Transcript Igor Stravinsky

North Carolina Symphony Education Program
August 14, 2007 Teacher Workshop
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 Panel
Interview/ Discussion:
David Hartman, host
William H. Curry, Resident Conductor
Joan Landry, Assistant Conductor
Victor Benedict, Assistant Principal Bassoon
Paul Goldsberry, Violin
Jacqueline Saed Wolborsky, Assistant Principal Violin II
Igor Stravinsky
Texture in the Rite of Spring and
The Firebird
Stravinsky: A Last Minute Genius
 Born in 1882 in Russia to a musical family.
 Parents wanted him to become a lawyer, but he wanted to
compose!
 His inspiration, connection and ticket out of law?
Vladimr Rimsky-Korsakov (son of famed Nicolai), with whom
he became friendly with at University of St. Petersburg.
 Soon began studying composition.
 Sergei Diagheliv
 Ballet Producer
 Saw a work of Stravinsky’s
 Original composer bowed out!
 Hired Stravinsky to compose Firebird
 Stravinsky finished it early—a chance of a lifetime!
Prolific from the Start
 Stravinsky was an instant success!
 Within three years of the Firebird premier, Rite of
Spring made him the most famous composer in the
entire world.
 Yet, it wasn’t an easy premiere…..
Rite of Spring: A Musical Scandal
 Music was not quite “spring-like” to the
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audience on May 29, 1913, at the
Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.
Shocking choreography, angular music,
and dissonant chords!
From the very beginning, the music was
primitive, pulse-like, loud and
uncomfortable!
Cat-calls and yelling from the audience.
Performers couldn’t hear themselves!
Diagheliv flashed the houselights to stop
a full-fledged RIOT!
Forever Changed
 The Rite of Spring changed the
course of 20th-century music like no
other work has done.
 Issues of national identity and
universalism, fundamentally new
approaches to melody and rhythm all
in a ballet where the conventional
plot was replaced by a more abstract
subject matter
The Story
 Primitive Russian tribe sacrificing a virgin maiden to
the arrival of spring.
 Series of episodes depicting a wild pagan spring
ritual.
 The Ballet is divided into two sections:
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring
Part I: Adoration of the Earth
 Introduction
 The Augurs of Spring
(Dances of the Young Girls)
 Ritual of Abduction
 Spring Rounds (Round
Dance)
 Ritual of the Rival Tribes
 Procession of the Sage
 The Sage (Adoration of the
Earth)
 Dance of the Earth
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Part II: The Sacrifice
Introduction
Mystic Circles of the Young
Girls
The Glorification of the
Chosen One
Evocation of the Ancestors
Ritual Action of the
Ancestors
Sacrificial Dance (the
Chosen One;L'Elue)
From the Start:
The Scandalous “Spring”
 From the start---the bassoon begins in such a high
register, that it jars the audience and forces them to
pay attention!
 Stravinsky was the first to ever write for bassoon in
this register.
 So primitive in it’s sound, this solo has been
described as a “new breed of snake charmer” by
conductor Marin Alsop!
Texture in
The Dance of the Young Maidens
Dance of the Young Maidens
 The celebrants of Spring are seated on hills.
 They blow dudki [reed pipes]. Youths learn the art of
divination from an old woman who knows all the
secrets of Nature.
 Young maidens, costumed and with painted faces,
come from the river in single file. They dance the
Spring Dance.
Texture in Music
 Monophony – (one sound) – music consisting of a
single line or melody without an accompaniment.
 Homophony – (same sound) – Music concentrated
on one voice or part with a secondary
accompaniment and/or voice.
 Polyphony – (many sounds) – Music employing
multiple parts each keeping its own distinctiveness.
 Heterophony – (different sounds) - music that has
multiple parts or voices performing different
versions of the same melody.
Listening Activity for Texture
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Have students listen to the Dance of the Young Maidens from Rite of
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Ask them what they imagined the music to be about and write some
ideas on a board.
Tell them the story behind the music and have them listen to the
music again.
