A COMPARISON OF RHYTHM, ARTICULATION, AND HARMONY IN JEANMICHEL DEFAYE’S À LA MANIÈRE DE STRAVINSKY POUR
TROMBONE ET PIANO TO COMMON COMPOSITIONAL
STRATEGIES OF IGOR STRAVINSKY
Dustin Kyle Mullins, B.M., M.M.
Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
August 2014
APPROVED:
Tony Baker, Major Professor
Eugene Corporon, Minor Professor
John Holt, Committee Member and Chair
of the Division of Instrumental
Studies
James Scott, Dean of the College of Music
Mark Wardell, Dean of the Toulouse
Graduate School
Mullins, Dustin Kyle. A Comparison of Rhythm, Articulation, and Harmony in
Jean-Michel Defaye’s À la Manière de Stravinsky pour Trombone et Piano to Common
Compositional Strategies of Igor Stravinsky. Doctor of Musical Arts (Performance),
August 2014, 45 pp., 2 tables, 27 examples, references, 28 titles.
À la Manière de Stravinsky is one piece in a series of works composed by JeanMichel Defaye that written emulating the compositional styles of significant composers
of the past. This dissertation compares Defaye’s work to common compositional
practices of Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971). There is currently limited study of Defaye’s
set of À la Manière pieces and their imitative characteristics.
The first section of this dissertation presents the significance of the project,
current literature, and methods of examination. The next section provides critical
information on Jean-Michel Defaye and Igor Stravinsky. The following three chapters
contain a compositional comparison of À la Manière de Stravinsky to Stravinsky’s use of
rhythm, articulation, and harmony. The final section draws a conclusion of the piece’s
significance in the solo trombone repertoire.
This study will add to the published material on Jean-Michel Defaye and this
influential series of pieces and is intended to further the interest of research into the
works of this important composer.
Copyright 2014
by
Dustin Kyle Mullins
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would first like to take the opportunity to thank Tony Baker for all of his
guidance. He has not only taught me about musicianship and scholarship, but also
about professional protocol and how to be a respectable colleague.
Vern and Jan Kagarice have also been extremely influential. They have taught
me many important lessons about the importance of musicianship.
My friends have helped me survive the many trials of being a graduate student,
as well as helped me celebrate my greatest triumphs. Thank you for always being there.
Your loyalty in all of my endeavors is truly a blessing.
Last but not least, my wonderful family who has endlessly supported me on my
entire academic journey. I am forever grateful of your unconditional love.
All images in this document are reproduced under Public Domain or Fair Use
Provisions.
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ iii
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. v
LIST OF EXAMPLES ...................................................................................................... vi
Chapters
1.
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1
Significance...................................................................................... 1
Current Literature ............................................................................. 2
Methods of Examination .................................................................. 5
2.
COMPOSER BIOGRAPHY ........................................................................ 6
Jean-Michel Defaye ......................................................................... 6
Igor Stravinsky ................................................................................. 7
3.
COMPARISON OF RHYTHM ................................................................... 13
Ostinato.......................................................................................... 13
Metric Displacement ...................................................................... 19
4.
COMPARISON OF ARTICULATION ........................................................ 24
General Usage ............................................................................... 24
Glissando ....................................................................................... 29
Ornamentation ............................................................................... 31
5.
COMPARISON OF HARMONY ................................................................ 34
Scales ............................................................................................ 34
Intervals ......................................................................................... 37
6.
CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................... 42
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................. 44
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Page
1. Articulation, Defaye – À la Manière de Stravinsky, Fig. 11-23 ................................... 25
2. Articulation, Stravinsky – Piano Rag Music, mm. 1-81 .............................................. 27
v
LIST OF EXAMPLES
All images in this document are reproduced under Public Domain or Fair Use
Provisions.
Page
1. Ostinato – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 24-25, 29-37 ........................... 14
2. Ostinato – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 51-59 ...................................... 15
3. Ostinato – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 66-79 ...................................... 17
4. Ostinato – Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, “Augurs of Spring”, mm. 38-53 ................ 18
5. Ostinato – Stravinsky, Five Easy Pieces, “Gallop” mm. 22-35 ................................... 19
6. Metric Displacement – Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring,
“Sacrificial Dance”, mm. 2-9 ....................................................................................... 20
7. Metric Displacement – Stravinsky, The Soldier’s Tale,
“Royal March”, mm. 1-11 21 ...................................................................................... 21
8. Metric Displacement – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 20-25 ................... 22
9. Metric Displacement – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 26-28 ................... 23
10. Articulation – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 1-8................... .......... .......26
11. Articulation – Stravinsky, Piano Rag Music, mm. 1-19..................... .......... .............28
12. Articulation – Stravinsky, Petrushka, “Dance of the Coachmen”, mm. 44-111 ........ 29
13. Glissando – Stravinsky, Firebird, “Infernal Dance”, mm. 84, 86 ............................... 30
14. Glissando – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 84-85 .................................. 30
15. Glissando – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 148-152, 159-163 ............... 31
16. Glissando – Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, “Sacrificial Dance”, mm. 151-175 ....... 31
17. Ornamentation – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 62-63 .......................... 32
18. Ornamentation – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 52-59 .......................... 33
vi
19. Ornamentation – Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, “Spring Rounds”, mm. 1-6 .......... 33
20. Whole-Tone – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 4-8 .................................. 35
21. Pentatonic – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 50-61 ................................. 36
22. Pentatonic – Stravinsky, The Song of the Nightingale,
“Chinese March”, mm. 50-77 ................................................................................... 37
23. Major-Minor Thirds – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 1-4 ........................ 38
24. Major-Minor Thirds – Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring,
“Dance of the Young Girls”, mm. 1-4 ....................................................................... 39
25. Juxtaposed Fourths – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 153-160 .............. 40
26. Juxtaposed Fourths – Stravinsky, The Firebird, “Finale”, mm. 41-42 ...................... 40
27. Juxtaposed Fourths – Stravinsky, Three Children’s Stories, mm. 1-4 ..................... 41
vii
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Significance
Jean-Michel Defaye (b. 1932) has been a significant French composer of brass
solo and chamber music since the middle of the 20th century. He has written for many of
the world’s greatest brass musicians including Michel Becquet, Jacques Mauger, and
David Taylor. These collaborations have produced a substantial amount of quality
compositions for brass. One of Defaye’s most widely recognized works for solo
trombone, Deux Danses (1953), has been studied extensively by scholars and
performers. Since this composition, Defaye has contributed many other works for the
trombone. Over the past two decades, Defaye has composed a collection of six pieces
for solo trombone that emulate the styles of important historical composers. These
pieces begin their title with À la Manière de, which translates to In the Manner of:
À la Manière de Bach (1990)
À la Manière de Schumann (2000)
À la Manière de Debussy (2001)
À la Manière de Vivaldi (2002)
À la Manière de Stravinsky (2005)
À la Manière de Brahms (2011)
The purpose of this study is to compare the compositional traits of À la Manière
de Stravinsky to those of Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971). I identify rhythmic, articulation,
and harmonic characteristics of Defaye’s piece that closely resemble some of Igor
Stravinsky’s most utilized devices. Furthermore, it is my hope that this project continues
to promote the interest and study of this important composer and his output of solo
trombone literature.
