Violin works of Igor Stravinsky Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors White, Karen A. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 03/10/2021 21:40:08 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624866 VIOLIN WORKS OF IGOR STRAVINSKY by Karen A. White A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF MUSIC In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1 9 8 1 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA SCHOOL OF MUSIC I hereby recommend that this document prepared under my direction by Karen A. White entitled Violin Works of Igor Stravinsky be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts. Cin4 e 2Ad 22 /78/ Sianature of Major Professor Date Acceptance for the School of music: Director, Graduate Studies in Music a8, Ifs! Date TABLE OF CONTENTS Pacte LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS iv INTRODUCTION v CHAPTER 1. BIOGRAPHY 1 2. VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D 7 3. DIJO CONCERTANT 16 4. SUITE ITALIENNE AND DIVERT'IMENTO 25 5. SHORT CONCERT PIECES 32 6. EPILOGUE 34 APPENDIX VIOLIN WORKS AND CURRENT PUBLISHERS 35 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 37 iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figures Page 1. Violin Concerto in D, Definitive Chord . 10 2. Opening Measures of Movements of Concerto in D . 12 a. Toccata, measures 1 and 2 b. Aria I, measures 1 and 2 c. Aria II, measure 1 d. Capriccio, measure 1 3. Concerto in D, Aria II, measures 80 -82 . 14 4. Duo Concertant, Cantilène, measures 2 -4 . 19 5. Duo Concertant, Cantilène, measures 15 -20 . 19 6. Duo Concertant, Eclogue I, measure 5 . 20 7. Duo Concertant, Eclogue I, measures 6 -9 . 20 8. Duo Concertant, Gigue, measures 21 -24 . 21 9. Duo Concertant, Dithyrambe, measure 8 . 23 10. Suite for violin and piano, after themes, fragments and pieces by Giambattista Pergolesi, (1925), Serenata, measures 1 -6 . 28 11. Suite Italienne, (Dushkin- Stravinsky), Serenata, measures 1 -6 . 28 iv I'?TRODUCTION The violin works of Igor Stravinsky form an inte- gral and vital part of the contemporary violin reper- toire. The violin works fall into two categories: original compositions and transcriptions of previous compositions. Included in these transcriptions are orchestral suites and selections from ballet and opera. Many similarities can be noted among the composi- tions of this genre. The majority were composed or transcribed during a fifteen year period of Stravinsky's career and they exhibit a particular style of composi- tion utilized by Stravinsky at that time. These violin works also generate from an amiable association between Stravinsky and a young violin virtuoso, Samuel Dushkin. During this time, Stravinsky was changing the focus of his career from that of being primarily a composer, to composer, conductor and performer. This necessitated compositions which Stravinsky could perform on tours with Dushkin. This study will be primarily concerned with Stravinsky's compositions for violin written during v vi the years 1931 to 1935. In order to put these composi- tions in perspective, it is beneficial to investigate earlier events in Stravinsky's life. CHAPTER I BIOGRAPHY Igor Stravinsky, born June 5, 1882 in Oranienbaun, Russia, was one of four sons of the famous singer Feodor Ignatievich Stravinsky. His father was a soloist with the Kiev Opera and later moved the family to St. Peters- burg to star in the opera there. Although Stravinsky did not have a close personal relationship with his father, his musical interests were influenced by proximity to the opera and theater during rehearsals and performances. Stravinsky's parents refused to consider a musical career for him, so Stravinsky studied law and philosophy. However, his musical aptitude was too strong and he eventually pursued a musical career studying orchestra- tion with Rimsky -Korsakov. Stravinsky became a close friend of the Rimsky -Korsakov family and worked with the master orchestrator for three years. Stravinsky was greatly affected by the death of Rimsky -Korsakov in 1908. Shortly after, Stravinsky was approached by Serge Diaghilev to move to Paris and collaborate in a 1 2 presentation of Russian artists, performers, and works of Russian composers there. Diaghilev commissioned Stravinsky to write a ballet score based on the Russian fairy tale, The Firebird. The ballet was a great success and Diaghilev commissioned a second ballet score for his company. Petrushka also proved immensely popular with the public and critics. Stravinsky was proud of these successes and his own developing style. "He found that he liked the sound of his music. While the score of The Firebird had merely been an attempt - and a very successful one at that - to out- shine Rimsky -Korsakov at his own game of colorful instrumentation, Petrushka was the first score to reveal Stravinsky's idiosyncratic way of handling an orches- tra."' Elated with these triumphs, Stravinsky returned to an earlier idea basing a work on pagan rituals to the god of spring. The Russian Ballet premiered the Rite of Spring in 1913 with choreography by Nijinsky. It was met with turbulent reactions. "Shortly after the orchestral intro- duction had started, mild protests against the music could be heard from part of the audience. The expressions of indignation were renewed when the curtain rose on the 'Eric Walter White, Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works, (Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1966), p. 19. 