978-0393639032 Chapter 53

Unlock access to all the studying documents.

View Full Document

219

CHAPTERfi53 Calculated Shock: Stravinsky

and Modernist Multimedia

1. percussive use of dissonance

2. polytonality, polyrhythms

3. monumental orchestra

a. harsh, loud, constantly changing colors

b. strings: successive down bows, pizzicatos

c. full force of brass and barbaric percussion

4. melodies: Rus sian folk tunes quoted; folk– song-

like manner

a. extended repetitions, limited ranges, fragmented

5. minimized harmonic changes: ostinatos, pedal

points, melodic repetition

6. innovative interaction between rhythm and meter

D. LG 45: Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du

printemps), Part I, excerpts (1913)

1. Introduction

a. haunting mood: awakening of the Earth in

spring

b. folk tune, high- range bassoon

c. pizzicato ostinato in violins

d. free, shifting meter

2. Dance of the Youths and Maidens

a. sectional form

b. Rus sian folk– song melodies alternate with

nonmelodic sound blocks

c. forceful, high energy, huge orchestra

d. opens with polytonal, percussive chords by

strings

e. constant eighth- note motion, unpredictable

accents

f. expanding texture, loud dynamics build to

climax

3. Game of Abduction

a. fast tempo, no established pulse, unpredict–

able accents

OUTLINE

I. The Rite of Spring: Collaborative Multimedia

A. Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)

1. Rus sian composer, pianist, conductor

2. Ballets Russes commissions: The Firebird,

Petrushka, The Rite of Spring

3. WWI: refuge in Switzerland, then France

4. WWII: emigrated to U.S., 1945 became U.S.

citizen

5. concertized around the world

6. musical style evolved: post– Impressionism, prim–

itivism, controlled Classicism, twelve- tone works

7. leader in revitalization of rhythm, increased

complexity

8. great orchestrator: polished brightness, clear

texture

9. output: orchestral music, ballets, operas, other

theater works, choral music, chamber music,

piano music, songs

B. The Rite of Spring

1. subtitled “Scenes of Pagan Rus sia”

2. embodies cult of primitivism

3. composed for Paris- based Ballets Russes

a. near- riot at Paris premiere

b. received negatively by traditionalists

4. fully integrated multimedia spectacle

a. Serge Diaghilev: Rus sian impresario

b. groundbreaking choreography: Vaslav

Nijinsky

c. experimental stage designs: Nicholas Roerich

d. music: shocking, unsettling quality

5. performed later as in de pen dent concert piece

C. Musical Innovation

220 | Chapterfi53

excerpts (Dance of the Youths and Maidens and Game

of Abduction) from the ballet (audio only) and have stu–

dents in pairs match the modernist musical gestures

with notions of the “primitive.” How does Stravinsky

succeed in evoking primitivism through music? Play the

excerpts again with choreography and staging. Again,

how do Stravinsky’s collaborators succeed in establish-

ing a “primitive” world?

ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS

1. The scandal surrounding the premiere of The Rite of

Spring is one of the great events of artistic modernism.

Yet, as the textbook notes, Stravinsky and the Ballets

Russes management went to great lengths to ensure the

success of this event. Can you think of any recent exam–

ples of music or multimedia events that sparked a simi-

lar kind of controversy? Can you think of any that were

promoted as publicity stunts? If so, does this fact change

the value of the work for audiences? Do you feel that it

reviews and negative reception? Have we seen examples

of this in earlier style periods and eras? How do the cul-

tural politics of the avant- garde interact with the aesthet–

ics of modernism?

TEACHING CHALLENGES

SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY

SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

b. scurrying melodic figures and horn calls,

brief folk tune

c. frenetic and primitive mood

d. harshly dissonant, crashing chords

e. dense texture, constantly changing timbres

OVERVIEW

This chapter introduces ballet as a form of integrated multi-

media spectacle in early modernist art. The Rite of Spring is

discussed as a collaboration among Stravinsky and other

prominent French and Rus sian artists, who together created

an enduring modernist work that both shocked and amazed

its first audience.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. To understand the ballet The Rite of Spring as a collab–

LECTURE SUGGESTIONS

1. Without alluding to the program of the ballet, play for

students audio excerpts from The Rite of Spring. Ask

them to postulate a plausible program for the ballet. What

do they imagine is the subject of the ballet? If students

2. Find a video recording of The Rite of Spring that features

Nijinsky’s original choreography and Roerich’s stage

niques Stravinsky employed in this work (metrical disso–

point the lyr ics reveal this character’s suicidal thoughts

(“I’ll take a quiet life, a handshake of carbon monoxide”).

After a minute of the song, water begins to fill the bottom

of the screen, and viewers soon realize that Yorke is in

some kind of aquar ium that is slowly being filled with

water. When the water reaches Yorke’s mouth and nose on

gasps for breath while mouthing the final chorus with a

smile on his face. This video provides ambiguity to the

YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE

Consider the music videos of one of your favorite songs or

any video of music you consider especially meaningful that

MODEL RESPONSE