1
Current Literature
At the time of this study, there are only a few sources of information on the life
and compositional output of Jean-Michel Defaye. Likewise, the amount of research on
the À la Manière de series is limited. Written in 2011, Aaron Rader’s dissertation on À la
Manière de Debussy is one of the most extensive sources, and is the main impetus of
my study. His study contains a short compilation of biographical information from
previously written dissertations on the composer. The main focus of the study is a
comparison of Jean-Michel Defaye’s compositional methods in À la Manière de
Debussy to those of French Impressionist composer Claude Debussy (1862–1918).1
A few other dissertations have been written focusing on other works by JeanMichel Defaye for solo trombone. Nathaniel Brickens’ 1989 dissertation examining the
jazz influences on select trombone solos provides biographical information on JeanMichel Defaye.2 Sean Flanigan’s dissertation From Deux Danses to Fluctuations:
Compositional Components and Innovations in Two Solo Trombone Works of JeanMichel Defaye, provides important biographical information about Defaye compiled
through personal interviews with the composer.3
Two professional recordings contain at least a portion of the À la Manière de set.
Brent Phillips’s Stepping Stones for Trombone, Volume 2, has recordings of À la
Manière de Stravinsky, À la Manière de Vivaldi, and À la Manière de Bach. His program
note gives standard biographical information about Jean-Michel Defaye and briefly
describes the series of À la Manière de pieces. Of À la Manière de Stravinsky, Phillips
1
Aaron Rader, “Jean-Michel Defaye’s À la Manière de Debussy pour Trombone et Piano: A
Nathaniel Brickens, “Jazz Elements in Five Selected Trombone Solos by Twentieth Century French
Composers” (DMA diss., University of Texas, 1989).
3
Sean Flanigan, “From Deux Danses to Fluctuations: Compositional Components and Innovations in
Two Solo Trombone Works of Jean-Michel Defaye” (DMA diss., University of North Texas, 2006).
2
2
simply states that the piece, “takes on the character of Igor Stravinsky.”4 French
trombonist Jacques Mauger has recorded other works in the series including À la
Manière de Bach and À la Manière de Schumann, on the CD Infinite Trombone.5
On the cover of works published by Alphonse Leduc is a basic biography of the
composer of the piece. À la Manière de Stravinsky includes information on Jean-Michel
Defaye’s education, prizes and awards, and basic information about his diverse
compositional output.6
Writings on the life and compositional output of Igor Stravinsky on the other hand
are quite numerous. The Music of Igor Stravinsky, by Pieter C. Van den Toorn, is one of
the most extensive overviews of the composer’s major works. It identifies common
stylistic trends throughout the course of Stravinsky’s career including his different uses
of rhythm, articulation, and harmony.7 Francis Routh’s Stravinsky, provides basic
biographical information on the composer, and then provides a very thorough analysis
of some of his most prominent compositional techniques. A few of these relevant to this
study include Stravinsky’s use of rhythmic displacement, as well as his extensive
utilization of certain intervals including half steps and perfect fourths.8
The use of the ostinato is also a significant feature of Defaye’s work. There are
many sources analyzing Stravinsky’s use of the ostinato throughout his music. In “The
Rhythms of Reiteration: Formal Development in Stravinsky’s Ostinati” (1992), Gretchen
Horlacher uses excerpts from Symphony of Psalms (1930) and the melodrama
4
Jean-Michel Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, performed by Brent Phillips, Potenza Music
PM1017, CD, 2011.
5
Jean-Michel Defaye, À la Manière de Debussy, performed by Jacques Mauger, Indesens Records
B009P13FRA, CD, 2012.
6
Jean-Michel Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky (Paris: Alphonse Leduc, 2005).
7
Pieter C. Van den Toorn, The Music of Igor Stravinsky (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983).
8
Francis Routh, Stravinsky (London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1975), 130-135.
3
Persephone (1934) to explain how Stravinsky uses the ostinato “to create continuity and
form.”9
According to Pieter Van den Toorn, “Much of what is characteristic of Igor
Stravinsky’s music may be defined rhythmically in terms of displacement, shifts in the
metrical alignment of repeated motives, themes, and chords.”10 The use of rhythmic
displacement is prevalent throughout Defaye’s piece as well, and Van den Toorn’s
article “Stravinsky, Adorno, and the Art of Displacement” (2005) gives a detailed
discussion of many examples of Stravinsky’s use of this technique. There are numerous
sources on Stravinsky’s common uses of rhythm, articulation, and harmony that can
provide further insight into Defaye’s intentions in À la Manière de Stravinsky.
Articulation is another of the defining characteristics of À la Manière de
Stravinsky and is also prominent throughout much of the music of Igor Stravinsky. An
important study on this topic is Alicja Jarzebska’s article “The Problem of Articulation in
Stravinsky’s Music” (2004).11 In the study, Jarzebska analyzes Stravinsky’s reasoning
behind his detailed use of articulation marks.
While the popularity of Defaye’s À la Manière de series is gaining performance
attention among trombonists, there is still more scholarly research to be done on the
pieces. Because of the absence of solo trombone literature from Igor Stravinsky, an
accurate performance of À la Manière de Stravinsky demands that the soloist fully
understands the composer’s complex treatment of rhythm, articulation, and harmony.
The sources mentioned above help to provide critical information to trombonists about
9
Gretchen Horlacher, “The Rhythms of Reiteration: Formal Development in Stravinsky’s
Ostinati” Music Theory Spectrum 14, no. 2 (Fall 1992): 187.