3 dancers and the uproar redoubled as another section of the audience started to retaliate against the demonstrators by appealing for order. .scarcely a note of music could be heard. "' Subsequent performances were not met with this type of public outcry, though the press was divided in its opinion. Today, we cannot deny that Rite of Spring was a revolutionary work in regard to the treatment of meter and harmony. Although he composed one opera, The Nightingale, Stravinsky's major output during the years 1909 -1914 was associated with Diaghilev and the Russian Ballet. During World War I, Stravinsky established his family in Switzerland and began composing works of dif- ferent dimension. The Wedding, a cantata depicting a Ukranian village celebration, is indicative of many works of this period relating to images of Russia. Other works include Reynard, Three Tales for Children and Four Russian Peasant Songs. At this time Stravinsky made his debut conducting The Firebird in Geneva and Paris. Lack of money for large scale productions and wartime hindrances led Stravinsky to consider writing 2E. W. White, Stravinsky: The Composer, p. 26. 4 a theatrical work of practical proportions. With author, C. F. Ramuz, and conductor, Eugene Ansermet, Stravinsky envisioned a musical work requiring few players and simple scenery which could be toured. Backing was acquired and the libretto and score of The Soldier's Tale were completed in 1918. The scoring of The Soldier's Tale emphasized an unusual instrumentation: violin, double bass, cornet, trombone, clarinet, bassoon and percussion. By se- lecting the treble and bass members of the different instrumental families, Stravinsky was capable of dis- playing the character and timbre of the limited number of instruments. The players function not only as seven soloists but as a miniature orchestra. Great symbolism is placed on the Soldier's fiddle in the story which correlates with the importance of the violin in the ensemble. The solo writing for violin in this work is the most virtuoso in Stravinsky's works to this date. In 1919, Diaghilev again approached Stravinsky with an idea to utilize the music of the eighteenth century composer, Pergolesi,for a ballet based on the Pulcinella story of Italian commedia dell'arte. Stravinsky initially demurred. Undaunted, Diaghilev 5 presented Stravinsky with Pergolesi scores he had collected. Diaghilev further attracted Stravinsky by hiring his friends, Picasso and Massine, the former to create costumes and scenery for the production and the latter to choreograph. Pulcinella was to begin the neo- classic period of Stravinsky's career. Not only did Stravinsky elect to utilize the Pergolesi themes but also chose to write in the eighteenth century style. He recalls: "...it was a delicate task to breathe new life into scattered fragments and to create a whole from the isolated paces of a musician for whom I felt a special liking and tenderness. "3 Stravinsky retained melodic and bass lines from the original Pergolesi works, but created a new harmonic and rhythmic treatment and utilized an instrumentation which was uniquely his own. Stravinsky discusses Pulcinella as his entrance to neo- classicism. "Pulcinella was my discovery of the past, the epiphany through which the whole of my late work became possible. It was a backward look, of course - the first of many love affairs in that dir- ection - but it was a look in the mirror, too. No critic understood this at the time, and I was therefore attacked for 31gor Stravinsky, An Autobiography, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1936), p. 127. 6 being a pasticheur, chided for composing 'simple' music, blamed for deserting 'modernism', accused of renouncing my 'true Russian heritage'. "4 Many works which followed Pulcinella exhibited neo- classic influences. Among these are the Octet, Concerto for Piano and Wind. Instruments, the Capriccio, Oedipus Rex and Apollo Musagete. Another ballet, The Fairy's Kiss was commissioned to commemorate the thirty - fifth anniversary of Tchaikovsky's death. The Fairy's Kiss took form from the plot of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, The Ice Maiden.