y a'.+ .
STRAVINSKY 'S USE OF THE TRUMPET AND CORNET
THESIS
Presented to the Graduate Council of the
North Texas State College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of
MASTER OF MUSIC
By
Patricia Eileen Deemer, B. 1.
Denton, Texas
August, 1959 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ...... iv Chapter
I. THE USE OF THE TRUMPET AND CORNET BEFORE STRAVINSKY ...... 1
II. ANALYSIS OF PETROUSHKA . . . . . -. . . . . 12
III. ANALYSIS OF HE RITE OF SPRING- ...... 20 IV. ANALYSIS OF L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT . . . . . 27
V. ANALYSIS OF RAGTIME . -. -. .. - -.. . . 32
-- . . VI. CONCLUSION ...... " " 36
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . * . . . - - -. . - . . . " - 38
iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure Page 1. Figure on carved choir seat ...... 2 2. Excerpts from the Messiah by Handel ...... 4 3. Excerpts from Bach's Christmas Oratorio . . . . 5
4. Excerpts from Bach's B minor Mss...... 6
5. Excerpts from the Scotch Symphony by Mendelssohn ...... * * . 9
6. Excerpts from Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots . . . . 11
7. Folksong, I Was at a Feast . . . .- - 13
8. Excerpt from Petroushka, 71 plus 11 bars, showing cornet used as woodwind ...... 14
9. Excerpt from Petroushka, f7Jplus 9 bars, illustrating cornet used as brass instrument 15
10. Excerpt from Petroushka, i plus 9 bars, illustrating the similarity of cornet and trumpet parts ...... 15
11. Excerpt from Petroushka, 96plus + bars, illustrating fast tonguing typical of a trumpet . . ------...... 16 12. Excerpt from Petroushka, 931, illustrating the voicing of a four-voice chord ...... 16
13. Excerpt from Petroushka, illustration of the voicing for a three-note chord ...... 17
14. Excerpt from Petroushka, 13 plus 11 bars, illustrating the doubl ng of solo trumpet and clarinet ...... 18 15. Excerpt from Petroushka, 132, illustration of piccolo trumpet pari...... g
iv V
Figure Page
16. Excerpt from The Rite of Spring illustrating the doubling of piccolo trumpet and flute . . 21 17. Excerpt from The Rite of Spring illustrating the use of rhythmic punctuation by the piccolo trumpet -. *- ...... 21
18. Excerpt from Mozart's Symphony in Eb, measures 87 through 92 of the first movement . . . . . 22 19. Excerpt from The Rite of Spring illustrating the piccolo trumpet sustaining high notes . . 22 20. Excerpt from The Rite of Springillustration of modern version of classical trumpet writing . -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -...... 23 21. Excerpt from The Rite of Spring, illustration of muted trumpet and flute doubling . . . . . 23 22. Excerpt from The Rite of Spring, illustration of trumpets as sustaining chord members . . . 24 23. Excerpt from The Rite of Spring, illustration of bass trumpet as a moving part ...... 25 24. Excerpt from The Rite of Spring, illustration of bass trumpet as a sustaining chord member 25 25. Illustration of cornet playing with trombone in the "Marche du Soldat" ...... 28 26. Illustration of the trombone and cornet in r t"arheeRoyale" - ...... 29
27. Illustration of the clarinet, cornet and violin in "The Petit Concert" ...... 29 28. Illustration of the cornet as a solo instrument 30
29. Illustration of the cornet playing an ostinato background to the trombone ...... 30 30. Illustration of the fanfare solo played by the cornet ...... - . . . . . 31 31. Illustration of the rhythmic cornet solo . . . . 33 vi
Figure Page 32. Illustration of the cornet playing with the horn at L...... 33 33. Illustration of the cornet being used as a solo instrument with string and cymbalo accompaniment ...... -.-.-. - - .-.-- 3* 3)+. Illustration of the cornet playing with the clarinet, horn and flute ...... CHAPTER I
THE USE OF THE TRUMPET AND CORNET BEFORE STRAVINSKY
The trumpet is one of the oldest of instruments.1 This instrument had its origin in the first primitive instruments fashioned by man from the horns and tusks of animals, or from hollow 2 conch shells. A figure on a carved choir seat in Worchester Cathedral (c. 1400) is the earliest evidence of a trumpet folded into a narrow S form.3
In the earliest part of the Renaissance period according
to Sebastian Virdung (1511), they were variously called felttrumet, clarets, and thrunerhorn. In the later years of
the Renaissance they were known as principal and clarin, or
feldtrompete 5 and kammertrompete. The difference between the field trumpet (a military instrument) and the clarets or the
clarion seems to have consisted mainly in the diameter of the
1 Arthur Elson, Orchestral Instruments and Their Use (Boston, 1922), p. 220. 2No author given. R. C. A. Victor, Instruments of the Orchestra (Philadelphia, 1949), p. 49. 3 Curt Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments (New York, 1940), p. 328. 'Sebastian Virdung, Musica Getutscht (Kassel, 1931), Plate C. 5 Sachs, 9p_. cit., p. 328.
