Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite

Howdy,

Well, this I think is going to be a rather interesting post for both me – and also possibly, the blog. Typically, I think this blog engages in a bit of hero worship – which, as an educational activity, is probably both reasonable and to be expected. We look and listen to works written by past composers who are commonly recognised as leaders in their field; and our posts highlight the educational merits of studying their works. This implies that the works prescribed are without faults – and whilst past posts may indicate that a student disliked the work; on the whole, critiques have been positive (and, dare I venture, there has been an implicit expectation that critiques WOULD be positive). This is where I have a problem. Stravinsky’s Firebird is a very clever display of orchestration and use of tonality; but rhythmically, I found it to be far too static.

The scenario for this ballet was based on a Russian folktale about a magical creature known as the Firebird. I believe that, to this end, Stravinsky attempted to capture the magic through chromaticism and orchestration. The first few bars are an example of this: the lower strings play a repeated ostinato which alternates between suggesting a tonality of Ab minor and D minor (which are a tritone apart); and whilst most strings play a legato arco, two contrabasses have the same line which is played pizzicato. Later, the sound is enriched by violas singing in unison. Subsequent sections of the music feature alternations between the woodwinds which highlight each relevant instrument’s favoured tessitura, and muted brass are contrasted with brass senza sord.

This creates a striking effect: the tonal structure is somewhat ambiguous, and the very character of the sound is constantly changing. This appears to be evocative of magic. But this whole approach is undermined by the rhythmic structure. The lower strings enter at the start of the bar in the introduction. The shifts in tonal content are made on the beat. When new sections of the orchestra enter, they typically do so en masse on the first beat of a bar. The unpredictability and fluctuating nature of magic, so vividly captured by Stravinsky in his orchestration and melodic content, is deflated like a punctured balloon with a static rhythmic structure. The compositional lesson we can garner from this is that whilst you can use tonality and instrumentation to draw interest in creating an engaging work, static rhythmic structures can have a harmful effect on any composition.

Timothy

Stravinsky – Firebird (1945 Ballet Suite version)

Well I fell into the trap others seem to as I struggled to find a recording that contained this version, or the full recording of this version and struggled to follow the score as I accidentally listened to different versions. As such I’m just going to concentrate on some bits at the end of the suite as they are the parts I could get a decent listen to.

Lullaby

An ostinato figure from the violas with cello drone supports a bassoon solo in a chromatic Eb minor. The oboe interjects with a cleverly disgused triton in it’s melody. I think we don’t notice it too much as Stravinsky makes use of raising the tonality by step and back from the very first bar of the suite. The contrast of the legato strings and the plucked harp notes is really nice and helps push it along.

Finale

The last part of the finale is surprisingly pleasant. The way people like to refer to Stravinsky, I seem to have grown up with a natural expectation that it will be extreme and difficult to listen to. Yet this is a wonderful moment of triumphant writing. Sure it’s in 7/4, but rather than make it feel rhythmically dissonant it seems to add to the grandeur of the moment, continuously elongating the moment, drawing it out to give us maximum effect. I notice on the score at the beginning of each phrase in this section that the French horns have a incredibly fast passage of 7 semi quavers on the first beat of the bar leading into the first tutti hit, Yet on the recording I’ve been listening to I cannot hear it? It’s marked as fff so surely it would be audible? Is it too hard to realistically play? Has the orchestra left it out? The final page is possibly the most clichéd sounding part of the whole suite with the brass play big broad chords moving up and back chromatically over a pedal in the strings until we hit the last chord subito pianissimo and crescendo to sfff. Overall the piece is nowhere near as ‘wild’ as my preconceived idea would have thought it may be, but given I get to listen to it in 2010 and not the early-mid part of the last century I am less likely to be off put by it.

Warren

The Rite of Spring – I. Stravinsky

Where to begin?! It’s impossible, and pointless to write an overview on this exciting piece of work so I’ve chosen the fourth section or “Spring rounds” to comment on in a more detailed way.

Spring rounds has this fantastic ostinato which is quite simple but (for lack of a musical term) it does something to me.