10
Pieter Van den Toorn, “Stravinsky, Adorno, and the Art of Displacement”, The Musical Quarterly
87, no. 3 (Autumn 2004): 468
11
Alicja Jarzebska, “The Problem of Articulation in Stravinsky’s Music”, Musica Iagellonica 3, no. 1
(2004): 241-256.
4
this piece’s individual nuances, and allow the soloist to create a more informed
performance of this piece, as well as all of the pieces in the À la Manière de collection.
Methods of Examination
This project compares Jean-Michel Defaye’s use of rhythm, articulation, and
harmony in À la Manière de Stravinsky to compositional methods of Igor Stravinsky.
The next chapter provides pertinent biographical information of both Jean-Michel
Defaye and Igor Stravinsky. The three following chapters provide comparisons of
different facets of the use of rhythm, articulation, and harmony. The final chapter
presents the conclusions of the project as they pertain to solo trombone literature.
5
CHAPTER 2
COMOSER BIOGRAPHY
Jean-Michel Defaye
Jean-Michel Defaye was born in 1932 in Saint Maude, Val de Marne, France.12
His musical studies began with piano at age five, and he entered the Conservatoire
National Supérior de Paris in Paris at age ten.13 As a composition and piano student, he
studied with Tony Aubin, Darius Milhaud, Jean Gallon, Noel Gallon, and Henri
Challan.14 Additionally, Defaye was a participant in Nadia Boulanger’s accompanying
class during his time at the conservatory.15 He was the recipient of such awards as First
Prize in Harmony (1948), First Medal in Counterpoint (1949), and Second Prize in
Composition (1950). Outside of the Conservatory, Defaye won such honors as the
Harvard Prize of the Lili Boulanger Foundation (1951), Deuxieme Grand Prix de Rome
(1952), and Second Prize in Composition at the International Festival of Queen
Elizabeth of Belgium (1953). Additionally, he has fulfilled commissions from French
Ministry of Culture and the conservatory.16
Jean-Michel Defaye’s compositional output has spanned seven decades and
contains many significant brass solos and chamber works. The instrument used most
often in his instrumental solo music is the trombone. This is likely a result of Defaye
having played the trombone as a teenager.17 Defaye has composed many important
works for trombone solo and ensembles including his most widely regarded work Deux
Danses (1953), Quatre Pièces, for trombone quartet (1954), Mouvement, for trombone
12
Brickens, 71.
Flanigan, 3.
14
Brickens, 71.
15
Defaye.
16
Flanigan, 4.
17
Ibid, 10.
13
6
and piano (1972), Fluctuations for solo trombone, 6 trombones and 2 percussion
(1980). Most recently, Defaye has been producing the innovative series of À la Manière
de pieces (1990–2011). Works for other brass instruments include Sonatine for trumpet
(1956), Suite Marine (1989) for tuba solo, and Alpha for Horn solo. In addition to his
solo instrumental works, Defaye has also composed orchestral works, including
Hallucinations for Large Orchestra (1974).18 He has also written works for radio and
film, and has a series of etude books for flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone,
and tuba.19
Jean-Michel Defaye currently lives in Saint-Cloud, outside of Paris, and spends
his summers composing at a summer home on the island of Corsica, where he still
often plays the cornet.20 His continued commitment to composing substantial music for
the trombone repertoire has earned a strong respect for his work from the trombone
community.
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky was born in 1882 in St. Petersburg into a prominent family of
Russian musicians.21 His father, the descendant of Polish landowners and senators,
was a well known bass-baritone of the late nineteenth century in Russia.22 His mother,
Anna Kholodovsky (1854–1939), was the daughter of a Kiev minister and was a
talented pianist.23 His father, Fyodor Stravinsky (1843–1902), developed close
relationships with many important Russian composers including Nikolay Rimsky-
18
Flanigan, 5.
Defaye.
20
Ibid, 10.
21
Stephen Walsh, “Stravinsky, Igor (Fyodorovich)”, Grove Music Online, October 18, 2013.
22
Ibid.
23
Routh, 1.
19
7
Korsakov (1844–1908).24 This most important connection helped to initiate a close and
long lasting connection between Rimsky-Korsakov and Fyodor’s son, Igor Stravinsky.
The apprenticeship under Rimsky-Korsakov would ultimately greatly influence his entire
career as a composer in many ways.
Stravinsky entered St. Petersburg University in the fall of 1901 as a law student,
but he also took private composition lessons with Rimsky-Korsakov.25 These studies led
to the publication of some of his first works, the Sonata in F-sharp minor and his
Symphony in E-flat (1905).26 These early works are mainly composed in the manner of
Stravinsky’s own Russian predecessors and contemporaries including Tchaikovsky and
Glazunov. The compositions of this period use Russian folk themes and exhibit strong
nationalistic influences in their rhythmic and non-diatonic scale patterns.27 It is during
this compositional period that Stravinsky began to develop creative ideas about how the
elements of music could be used to their fullest potential, including harmonies such as
the whole-tone and octatonic scales and rhythmic invention.28
The early ballets composed by Stravinsky during the years 1910 – 1914, which
were commissions for Russian ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballet
Russes, are arguably some of the most important works in his entire output.29 These
works not only established Stravinsky’s dramatic style, but also his reputation as a
significant composer of the 20th century with his own style. The ballets also exhibit traits
of the strong influence of the orchestration training he received during college from his
24
Walsh, “Stravinsky, Igor.”
Ibid.
26
Ibid.
27
George Ronald Drew, “A Study of Stravinsky’s Use of the Trombone in Selected Works” (MM
thesis, University of North Texas, 1968), 14.
28
Stephen Walsh, The Music of Stravinsky (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 3.
29
Walsh, “Stravinsky, Igor.”
25
8
teacher and master of orchestration Rimsky-Korsakov.30 Additionally, these ballets
show a continued interest of Stravinsky in fully utilizing the pentatonic, octatonic, and
whole-tone scales.31 Though earlier compositions hinted at the dissonant tendencies
used by Stravinsky such as bitonality and polytonality as well as the use of free
dissonance and nonharmonic tones, it was The Rite of Spring (1913) that truly
showcased the ultimate expansion of complex chromaticism that he would use
throughout his career.32 The success of the early ballets such as The Firebird (1910),
Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring immediately made Stravinsky a household
name, and French aristocratic backers and composers such as Debussy and Ravel
instantly befriended him.33 By 1913, Stravinsky had moved to Paris, and after one final
visit to St. Petersburg in October of that year, Stravinsky would not return to the city of
his birth for nearly 50 years.34
1917 was a year of “fragmentation and disintegration” for Stravinsky.35 His
younger brother Goury died on the Romanian front in July and the Bolshevik revolution
in October–November completed a year of both artistic and personal struggles for the
composer.36 In 1918, during a period in Switzerland, Stravinsky collaborated with
novelist C.F. Ramuz on his chamber work for eight musicians, dancers, and three
speakers, The Soldier’s Tale.37 It was this work that furthered the “exploitation of
30
Walsh, “Stravinsky, Igor.”
