Immersed in Stravinsky

With his Septet for clarinet, French horn, bassoon, piano, violin, viola and cello (1953) Stravinsky entered the last period of his compositional career. This is his first work using the serial technique derived from dodecaphony, a method employing all twelve notes of the chromatic scale, as applied by the Second Viennese School composers headed by Arnold Schönberg. At the same time the piece combines and ostensibly reconciles this method with tonal music, since “the rules and restrictions of serial writing differ little from the rigidity of the great contrapuntal schools of old. At the same time, they widen and enrich harmonic scope; one starts to hear more things and differently than before. The serial technique I use impels me to greater discipline than ever before.” The entire three-movement work is governed by strict order which culminates in an example of impeccable contrapuntal dexterity in the final Gigue, consisting of four fugues: It begins with a three-voice fugue in the strings, which is repeated in the piano, after which the wind instruments join in with another three-voice fugue based on a second theme, giving rise to a double fugue. After this the strings enter with a fugue based on the first theme in an inversion, the piano repeats the string fugue, and the wind instruments come in with their own fugue, an inversion of the main theme from the first movement. The premiere of Septet was held on 23 January 1954 at Dumbarton Oaks, where Stravinsky’s Concerto in E flat for chamber orchestra was first performed sixteen years previously. 

Octet for wind instruments from the years 1922-23 ushers in Stravinsky’s Neo-Classical period and is one of his most important compositions which would fundamentally influence this 20^th century movement. Years later he recalled the circumstances of its genesis: “The Octet began with a dream, in which I saw myself in a small room surrounded by a small group of instrumentalists playing some attractive music. I did not recognise the music, though I strained to hear it, and I could not recall any feature of it the next day, but I do remember my curiosity – in the dream – to know how many musicians there were. I remember, too, that after I had counted them to the number eight, I looked again and saw that they were playing bassoons, trombones, trumpets, a flute, and a clarinet. I awoke from this little concert in a state of great delight and anticipation and the next morning began to compose the Octet, which I’d had no thought of the day before. The Octet was written within a short time […] I conducted the first performance myself, and I was extremely nervous about doing it; it was the first concert work of mine which I, myself, introduced. The stage of the Paris Opera seemed a large frame for only eight players, but the group was set off by screens, and the sound was well balanced. The Octet was composed for, and is dedicated to, Vera de Bosset.” 

Ragtime for 11 instruments (flute, clarinet, French horn, cornet, trombone, percussion, cimbalom, two violins, viola and double bass) is an extended version of the Ragtime from The Soldier’s Tale (L’Histoire du soldat), written for an unconventional ensemble of instruments. In 1918 conductor Ernest Ansermet brought over from America a bundle of ragtime music in the form of piano reductions and instrumental parts, providing Stravinsky with inspiration for his own music, which he described as concert portraits or snapshots of the genre. The concert version of the composer’s Ragtime is dominated by a steady 4/4 rhythm with plenty of disruptive syncopation above it. Regular metre is rare in Stravinsky’s music, however, amid all the artistic stylisation, here it is strictly true to the given style. In the orchestra, instead of a piano, the composer chose the cimbalom, an instrument he loved and even learned to play; he also used it when composing Ragtime. It has a significant role in the piece, almost that of a solo instrument, as it did earlier on in the stage burlesque Renard (The Fox). When Ragtime was finished, Stravinsky asked Picasso to design a cover for it. He observed the artist as he drew six figures, each of them sketched in a single continuous line. The drawing which was published on the cover of the work was chosen by Picasso himself.