(A quick reduction I did on Sibelius).

But spring rounds begins on a completely different note, a delicate, legato opening theme. Although the ostinato is so captivating, this movement exists in two halves, without the stark contrast neither aspect would be so appealing.

The piece begins with a polytonal melody or A section; a slow melancholic phrase, with multiple grace notes (it reminds me somewhat of a folk tune). The first two bars are mixolydian of each respective key, i.e. C mixolydian and F mixolydian while the final 3 bars of the opening theme are in D aeolian and G aeolian), played against a delicate high pitched trill from 3 flutes. The polytonality here does not clash but accentuates the modal key of the A section.

The sinister ostinato enters and is played primarily by the strings with a few wind instruments rounding out the sound. This ostinato is interspersed regularly with a sweet, major, dance like phrase from the higher register instruments.

Once the pulse is established via the ostinato the wind and brass perform a call and response melody followed by a solo flute with a 4 bar phrase that resembles much traditional eastern music solos (sustained notes broken up with rapid scalic runs).

Suddenly, the ostinato is elaborated on by incorporating all the instruments. By using polytonality that feels distinctly like different keys occurring simultaneously, as opposed to the supporting role the polytonality played in the opening section.

With a quick, high register phrase from the flutes, the A section is repeated.

The supreme manipulation of contrast by Stravinsky is the key to the beauty of Spring Rounds, the perfect amount of opposition without feeling contrived. For me, the most appealing aspect of this movement is how Stravinsky has turned the simple, fundamental elements of  “Spring Rounds” into complex, varied and interesting. The two roles polytonality plays as supporting and opposing as well as the contrast between the sombre ostinato and delicate melodies makes it deceptively intricate as well as ridiculously enjoyable to listen to.

- Jamie

Igor Stravinsky – Agon

Stravinsky began composing Agon in 1953 for the New York City Ballet. A significant aspect of this work is that much of the writing was interrupted by Stravinsky’s other compositional commitments. Therefore, each time he returned to work on the ballet, Stravinsky found himself rewriting certain sections due to the ongoing development of his compositional style, in particular his increasing interest in serialism (a method in which various musical elements are put in order according to a fixed series).

Agon is a ballet without a plot, instead featuring just eight female and four male dancers. It contains 12 moments, which are divided into four groups of three each. The first section contains the following movements: Pas de quatre, Double pas de quatre, and Triple Pas de quatre (Pas de quatre is a French term referring to ballet dance between four people).

The first movement, Pas de quatre with four male dancers, begins with an exuberant fanfare-like opening with staccato trumpets playing a rapid, one-note semiquaver motif. There is no immediate, discernible pulse to the music, and the time signature constantly changes from 4/8 to 3/8 and back again throughout this introductory movement. This made me wonder how difficult it might have been to choreograph the ballet dancers, what with the large amount of syncopation involved and random time changes. However, there is a definitive energy and rhythmic drive to the music, emphasised by crunchy triplet motifs in the cello and contrabass.

A significant aspect of this movement is the sparseness of the music; rarely do all the orchestral instruments combine to form a deep, wholesome timbre, and at times the music sounds quite hollow. Instead, smaller groups of instruments take turns to play particular themes, which often last only a few bars before another group of instruments plays a new theme or a recurring motif reappears, such as the triplets in the cello and contrabass. Stravinsky makes full use of contrasting dynamics and a range of articulations to develop all the emotional nuances which are used to accompany the ballet dancers.

After a rather triumphant ending to the first movement, Double pas de quatre, with eight female dancers, begins with a sudden leap in intensity and drama. The violins and cello play an extremely quick demisemiquaver ostinato pattern, played so fast that they sound like bees buzzing angrily. The oboe and bassoon then enter with an upper melody which makes use of chromaticism to further enhance the drastic change in mood. The middle section returns to the sparseness of the first, with each instrument seemingly doing its own melodic thing. This in turn creates a fantastic array of dissonant, syncopated harmonies, one after the other.