Ask students whether their ideas were close to the scene’s
description. Why or why not?
Would students describe this music as thick or thin? Simple or busy?
Have students discuss why the “ thickness” of the music helps set
the scene for the ballet.
Explain to students that this is called texture in music and it is very
important to convey the idea of the music to the listener.
For contrast, play Debussy’s Nuages, or Prelude to an Afternoon of a
Faun. How does the texture of these pieces differ? How does the
composer accomplish that?
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Spring.
Performance Activity
Pass out various percussion instruments to your class,
breaking them into groups of 3 or 4 students. All
students should have rhythm sticks along with another
type of instrument.
 Give the students a rhythm to all play together at the
same time with the rhythm sticks. Describe this as
MONOPHONY.
 Then, divide the class into two groups, still playing the
sticks. Have one play an ostinato rhythm, while the
other group plays the original rhythm. This is
HOMOPHONY.
 Next, divide students into their groups of 3 or 4 and ask
one group to keep playing the sticks, while the others
use their other instruments. Give the original rhythm,
the ostinato, as well as as many other rhythms that you
may need. This is POLYPHONY.
 Finally, ask them all to play one of the rhythms together
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Probing Questions
 Have students describe why they think music has
and if it needs all these textural aspects. Why do
some composers incorporate a lot of texture into
their music and others don’t?
 Can the students find examples of different types of
texture in music that they enjoy listening to? Invite
them to bring it in and share it with the class.
The Firebird Suite
Stravinsky Becomes Famous!
The Firebird Suite: Infernal Dance
 Based on an old Russian folk tale.
 Interesting and exciting tale that will
capture the student’s attention!
 The story of The Firebird Suite is
based on a Russian folk tale and is
divided into five movements:
Firebird
I. INTRODUCTION: THE FIREBIRD AND
HER DANCE; VARIATION OF THE
FIREBIRD
II. THE PRINCESSES' ROUND:
KHOROVODE
III. INFERNAL DANCE OF KING KATSCHEÏ
IV. BERCEUSE
V. FINALE
Telling the story
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The young prince Ivan finds himself in the
terrible kingdom of the ogre, Kaschei.
Encounters a beautiful Firebird while wandering
in Kashchei's enchanted garden and steals a
feather from it.
Encounters 13 maidens, one of whom he falls
passionately in love with.
In the morning, when these imprisoned
maidens are forced by Kashchei's magic spell to
return to his castle, Ivan is compelled to follow
them.
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Captured by Kashchei's monstrous servants.
Firebird tells him about the ogre's secret of
immortality: that his soul, in the form of an egg in
a coffin, must remain unbroken. Ivan breaks open
the coffin and smashes the egg forthwith,
whereupon the monster dies and the evil spell
which has been cast over his kingdom dissolves
and all captives are set free.
As expected, the prince's flame, Tsarevna, and
he are married.
Infernal Dance and Finale
INFERNAL DANCE OF KING KATSCHEÏ
The Prince is suddenly confronted by Katscheï's
horrible servants, and ultimately, the magician
himself. Katscheï tries to turn the Prince into stone,
but the hero produces the Firebird's magic feather.
The Firebird appears and forces Katscheï and his
followers into a frenetic dance.
The Conclusion
FINALE
Katscheï and his retinue are destroyed. All of the
prisoners are set free, including the Thirteenth
Princess, whom the Prince weds. Over string
tremolos, a solo horn plays a variation of the theme
that was first presented by the flutes in the
Princesses' Round. Other members of the orchestra
incorporate the melody, as the Finale builds to a
grandiose climax.
King Katschei Activity
 Have students listen to the “Infernal Dance” paying
careful attention to texture.
 Listen again, telling the story.
 Add drama to the story as much as you can by dimming
lights, etc.
 How is the story demonstrated through the music?
 For younger students:
Create masks representing the King’s monsters in
his troupe and the sorcerers (lesson plan and list of
materials included in Teacher Book)
King Katschei Texture Groups
 For older students:
Discuss the 4 main types of musical texture.