Walsh, The Music of Stravinsky, 17.
32
th
Milo Wold and Edmund A. Cykler, An Outline History of Music, 6 ed. (Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown
Company Publishers, 1985), 303.
33
Walsh, “Stravinsky, Igor.”
34
Ibid.
35
Ibid.
36
Ibid.
37
Walsh, “Stravinsky, Igor.”
31
9
elements such as meter, rhythm, and tonality that take place where The Rite of Spring
left off.”38
By the year 1920, Stravinsky’s compositions had become primarily neoclassical
in style. Neoclassicism refers to “the deliberate imitation of an earlier style within a
contemporary context and is characterized by a return to absolute music, lighter and
smaller ensemble orchestration, return to conventional genres and forms, particularly
those of the Baroque and Classical eras, as well as a return to the tonal idiom of these
periods.”39 Indeed, Stravinsky admits that as far as absolute music is concerned, that of
the Octet (1923), “This sort of music has no other aim than to be sufficient in itself.”40
Other significant works that illustrate Stravinsky’s use of neoclassic techniques include
The Wedding (1923), Concerto for Piano and Winds (1924), Symphony of Psalms
(1930), and Symphony in C (1940). 41
Igor Stravinsky gained official French nationality in 1934.42 He did much “literary
and didactic” work during this time, particularly the publishing of his two-volume
autobiography Chroniques de Ma Vie (1935, 1936).43 Also during these years,
Stravinsky took the first of several extended trips to the United States and South
America.44 A series of tragedies for Stravinsky personally, including the passing of his
daughter, Lyudmila, of tuberculosis in 1938, the death of his 84-year-old mother in
38
Routh, 78.
nd
Mark Evan Bonds, A History of Music in Western Culture, 2 ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson, 2006), 599.
40
Eric White, Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1966), 530.
41
Stanley Dale Krebs, “Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky, 1882–1971”, Russian Review 30, no. 3 (July
1971): 318.
42
Walsh, “Stravinsky, Igor.”
43
Ibid.
44
Walsh, “Stravinsky, Igor.”
39
10
1939, and the passing of his wife of 33 years in the same year took their toll.45
Stravinsky was offered a series of six lectures and weekly composition seminars at
Harvard University for October 1939 – April 1940. 46 This opportunity along with his
current struggles in Paris and the outbreak of war in Europe led to him to move to the
United States in 1940.47 A woman whom Stravinsky had become close with in France
named Vera de Bosset accompanied him to the United States, and they married soon
after.
Stravinsky officially became an American citizen in 1945, and he and his new
wife purchased a home in West Hollywood where the family stayed until 1969.48 One of
his most important compositions during his first decade in the United States is
Symphony in Three Movements (1945), which was seen by many as his return to earlier
“Scythian or Dionysian” elements exhibited by the early ballets.49 Other pieces
belonging to Stravinsky’s late-neoclassical output while in the United States include the
ballet Orpheus (1948), as well as his masterpiece The Rake’s Progress (1951).50
The Septet (1952) and Cantata (1952) often mark the starting point for the serial
method of composition in Igor Stravinsky’s output. An interest in serialism in the works
of Schoenberg and Webern stemmed from a visit to Europe in 1951 and a series of
Schoenberg concerts heard in Los Angeles in 1952 by Stravinsky.51 Serialism became
the dominant feature of the remainder of Stravinsky’s works.52 These works included a
45
Krebs, 318.
Ibid.
47
Ibid.
48
Walsh, “Stravinsky, Igor.”
49
Ibid.
50
Ibid.
51
Walsh, “Stravinsky, Igor.”
52
Ibid.
46
11
wealth of sacred choral works including Canticum (1955), Threni (1957-8), Introitus
(1965), and finally Requiem Canticles (1966).
In 1969, Stravinsky and his family moved to New York to have closer access to
his growing medical treatment needs. They remained until his death in April 1971.53
The enormous output of Igor Stravinsky has left a great impact on Western
music. His journeys throughout many places during his life had strong influences upon
his works and major stylistic periods. He shaped many feelings about new types of
sounds during the 20th century and influenced a large number of composers after him.
Jean-Michel Defaye has taken advantage of the wide array of stylistic trends within
Stravinsky’s compositions and composed À la Manière de Stravinsky, which captures
these rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic techniques.
53
Ibid.
12
CHAPTER 3
COMPARISON OF RHYTHM
Rhythm is a dominant element in all of Igor Stravinsky’s works. In his published
sketches of The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky wrote, “Music exists when there is rhythm, as
life exists when there is a pulse.”54 Marianne Kielian-Gilbert states, “The grouping,
duration, and shape of rhythmic patterns in Stravinsky’s music often has motivic
implications.”55 These motives contribute significantly to the overall forms of his
compositions. Stravinsky used rhythm in many ways in his works, including long
ostinato patterns to create a harmonic basis, as well as metric displacement. Defaye
imitated Stravinsky’s rhythmic methods through similar usage of extensive ostinati, and
metric displacement in À la Manière de Stravinsky.
Ostinato
Throughout Igor Stravinsky’s compositional stages, one striking rhythmic feature
remained constant – his use of the ostinato. Gretchen Horlacher’s study, “The Rhythms
of Reiteration: Formal Development in Stravinsky's Ostinati,” states “Stravinsky’s
superimposition of ostinato and other repeating fragments creates both continuity and
form, and the interaction of superimposed strata controls the lengths of phrases and
contributes to the establishment of pitch priority.”56
The term ostinato refers to the repetition of a musical pattern many times in
succession while other musical elements are generally changing.57 It was often used in
54
Jarzebska, 244.
Marianne Kielian-Gilbert, “The Rhythms of Form: Correspondence and Analogy in Stravinsky’s
Designs”, Music Theory Spectrum 9 (Spring 1987): 42.
56
Horlacher, 187.
57
Laure Schnapper, “Ostinato”, Grove Music Online. February 23, 2014.