The third movement, probably intended to be the climactic ending to this first section, contains very similar elements to the first two movements. Stravinsky employs a huge amount of chromatic motifs, especially in the melody, and the driving energy portrayed through semiquavers in the strings is again evident.

An incredible amount of moods are portrayed through this music, and words such as triumph, resilience, determination, eeriness, reflection and contentment sprung to mind as I was listening. Although no plot was devised for this ballet, I don’t think it would be too difficult to develop some sort of story if you put your mind to it.

- Tully

Stravinski – The Rite of Spring

When this Ballet first premiered in 1913, it created one of the most famous music riots in history. The primeval and rhythmic score, doubled with the unorthodox ballet technique, at first drew yells and whoops from the crowd, even booing during the slightly dissonant chords behind the opening bassoon melody. Even that opening was criticized due to unusual use of the bassoon’s upper tessiatura. Eventually the audience descended into a riot and police had to be called.

It is amazing that a work could have such a profound effect on an audience, even if this reaction was a bad one.

Personally, I love the opening bassoon melody. Everytime it’s played I get shivers down my spine. I will be focusing mainly on the first 3 sections: the Introduction, the Dances of the Young Girls, and The Ritual of Abduction.

Stravinsky’s strategy behind the composition of this piece seems to have been the use of small cells developed and layered to create this wall of sound we hear today. Each cell contains both rhythmic and melodic elements of the russian folk tunes which inspired the Ballet.

Stravinsky’s use of ostinato throughout the work is obvious, especially in the use of the pizzicato string motif moving between Db, Bb and Eb. This small motif is repeated throughout the Introduction, after the solo bassoon, and can be heard in the background during other melodies. It is this motif that grows and grows until an explosion of rhythm occurs int he strings. The apparent “random” use of accents creates an amazing effect. When listening to this in context with the ballet (youtube links are below) you can certainly understand why audiences at the time would have been shocked.

Following this, we have abrupt “spots” of music from the high woodwinds (flutes, Piccolos and oboes), with a chromatic descending passage from the brass. The bassoons then have a small melody, which interlays with the abrupt rhythmic chords from the strings that began the section. The tension can be felt throughout this section, before the french horns and flute have a very lyrical folk melody. Tension continues to grow, with all the small folk melodies repeating themselves throughout. This driving rhythm can always be felt underneath the melodies, until the whole thing grows to a climax with a fast little melody calling, and the timpani answering.

What really amazed me is how imaginative this piece really is. Stravinsky says himself, that he followed no theory or method when composing this piece, and that it all sprung from his imagination:

“I was guided by no system whatever in Le Sacre du printemps. When I think of the other composers of that time who interest me—Berg, who is synthetic (in the best sense), Webern, who is analytic, and Schoenberg, who is both—how much more theoretical their music seems than Le Sacre; and these composers were supported by a great tradition, whereas very little immediate tradition lies behind Le Sacre du printemps. I had only my ear to help me. I heard and I wrote what I heard. I am the vessel through which Le Sacre passed.” Igor Stravinsky (Stravinsky and Craft, p.147-48)

Below are the links to the ballet on youtube. I highly recommend you watch it, as it places the work in context and heightens its story. This is the original choreography as well:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjX3oAwv_Fs

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb8njeKBfqw&feature=related

Please enjoy!

Emma

Stravinsky, I. The Firebird Suite (rhythmic variation)

There seems to be no concrete rhythmic structure because the variations are constant throughout the piece. Often there are rhythmic ideas heard and then they are varied through a sequence motion, driven up through the tonalities. Thy are also varied through ornamentations such as trills.
Rhythmic Variation is prominent throughout the piece and is a recognizable characteristic of Stravinsky’s Russian Period.

- Sascha

The Rite of Spring, I. Stravinsky

This piece relies heavily on the ideas on contrast and variation to transform the sections throughout. The contrast can be found in the extreme use of dynamics, for example the semi-quaver pulse played by the strings. One motif played pianissimo and then fortissimo transforms the very character of the motif from a latent threatening shadow to one in a full blown aggressive capacity. Variation is found through the motifs that begin by being played by the woodwind in flourishes and move through the instrumental families. This causes the character of the timbre to change as different instrumental sounds play the same idea. These are only brief examples.