1 2
cylindrical bore, and may account for the seventeenth-century
distinction between the clarino for the high trumpet part and the tromba for the lower part. 6
Fig. 1--Figure on carved choir seat (taken from Old English Musical Instruments by Francis Galpin, p. 202, plate XL).
Horns and trumpets in the dim ages of their history were used to cause fright or fear. For this purpose they were employed in rituals to scare the demons, who were the cause of human ills, and in war to strike terror into the approaching
6 Francis Galpin, A Text Book of European Musical Instruments (London, 1937), p. 236. 3
foe. 7 From the fourteenth century on the trumpet became associated with military and ceremonial functions. 8
The short, straight trompe or trompette was restricted to military purposes, but the longer instrument of nobler proportions was admitted into civil functions and associated with the shawms, flutes and stringed instruments.9
The trumpet, like the horn, was originally a "natural" instrument which was only able to obtain the notes of the harmonic series from its fundamental note, whatever that happened 1 0 to be. Nevertheless, the instrument was very effectively used by these immortal masters in the following works: Handel, Alexander rs Feast, Judas Maccabaeus, Israel in Eypt, The Fire Music, and The Water Music; Bach: B minor Mass, Christmas Oratorio, St. Matthew Passion, and the cantata Ein festeBurg.11 Throughout the classic period of musical composition, the French horn and the trumpet depended entirely upon these "open" notes, and the works of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn
7id..,p. 216. 8 Willi Apel, "Trumpet," Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1953), p. 770. 9Galpin, o.. cit., p. 235. 10 Gordon Jacob, Orchestral Technique (London, 1931), pp. 58, 59. 1 1Richard Hofman, Practical Instrumentation (New York, 1893), p. 1. 4 show the very clever use which such composers made of the limited possibilities which these instruments possessed in contributing to the harmonic whole of the orchestra. 1 2
The excerpt below is from Handel's Messiah, "The Trumpet Shall Sound*" This calls for bass voice and solo trumpet in D.
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Fig. 2--Excerpt from the Messiah by Handel
12 Robert Donington, The Instruments of_ Music (London, 1951), p. 102. 5
The following excerpt of music is from Bach's Christmas Oratorio. The music calls for three trumpets or trombe in D, timpani, woodwinds, strings and basso continuo.
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Fig. 3--Excerpt from Bach's Christmas Oratorio 6
The musical excerpt below is from Bach's Mass in B minor. The score calls for three trombas or trumpets in C.
u . Tromba I. N
Tromba II.
Tromba III
Timpani.
Fig. 1+--Excerpt from Bach's B minor Mass
The closing years of the Sixteenth century saw the ad
mission of the trumpet into the orchestra, for hitherto it had been the pre-eminent adornment of royal and warlike pageantry; in 1581 a ballet, composed for the marriage of
Margaret of Lorraine placed together two trombe, two viole da braccio, and a fagotto.1 3
Orchestras of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries normally employed a long natural trumpet of bent tubing to the total extent of about seven feet, that being about the length required for the standard tonality of D.14
1 3Galpin, op. cit., pp. 236, 237.
