After the Rite: Stravinsky's Path to Neoclassicism

361 Pages·2014·42.272 MB·English

by  Maureen A. Carr

after the rite

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After the Rite
STRAVINSKY’S PATH TO NEOCLASSICISM (1914–25)
Maureen A. Carr
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1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carr, Maureen A., author.
After the Rite : Stravinsky's path to neoclassicism (1914-1925) / Maureen A. Carr.
pages ; cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–974293–6 (hardback)
1. Stravinsky, Igor, 1882–1971—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Neoclassicism (Music)
3. Music—20th century—Analysis, appreciation. I. Title.
MT92.S85C37 2014
780.92—dc23
2013033212
This volume is published with the generous support of the Otto Kinkeldey Endowment of the
American Musicological Society, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
IN MEMORIAM
Bernard M. Carr
(1907–1989)
Emily J. Carr
(1907–1993)

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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
List of Figures xv
List of Musical Examples xix
Introduction 1
1. The Emergence of Stravinsky’s Neoclassicism: The Aesthetic Underpinnings
of the Idea in the Other Arts and in Recent Social/Political History 7
1914. Literature, Art, Music, and Dance 7
1917. Revolution in the Arts: Burliuk’s Neomorphism and Stravinsky’s
Neoclassicism 22
1920–25: Style and Technique 26
Commentaries by Stravinsky and Others That Help to Define His Neoclassical
Aesthetic 29
Postlude: The Classicism of Models 33
2. Stravinsky at the Crossroads after the Rite 35
Jeu de rossignol mécanique [Performance of the Mechanical Nightingale]
(August 1, 1913) 35
Trois pièces pour quatuor à cordes, II [Three Pieces for String Quartet, II] 44
Trois pièces faciles (Kl 4 hdg) [Three Easy Pieces] (4 hands), “Marche”
(December 19, 1914) 51
Postlude 63
3. Stravinsky at the Crossroads between Primitivism and Neoclassicism: Renard [Bajka]
(1915–16) and Histoire du soldat (1917–18) 64
Original French Text of Renard 93
Original French Text of Histoire du soldat 100
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4. Stravinsky’s Improvisatory Style 121
The Predictive Qualities of the Étude pour Pianola (1917) 121
Stravinsky’s Appropriation of the “Rag Idiom” (1917) 131
Stravinsky Completes Three Works That Were Inspired by Elements
of Ragtime (1918) 139
The Order in Which the Works of 1918 Were Completed 141
The Reception of These Works in 1919 142
The Two Faces of Stravinsky’s Piano-Rag-Music (1919): Portrait or Collage? 143
Stravinsky’s Path to Abstraction: An Interruption on His Journey to
Neoclassicism 162
5. Stravinsky’s Compositional Process for Two Works Completed in 1920: Concertino and
Symphonies d’instruments à vent 163
Order and Chaos in Stravinsky’s Concertino for String Quartet (1920) 163
Symphonies d’instruments à vent (191?–20) 182
6. Pulcinella (1919–20), Les cinq doigts “Larghetto” (1921), and Mavra (1921–22) 201
Pulcinella (1919–20) 201
Les cinq doigts (1921): “Larghetto” (January 31, 1921) 226
Mavra (1921–22) 230
7. Octet (1919–23), Cinq pièces monométriques (frags.; 192?), Concerto for Piano and
Winds (1923–24) 248
Introduction 248
Concerto pour piano suivi d’orchestre d’harmonie [Concerto for Piano and Winds]
(1923–24) 254
Conclusion 259
8. Piano Sonata (1924) and Serenade in A (1925) 263
Piano Sonata (1924): Vestiges of Classical Sonata Form Are Evident, Even
Though Stravinsky Claims to Have Avoided Such Restrictions 263
Serenade in A for Piano (1925) 284
Conclusion 303
Epilogue: The Evolution of Stravinsky’s Creative Genius 304
Bibliography 305
Index of Musical Works by Stravinsky 319
General Index 325
Preface
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after the rite: Stravinsky’s Path to Neoclassicism (1914–25) traces the evolution of
Stravinsky’s compositional process with excerpts from “The Performance of the
Mechanical Nightingale,” the second movement of Three Pieces for String Quartet,
Renard, Histoire du soldat, Étude for Pianola, Ragtime, Piano-Rag-Music, Symphonies of
Wind Instruments, Concertino, Pulcinella, Mavra, Octet, Cinq pièces monométriques,
Concerto for Piano and Winds, Piano Sonate, and ending with the Serenade in A.
One of the goals of this monograph is to illustrate how musical sketches help to
inform music analysis. The use of original sources, diplomatic transcriptions, and dia-
grams illustrate: (1) the presence of melodic motives, such as anticipatory gestures
that have a bearing on subsequent works, (2) the layering of imitative techniques
that sometimes participate in the emergence of block form before transitioning into
Stravinsky’s Neoclassical style, and (3) the incorporation of materials borrowed from
the eighteenth century to create musical narrative, and so on.
In addition to these visual representations of musical ideas, another goal is to con-
sider the cultural complexities that established the framework for Stravinsky’s evolu-
tion as a composer, such as: (1) the cross-currents in literary circles around 1914 that
were concerned with Shlovsky’s “Resurrection of the Word” and the notion of defamil-
iarization, (2) the swirling designs in artworks by painters who espoused the ideals of
futurism and cubo-futurism, and (3) Fokine’s outline of the “New Ballet” that appeared
in the Times (London) on July 6, 1914, just before the declaration of war on July 28,
1914, and that in a way paralleled the emergence of Stravinsky’s Neoclassicism.
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