55
13
music of the Baroque era to create forms such as passacaglia, folia, and chaconne.58
“Although melodic-rhythmic ostinati have generally appeared in the bass throughout
history, 20th-century composers, particularly Igor Stravinsky, also used them in the
highest voice or in an intermediate voice, thus changing the way they are perceived.”59
Defaye similarly creates a sense of formal continuity and harmonic progress in each of
the three major formal sections of À la Manière de Stravinsky through the use of the
ostinato.
The first portion of the piece begins with an introductory call and response
between trombone and piano before leading into the main material. The first ostinato
then begins at measure 18 with a sixteenth note pattern made up of revolving,
descending perfect fourths based on the F Lydian scale in the right hand for the first two
sixteenth notes, over a descending pattern of E, D-sharp, D, C-sharp in the left hand on
the last two of each beat (Ex. 1). As the tonal focus of the melody shifts throughout this
section, so too does the ostinato accompaniment. In measure 23 when the focus of the
melody shifts to A-flat, the ostinato in the accompaniment shifts a minor third in the right
hand. As Defaye develops the melodic content in the trombone solo, he uses the
ostinato accompaniment to create harmonic and formal continuity.
58
59
Ibid.
Schnapper, "Ostinato.”
14
Example 1. Ostinato – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 16-22.
Defaye also utilizes the ostinato accompaniment as a basis for the entire second
main formal section of À la Manière de Stravinsky. Defaye slows the pace by using an
eighth note ostinato in the right hand composed with two upper pitches moving between
a fourth and a fifth, and a static note on the upbeat. The left hand emphasizes changes
in the overall harmonic structure every 3-4 measures with a distinctly low tessitura pedal
point, and then resumes the previous pattern by moving up 3 octaves to play quarter
notes in repetition (Ex. 2).
Example 2. Ostinato – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 51-59.
15
The final major ostinato opens the last section of À la Manière de Stravinsky and
consists of a simple eighth note down and upbeat revolution (Ex. 3). Although its
harmony changes with the development of the melodic content and its character
changes slightly in the middle of the section with a more legato feeling, its basic
structure and feeling remains constant until the end of the piece. The left hand consists
of steady eighth notes in wider intervals, mainly ninths and tenths. The right hand plays
only the upbeats, which are most often made up of two sets of perfect fourths separated
by a major second. In some of its forms, it contains an added fifth pitch, one octave
below the highest note.
Example 3. Ostinato – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 133–147.
16
The three types of ostinati in À la Manière de Stravinsky are used to help
establish the overall form of the work. They are composed in a manner that closely
resembles the usage of the device by Igor Stravinsky. The use of the ostinato is present
from Stravinsky’s earliest ballets to the final serial works. Musicologist Gretchen
Horlacher states, “Stravinsky's music is characterized above all by immediate and
persistent motivic repetition.”60 Just as was the case in Jean-Michel Defaye’s use of the
ostinato to create a harmonic foundation within À la Manière de Stravinsky, Stephen
Walsh notes that, “In many cases, Stravinsky’s ostinati were rich textures with many
notes that are kept in play because of the technically dissonant harmonies.61
One of the most recognizable of all of Stravinsky’s ostinati occurs in The Rite of
Spring. “The Augurs of Spring” contains a heavily dissonant, eighth note ostinato in the
strings with irregular accents consisting of a polytonal pitch collection (Ex. 4).
60
61
Horlacher, 171.
Walsh, The Music of Stravinsky, 31.
17
Example 4 – Ostinato, The Rite of Spring, “The Augurs of Spring”, mm. 38-53.
Stravinsky uses this ostinato not only to emphasize the heavy stamping in the
choreography, but also to create a collection of pitches to form a harmonic foundation
for the melody. The irregular accents in the ostinato are also used to create structure
within the natural stresses of the melodic content.
Another example of an ostinato by Stravinsky occurs in his Five Easy Pieces for
Piano Duet (1918). It is made up of a revolving eighth note downbeat, upbeat pattern in
which the bass voice ascends and descends (Ex. 5). This closely resembles the scalar
motion of the left hand accompaniment in the ostinato in À la Manière de Stravinsky
from measures 153-162.
18
Example 5. Ostinato – Stravinsky, Five Easy Pieces: “Gallop”, mm. 22-35.
Metric Displacement
Another of Igor Stravinsky’s prominent compositional techniques involving rhythm
is his use of metric displacement. Pieter Van den Toorn’s 2005 article Stravinsky,
Adorno, and the Art of Displacement, states that “Much of what is characteristic of Igor
Stravinsky’s music may be defined rhythmically in terms of displacement, shifts in the
metrical alignment of repeated motives, themes, and chords.”62 Francis Routh describes
two approaches to this. In the first, “The addition of small pulse-units to, or their
subtraction from, the regular and expected phrase-shape leads to delayed or
anticipated accentuation, or syncopation against the beat, or to the clash of contrasted
rhythmic patterns.”63 The second is through the juxtaposition of patterns to make an
unequal rhythmic phrase.64 The string ostinato from “The Augurs of Spring,” mm. 38-53
(Ex. 4), is an instance of this type of unequal phrase patterns described by Routh. The
example below from the “Sacrificial Dance” shows the first of these two methods, in
62
Van den Toorn, 468.
Routh, 78.
64
Routh, 75.
63
19
which Stravinsky creates displacement with the addition or subtraction of sixteenth
notes from each measure.
Example 6. Metric Displacement – The Rite of Spring, “Sacrificial Dance”, mm. 2-9.
Another of Stravinsky’s most recognizable uses of this rhythmic device takes
place in the “Royal March” from The Soldier’s Tale. In this instance, Stravinsky
composes a melody for trombone and trumpet with varied 5/8 and 2/4 time signatures
over a constant eighth-note/eighth-rest ostinato. This creates the aural illusion that the
accompaniment is moving back and forth between the downbeats and upbeats. This
example of simultaneous mixed meter melodic content sounding with a symmetrical,
downbeat ostinato in the accompaniment is the second version of Stravinsky’s use of
metric displacement in his music as described by Routh.
20
Example 7. Metric Displacement – Stravinsky, The Soldier’s Tale, “Royal March”, mm.
1-11.
