Octet (Stravinsky): Difference between revisions

However, the sketch materials reveal a more complex chronology. Twelve measures of what would become the waltz variation were composed in 1919, and the fugato variation was the first complete section to be composed, in January 1921. There is an early five-page [[Draft document|draft]] of uncertain date for the beginning of the Allegro section in the first movement, at that time planned for [[piano]] and [[Concert band|wind orchestra]]. The main segments of the first movement were drafted in sketches dated between 12 July and 8 August, and the [[Sheet_music#Types|full score]] of the movement was completed on 16 August 1922. Two days later, Stravinsky began work on the second movement by adding the previously composed fugato, and then the waltz fragment, slightly expanded. The waltz coincidentally contains the same [[Interval (music)|intervals]] as the opening of the fugato, and on August 23, 1922, he created the [[Theme (music)|theme]] and titled the movement "Thème avec variations monométriques". Variation D was begun next, but work was interrupted and Stravinsky finished it only on 18 November, followed by the "ribbons of [[Scale (music)|scales]]" variation A on 1 December, variation B on 6 December, and variation C on 9 December. The Finale was completed in Paris on 20 May 1923 {{harv|Craft|1983–84|loc=458–462458–62}}. The score was revised by the composer in 1952.

:<score vorbis="1"> { \new PianoStaff << \new Staff \relative c'' { \clef treble \key ees \major \time 3/4 \tempo "Lento" 8 = 76 bes2-.\sfp~ bes16 <aes d,>-. <d f,>-. <ees aes,>-. | <aes d,>4-- << { g~ g16 } \\ { c,4\trill( b16) } >> } \new Staff \relative c'' { \clef treble \key ees \major \time 3/4 r4 <aes f>\sfp\trill( <g ees>16) <bes bes,>-. <aes d,>-. <g f>-. | <g ees>4-- <f d>~ <f d>8 } >> } </score>

:<score vorbis="1"> \relative c''' { \clef treble \time 3/4 \tempo "Andantino" 8 = 92 cis4( a cis | bes8 c!32 bes a bes c2) | \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 a4( bes cis c | \time 3/4 a2.) | cis4( c a | cis2) a4( | bes e g | fis,2.) } </score>

In 1922, when Stravinsky was composing the second, theme-and-variations movement, he confided in a letter to [[Ernest Ansermet]] that [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] was for him what [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Ingres]] was to [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]]. The hybrid of rondo and variation form resembles the slow movement of Mozart's [[Piano Concerto No. 22 (Mozart)|E{{Music|flat}} major Piano Concerto]], K. 482, to which it has been compared {{harv|Kielian-Gilbert|1991|loc=471–472471–72}}. Variations 1, 3, and 6 are practically identical (all are labeled "variation A" in the score), and serve as introductions to the following variations 2, 4, and 7 {{harv|Nelson|1962|loc=329}}. Stravinsky referred to this recurring introduction as the "ribbons of scales" variation {{harv|Stravinsky and Craft|1963|loc=71}}. The second, fourth, fifth, and seventh variations assume the characters of a [[March (music)|march]], a [[Waltz (music)|waltz]], a [[Can-can|cancan]], and a solemn fugue, respectively {{harv|Simms|1986|loc=279}}. The fugato is almost uniformly written in [[Quintuple meter|{{music|time|5|/8}} time]] {{harv|White|1979|loc=311}}. This seventh, final variation is particularly surprising. The theme here is scarcely recognizable, and does not seem promising as the [[Subject (music)|subject]] for a fugue; the sound character of the variation, with its emphasis on slow-moving harmonic masses, is unearthly, and its plan is unconventional, with the subject occurring only four times {{harv|Nelson|1962|loc=337}}.

