NotesonStravinskyRhythmicMetric/TexturalIdeas

Taruskin,Richard.1996.StravinskyandtheRussianTraditions.Berkeley:
UniversityofCaliforniaPress.
Russian:nepodvizhnost(literallyimmobility),staticaspectsof
Stravinskysmusic[immobility,stasis,nondevelopmentalform].The
accumulationof'individualizedstaticblocksinstrikingjuxtapositions'
Russian:drobnost(literallyfragmentedness),discontinuousness
[splinteredness,formaldisunification,sumofparts][VandenToorn:block
juxtaposition].Theideaofaworkbeingthesumofitspartsratherthan
drivenbyanoverarchingidea.
Russian:uproshcheniye,(literallysimplification).Thereductionofany
organicdevelopmentbetweendifferentsectionsofawork,producingan
impressionofimmobility.
Nationalismfromamoderniststandpoint:
Russianelementsfrommusicalupbringing
Stylisticfeaturesofnativefolklore

MikhailDrushkin:thereplacementofalinearprocessofdevelopmentinhis
musicwiththe'mutualrelatingofdifferentplaneandvolumes,thesingle
vanishingpointbyamultiplicityof"horizonlevels",unicentral,object
centeredcompositionbymulticentral".

TypesofRhythmicMetricConstruction(vandenToorn)
Examples:
Type1,"Block"construction
Example:Stravinsky,ThreePiecesforStringQuartet,No.2.
Comparetoversionfororchestra,FourEtudesforOrchestra,No.2,
Excentrique.

Scoreofstringquartetsetting:
http://server1.variations2.indiana.edu/cgibin/access?VAA5439
*irregularmetersforeground"metric"irregularity
*blockstructures:alternatewithoneanotherinconstantandoften
rapidjuxtaposition
*irregular"meter"recordsthediverselengthofblocks(possible
extensionsandcontractions)
*littlesenseof"harmonic"progress(blocksstableincontent)
"Progress"ispossiblebetweenblocks
*rhythmicconcept:progress,change,ormovementderivesfrom
thelengthening,shorteningorrecombinationoftheblocksupon
repetition('horizontal'issuesoflength,succession,andre
combination)
*temporally"additive"

Type2,"Cyclic"construction
Example:Stravinsky,ThreePiecesforStringQuartet,No.1.
Comparetoversionfororchestra,FourEtudesforOrchestra,No.1,
Danse.
Scoreofstringquartetsetting:
http://server1.variations2.indiana.edu/cgibin/access?VAA5439
*regularmetersforeground"metric"regularity
*constantpulse
*superpositionofmotivesthatrepeatindependentlyofoneanother
*"stable"motivicpatterns(atleastonereiteratingfragment)
*patterns"fixed"registrallyandinstrumentally
*rhythmicconcept:synchronizationofmaterialscanarticulatea
typeofmusical"closure"('vertical'issuesofalignment&
counterpoint)
*texturally"additive"

Stravinsky's"doubleedged"sword:(examples,ballets,e.g.,
L'Histoiredusoldat)
*downbeat/upbeatreversals
*onthebeat/offthebeatreversals