chapter 46 calculated shock: stravinsky and modernist multimedia

THE ENJOYMENT OF MUSICESSENTIAL LISTENING

EDITION

by

Kristine ForneyAndrew Dell’Antonio

Joseph Machlis

THIRD EDITION

Lecture Slides

Calculated Shock: Stravinsky and Modernist Multimedia

A Caricature of Stravinsky at the Keyboard

• Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) • Russian composer• Embodied the most significant

impulses of his time• Serge Diaghilev and Russian Ballet

– Firebird (1910)– Petrushka (1911)– The Rite of Spring (1913)


Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, “Sacrificial Dance of the Chosen One”

Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)

• Stravinsky--constantly reinvented himself.• Born in St. Petersburg, Russia.• Father was a famous operatic bass singer.• Studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov• Was a neoclassicist--a composer who retained musical elements from the

past while experimenting with new ones.• France, 1920• Came to Los Angeles at beginning of WWII, 1939.• Lectured at Harvard; citizenship in 1945.• Later in life, he started writing 12-tone music--a break from his earlier style.• One of the century’s 2 greatest composers (Schoenberg)• Connected well with audiences.• Died 1971 in New York City; buried in Venice, his favorite city.


Stravinsky: The Soldier’s Tale, I, “Soldier’s March”

• Changing trends– post-Impressionism– neo-classicism– Serialism, etc.

• Revitalization of rhythm• Neo-Classical period

– Oedipus Rex– Symphony of Psalms

• Twelve-tone music– Threni: Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah


Igor StravinskyOther Compositions

• Petrouchka--a ballet for Ballets Russes• Pulcinella--another ballet for Ballets Russes• Symphony in 3 Movements--a neoclassical

work that includes a fugue• The Rake’s Progress (Hogarth)--an English-

language opera• Canticum sacrum--a 12-tone work for tenor,

baritone, chorus, and orchestra

Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

• Scenes of Pagan Russia• Expanded ensemble • Russian folk songs• Primitivistic theme and rhythm• Liberated from metric regularity

Stravinsky Visits Debussy

The Rite of Spring

• First performed in 1913 in Paris at the Theatre of the Champs-Elysées by prestigious company, Ballet Russes.

• Audience was unaccustomed to dissonant sounds, shocked by Nijinsky’s avant-garde choreography and pagan rituals.

• First laughing, then heckling and protesting, finally breaking into a riot that spilled out into streets of Paris.

Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring Part One

• The scenario (story): young girl dances herself to death while sage elders look on.

• Divided into 2 parts:– The Adoration of the Earth– The Sacrifice


• Harmony--polytonal--2 tonalities going on at the same time– Difficult to hear either tonal center.– Each harmony sounds good alone, but put them together and

they are dissonant.• Melody--many are pentatonic

– Captures a folk-like sound– From Russian folk songs– Brief and full of repetitions--small fragments repeated and

varied many times


• Rhythm--very irregular at times– Frequent meter changes– Offset by frequent ostinato figures--a single rhythmic or

rhythmic-melodic figure is repeated over and over again.• Timbre--the Mega-Orchestra

– A huge ensemble with large woodwind, brass, and percussion sections, as well as a string section


• A musical choreographic work– Represents pagan Russia.– Unified by a single idea--the mystery and great surge of creative

power of Spring.– Has no real plot.

• Form: Through-composed in two parts– The Adoration of the Earth--many dancers represent various

spring rites and rituals.– The Great Sacrifice--a young girl sacrifices herself while the old

men watch.– Little repetition between sections of the work

The Rite of SpringPerformed by the Kirov Ballet

“Mild protests against the music could be heard from the very beginning of the performance. . . . The uproar continued, however, and a few minutes later I left the hall in a rage. . . . I have never again been that angry. The music was so familiar to me; I loved it, and I could not understand why people who had not yet heard it wanted to protest in advance.”


Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, “Dance of the Youths and Maidens”

Part I, excerpts: • Adoration of the Earth

– bassoon melody• The Dance of the Youths and

Maidens– dissonant chords, elemental

pounding, polytonal harmonies• Game of Abduction

– syncopated accents– loud chords and sustained trill

end the movement


Rite of Spring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF1OQkHybEQ&t=2s&index=23&list=PLxgWBmUi9H8Jzi4NNNlPrw1mOF5QDWJPH

Expressionism• Music, painting, poetry developed in Vienna in early

20th century.• Rejection of “Impressionism” with its focus on the

“outer” world; focus on “inner” world, described by Sigmund Freud; desperate intensity of feeling.

• Three leading composers: Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg

• Three leading painters: Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee

• Three leading writers-Frederich Nietzsche, Tennessee Williams, James Joyce

Expressionism

Expressionism: Musical Characteristics

• Atonality--careful construction of melodies and harmonies to avoid a tonal center, “absence of key”

• The 12-tone system of composition– Developed by Schoenberg circa 1923– Also called serial or dodecaphonic method– Involves creating a set of pitches in a certain

order (register--which octave pitch is in--doesn’t matter)

– No pitch repeats until entire row has been heard

Arnold Schoenberg Pierrot lunaire

• a set of 21 songs for soprano and a small ensemble of instruments

• A piece that represents expressionism--an artistic movement in music, painting, and literature--concerned with expression of inner moods and thoughts, giving voice to the unconscious, to humanity’s deepest and darkest emotions.

A Modern Pierrot

• Note the facial expression depicting longing and anxiety.

• Pierrot’s character was subject to many mood changes.


• Pierrot--a clown in an improvisational type of theater that originated in the Renaissance in Italy but spread throughout Europe--commedia dell’arte– Other characters--Harlequin, Punch, and Judy– Pierrot is the lovesick character who is always pining away.– Based on Albert Giraud’s Pierrot lunaire--a cycle of poems.


• Timbre--soprano sings throughout in a manner that is between speech and song--called Sprechstimme (“Speech-voice”).– Singer hits precise pitches but doesn’t hold them.– Creates an eerie, disassociated sort of sound that fits with the

text of Pierrot lunaire.– Different from earlier recitative--notes are delivered slowly so

sound of voice trails off at end of each word--sounds like slow, exaggerated talking.

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekX6baCn7qw&index=3&list=PLxgWBmUi9H8Jzi4NNNlPrw1mOF5QDWJPH

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)

• Grew up in Vienna; learned violin.• Worked in a bank to support

family after father passed away.• Mostly self-taught as composer,

started as Neo-Romantic, moved toward Expressionism.

• Became music director at Berlin cabaret.

• Returned to Vienna, but served in Austrian army in WWI.

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)

• Formulated 12-tone method between 1918 and 1923, used exclusively for all works.

• Appointed professor of composition at Berlin Academy of Arts.

• Fled to U.S. from Germany when Hitler seized power because he was Jewish.

• Lived in Southern California and became a U.S. citizen.

• Taught at Univ. of Southern CA and UCLA.

Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951)

• A tortured soul who never felt he fit anywhere• He believed he was extending the work of Bach, Beethoven,

and Brahms, but he was not accepted.• Born Jewish, converted to Christianity, and then went back to

Judaism.• Searched for a new system of organizing music--founded the

twelve tone system.– All 12 notes in octave played before any is repeated.– All notes equally important.

• Appointed to faculty of California universities.

Arnold Schoenberg Other Compositions

• Chamber Symphony no. 1 in E Major--even though in a “key,” still very dissonant

• Variations for Orchestra--a series of variations on a 12-tone theme

• Erwartung--a “monodrama” for soprano and orchestra

• A Survivor from Warsaw--a cantata for narrator, male chorus, and orchestra

• Moses und Aron--an opera

A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46 (1947)

• Cantata for narrator, male chorus, orchestra

• Deals with single episode in murder of 6 Jews by Nazis

• Schoenberg wrote text, based on direct report by one survivor

• Uses sprechstimme, twelve-tone, 6 minutes

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGWai0SEpUQ&index=4&list=PLxgWBmUi9H8Jzi4NNNlPrw1mOF5QDWJPH

12-Tone Composition

• The most widely used and systematic means for avoiding repetition to avoid tonality; also called serial composition.