In À la Manière de Stravinsky, Jean-Michel Defaye uses two adaptations of
Stravinsky’s methods to create metric displacement. The first of these include different
instances of wide interval, rhythmic interjections within the progress of the main melodic
material. Boris Asaf’yev refers to “these propulsive sevenths and ninths in the bass as a
favorite of Stravinsky’s devices of syncopation.”65 In measure 22, Defaye interrupts the
melody by interjecting a sharply contrasting, unison syncopated figure between
trombone and piano. The irregular accents cause a feeling of metric instability. The
angular intervals used in this passage including 7ths, 9ths, and 10ths provide for further
disruption. These types of interjections are similar to the first of Routh’s classifications of
Stravinsky’s metric displacement techniques, in which a feeling of delayed accentuation,
or syncopation is created against the regular beat.
65
Boris Asaf’yev, A Book About Stravinsky (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1982), 33.
21
Example 8. Metric Displacement – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 20-25.
Another example of the use of metric displacement in À la Manière de Stravinsky
begins in measure 27. Here, Defaye uses effects similar to the first type of displacement
identified by Routh in which an extra pulse-unit is added, causing a delay in the general
pulse of the music. Defaye inserts a 7/8 measure in which both the ostinato and melodic
material is interrupted by ascending and descending scales. Defaye completes the
interjection by inserting a strong unison intervallic “punch” similar to that of measures
22-23.
Example 9. Pulse-Unit Addition – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 26-28.
22
Rhythm is the most important of all elements in Igor Stravinsky’s music. He uses
rhythmic patterns and dissonances to create form within his works. One of the most
prominent rhythmic features of many of his compositions is the use of the ostinato.
Another important rhythmic component of Igor Stravinsky’s music is his use of metric
displacement. Francis Routh describes two basic methods in which Stravinsky utilizes
this feature in his compositions. Jean-Michel Defaye incorporates all of these rhythmic
techniques throughout À la Manière de Stravinsky.
23
CHAPTER 4
COMPARISON OF ARTICULATION
Stravinsky once said, “The stylistic performance problem in my music is one of
articulation and rhythmic diction. Nuance depends on these.”66 Another remarkable
feature of compositions by Igor Stravinsky is his attention to the detail of articulation.
Alicja Jarzebska describes his overall use of articulation as serving two purposes: “To
separate successive pitches and their timbre, as well as grouping them within bigger
formal units.”67 Stravinsky is extremely diligent in his frequent use of many types of
expressive articulation marks throughout his scores. Defaye recreated Stravinsky’s style
of articulation in À la Manière de Stravinsky with the inclusion of general marks such as
staccato, tenuto, legato/slur, accents, as well as with different uses of the glissando,
and various types of ornamentation.
General Usage
Until the end of the Baroque era, the most common articulation marks in notated
music were the slur and the staccato mark.68 As composers took more control over the
interpretation of their works, they began using more specific symbols, terms, and even
written verbal instructions on an increasing basis.69 Igor Stravinsky littered his scores
with staccato and tenuto marks, accents, marcato accents, slurs, and many other
articulation directions in his compositions in order to create musicality and form.
Jean-Michel Defaye liberally utilizes many types of articulation throughout his
piece as well. His uses help to create and reinforce musical style, as well as group
66
Jarzebska, 241.
Ibid.
68
Clive Brown, “Articulation Marks”, Grove Music Online, March 3, 2014.
69
Ibid.
67
24
smaller motives into larger units of music. Of the 671 notes in the solo trombone part,
540 are assigned at lease one specific articulation mark. Table 1 illustrates Defaye’s
replication of Stravinsky’s frequent and varied use of articulation marks in the third
section of À la Manière de Stravinsky.
Table 1. Frequency of articulation marks in the third section of Jean-Michel Defaye’s À
la Manière de Stravinsky, Fig.11-Fig.23.
Reh.
Staccato
Tenuto
Legato
Accent
Glissando
11
7
3
0
2
0
12
10
0
0
6
1
13
0
0
0
0
0
14
4
6
5
2
0
15
6
5
2
0
0
16
14
6
3
3
0
17
2
12
1
8
0
18
9
5
0
0
0
19
9
2
0
0
0
20
18
0
1
0
3
21
22
0
4
11
2
22
16
2
0
0
2
23
12
0
1
20
0
In the first eight measures of À la Manière de Stravinsky, every note in the
trombone solo contains some type of articulation (Ex. 10).
25
Example 10. Articulation – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 1-8.
The articulations used by Defaye create rhythmic structure within the melody, identical
to the manner in which Stravinsky utilized articulation within his works. The slurs,
tenutos, and accents used in this passage create metric and harmonic stress, while the
staccato marks are used to create general style amongst the remainder of the notes.
Stravinsky believed his music “should be transmitted and not interpreted.”70 This
required a great attention to detail and nuance and this can easily be seen when looking
at a score of Stravinsky. In addition to the numerous marks filling most pages,
Stravinsky often provided additional verbal information that he saw necessary.71 He felt
that graphic signs in his scores were not fully accurate symbols of imagined sonorities
and did not always provide sufficient information.72 Table 2 shows an example of the
frequency and variety of articulation marks and verbal indicators used by Stravinsky in
the first main formal section of Piano Rag Music (1918). An excerpt from the opening of
the piece follows, and demonstrates how a piece of Stravinsky’s music full of articulation
marks appears (Ex.11).
70
Roland Jackson, Performance Practice: A Dictionary-Guide for Musicians (Abingdon: Routledge,
2013), 371.
71
Jarzebska, 242.
72
Ibid.
26
Table 2. Frequency of articulation marks and verbal indicators in Stravinsky’s Piano Rag
Music, mm. 1-81.
Meas.
Staccato
Tenuto
Slur
Accent
Marcato
Accent
Verbal Indicators
1-9
7
4
4
6
3
très fort
moins fort
lenouveau très fort
10-19
11
0
11
11
0
brillante e secco
20-32
6
5
10
16
10
sf (7)
33-50
12
2
12
22
12
51-67
15
8
4
12
8
68-81
0
2
7
3
9
27
legatissimo
très court
sf (3)
staccatissimo
excessivement
court et fort
moins fort
staccatissimo
Example 11. – Articulation, Stravinsky, Piano Rag Music, mm. 1-19.
The frequency and usage of articulation marks is also evident within Stravinsky’s
orchestral writing. Specifically, “Dance of the Coachmen” from Petrushka contains a
trombone passage that is also extensively marked with various articulations. These
28
include different types of accents, as well as staccato and tenuto marks (Ex.12). The
accents used in this passage create metric progress within the passage, as well as help
to define the individual timbres of repeated pitches related to the stomping in the
choreography.73
Example 12. Articulation usage – Stravinsky, Petrushka, “Dance of the Coachmen”,
mm. 44-111.