- Sascha

Igor Stravinsky – Les Noces (The Wedding)

Ah, Igor, you old dog.

This is quite an incredible piece of music. Originally conceived by Stravinsky as an orchestral piece, but after many revisions and so on, decided to go with the arrangement of: four pianos – tuned percussion – and seven untuned percussion instrument, with a selection of the following vocalists: soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass soloists, mixed chorus.

Interesting arrangement, that’s for sure. The entire vocal part sounds as though it could be written for strings, and Stravinsky apparently wrote the Libretto himself based on Russian wedding lyrics.

There’s a couple of very obvious characteristics with this piece; first is the apparent constancy of rhythm which, when compared to some of his other pieces, stands out in a big way. For the majority of the piece you can tap your foot along to it, if you ignore the accent placements and rhythmic punctuation.

The accent placements serve to punctuate the rhythmic drive of the piece, causing a lot of excitement and creating an effect similar to that of South-American music, or perhaps Eastern-European/Middle-Eastern music. The point of this punctuation is to make for more exciting dancing and often stands at a very, very strong contrast to the rest of that section: moving from mp to ff for the duration of 1/16th note, for example. This type of rhythmic punctuation also serves to build expectation of what may come next, which Stravinsky tends to shatter, causing an increase in tension that doesn’t really ever resolve, you just get a respite from it during the quiet contrasting sections.

This piece is about timbre colours and texture as much as it is about melody, in fact, the melodic passages roll out very slowly over time, which could be considered as a precursor to the minimalist movement.

Stravinsky’s use of the pianos and percussion is interesting considering the vein of music he wrote in; it is written as a percussion instrument rather than the melodic / harmonic instrument it’s usually written as. It supports and dances around the vocal parts and accents what the rest of the percussion accents. The body of four pianos creates a very interesting effect that I could liken, perhaps, to the ‘shimmering’ effect of paired instruments in Indonesian Gamelan music. This is due to the difference in resonance, so each pitch is slightly out of tune with its counterpart in the other instruments.

One other comment I’d like to make is that this piece works better with the visual element of the ballet rather than as just a piece of music. The thing I’ve noticed with all of Stravinsky’s work is that he is extremely precise in how he does things, and everything is done for a reason. If it’s to be a ballet, then it is a ballet.

Might append to this entry later, might not.

Vin

Igor Stravinsky – Agon

Greetings earthlings,

Welcome to Igor Stravinsky’s Agon - a ballet for 12 dancers – one of my two current listening studies. There is another post about this from Pru, but I thought I’d create my own due to the use of images and all that.

Edit: well, as it turns out, this post is a ‘reply’ to Pru’s. How interesting.

This piece took me some work to learn about and Mr. Mcilwain was a great help in pointing out some things I could look at. Firstly, this was written in the 1950s, according to Wikipedia, and the score says copyright 1957 or 37, I can’t read it properly. On the assumption that it was written in the 50s and not the 30s, that would put the piece in Stravinsky’s ’12-tone phase’, which makes sense.

In the following image I’ve plotted out all the pitches that occur in the piece, which I found during and English class, and then on the second system I’ve plotted out the order in which they enter the piece, which I will talk about in a moment. As you can see, there are 15 tones written, which cover the 12 tones with some spelled enharmonically for various reasons of convention and readability.

The piece uses a technique of expansion from the opening motives that moves throughout: initially the motive (the fanfare introduction) uses B, A, C and D, while the chord (made of fifth intervals – creating some kind of 9th that I’ve forgotten how to name) made of B, F and C. The B and C is treated as a 9th apart. This use of octave equivalence is used throughout the piece. As the piece continues, we get the entrances of the G and E pitch classes and the chord changes to G+C.

By the end of page 1, Stravinsky has entered all seven natural pitch classes. He then goes to rapidly enter C#, G# and F# pitch classes and then gradually over the next two sections enter: D#, Db, Bb, Eb, Ab and Gb (which I forgot to notate in Sibelius – oops) pitch classes.

