The Rite of Spring: An Analysis

• Analysis 1.2 focuses on Stravinsky's "Introduction to Part I" from The Rite of Spring.
• Although Stravinsky's aesthetic stands in contrast to Debussy's, they share technical and compositional issues.

Exploration 1.2

• Listening to the Introduction to Part I, focus on form and formal growth, texture, melodic and motivic relationships, tonality, rhythm and meter.
• Identify the main thematic ideas and motives.
• Determine if the form is developmental and how Stravinsky extends thematic ideas.
• Assess the role of texture and textural blocks in formal processes.
• Identify characteristic metric and rhythmic aspects.

Form as Process: Techniques of Formal Growth

• Musical form is a dynamic concept that unfolds over time.
• Formal growth refers to the motion from one point in a composition to a later point.

Basic Principles

• Approaches to formal growth involve principles like exposition, manipulation, and restatement of themes.
• Formal types such as binary, ternary, variation, and rondo are built on these processes.

Developmental Processes

• Developmental processes are formal types involving thematic and harmonic changes.
• Thematic development is the process of creating material that extends from previous themes.
• Techniques include repetition, transposition, variation, sequence, fragmentation, intervallic expansion/contraction, inversion, retrograde, augmentation, and diminution.
• Harmonic developmental processes in tonal music are paired with thematic development.
• These processes include changes of mode, modulation, harmonic sequences, and chromatic linear processes.
• Sonata form and sonata rondo rely on developmental techniques.

Formal Processes in Post-Tonal Music

• The absence of functional tonality impacts both large-scale formal design and developmental techniques.
• Questions to consider: Are the forms developmental or non-developmental? If developmental, what means are used to create those processes? Are composers using pre-existing formal types or inventing designs? What techniques are used to realize them?

Form and Formal Growth

• The formal processes in this piece are non-developmental
• Thematic ideas presented are repeated, alternated, and combined but not quite developed.
• Repetitions usually occur at the same tonal level rather than being transposed.

Thematic Elements

• Prominent themes include the opening bassoon (A), a chromatic theme in overlapping thirds (B1), a theme in overlapping fourths (C), the disjunct flute theme (D), and the oboe theme (E1) with its clarinet accompaniment (E2).

Formal Functions: Stratification, Juxtaposition, and Synthesis

• Formal functions useful in Stravinsky's work: stratification (layering), juxtaposition, interruption/continuation, and synthesis.
• Stratification involves presenting different lines or textural elements in a way that is both audible and separate.
• Juxtaposition is the abrupt interruption and replacement of a texture or idea.
• Synthesis refers to ideas previously presented coming together toward the end of a piece in an interrelated way.

Exploration 1.3

• Examine the introduction in terms of layering, juxtaposition, and synthesis.
• Consider the role of dynamics and textural changes in formal growth, particularly the increase generated by the addition of ostinato layers.

Melodic and Motivic Relationships

• The analysis will examine how the themes of the introduction are used, extended, and combined.

Tonal Level and Ostinatos

• There is a sense of pitch stasis because themes tend to repeat at the same level and motives take the form of ostinatos.

Range and Intervallic Content

• Motives and ostinato cells tend to be short, moving within a narrow range.

Extension and Truncation of Themes

• Lengthening or shortening themes is achieved by adding or subtracting pitches.

Russian Folk Influences

• Characteristics of the themes seem to come from Russian folk music
• Short range and simple patterns come from shorter melodies, including grace notes.
• Building themes comes from an additive process.

Motivic Coherence

• Motives may seem contrasting at a glance, but pitch-class examination reveals underlying relationships.
• The cell (0257) permeates and unifies the motivic content.

Tonality and Pitch Centricity

• Tonal relationships are absent, yet there is pitch centricity.
• Contributing factors are the themes and their repetitions, as well as ostinatos and pedals.
• Multiple tonal centers can be called polycentricity or polytonality.

Tonal Layers

• The opening section contains themes A and B.
• Theme A is diatonic, but its tonal center is ambiguous.
• The opening C chord seems to announce a C tonality, but A is the tonal center because of arrival.
• Theme C rests on a D# "center."

Pedals and Ostinatos

• Beginning at rehearsal 7, there is succession of pedals on C, Bb, and B.
• Return of Theme A starts on B instead of C.

Rhythm and Meter

• Rhythm and meter are central in the piece.
• Stravinsky's use of rhythm and meter represents a departure point for later compositional techniques.

Frequent Meter Changes

• Observe the frequent meter changes/mixed meters.
• Metric changes relate to thematic extension and truncation.
• Melodic/thematic extension/truncation go hand in hand with metric extension/truncation.

A Review of Basic Rhythmic and Metric Concepts

• Rhythm refers to the grouping and patterning of musical events.

• Meter measures pulses between regularly recurring accents.

• Pulses are regularly recurring time points.

• Beats are pulses that appear in a metric context.

• Metric accents arise from meter.

• Downbeats are the first beat and upbeats are the last of the measure.

• Symmetrical/divisive meters have divisions that form symmetrical patterns (ex. 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 9/8).

• Asymmetrical meter combines units to make asymmetrical structures.

• Nonmetrical factors can make musical accents as well.

• Rhythmic accents make conflicts with metric accents.

• Hemiola juxtaposes and interplays between two/three beats at a metric level.

• Beats can be divided irregularly using, tuplets, quintuplets, sextuplets, or duplets.

• Irregularities are meter changes, displacements, polyrhythm, and polymeter.

• Repeated cells may be associated with different rhythm.

• Repeated melodic cells vary in their rhythm and metric placement.

• Different material layers feature different subdivisions referred to as polyrhythm.

• Polymeter is presenting multiple meter.