Glissando
The use of the glissando, an articulation frequently found in the orchestral
trombone writing of Stravinsky, is another important articulation incorporated into À la
Manière de Stravinsky. A glissando most commonly refers to a rapid, sliding movement
between notes.74 The trombone is usually thought of as the instrument in the modern
73
74
Asaf’yev, 25.
David Boyden and Robin Stowell, “Glissando”, Grove Music Online. February 7, 2014.
29
orchestra to most effectively perform this technique, and as a result, many composers
have utilized the glissando in their writing.
Jean-Michel Defaye uses the similar glissando techniques in two different ways
throughout À la Manière de Stravinsky. The first use of the glissando in the piece takes
place in the third main formal section and closely resembles one of Stravinsky’s most
well known glissandos for trombone, in the ballet Firebird (Ex. 13). This type of
glissando is made up of both ascending and descending motion. The movement starts
and ends only a half step apart in Stravinsky’s version, and uses the same pitch to
initiate and terminate in Defaye’s (Ex. 14).
Example 13. Glissando – Stravinsky, Firebird, “Infernal Dance”, mm. 84, 86.
Example 14. Glissando – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 84-85.
The second type of glissando utilized by Defaye is also contained in the third
section of À la Manière de Stravinsky. In this instance, the articulation is notated only as
an ascending straight line not providing a definite starting pitch, but more so indicating a
“scooping” from below type of sound to begin the note (Ex. 15). This happens three
times throughout the final section. This type of glissando is used by Defaye to reinforce
a sense of metric displacement, as described in Chapter 3.
30
Example 15. Glissando – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 148-52, 159-63.
Igor Stravinsky also uses these “scooping” glissandi in several of his orchestral
trombone parts, also to enhance agogic stress in unlikely places to create a sense of
metric displacement. In the Rite of Spring for example, during the ending portion of the
“Sacrificial Dance,” the trombone plays a similar type of glissando on the strong beats of
new meters (Ex. 16).
Example 16. Glissando – Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, “Sacrificial Dance”, mm. 151175.
Ornamentation
Throughout much of the history of Western music, musicians have embellished
notes in a melody through the use of ornamentation. The use of ornaments in early
Baroque music was often improvised to a certain degree based on a performer’s skill,
31
but this freedom was moderated by more precise indications in the notation as the 17th
and 18th centuries progressed.75 “By the 20th century, composers notated their music
with a precision that left virtually no opportunity for spontaneous embellishment.”76 In
addition to the previously described markings, Igor Stravinsky often notated different
types of melodic ornaments in his melodies such as grace notes and trills to reinforce
articulation.
Defaye similarly decorates the melodic content of the second formal section of À
la Manière de Stravinsky with different types of ornaments. Measures 62-63 use grace
notes to color the vocal-like pentatonic melody (Ex. 17).
Example 17. Ornamentation – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 62-63
Defaye also uses a more specifically notated version of ornamentation in the lento
section of À la Manière de Stravinsky (Ex.18). This type of ornament contains written
out thirty-second notes that resemble the effects of mordents and grace notes.
75
Simon McVeigh and Neal Peres Da Costa, “Ornaments and Ornamentation”, Grove Music Online,
March 11, 2014.
76
McVeigh, “Ornaments and Ornamentation.”
32
Example 18. Ornamentation – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 52-59.
Igor Stravinsky’s melodies often contained a similar use of grace notes (Ex. 19).
The duet between E-flat and B-flat clarinets in the opening of “Spring Rounds” in The
Rite of Spring is an example of Stravinsky’s use of grace notes that closely resembles
the pentatonic passage used by Defaye shown above (Ex. 17).
Example 19. Ornamentation – Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, “Spring Rounds“, mm. 16.
Igor Stravinsky’s overall style of articulation is very detailed. The use of specific
symbols such as staccato, tenuto, slur, and accent heavily embellish his compositions
and provide very specific direction to the performer so that they may accurately
reproduce his compositional intentions. In addition to the general markings, Stravinsky
often utilized the glissando in his orchestral trombone writing of is due to the
instrument’s ability to execute the technique and provide new color and dimension. The
ornamentation of melodies within his output is also extremely common. These uses of
the many types of articulation are similarly utilized within Jean-Michel Defaye’s À la
Manière de Stravinsky to provide nuance and a musical character representative of a
work that could have been composed by Igor Stravinsky.
33
CHAPTER 5
COMPARISON OF HARMONY
Igor Stravinsky utilized the element of harmony in his compositions as creatively
as he did rhythm and articulation. Stravinsky’s harmonies were not rooted in traditional
harmonic function, but instead based on their individual sonorities. In addition to finding
the correct structure of a chord, Stravinsky was also on a search to find the most
appropriate instrumental colors to make the complex sounds work.77 In achieving this,
his music freely combines (often simultaneously) traditional major and minor tonalities
with other scales including the church modes, whole-tone, pentatonic, and octatonic
scales, as well as a constant presence of certain trademark intervals including half
steps and fourths.
Scales
Stravinsky’s use of harmony in his early compositional period explores many
different types of scale patterns. Symmetrically constructed modes such as the
octatonic and whole-tone scales were integral parts of melodic and harmonic content of
these works.78 Additionally the influence of his contemporaries, who were also exploring
different types of harmonic devices and scales such as the church modes and the
pentatonic scale, found its way into Stravinsky’s works. These different types of scale
patterns helped Stravinsky to blur tonality in the traditional sense and create new types
of sonorities in his music.
The whole-tone scale symmetrically divides the octave into six whole steps. This
creates only two possibilities of pitch collections, and since the intervals between
77
78
Walsh, The Music of Stravinsky, 49.
Walsh, The Music of Stravinsky, 10.
34
adjacent degrees are the same, it lacks a dominant and a leading tone scale degree,
and therefore has no functional tonal center.79 Since its early use by Russian pioneer
Mikhail Glinka, the whole-tone scale is “now viewed as an integral part of the Russian
nationalist arsenal,”80 and is incorporated in many ways throughout Igor Stravinsky’s
works.
In À la Manière de Stravinsky, Jean-Michel Defaye utilizes the whole-tone scale
in the introductory material as a type of vague harmonic bridge. A melodic interjection of
“propulsive sevenths” in measures 5-7 is followed by the first five pitches of a wholetone scale (Ex. 20).
Example 20. Whole-Tone – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 4-8.
The use of this scale here provides a harmonically ambiguous transition from the first of
many angular interjections throughout this piece, to the return of familiar melodic
material at measures 9-10.