1'+Donington, op. cit., p. 103. 7
The art of clarino playing was already declining in Mozart's time toward the end of the eighteenth century.15 In Monteverdi's orchestra (1619) parts were scored not only for harpsichord, viols, lutes, trombones, organs, cornetti, and a piccolo flute, but also for one clarino and three trombe. Besides these two names for the instrument, it is found that in the classical scores of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the tromba was also called principale, forming, as it did, the main body of the group. If it were used to replace the kettledrums, it was called tocatto (touquet, tucket), and merely sounded the tonic and dominant in its low register.16
A very interesting and useful improvement on the ordinary trumpet was introduced in England at the close of the eigh teenth century: a slide was added to the instrument, whereby the false harmonic notes could be tempered and the pitch lowered a half or whole tone at will. The slide, unlike that of the trombone,was automatically returned after being drawn out by means of catgut strings wound on springs. 17 The second main phase of trumpet history came with the early nineteenth century addition of valves to the long trumpet (producing the valve trumpet).1 8
151d..,p.102. 1 6 Galpin, J. .at., pp. 236, 237. 1 7 Ibid., p. 206.
.l8 Donington, g_.. cit., p. 103. 8
The invention of valves in 1813 opened the way for the permanent establishment of the trumpet in the orchestra.1 9 It was a great advance when, practically alone among many experimenters, Adolphe Sax in the first half of the nineteenth century perfected a system of adding lengths of tubing to the fundamental lengths of the brass instruments. This enabled the players to fill gaps between the harmonic series, and thus to make use of a lower and safer range of harmonics, where adjustment of lip-pressure was not so fine and all the semi tones could be made available.2 0
Mendelssohn and other composers looked forward to this, though it did not materialize in their day. Mendelssohn wrote in his "Scotch" Symphony some notes which could be produced only by forcing, and other extraordinary means, and he said in a letter, "I believe we shall have better means of producing such notes soon." 2 1
One would suppose that composers would have seized the opportunity to score the valve trumpet with its wealth of resources untouched. This, however, did not happen. It was some twenty years before it began to be exploited.22
19 Apel, o... cit., p. 770.
20John Borland, Instruments of the Orchestra (London, 1943), p. 25. 21 Ibid., p. 26. 2 2 H. W. Schwartz, The Story of Musical Instruments (Elkhart, Indiana, 19387p. 177. 9
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Fig. 5--Excerpt from the Scotch Symphony by Mendelssohn
The cornet proper of modern usage (cornet-a-pistons, cornopean, etc.) was developed early in the nineteenth cen tury on the basis of the simple French posthorn: it has been used in various tonalities, of which the most important are now Bb and A.23 It must not be confused with the cornet mentioned by Shakespeare and in some versions of the Book of Psalms. This was a wooden instrument with a cupped mouth*
piece, and with side-holes like a flute.2+
The cornet (by Courtois, c. 1828) became popular in France as a dilettante instrument, probably on account of its frequent use by Rossini, as for instance in William Tel (1829).25 nearly For half a century, in French, Belgian, and Italian orchestras, the cornet-a-pistons took the place of the trumpet, gradually ousting it. This was due to the fact
23 Donington, ... .cit., p. 101. 24+Borland, 2_. ia., p. 29. 2 5 Galpin, p. cit., p. 233. 10 that the cornet was easier to play, requiring less talent and artistic intelligence. Trumpet virtuosi became rarer and rarer, while cornet-players were to be met everywhere.26
The modern trumpet and cornet may be so played by a good performer that very few, without seeing the instruments, could tell one from the other.27
Apel says that the first example of a part for the valve trumpet would seem to be that in Halvey's "La Juive," 1835, in which two valve trumpets are placed side by side with two crooked natural trumpets.28
Schwartz states that the valve trumpet is said to have been specified in a score for the first time in 1836 by
Meyerbeer in "Les Huguenots." Another contender for the honor is Cheland whose "Macbeth" was performed in Paris in 1827 and whose score is said to call for valve trumpet. With Schumann,
Wagner, and Berlioz, the valve trumpet became rather generally accepted, so that by the latter part of the nineteenth century it was no longer necessary for the composer to specify "valve" trumpet or "piston" trumpet, the word trumpet meaning by then the trumpet with pistons, or valves.2 9
2 6 C. M. Widor, The Technique of the Modern Orchestra (London, 1906), p. 77~
2 7 Arthur E. Heacox, Project Lessons in Orchestration (Boston, 1928), p. 135. 28 Apel, op. _cit_., p. 770.
2 9 Schwartz, ofp_. c., p. 178. 11
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Fig. 6--Excerpt from Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots CHAPTER II
ANALYSIS OF PETROUSHKAI
Petroushka was written in 1911, the second of three
ballets for the Diaghilev Russian Ballet. It did not assume
the shape of a ballet at once. Stravinsky was fascinated by
the bitonal effect of the superimposed common chords of C
major and F# major at this time. This new device he pro
ceeded to exploit in a concert-piece for piano and orchestra, which was written in 1910.2 This was to be a kind of
Burlesque or Scherzo or Konzertstick, in which the piano would represent a puppet suddenly endowed with life.3
Stravinsky felt that he needed a title for the puppet to aid the listener in grasping the intention behind the music.
