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Give a description of Stravinsky’s very personal use of Schoenberg’s 12-note method, examining what the continuities are (if any) between his 12-note works and his earlier works. (Part 2)
The influence of series can be noticed in Cantata, Septet, Three songs from William Shakespeare, In memoriam Dylan Thomas and ballet Agon. Cantata consists of series of canons based on an eleven-note melody. This melody is played by the first flute and the cello at the beginning and than moves on to tenor in the serial forms: prime, retrograde, inversion, retrograde-inversion. It is worth mentioning that the harmony at the beginning is based only on the six-notes row (B, C, D, E, E-flat and F). In later Canons Stravinsky starts to use full chromaticism e.g ‘in the second canon tenor winds through three different forms of the row, each one starting with the final note of its predecessor and each one circling round B flat.’ [1]
Stravinsky’s next composition was Septet for clarinet, horn, bassoon, piano and string trio. The eight-note set of the composition was deployed in many different ways. In the first movement we can hardly notice new techniques inspired by Schoenberg. However, gradually the dodecaphony is being introduced until the climax in the finale (Gigue) with the full contrapunctalisation of the row. However, in this particular movement Stravinsky does not use procedures of serialism because the ordering of pitches determines the fugue subject.
The composer adapted true and complete rules of dodecaphony in Canticum sacrum ad sancti Marci nominis honor in 1955. The first performance of this composition took place in St Mark’s Basilica in Venice. While composing the piece, Stravinsky studied the acoustics of the building, in order to have a complete control over the final result. In terms of music the composer refers to renaissance polychoral technique, however the tone resembles the Middle Ages. Moreover, music is not completely 12-note and its serial fragments are not based on the same row. The third movement has an internal ABA structure, the construction is proportioned, clear and balanced. It is worth mentioning that Stravinsky achieved that clarity by following Schoenberg’s rules to carefully plan the row by itself.
In 1957, the world lived to see another Stravinsky’s ballet. At the core of the musical performances of Stravinsky lays the assumption that the structure and expression of the music can make visible movement of the human body, and correlates with the beauty of art[2]. The title Agon seemed to refer to the neoclassical period and many people expected Stravinsky to return to that style. Some (including Theodor Adorno – composer and musicologist) claimed that dodecaphonic music stands in opposition to the ballet music. It turned out that the title had nothing to do with mythology and referred only to the idea of wrestling – ballet as a competition. It was composed for 12 dancers. There is not any extra-musical content, only dance performances – 12 routines , referring in different way to the number ‘12’ and its components. Moreover, each movement was based on 17th-century French court dances (Saraband, Galliard and Bransle) and on a different row. In the construction of the row in the third movement, we can notice an influence of Anton Webern. Stravinsky created a group arrangement that consisted of 3-tone links (third and semitone). It is also worth mentioning that ‘Agon suggests a reassessment of the earlier style in its inversion to the idea of metrically unrelated formal cells like the separate blocks of the Symphony of Wind Instruments.’[3]
[1] S. Walsh , The Music of Stravinsky (Oxford 1993), 222
[2] Alicja Jarzębska’s lecture in the F. Chopin’s University in Warsaw, 20.10.2010
[3] S. Walsh , The Music of Stravinsky (Oxford 1993), 229
This article was written by Edyta Lajdorf BMus (Hons) RCM, MMus, LRSM (Teaching), SMISM. Have you been looking on the internet for piano lessons London? I offer piano lessons for children from the age of five and adults.