His treatment of the pitch classes is interesting as the melodies in all their renditions is very compact, varying usually only within two tones of its “tone centre”. Later in the piece, Stravinsky uses octave equivalence to punctuate these melodic ideas rather than using a rest or other rhythmic device, causing large dynamic (and often accented) leaps to occur during a familiar melodic idea.

There is a brief melodic reference to The Rite of Spring found in the Double Pas-de-Quatre section. The First Pas-De-Trois section is a much richer, thicker texture. Stravinsky uses texture contrasts frequently, and this effect functions to contrast his ‘blocks’ of ideas – or modules – which seems to be a very common method of writing for him.

Rhythmically this is not as intense and violent as Histoire Du’Soldat or The Rite of Spring, but he has beamed across barlines again – according to Peter, the reason for this is so that you can’t so obviously ‘hear’ the barline, which makes a lot of sense, especially given the emphasis on the downbeat after the barline.

An enjoyable piece of music with some very interesting techniques.

Vin

Histoire Du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) – Igor Stravinsky

The image is from the film clip for Primus’ rendition of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, which was originally written and performed by the Charlie Daniels Band.

The content of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale is that of a Russian folk tale about a soldier who desserts his platoon and barters his violin – symbolically representing his soul – for the tricks of the devil (a book that foretells the economy).  My concern will obviously be the music, but that is a very brief overview of the concept.

Now for some trivia that I dug up about this piece: this is the first time Stravinsky ever used violin as a solo instrument. It is also one of the first pieces that show an obvious influence from the jazz that was coming out of America at the time. The instrumentation is very much reminiscent of a jazz ensemble that was reportedly touring Europe at the time, though Stravinsky hated saxophone and substituted the bassoon in his instrumentation.

Stravinsky uses an interesting symbol that I’ve not come across before in his notation of the second, lower staff in each system for the majority of the score:

I’ve been unable to find any information on what the hell that symbol means, there are no performance notes on the score itself and, well, I’m confused. Peter? Colleagues?

So, on to the music…

FORM

So first, I will discuss the overall form of the piece, as I perceive it. It is a story piece, so it does not follow a strict form, as such, but as I gather it, it goes like this: A B C, which is then broken up as follows:

1. A B A, B C1 C2 B, A

– you could think of this as a loosely interpreted version of a Shakespearean Sonnet, just missing some of the lines. The return to the A section serves here to finish a cycle of movement.

2. D E F G H

– This is a section of major storytelling which pushes the text forward.

3. I J K L I

– The final section of the performance, where evil triumphs over good.

Now, I’d like to make a few notes about a few of the sections here, just briefly.

The D section is written as an ABA form itself (a microform?), and the second A section is actually retrograde of the first.

The E section is also ABA, and uses bar for bar imitation of theme during the A section to move toward the B.

F is the violin solo section and the first of three dances.

G and H are complete contrasts to the rest of the piece, G being a very straight waltz and H being a ragtime tune, where the jazz influence is very apparent.

To end the performance of the piece, as the curtain closes, there is a flattening of a drum pattern which is really the only closure in the traditional sense that the piece has.

—

Other devices

There are two things that stood out to me in this piece, first is the storytelling component which is outlined briefly above, and second is the rhythmic qualities. Stravinsky employs a lot of cross-rhythm here that is perhaps reminiscent of the influence of African rhythm on the Americas that was going on around that time. Despite the shifting metres of the melody (also noted in the bass), Stravinsky maintains a steady 2/4 time for a lot of the repetitious parts, (the A section in the first part, the C section in the second part of the first part…) for example, and he achieves this notationally by beaming across barlines. This gives the perceived time signature as a steady 2/4, while all around that are shifting metres that ornament the march. Symbolically, the 2/4 is a march, and since the story is about a soldier, having that continuity right through the piece is very important.

The piece itself, harmonically, is reasonably ‘tonal’ with use of chromaticism, but bears a strong impression of the expressionist movement that he was stated as belonging to, examplified through strong and obvious emotional messages in the musical gestures, strong emphasis on rhythm, etc.

-Vin