This could be none other than the poor, funny, ugly, senti mental and misguided character constantly shook with rage known in Russia as Petroushka.' This composition was then
1 lgor Stravinsky, Petroushka (New York, c. 191+8).
2 Edwin Evans, Stravinsky (London, 1945), p. 25.
3 Heinrich Strobel, Stravinsky: Classic Humanist (New York, 1955), pp. 69, 70.
Eric Walter White, Stravinsky--A Critical Survey (New York, 1948), p. 30.
12 13
named Petroushka and was later included in the ballet of the same name, as the second tableau.5
Petroushka is a panorama of the Russian post-Lent fes tival within the framework of the old St. Petersburg 6 carnival. The ballet is one of three including The Firebird and The Rite of Spring which constitute Stravinsky's "Russian"
period.? In all three, the subjects are intensely Russian,
and in Petroushka, Stravinsky actually uses the themes of popular Russian songs. See Figure 7.
Fig. 7--Folksong, I Was at a Feast
The popular Russian song in Figure 7 was used as long ago as 1858 by Balakirev in his Overture on Three Russian Themes. Stravinsky used it in Petroushka as the dance of the group of nursemaids.
5Frank Onnen, Stravinsky (Stockholm, 1928), pp. 15, 16. 6 Strobel, gp. cit., p. 68. 7Evans, op. ct., pp. 39, 40. Petroushka requires cornets in A and Bb, trumpets in
A and Bb, and piccolo trumpets in D and Bb.
During the first part of Petroushka the trumpets and cornets are used almost as woodwinds. The waltz of the ballerina (see Figure 8) is an example of the cornet used as a woodwind in a trio with a flute and bassoon. In the hands of even a moderately good artist it is--as far as lightness and agility go--pretty well the equal of the clarinet.8
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Fig. &--Excerpt from Petroushka, 1 plus 11 bars, showing cornet used as woodwind.
Later on in the same waltz, it is as though the cornet is suddenly conscious of being a brass instrument and begins to play a part more typical of a brass instrument . (Figure 9).
8 Cecil Forsyth, Orchestration (New York, 1935), . 10. 0CORHV't StAcc.
Fig. 9--Excerpt from Petroushka,75plus 9 bars, illustrating cornet used as brass instrument.
Although it is not unique with Stravinsky, he made no distinction in style when writing for the cornet and trumpet in A and in Bb. The reason for the key differentiation seems to be for the sake of writing with a simple key for the instrument. Even in the key of C major the choice between the two fairly simple keys, D major for the Bb cornet and Eb major for the A cornet should really be made according to the direction of the modulations--that is, to the sharp side or to the flat side.
0GoRNE~t IN A 4
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Fig. 10--Excerpt from Petroushka, illustrating plus 9 bars the similarity of cornet and trumpet parts. 16
For the most part, Stravinsky uses his trumpets as true
brass instruments, that is, employing phrases made up of
fast tonguing typical of the trumpet (see Figure 11).
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Fig. 11--Excerpt from Petroushka, g91plus 4 bars, illustrating fast tonguing typical of a trumpet.
All the way through the ballet, the first cornets are used at least a major third higher than the trumpets. In a four-hote chord the parts are usually distributed as follows: trumpet, root and third, and cornets, fifth and seventh of the chord. This is illustrated in Figure 12.
0 <:T X-v- s #r
-qbmP6+ 1IU trA
Fig. 12--Excerpt from Petroushka, 3, illustrating the voicing of a four-voice chord. 17
Whenever the trumpet and cornet parts call for a trio of notes, the voicing is this: cornets, root and fifth, and trumpets, third. This is in direct opposition to Forsyth who says that the cornet is the only brass instrument capable of filling the fifth with a quiet unobtrusive sound. 9 An ex ample of Stravinsky's method of voicing the three-note chord is found in Figure 13.
Fig. 13--Excerpt from Petroushka, illustration of the voicing for a three-note chord.