Divide students into groups representing the 4.
Listen again, having small groups figure out
when their “texture” takes place.
Listen once again, have them stand when they
feel as if their type of texture is being
represented.
“Classical music”---BORING?
The next time you hear a student say: “This music
puts me to sleep”--play for them Stravinsky’s
Rite of Spring or Firebird Suite.
See if they believe they can fall asleep
while listening to that!!!
Claude Achilles
Debussy
Nocturnes - Nuages
Biography
Claude Achilles Debussy
b. SaintGermain-en-Laye
August 22, 1862
d. Paris
March 25, 1918
 Sent to live with his Aunt, Madame
Roustan. It was she who would take him to
concerts, plays and art exhibitions.
 He often clashed with his professors and
was considered a difficult student.
 1810 - Hired into the service of Madame
Nadezhda von Meck, the former patroness
of Tchaikovsky. Debussy played with a
group of household musicians, taught her
daughters piano and even went along on
family trips.
 In 1884 wins the Grand
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Prix de Rome, after two previous attempts, for
his cantata L’Enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son).
In 1894 L’Apres-midi d’un faun (Afternoon of a Fawn), a tone poem
based upon Mallarme’s work of the same name, premiered establishing
him as one of Europe’s important composers.
 Pelleas et Mellisande, the orchestral work La Mer (The Sea), and
later The Children’s Corner written for his daughter “Chou-Chou”.
 Debussy died during the 1918 bombardment of Paris.
Impressionism
Debussy is overwhelmingly considered the father of the
Impressionist movement in music.
Debussy’s impressionism is said to have parallels with it’s visual
counterpart – “finely graded instrumental colors; static, nonclimactic melodies, often circling round a single pitch (true of
Nuages); harmony conceived as a largely coloristic element;
complex textures consisting of elaborate surface figurations,
often suffusing whatever melodic material they contain.”
(Harvard Dictionary of Music) With his Three Nocturnes he
achieves this “dreamlike” imagery.
Claude Monet’s Soleil Levant 1873
Three Nocturnes
Composed between the years 1897-1899, Debussy’s
are not Nocturnes in the traditional musical sense
(i.e. Chopin’s Nocturnes). Debussy borrows the
term from a series of paintings by the American
artist JM Whistler, who’s Nocturnes depict scenes
of night and dusk in the impressionist style.
JM Whistler’s
Nocturne:
Blue and Gold
Old Battersea
Bridge
1872-1877
JM Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold:
“The Falling Rocket”, 1875
Nuages: Dream of CLouds
Nuages (Clouds) and the Heterophonic Orchestra
 Texture in Music – The general pattern of sound
created by the elements of a work or passage. For
example, the texture of a work that is perceived as
consisting of the combination of several melodic lines is
said to be contrapuntal or polyphonic.
The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and
Musicians.
The Four Main Textural Forms
1. Monophony – a single line or melody with no
accompaniment;
2. Homophony – one principle voice or part with a
subordinate accompaniment;
3. Polyphony – combining several different musical lines,
each retaining its own distinct identity;
Heterophony
4. Heterophony. In “Nuages” Debussy is attempting to
create a Heterophonic orchestral texture. Heterophonic
texture is rare in Western music, more commonly found
in Asian, African and even Native American music.
Heterophony is the simultaneous statement of two or
more different versions of what is, essentially, the same
melody (Harvard Dictionary)..
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4. Nuages – Bassoons 1 and 2
 In Nuages Debussy achieves the fluctuating nature of clouds,
simultaneously revealing and obscuring the sky. The
composer continuously reveals and hides the repeated
melody with his use of harmony and texture; giving the
listener not a literal, “photographic” image of clouds, but more
of the cloud filled skies of our memories or dreams.
Activities
Guided Listening I - Discussion
Inform students that this piece is entitled Nuages or Clouds, and
that it was composed to give the impression of clouds in the sky.
