Rite of Spring", Boosey &
Hawkes, London. 1912,
Petrouchka, Rev. ed. 1947, Boosey & Hawkes, London.
1936,
Igor Stravinsky: An Autobiography, W.W.Norton & Company,
Inc., New York.
Taruskin, Richard 1980, "Russian Folk Melodies in The
Rite of Spring", Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 33.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, 1980, 3rd Edition,
ed. Michael Kennedy, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Vlad, Roman 1978, "Stravinsky", Oxford University Press,
London.
Walsh, Stephen 1988, "The Music of Stravinsky", Routledge,
London.
 billty@guitardownunder.com
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The
Music Of Igor Stravinsky And His Influence On 20th Century
Popular Music by Bill Tyers