At measure 123, a point in the ballet where the organ grinder is playing cornet with one hand and organ with the other, there is a solo by the trumpet doubled by the clarinet an octave higher. This episode is repeated again at measure
150. This combination achieves a sound neither entirely brass nor woodwind. This is contrasted by the fact that when the cornet is used as a solo instrument it is doubled by no other instrument.
9 bid.., p. 107. 18
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Fig. 1)---Excerpt from Petroushka, 1 plus 11 bars, illustrating the doubling of solo trumpet and clarinet.
The piccolo trumpets in D and Bb have a relatively
small part, being heard only for ten measures in the last fourteen measures of the ballet. They are muted and marked solo and fortissimo accompanied by four horns and two oboes playing a canonic-like figure at a pianissimo dynamic level.
The piccolo trumpet fanfare is used as a leitmotif to portray
Petroushka's ghost leaping to the rooftop and glaring down at the Charlatan. The mute gives the effect of distance, yet the dynamic fortissimo lends an immediacy to the sound, thus achieving the desired effect. This is illustrated in Figure 15.
4 pa". tRtrk rJ 4,L .44 i 4 i
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Fig. 15--Excerpt from Petroushka, , illus tration of piccolo trumpet part. 19
It will be observed that in the following chapter the analysis of The Rite f Spring reveals an elimination of the cornet within the orchestration. Stravinsky has retained the piccolo trumpets and added the trumpets in C and bass trumpets in Eb. CHAPTER III
ANALYSIS OF THE RITE OF SPRING 1
Stravinsky conceived the idea of The Rite of Spring
while finishing The Fire Bird. In his imagination he had
seen a solemn pagan rite: wise elders, seated in a circle
watching a young girl dance herself to death. They were
sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring. The sym phony was therefore to be the musical equivalent of a spring rite in pagan Russia. Later Stravinsky played it to Diaghilev, who immediately grasped its possibilities as a ballet. The ballet was written in 1913. It was divided into two parts-
Part One: The Adoration of the Earth (Day), and Part Two: The Sacrifice (Night)--and each part was prefaced by an orchestral introduction.2
The Rite of. rin employs the use of the piccolo trumpet in D, trumpet in C and the bass trumpet in Eb. The piccolo trumpet is only used once melodically. This occurs at number
__, a place in the music where the trumpet is doubled by the
1 Igor Stravinsky, The Rite of Sring (New York, c. 1933). 2Eric Walter White Stravinsky--A Critical Surve (New York, 1955), pp. 3, 39.~
20 21
flute and piccolo clarinet. This is a very frequent doubling for the piccolo trumpet in this work.
FF
Fig. 16--Excerpt from The Rite of Spring illus trating the doubling of piccolo trumpet and flute.
For the most part, the piccolo trumpet is used strictly rhythmically for punctuation and for sustaining high notes.
The following figure illustrates the rhythmic punctuation usage.
.- __ JS I 0L721pICA.T~un~? ~ Alf. _1
J I A QV~bLIj
furs 471 F*lo-+ P, 0
Fig. 17--Excerpt from The Rite of Spring illus trating the use of rhythmic punctuation by the piccolo trumpet. 22
This style of using the trumpets is actually classical in a sense. The trumpet used with the percussion as rhythmic emphasis is the manner in which the classical composers used them. An example of this type of trumpet and percussion writing is seen in Mozart's Symphony in in Figure 18.
RurnP '$ IN &b wmm w eSF
Fig. 1 8 -- Excerpt from Mozart's h nE measures 87 through 92 of the first movement.
Figure 19 shows how the piccolo trumpet is used in The Rite of_ prin to sustain high notes.
PI f,trQmP6-r
T 7 7 7 7 '7 7 > r -V
Fig. 19--Excerpt from The Rite of rn illus trating the piccolo trumpet sustaining high notes. 23
Often instead of merely holding the note to sustain it, Stravinsky will require that the trumpet play the note repeatedly in decided rhythmic patterns. This is actually the modern version of classical trumpet writing. An example of this is seen in the Dance of the Earth, Figure 20.
0 i li ,,u. temPet I r pu.G tnot~t
Fig. 20--Excerpt from The Rite of Spring, illus tration of modern version of classical trumpet writing.
The trumpets in C are used almost exclusively in fanfare like figures and chordal background. There is one occurrence of some melodic work, however, at number U. Here there is a phrase of four measures played by two muted trumpets in C doubled by the flute. This is a frequent doubling by Stravin sky. An example of this is seen in Figure 21.
