Download Stravinsky`s Music - Canadian Opera Company

Stravinsky’s Music
Throughout his career, Stravinsky’s Russian heritage and
native folk music were of special importance in his work.
Ironically, he spent most of his life living outside of Russia.
As Stravinsky’s exposure to the West increased, he became
interested in combining his native Russian traditions and
musical ideas with that of a larger global culture.
Stravinsky’s music can be broken down into three musical
periods or styles:
Russian (1908 – 1919)
It was during this time period that Stravinsky established
his reputation as a musical rebel! He was cutting edge as
a composer meaning he was exploring styles of music that
other musicians were just thinking about. During these years
Stravinsky used Russian folk themes and motifs. Much of his
music was influenced by his late teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov
who was famous for his work with folk tales and fairy
tales. Stravinsky reached international fame by composing
music for three ballets: The Firebird, Petrouchka and Le
Sacre du printemps. These pieces were commissioned by
Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballet Russes. The ballets were
characterized by their highly rhythmic and percussive
qualities, and in the latter works Stravinsky also began to
explore bitonality* and polyphony*. The final years of the
Russian period were dominated by the fusion of Russian folk
idioms with more popular western dance music like jazz and
ragtime. The Nightingale (1914) and The Fox (1916) were
also composed in this time period.
*Bitonality:
The use of two musical
keys at the same time.
Polyphony:
The simultaneous use
of two or more keys.
Neo-classical (1920 – 1954)
When Stravinsky moved to France, he incorporated his
early trademark compositional techniques with a popular
style emerging in music composition called neo-classicism.
As an anti-Romantic movement, neo-classicism, favoured
the return of a more emotionally strained and balanced
music of the baroque and classical periods. (Don’t be
fooled though – Stravinsky’s music still didn’t sound
anything like Mozart’s!) The most significant change in
Stravinsky’s music was his abandonment of the large
orchestras demanded by his previous ballets, for choral
and chamber compositions using mainly wind instruments
and piano. Stravinsky’s neo-classicism culminated with the
opera The Rake’s Progress (1951).
Twelve Tone Serialism (1954 – 1968)
After World War II composers explored a new avant-garde
musical reform, called twelve tone serialism. It was led by
Viennese composers Arnold Schoenburg, Alban Berg and
Anton von Webern. This modern compositional technique
used all 12 tones in an octave in different arrangements
and patterns. By using all 12 tones, the song is not in a
specific key and is considered atonal. Often this sounds
‘funny’ or ‘off’ to an ear that has not heard this style before.
Stravinsky’s Musical Checklist:
Clear Sound
Percussive
Energetic rhythm
Russian folk stories used as themes
Transparent texture: A full orchestra but not all the
instruments play at the same time
Did you know?
Stravinsky’s Le
Sacre du printemps
was featured in
Disney’s animated
feature Fantasia.
Canadian Opera Company ~ Education and Outreach ~ Nightingale Study Guide 2009/2010 ~ coc.ca ~ 416-306-2392