Stravinsky in 20th Century Music

Born in 1882 in Oranienbaum, Russia, a city southwest of St. Petersburg, Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian/American composer who was described as one of the most important composers in the 20th century.

Stravinsky was even named by ‘Time Magazine’ as one of the most influential people of the century. Stravinsky made many special contributions to music in the 20th century which were wide and varied. His material was raw and produced a fresh and new sound for the 20th century world of music. Stravinsky’s music had particularly interesting qualities when it came to technical musical aspects and considerations such as dynamics, rhythm and harmony. Stravinsky was The son of an admired bass singer in the Imperial Opera, and he studied piano and composition as a boy. Stravinsky was always searching for new styles and techniques of musical expression. His works reflected and influenced important musical trends of the 20th century. These influences include jazz, neoclassicism, bitonality, atonality, serialism, and Nationalism.

Nationalism in music is a very important aspect of 20th century composers as From the beginning of 18th-century, all the great and poignant music had come from Germany. All the great developments in music had arisen there. Examples of important musical techniques that have come from Germany include he Classical sonata and sonata form, which was of German development, being discovered by German composers. Nationalism in music is an aspect of Neo-classicism which is a style of composing brought by the reintroduction of balanced forms and clearly perceived thematic processes of earlier styles, particularly the Baroque Period. Neoclassic composition was a style of composition that replaced the strict and set in stone writing style of classical styles of music. Stravinsky’s early works were the basis of Neo-classicism and eventually the style took shape around his early pieces. Stravinsky's first extended Neoclassial work was the 1919 comic ballet “Pulcinella.'', which was a Ballet Derived from the Italian comedic art ‘Commedia D’ellarte’.

The early times of Stravinsky’s career was aligned with the artistic term "Primitivism," which in painting was connected with fauvism, but in music, primitivism represents and indicates rhythm as a feature of prominence in composition. Primitivism in music is to combine two familiar or simple ideas together to create new and complimentary sounds. The structure of Stravinsky’s pieces rests on polytonal chords that initiate musical tension a dissonance harmonically. Stravinsky’s early work favoured rather new and different asymmetrical rhythmic techniques and patterns. With Stravinsky’s early compositions, everything has it’s own place and is asserted, and there is no expectation or prediction in the music.

Throughout Stravinksy’s career, his musical style was a combination of Post-Romantic, Neo-Classical, and Serial Primitivism. The melodies that Stravinsky uses are kept simple and are attempted to focus on the rhythm of the piece. Some of his well-known works are: "The Firebird", "The Rite of Spring" and “The Wedding”. Stravinsky drew his melodic influences from Russian Folk tunes and wrote music for European ballets. His ballets show a wider range of influences, including that of French impressionist composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. These composers affected his work and from these French influences produced Stravinsky pieces such as Fireworks and The Faun and the Shepherdess. Stravinsky’s most recognised work, The Rite Of Spring highly exemplifies the fact that Stravinsky had broken new musical ground by writing in a complex rhythmic style and a harmonic style that included the use of polytonality.

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