Fig. 21--Excerpt from The Rite of Spig illus tration of muted trumpet and flute doubling. The role of the trumpets in C is characterized by rapid tonguing as seen in Figure 22. This is Stravinsky's way of using the trumpets as sustaining chord members.
p HC stsI ujj .R
4 _ _ _ _
A ______
Fig. 22--Excerpt from The. Rite. pri, illus tration of trumpets as sustaining chord members.
Whereas the trumpets are used throughout The Rite of S rin the bass trumpet in Eb is only used in the last part of the work. The part of the bass trumpet is not individual, that is, its purpose is to give foundation to the first and second trumpets in C. There is one place where it is the only instru ment playing a moving part. It is used to supply the chromatic figure at number 13 as seen in Figure 23. Jc.L,9RINt IN
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Fig. 23--Excerpt from The Rite of Spring, illus- tration of bass trumpet as a moving part.
For the majority of its playing time, the bass trumpet plays chordal material with the trumpets in C. This may be observed in Figure 24+, where the three trumpets are playing in octaves.
B ss tRfmPENT N
C Fig. 21+--Excerpt from The Rite of prig, illus tration of bass trumpet as a sustaining chord member. 26
Whereas the cornet was not used in The Rite of ring, a composition for large orchestra, Stravinsky employs the instrument in his compositions for small orchestra. The analysis of L'Histoire du Soldat in the following chapter illustrates this usage. CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS OF L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT1
The beginning of 1918 was one of the darkest moments
in Stravinsky's life. He found himself completely cut off
from his private resources in Russia; and for the first time the possibility must have occurred to him that he might never return to his country.2
With a small group of his Swiss friends, Stravinsky developed the idea of a work that could be played by a sort of traveling theater that would journey throughout Switzer land on tour. Thus came into being the first idea of L'Histoire du Soldat.3
Three traits characterize the composition of L'Histoire du Soldat: first, the complete departure from musical illustration; second, the linear design of the combined in strumental parts; and third, the abandonment of Russian folk lore elements)+ The music itself is a series of pieces in
1 Igor Stravinsky, L'Histoire du Soldat (London, c. 1921). 2 Eric Walter White, Stravinsky..-.A Critical Survey (New York, 1948), p. 76.
3 Alexander Tansman, Igor Stravinsky (New York, 1949), p. 194. Heinrich Strobel, Stravinsky--Classic Humanist (New York, 1955), p. 91.
27 28
the manner of a suite, which are played either as an accom paniment to the recitation or without it.
Out of a concern for economy as well as a preference
for specific instrumental ensembles, Stravinsky decided
upon seven instruments representing the extreme high and low registers in each group: violin and double bass, clarinet and bassoon, cornet and trombone and a one-man percussion battery. From this limitation was born the in
strumentation for L'Histoire du Soldat.5
All seven instruments in L'Histoire du Soldat are
treated as virtuoso instruments, but no non-musical devices
such as odd mutes are used that might alter the individuality of any single instrument. They are treated as solo instru ments in combinations of two and three, thus creating no composite sonorities but autonomous timbres. Their combina tions seem to create the sound of a new instrument.6
Fig. 25--Illustration of cornet playing with trombone in the "Marche du Soldat."
5White, P_. cit.., p. 80. 6 Tansman, op. cit., p. 194. 29
In the first piece, the "Marche du Soldat," the cornet is paired with the trombone in taking the leading role. See Figure 25, above.
The alternate play of the trombone and the cornet in the "Marche Royale" and the combination of the clarinet with the cornet and violin in "The Petit Concert" creates a fascinating effect. See Figures 26 and 2'7, below.
tRonen'va
Fig. 26--Illustration of the trombone and cornet in the "Marche Royale."
po o SF
lbNp~x LAI e ' 'o .
Fig. 27--Illustration of the clarinet, cornet and violin in "The Petit Concert." 30
The cornet is used as the principal solo instrument
quite frequently in L'Histoire du Soldat. Most of the time,
however, the cornet is used in combination with the tenor
trombone. See Figure 28 for an illustration of the cornet as strictly a solo instrument.
8 Fig. 2 --Illustration of the cornet as a solo instrument.
The cornet is used in an ostinato figure sometimes
when the trombone is carrying the melodic line. See Figure 29.
Fig. 29--Illustration of the cornet playing an ostinato background to the trombone.
