Stravinsky's late period, or serialist period came in on the heels of The Rake's Progress (1948-1951). Some believe that his serialist period was launched by a significant change. With the death of Arnold Schoenberg in 195, many music historians believe that Stravinsky felt that there was now a tradition left by Schoenberg that needed to continue. It's curious because during Stravinsky's neoclassical period there had been a strong rift between Schoenberg and Stravinsky that composers had become accustomed to for so long.
Agon (1953-1957)
One of the first works that marks the start of Stravinsky's serialist period, Agon, contains both linear tone rows and also chords. The image to the left is one of the tone rows contained in the piece at the coda. Although the ballet wasn't premiered until 1957, Stravinsky began working on it in 1953. The work itself still contains a lot flowing melodic material that isn't extremely atonal yet. "When my main theme is decided I know on general lines what kind of musical material it will require. I start to look for material, sometimes starting directly to improvise rhythmic units on a provisional row of notes (which can become a final row). I thus form my building material." (Igor Stravinsky). When asked how Stravinsky composes his tone rows, he says that the intervals are "attracted by tonality". "I can create my choice in serial composition just as I can in any total contrapuntal form". It is clear that although Stravinsky is now using tone rows in his music that he hasn't really changed much of his approach to composing.
The work itself is considered by historians to be a transition piece, balancing itself between Stravinsky's neoclassical and serialist periods. The nonserial or diatonic parts of Agon don't seem to really reflect Stravinsky's neoclassical style. The pitch organization and stylistic trends seem to be more from his Russian period. This only goes to show how throughout his life Stravinsky was constantly combining styles from different periods to keep his music ever-changing and evolving.
One of the first works that marks the start of Stravinsky's serialist period, Agon, contains both linear tone rows and also chords. The image to the left is one of the tone rows contained in the piece at the coda. Although the ballet wasn't premiered until 1957, Stravinsky began working on it in 1953. The work itself still contains a lot flowing melodic material that isn't extremely atonal yet. "When my main theme is decided I know on general lines what kind of musical material it will require. I start to look for material, sometimes starting directly to improvise rhythmic units on a provisional row of notes (which can become a final row). I thus form my building material." (Igor Stravinsky). When asked how Stravinsky composes his tone rows, he says that the intervals are "attracted by tonality". "I can create my choice in serial composition just as I can in any total contrapuntal form". It is clear that although Stravinsky is now using tone rows in his music that he hasn't really changed much of his approach to composing.
The work itself is considered by historians to be a transition piece, balancing itself between Stravinsky's neoclassical and serialist periods. The nonserial or diatonic parts of Agon don't seem to really reflect Stravinsky's neoclassical style. The pitch organization and stylistic trends seem to be more from his Russian period. This only goes to show how throughout his life Stravinsky was constantly combining styles from different periods to keep his music ever-changing and evolving.
The two videos below are contrasting examples of movements from Agon. The video on the left is an example of the serialist music in the piece and the one on the right an example of the more diatonic music in the work.
|
|
Canticum Sacrum (1955)
Written in 1955, Stravinsky's Canticum Sacrum ad Honorem Sancti Marci Nominis is a choral-orchestral work from his early serialist period. Commissioned by the Venice Biennial Festival of Contemporary Music, the piece is dedicated to Venice and its Patron Saint "the Blessed Mark, Apostle". The five movements of the work are thought to be representative of the five domes of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, with the lengthy middle movement symbolic of the cathedral's central dome.
The outer movements of this work are nonserial, but the movement that we are focusing on is the 2nd movement titled, "Surge, Aquilo", is the first time that Stravinsky bases an entire movement on a twelve tone row. The movement is ochestrated for tenor, flute, english horn, and three basses. Unlike in other works where Stravinsky had incorporated serial techniques, like in Agon, Stravinsky uses the tone row in a linear fashion. This is a reflective of Stravinsky's early studies of Webern. Despite the underlying suggestion of Webern in this movement, Stravinsky still leaves his own distinct sound in the piece.
Written in 1955, Stravinsky's Canticum Sacrum ad Honorem Sancti Marci Nominis is a choral-orchestral work from his early serialist period. Commissioned by the Venice Biennial Festival of Contemporary Music, the piece is dedicated to Venice and its Patron Saint "the Blessed Mark, Apostle". The five movements of the work are thought to be representative of the five domes of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, with the lengthy middle movement symbolic of the cathedral's central dome.
The outer movements of this work are nonserial, but the movement that we are focusing on is the 2nd movement titled, "Surge, Aquilo", is the first time that Stravinsky bases an entire movement on a twelve tone row. The movement is ochestrated for tenor, flute, english horn, and three basses. Unlike in other works where Stravinsky had incorporated serial techniques, like in Agon, Stravinsky uses the tone row in a linear fashion. This is a reflective of Stravinsky's early studies of Webern. Despite the underlying suggestion of Webern in this movement, Stravinsky still leaves his own distinct sound in the piece.
|
The video to the left is of the first half of Canticum Sacrum. The second movement, Surge Aquilo, begins at 3:00. |