Igor Stravinsky, raised by his father, Fyodor, a bass singer, and his mother, Anna, a talented pianist, was immersed in music from a young age. As a boy he was given lessons in piano and music theory, but because his parents did not want him to follow in his footsteps, they persuaded him to study law at the University of Saint Petersburg. It was there where he became friends with Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov and was introduced to his father, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a famous composer. After impressing Rimsky-Korsakov a few of his early pieces, he was taken under as a private pupil and was able to seriously pursue his artistic career.
The Rite of Spring, arguably Stravinsky’s most influential piece, is a fast, energetic, and jagged ballet that broke the barriers of traditional composition. Its rejection of ordered harmonies, bold rhythms, and unresolved dissonances left a mark on contemporary movements today, but at the time of its debut on May 29th, 1913, it sparked riots and complaints throughout the audience. An eerily high-pitched bassoon opens up the ballet, which Stravinsky wrote to play in a range higher that anyone had played in before. From those first opening notes, jeers and laughter were already heard through the crowd.
When the curtain rose, the dancers appeared, dressed in whimsical costumes and performing violent movements and compulsive jerks. This, accompanied with a musical theme without a melody, only a strong, pulsating dissonant chord with jarring accents, caused a such a clamour in the audience that the dancers were unable to hear the orchestra.
With this ballet, Stravinsky created a revolution by making an explosive cultural shift in the arts. His avant-garde melodies, rhythms, and harsh dissonance sparked a turmoil throughout Europe and spread across the continent and across various art forms. The influence Stravinsky had in the dismissal of traditional styles of art can be seen in Europe through Pablo Picasso, who began exploring new versions of Cubist representation, and even Gertrude Stein, who pushed the limits of language in literature. Through all the “clamour” in The Rite of Spring, one can also sense a kind of disconnect, as the world in The Rite of Spring is not governed by reason or by human emotions, but possibly something else all together. This disconnect with emotion is also seen in Dos Passos’ The 42nd Parallel, where Dos Passos’ stylistic choices prevents the reader from forming an emotional connection toward the characters. Similar to Stravinsky, who chose to use new and different techniques to present sound, Dos Passos used new and different techniques to tell a story.
Although it originally created an uproar, Stravinsky’s presentation of a new concept of music eventually had a great influence in many modernist art forms throughout both Europe and America. His boldness in breaking traditional barriers inspired others to do the same, and the effect he had on the modernist era can be seen across both Europe and America.
Questions:
Questions:
- Stravinsky himself once said that "there are simply no regions for soul-searching in The Rite of Spring.” What is your interpretation of this? Can we connect this quote to modernist thought and Stravinsky’s influence towards modernism?
- Does the dance element of the ballet help strengthen Stravinsky’s push to break the barriers of traditional composition or was his orchestration itself enough to do so?
Works Cited
"Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 18 Jan. 2016. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.
Kelly, Thomas. "Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring"" NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.
Toor, Amar. "100 Years Ago Today, 'The Rite of Spring' Incited a Riot in a Paris Theater." The Verge. N.p., 29 May 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.
White, Eric Walter, and Richard Taruskin. "Igor Stravinsky." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
Your post was very interesting and introduced a new modernist figure that rarely comes into anybody's mind, but is an important figure to be noted upon. Stravinsky is correct that there is no space for a person to soul search in his composition of The Rite of Spring because his composition is on the surface and explores new elements of music and as you noted, includes energetic ballet and is not traditional, so it cannot be a place where one is able to truly recognize themselves and use the music to feel a particular emotion. In my opinion, the composition was made to not create the thought, but to just absorb the music and listen to it. Thus, this composition is modernistic because it is meant to be absorbed on the surface level and is a break from tradition. Dance definitely is new and is another take of breaking tradition because in this particular moment dance and music are integrated on a professional level where there is professional dance to music which, according to me, is very new and not traditional at all in that particular era. Overall, your post was great and definitely showed a new figure who contributed to modernism.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! I find it fascinating how other mediums of art can reflect the turmoil of public society. As you mentioned, the dissonance present in Stravinsky's is representative of the modernist tenets of disassociation and compartmentalization, and in representing this is actually reflecting on the fragmentation present in the modern world. In this respect, his work can be interpreted as a pure amalgamation of emotion without any hierarchical order, which is really interesting to observe in music as it allows people to pull their own interpretations from the piece rather than reaching a single preordained goal.
ReplyDeleteI like how you drew many connections to the texts we have read so far to Stravinsky's experiemental style and it's breaking of traditional art forms. I was also curious if this could relate to the idea of essentialism versus social constructionism. Experiencing the art for itself or possibly interpreting for a deeper social value?
ReplyDeleteYou say that Stravinksy's piece is not governed by human emotion, but by "something else". I was wondering what that something else is, and if it's fair to label the piece as disconnected because it doesn't hold an emotion that we can label? Perhaps it is so connected that we can't seem to place the extent of the connection to us as human.I thought it was very helpful that you added the reactions of the audience and the turmoil it caused in the European art scene- that helped contextualize Stravinsky's work.
ReplyDeleteI did my presentation on musical surrealism, so I can see a lot of interrelated techniques and info here - jagged compositions, irregular beats, etc.
ReplyDelete"Dismissal of traditional art styles" (taken from post) seems to be an appropriate description of avant-garde, and I'd agree it represents a subset of Modernism as well. As far as the value of Stravinisky's rebellion - it might not hold much aesthetic brilliance, but socially it signaled a change in thought from tradition to post-modern elements of life - again, going back to Modernism.
I think it's interesting to focus on modernist music because while not everyone reads or is able to enjoy art music is universal and plays a large role in influencing and at the same time reflecting the popular culture at that time.
ReplyDeleteIn the video of the performance, the dancers seem to contribute to the music as their footsteps against the stage make a sound that is in time with the music and adds drama. Like the quote states, the dance also takes away room for personal interpretation because it adds an artistic visual that gives meaning to the music.
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