In the large chorale the cornet is relegated to a constantly moving part, stopping only at cadences. At the cadences, the cornet is given either the third or the fifth of the chord each time. 31
In the "Triumphal March of the Devil," the cornet has
the melody following the exposition solo by the trombone.
This solo is a kind of fanfare to be played torte. See
Figure 30 for an illustration of this solo.
_ C R +f t Jw
t I ii
Fig. 30O---Illustration of the fanfare solo played by the cornet.
In L'Eistoire du Soldat, Stravinsky encourages each solo instrument to develop an independent linear existence and then fits them together like pieces of a mosaic. The cornets in Bb and A are always used in combination with or doubled by the tenor trombone in L'Histoire du Soldat. The range of the cornets used is from low A just below the staff to A just above the staff.
04t CHAPTER V
ANALYSIS OF RAGTIME1
After completing L'Histoire du Soldat Stravinsky manifested in another way his interest in the newly dis
covered jazz with its potential wealth of melodic rhythms, and its instrumental combinations with their individualized timbres, by composing a Ragtime for eleven instruments in 1921. The Ragtime was really the first attempt, followed by others, at integrating the instrumental technique of jazz into a stylized composition.2
It is certain that Stravinsky was very much interested at this time in the early attempts of jazz with its primitive polyphony and its dislocated and vibrating rhythm.3
Ragtime has carried the complexity of the rhythmic subdivision of the measure to a point never before reached in the history of music. It has established subtle, conflicting rhythms and has gone far beyond most other popular music in the freedom of inner voices (yes, I mean polyphony) and of harmonic modu lations,4
1 Igor Stravinsky, Ragtime (London, c. 1921). 2 Alexander Tansman, Igor Stravinsky (New York, 1941), p. 194.
3 Eric Walter White, Stravinsky--A Critical Survey (New York, 1948), p. 76. 4 Rudi Blesh, They Al Played Ragtime (New York, 195 0), p. 8, citing an anonymous contributor to "Opera Magazine," 1916. (Further information unavailable.)
32 N
33
The first entrance made by the cornet is at 9 a short
rhythmic solo passage accompanied by pizzicato in the strings.
Syncopation is used extravagantly throughout the Ragtime.
See Figure 31 for an example of the rhythmic solo played by the cornet at .
oophlosIC4. J At w 0 c 0 R Nft'r vc p ----
R -AN W"
I Foer
Fig. 31--Illustration of the rhythmic cornet solo
For a large part of the time in Ragtime, the cornet is used with the horn. See Figure 32.
. 0CON IN0 w/
z b-4eb 7
Fig. 32--Illustration of the cornet playing with the horn at .
The cornet is given a lengthy solo passage of a synco pated nature at 1 with string and cymbalo accompaniment. This is illustrated in Figure 33. 34
eon Os.
Fig. 33---Illustration of the cornet being used as a solo instrument with string and cymbalo accompaniment.
The cornet is used frequently in combination with the clarinet, horn and flute. See Figure 34.
di
'... LAtt SEIL. ItM. n o:
PR
Fig. 3 +--Illustration of the cornet playing with the clarinet, horn and flute. 35
Unlike L'Histoire du Soldat, Ragtime does not call for virtuoso performers. The cornet part in Ragtime is not difficult to play in a technical sense. CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION
The cornet during the time of Berlioz (1803-1869) was very much in fashion in a certain musical world where eleva
tion and purity of style were not considered essential
qualities: and thus became the indispensable solo instrument
for quadrilles, galops, airs with variations, and other second-rate compositions.1
Today's orchestration practically eliminates the cornets.
They are adjuncts to be employed on special occasions or used to combine sympathetically with other instruments. This is perhaps a result of the circumstance that the cornet and trumpet have grown to be so nearly alike that the distin guishing characteristics are scarcely noticeable.2
The cornets in Petroushka are used in a manner akin to transition between these two periods of orchestration. At no time during Petroushka is the cornet deemed indispensable, that is, the trumpet is used as a solo instrument an equal amount of time. The cornet is likewise not relegated entirely to playing filler parts with the rest of the orchestra.
1Hector Berlioz, .A Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration (New York, 1948, pp. 19-10. 2 Walter Piston, Orchestration (New York, 1955), pp. 264-265.
36 37
The trumpets as used by Stravinsky are relegated to
playing typical trumpet parts, containing rapid tonguing.