The finale's material is based on a rhythm identified by Stravinsky in earlier works (such as ''[[The Firebird]]'' and ''[[The Rite of Spring]]'') with the Russian circle-dance called a ''[[khorovod]]''. This repeating, three-note syncopated rhythm with proportions 3:3:2 (&nbsp;[[File:Dotted quarter note with upwards stem.svg|10px]]&nbsp;&nbsp;[[File:Dotted quarter note with upwards stem.svg|10px]]&nbsp;&nbsp;[[File:Quarter note with upwards stem.svg|10px]]&nbsp;) is especially evident in the accompanying chords at the end, but all the preceding material in the movement is built on it or contains it. The overall formal design may be represented as A-B-A′A'-C-A″A<nowiki>''</nowiki>-D-D′D', where the refrain material in the A sections occurs one time fewer in each successive repetition: three times, then two times, and finally just once. In this process, the ''khorovod''-like element becomes progressively less evident in the refrain, whereas in the intervening couplets it increases in clarity, from a disguised augmentation in the solo trumpet in section B, to a flute solo built on the original rhythmic shape in C, to the chordal accompaniment in D. The conception of a round dance is transformed here into an instrumental [[rondo]], with a main theme resembling a baroque fugue subject {{harv|Waeltner|1971|loc=267–269267–69, 272–273272–73}}.

* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Cook|2003}}|reference=[[Nicholas Cook|Cook, Nicholas]]. 2003. "Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky". In ''[[Cambridge Companions to Music|The Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky]]'', edited by Jonathan Cross, 176–191176–91. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-66377-9}}.}}

* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Craft|1983–84}}|reference=[[Robert Craft|Craft, Robert]]. 1983–84. "A. On the ''Symphonies of Wind Instruments''. B. Toward Corrected Editions of the Sonata, Serenade, and Concerto for Two Pianos. C. The Chronology of the Octet". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 22, nos. 1 & 2 (Fall-Winter/Spring-Summer): 448–463448–63.}}

* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Kielian-Gilbert|1991}}|reference=Kielian-Gilbert, Marianne. 1991. "Stravinsky's Contrasts: Contradiction and Discontinuity in His Neoclassic Music". ''The Journal of Musicology'' 9, no. 4 (Autumn): 448–480448–80.}}

* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Nelson|1962}}|reference=Nelson, Robert U. 1962. "Stravinsky's Concept of Variations". ''The Musical Quarterly'' 48, no. 3, Special Issue for Igor Stravinsky on His 80th Anniversary (July), pp. 327–339327–39.}}

* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Straus|1987}}|reference=Straus, Joseph N. 1987. "Sonata Form in Stravinsky". In ''Stravinsky Retrospectives'', edited by Ethan Haimo and Paul Johnson, 141–161141–61. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.}}

* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Waeltner|1971}}|reference=Waeltner, Ernst Ludwig. 1971. "Aspekte zum Neoklassizismus Strawinskys: Schlußrhythmus, Thema und Grundriß im Finale des Bläser-Oktetts 1923". In ''Bericht über den Internationalen Musikwissenschaftlichen Kongress Bonn 1970'', edited by [[Carl Dahlhaus]], Hans Joachim Marx, Magda Marx-Weber, and Günther Massenkeil, with ''Bericht über das Symposium "Reflexionen über Musikwissenschaft heute"'', edited by Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht, 265–274265–74. Kassel, Basel, Tours, London: Bärenreiter-Verlag. {{ISBN|3-7618-0146-7}}.}}

* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Hyde|1996}}|reference=Hyde, Martha Maclean. 1996. "Neoclassic and Anachronistic Impulses in Twentieth-Century Music". ''Music Theory Spectrum'' 18, no. 2 (Fall): 200–235200–35.}}

* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Stravinsky|1924}}|reference=Stravinsky, Igor. 1924. "Some Ideas about My Octuor", translated from the French. ''The Arts'' 6, no. 1 (January): 4–6. Reprinted in Eric Walter White, ''Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works'', second edition, 574–577574–77. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1979. {{ISBN|0-520-03985-8}} (pbk).}}