Have students think about times when they have watched the
clouds and ask them the following questions (Incorporate the
Science related activity for older groups):
1. What do clouds look like?
2. Can they be different shapes?
3. Are there different types of clouds? Thick, thin, tall, wispy, etc.
4. Do the clouds stay the same or do they change?
Guided Listening II – Kinesthetic
Use the Introduction above, but now inform students that you would like them
to move as if they were clouds.
Have one or two students be the “wind” gently blowing the clouds around the
room. Instruct them to try and have there movements flow with the piece of
music. This exercise works really well with scarves.
Guided Listening III – Visual
Debussy was heavily influenced by the visual artists of his time. Have students
draw there own impression of clouds, first without playing the recording
and then have them create a second picture attempting to draw on paper
what Debussy did with music.
Ask students to think about the following:
Are there differences in the two drawings and if so what are they?
How did the music change your drawing?
Did the music help or hinder your creation?
Guided Listening IV - Texture
The Four Main types of texture:
1. Monophony – (one sound) – music consisting of a single line or
melody without an accompaniment.
2. Homophony – (same sound) – Music concentrated on one voice
or part with a secondary accompaniment and/or voice.
3.
Polyphony – (many sounds) – Music employing multiple parts
each keeping its own distinctiveness.
4. Heterophony – (different sounds) - music that has multiple parts
or voices performing different versions of the same melody.
Monophony
Polyphony
Homophony
Heterophony
Activity –
Materials –
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Pieces of cloth – 3 or 4 different types (silk, burlap, cotton,
rayon, etc.)
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Three or Four different types of food – enough to give
everyone (or just one
student) a small taste. Focus on the
texture of the food grainy, smooth, creamy, hard, etc.
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Photographs of clouds –
o Cirrus, Stratus, Cumulonimbus.
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Recordings of Monophonic, Homophonic, Polyphonic Music
and a recording of Debussy’s Nuages.
 Science Related Activity
 Pictures, Definitions and Word Search
 Types of Clouds and their Associated Weather Patterns
(Kindergarten, Second, Fifth and Seventh Grade
Science Curriculum)
 Types of Clouds
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Types of Clouds
Cirrus
Thin and wispy
Cirrostratus
Sheetlike
Altocumulous
Parallel bands
Cumulus
White, fluffy
Cumulonimbus
Reaching high into the sky.
Nimbostratus
Low level, dark with
precipitation.
Cirrus – Thin and Whispy
Cirrostratus – sheetlike
Altocumulous –parallel bands
Cumulus – White, fluffy
Cumulonimbus –
Reaching high into the sky.
Nimbostratus –
Low level, dark with precipitation.
Visual Arts Connections
www.impressionism.org
Bibliography
Bowmar, Edith M. Portraits of Composers. ND. Belwin, Inc. Miami, Fl.
Debussy, Claude. Three Orchestral Works in Full Score. 1983. Dover
Publications, Inc.
Devoto, Mark. Review: Debussy's Nocturnes. 2001. Tufts University Press.
Boston, MA.
Hinson, Maurice and Montgomery, June. Meet the Great Composers.
1995. Alfred Publishing Co. Van Nuys, CA.
Randel, Don Michael, Ed. The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Musicians.
1996. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
Cloud Image/Text/Data from the University of Illinois WW2010 Project,
"The Cloud Catalog."
Discussion
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Christie Lynch: Department of Public
Instruction
“An Overview of Research on Music
and Learning”
– Larry Scripp
Feedback from discussions
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Planning ahead
Transfer- direct and indirect
Music MUST be integrated- we need to be better PR people- “team
players”
Music should be integrated AND taught for its own sake
Promoting the importance of music on its own- be our best
advocates
Strong association between music and core subjects
Behavior modification
Where’s the controversy?
Strong positive relationship between arts and core subjects
Positive social impact through study of arts
Engage our colleagues as advocates as well
Music is immature area in field of research
Use of curricular board
Fear that as we integrate- we become secondary
Immeasurable results?
– New way of developing assessments
– ESL