Stravinsky used trumpets in Bb, D and A. The bass trumpet
in Eb is used by Stravinsky sparingly. The piccolo trumpets
in Eb are used for effects rather than for musical value.
This is evidenced by the manner in which they are used at the end of Petroushka.
Stravinsky used the cornet extensively during the period
of his small orchestral works. The cornet is used to the
exclusion of the trumpet in L'Histoire du Soldat and Ragtime.
This is due to the fact that during the time in which Stra
vinsky wrote the pieces, cornets were being used in the small jazz combinations of the day.
In conclusion, Stravinsky, at the time of the composition of the previously analyzed pieces, was instrumental in ele vating the cornets and trumpets to a more important position in the orchestra.
Trumpets and cornets, prior to the invention of valves in 1813, were used primarily as rhythmic supplement to the percussion. With the addition of the valves, the trumpets and cornets were enabled to play chromatic and melodic passages that were previously given to the woodwinds.
In the works of Stravinsky it is discernable that the cornets and trumpets achieve an identity of their own, that is, they are not used exclusively to double the percussion or take the place of the woodwinds. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Apel, Willi, Harvard Dictionary of Music, Cambridge, Massa chusetts, Harvard UniversityfPress, 1953.
Abraham, Gerald, On Russian Music, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939.
Berlioz, Hector, A Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration, New York, E. F. Kalmus, 1948.
Borland, John E., The Instruments of the Orchestra, London, Novello and Company, 1943.
Blesh, Rudi, They All Played Ragtime, New York, E. F. Kalmus, 1950.
Carse, Adam, The Orchestra from Beethoven to Berlioz, New York, Broude Brothers, 199.
Donington, Robert, The Instruments of Music, London, Methuen and Company, 1951.
Elson, Arthur, Orchestral Instruments and Their Use, Boston, Page Company, 1922.
Evans, Edwin, Sr., Method of Instrumentation, London, W. Reeves, 1926.
Ewen, David, From Bach to Stravinsky, New York, W. W. Norton, 1933.
Forsyth, Cecil, Orchestration, New York, Macmillan Company, 1937.
Galpin, Francis, A Textbook of European Musical Instruments London, Williams and Norgate, 1937. Heacox, Arthur E., Project Lessons in Orchestration, Boston, Oliver Ditson Company,T1928.
Hipkins, A. J., Musical Instruments, London, A. and C. Block, 1921.
38 39
Hofmann, Richard, Practical Instrumentation, translated by Robin H. Legge, New York, Shirmer, 1893.
Jacob Gordon, Orchestral Technique, London, Oxford University, Press, 1931.
Onnen, Frank, Stravinsky translated from the Dutch by Mrs. M. M. Kessler-hutton, Stockholm, Continental Book Company, 1928.
Piston, Walter, Orchestration, New York, W. W. Norton and Company, 19 .
Praetorius, Michael, Syntag Musicum, Yale University, Chinese Printing Office, 1949. R. C. A. Victor, Instruments of the Orchestra, Philadelphia, Pepper and Son, 1949.
Rogers, Bernard, The Art of Orchestration, New York, Appelton Century-Crofts, Ti.
Sachs, Curt, The History of Musical Instruments, New York, W. W. Norton and Company, 190.
Schwartz, H. W., The Story of Musical Instruments, Elkhart, Indiana, Conn Instrument Co., 1938. Strobel, Heinrich, Stravinsky: Classic Humanist, translated from the German by Hans Rosenwald, New York, Merlin Press, 1955.
Tansman, Alex., Igor Stravinsky, translated by Therese and Charle Bleefield, New York, Putnam, 1949.
Villiers, Charles, et al., A History of Music, New York, The Macmillan Co., 1932. Virdung, Sebastian, Musica Getutscht, Kassel, Barenreiter Verlage, 1931.
White Eric Walter, Stravinsky: A Critical Survey, London, . Lehmann, 1947.
Widor, C. M., The Modern Orchestra, translated by Edward Suddard, London, Joseph Williams, 1906. 40
Musical Scores
Stravinsky, Igor, L'Histoire du Soldat, London, J. W. Chester, c. 1921+.
Petroushka, New York, Boosey-Hawkes, c. 1948.
Ragti, London, J. W. Chester, c. 1921.
The Rite of Spring, New York, E. F. Kalmus, c. 1933.