Overview

He was breaking the rules

early 20th century

written in 1913

area of studies is “New Directions” - looking forward and breaking the rules we can put him in the era of modernisim

stravinsky is russion,but he moved to paris because russia had a revolution,a lot of artists were trying to get out,he went to paris(paris was the center of the world)

Stravinsky The rite of springs is a ballet

at the premier there was a riot about the piece

inittally it was said it was because if stravisnkyis music but it might have been cause of the ballet,france paris is the center of the ballet,

Diaghilev was an impresario(concert organizer,manager etc.) he told stravisnky to compose 3 ballets and to shock the world and things never heard before

at 1911 he compose the firebird(stravkisky) and this made him famous

and in 1912 he composed petrushka,he made up a chord called petrushka chord,he pushed the tonality with the limits to tonality,pushed music to the limits of music

the Vaslav Nijinsky was the choreographer,his company was called the Ballets Russes

Rumsky Korsokov - he is a composer (wider listening)

Mussurskey

there are folk elements(you have the oriental sound of china and the arabic and then the more europenian) russia is massive so yh.

for a French audience this was wow,the never heard something like it

even tho its new directions they were drawing on ancient music in order to find new direction (this could be the main part for my introduction and thesis)

lot more emphasis on woodwind,

paganism(is really important) is pre Christian beliefs

its a ritual of spring, the ritual is to find a girl and make her dance to her death

the first half depicts the coming of the spring

in modernism (form is more important the content) Stravinsky is not portraying his emotions, he is portraying the rite of spring.

as a result Stravinsky is very detached to it, he is very detached

in general

the rhythm: irregular metres(444),polyrhythms, relentless ostinatos,

harmony and tonality : bitonality, polytonality

the texture and timbre is highly original orchestration, lot of emphasis on wind(flute etc) lots of percussive effects

extreme ranges of everything

folk source(quite common in Russian music)

rhythmically complex in melody, fragmented melody, uneven phrase

he shattered romantic conventions through bold orchestration, rhythmic innovations, tonal experimentation

primitive ritualistic elemental

cinema he was influenced by the cinema(cross cutting techniques)

“prelest” -sparkling quality - aesthetic ,going against German style

-glockenspiel

-metallic instrument

-triangle

-brass

(all this is about the prelest,its an aesthetic a feeling, an idea)

(the audience loved it)

he was commisioned to write these 3 pieces(each one was progressively more experimental)

he wanted to make it sound like a swarm of dudki”s(an instrument)

must not forget that its a ballet