• The melody is called a tone row.• Rows could be manipulated:– Forward– Backward (retrograde)– Inverted (inversion)– Backward and inverted (retrograde inversion)

Matrix for Serial Composition

Serial Music• Serial Music is composed systematically--somewhat like following

a mathematical formula.• Once the tone-row is established, the composer decides how to

transform it.• Pieces tend to be short and concise.• For example, Webern’s Symphony only lasts 10 minutes (compare

to Mahler’s Third (1 hr. 20 min.).• Sounds fragmented and dissonant; difficult for audience to follow.• Klangfarbenmelodie-”Tone Color Melody”

– Instruments maintaining constant pitches drop in and out of an orchestral texture, creating a melody of different tone colors

Alban Berg (1885-1935)

• Born in Vienna; worked as a government accountant.

• Studied composition with Schoenberg at 19.

• Chronically ill, did not perform or conduct

• Served in Austrian army during WWI.

• Composed opera, Wozzeck, to capture turmoil of common people during wartime.

Wozzeck• Opera, libretto

adapted from Georg Buchner play

• Three parts– I. Exposition– II. Development– III. Recapitulation– Different from

Sonata Form

Wozzeck

• Each act contains five scenes organized around specific musical form or compositional technique(Ex. Act III-Theme & Variations)– Scene 1-on theme– Scene 2-on single tone– Scene 3-on rhythm pattern– Scene 4-on chord– Scene 5-continuous running noteDid not intend for audience to be aware of forms

Wozzeck

• Plot

– Franz Wozzeck, incompetent soldier, persecuted by captain, guinea pig for demented doctor; Mistress Marie cheats on him, he stabs her then drowns trying to wash away blood

Wozzeck

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kPdwwvr0qo&list=PLxgWBmUi9H8Jzi4NNNlPrw1mOF5QDWJPH&index=5

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XiziXUV7N0&index=6&list=PLxgWBmUi9H8Jzi4NNNlPrw1mOF5QDWJPH

Charles Ives(1874 - 1954)

• Grew up in Danbury, Connecticut; father was a bandmaster.• Exposed to many types of music.• Had a “day job” as an insurance salesman, where he

contributed to development of actuarial tables.• Composed in his spare time; gave it up in 1918 when his

health declined.• By time of his death, recognized as a pioneer in music.

A Photo of Charles Ives

Charles IvesThe Unanswered Question

• Timbre--performed by 3 contrasting groups of instruments.– Strings--small string orchestra of violins, violas,

cellos, and double basses plays throughout the piece.

– Solo trumpet--plays “The Unanswered Question.”– Wind quartet--(two flutes and two clarinets)

responds to question with a different answer each time.


• Texture--layered using contrasting instruments– Groups of instruments in dialogue with one

another (trumpet vs. winds) while strings play on obliviously.

– Three blocks of sound result; each moves independently of the others.


• Harmony--conflict between 2 different harmonic languages--tonal and atonal– Tonal = having a tonal center– Atonal = having no tonal center

• Notes sound “wrong”• Sound is called dissonance, as opposed to notes that sound

“right” which are consonance.

• Strings play tonal music--like a very slow hymn.• Solo trumpet plays 5-note figure that has no harmonic center.• Wind quartet plays atonally and is rhythmically independent

of the other sections.• https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=vXD4tIp59L0&list=PLxgWBmUi9H8Jzi4NNNlPrw1mOF5QDWJPH&index=21

Charles IvesOther Compositions

• Piano Sonata no. 2: Concord, Mass., 1840-1860– Movements devoted to Emerson, Hawthorne, the Alcotts, and

Thoreau• String Quartet no. 2• Three Places in New England--orchestral works• Symphony no. 2--uses patriotic tunes, Stephen Foster

melodies, gospel hymns, and a college song

by

Kristine ForneyAndrew Dell’Antonio

Joseph Machlis

Lecture Slides

THIRD EDITION

THE ENJOYMENT OF MUSICESSENTIAL LISTENING EDITION

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chapter 46 calculated shock: stravinsky and modernist multimedia

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