The pentatonic scale is a basis of folk music for many cultures around the world.
It is composed of five notes and can appear in many different forms based on the
intervals contained within. Its was used in Western music more routinely by the 20th
century, thanks in large part to Stravinsky’s contemporary and friend, Claude Debussy.
Much like the functional vagueness of the whole-tone scale, the pentatonic scale’s
inherent tonal ambiguities were also attractive to the experimental composers seeking
79
H.K. Andrews, “Whole-tone Scale”, Grove Music Online, March 1, 2014.
th
Mary S. Woodside, “Leitmotiv in Russia: Glinka’s Use of the Whole-Tone Scale”, 19 Century
Music 14, no. 1 (Summer 1990), 67.
80
35
out new sounds for their music.81 Igor Stravinsky used the pentatonic scale both alone,
and in combination with other scales, throughout much of his output.
In replicating Stravinsky, Jean-Michel Defaye uses the pentatonic scale as a
basis for the major thematic material in the second section of À la Manière de
Stravinsky. The passage from measures 55-60 contains the notes of the B-flat
pentatonic scale (Ex. 21).
Example 21. Pentatonic – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 50-59.
As previously mentioned, coupled with the presence of ornamentation in this particular
passage, it highly resembles the clarinet duet based on the E-flat pentatonic scale from
the opening of “Spring Rounds” (Ex. 19).
Igor Stravinsky utilized the exoticness of the pentatonic scale in many of his other
works as well. Stravinsky’s tone poem The Song of the Nightingale (1917), based on his
opera The Nightingale (1914), is a tale told from the view of a Chinese fisherman, and a
great deal of its melodic content relies on the pentatonic scale. The trumpet parts below
from “Chinese March” are composed solely of the notes of the F-sharp pentatonic scale
(Ex. 22).
81
Jeremy Day-O’Connell, “Pentatonic”, Grove Music Online, March 1, 2014.
36
Example 22. Pentatonic – Stravinsky, The Song of the Nightingale, “Chinese March”,
mm. 50-77. Intervals
Francis Routh describes two main frequently recurring interval patterns within
Stravinsky’s compositions. The foundations of his music, his “melos” as Routh refers to
them, consist of sequences of juxtaposed fourths, and closely grouped sequences of
half steps.82 “The chromatic inflection of a half step is frequently used to color an
otherwise simple, diatonic harmony; often it leads to the simultaneous sounding of
major and minor tonality, which is a very frequent characteristic.” 83
Jean-Michel Defaye similarly utilizes these intervals throughout the melodic and
harmonic content of À la Manière de Stravinsky. The importance of the half step is
revealed immediately. The opening notes of the accompaniment are two groups of C, D
whole steps separately sounding in octaves, followed by C-sharp (Ex. 23).
82
83
Routh, 131, 134.
Ibid.
37
Example 23. Major-Minor Thirds – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 1-4.
This conflict, juxtaposed with the tonal focus of the melody in the trombone solo, A, and
its opening on C, create a “minor-major third” conflict, much like those often created in
Igor Stravinsky’s music with a similar usage of half steps. Boris Asaf’yev describes
Stravinsky’s simultaneous sound of major and minor as a “sensation of shimmering
luminescence.”84
Peter Van den Toorn calls Stravinsky’s use of this type of harmonic color
“interference”:
Simple patterns on the surface of the music, such as the plain modal
formulae, which return again and again in the melodies, are complicated
by the intrusion of background chromatic notes, which belong not to the
context of the simple pattern but to an enriched context, which suggests
simultaneous operation of two or more such patterns.85
A common use of this device by Stravinsky occurs in The Rite of Spring, “Dance of the
Young Girls” measures 1-4, after no. 14 in the cello part. The arpeggiated chords in the
84
85
Asaf’yev, 18.
Van den Toorn, 231.
38
cello add color to the stagnant E-minor arpeggiation occurring simultaneously in the
bassoon (Ex. 24).
Example 24. Major-Minor Thirds – Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, “Dance of the Young
Girls”, mm. 1-4.
Another common intervallic relationship found in Stravinsky’s music, patterns of
juxtaposed fourths, also appears throughout Jean-Michel Defaye’s À la Manière de
Stravinsky in both melodic and harmonic ways. The ostinato accompaniment of the first
section (Ex. 1) is composed of descending, repeated perfect fourths made up of notes
from the F Lydian scale. Another instance begins in measure 154, as the melody begins
a repeated pattern of E-flat, A-flat, F, B-flat melodically juxtaposed fourths (Ex. 25).
39
Example 25. Juxtaposed Fourths – Defaye, À la Manière de Stravinsky, mm. 153-160.
These four notes combine in the upbeats of the accompaniment to provide
simultaneous presentation of the fourths separated by a major second. This
combination of fourths is a significant thematic trend throughout the last section of the
piece.
Igor Stravinsky similarly used fourths throughout his works in both a melodic and
harmonic manner. A common melodic example of this pattern occurs at the end of The
Firebird (Ex. 26), in which the descending fourth formed between F-sharp and C-sharp
is set immediately next to the ascending B to E.
Example 26. Juxtaposed Fourths – Stravinsky, The Firebird, “Finale”, mm. 41-42.
An instance in which juxtaposed fourths are used simultaneously as melodic and
harmonic material in Stravinsky’s music occurs in the opening of Three Children’s
40
Stories (1917). The interval between the notes A and D is combined with that of G and
C.
Example 27. Juxtaposed Fourths – Stravinsky, Three Children’s Stories, mm. 1-4.
Francis Routh suggests that these usages of the patterns combining fourths
simultaneously may have their origins from Stravinsky’s early awareness of folk-idioms,
but that they extend throughout his entire output of works.86
Igor Stravinsky’s harmonic vocabulary throughout his works was as revolutionary
as his usage of the other elements of music. His sound is unmistakable and is due in
part to his exploration of scales outside of the traditional major and minor modes. The
symmetrical scales such as the whole-tone and octatonic as well as other tonally
ambiguous scales including pentatonic and the church modes created his unique
sonorities. Stravinsky’s melodic and harmonic planning was also often based on certain
recurring intervals such half steps and perfect fourths. Jean-Michel Defaye identifies
and incorporates these important harmonic characteristics throughout À la Manière de
Stravinsky.
86
Routh, 131.
41
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSIONS
Significance to Solo Trombone Literature
Jean-Michel Defaye’s contribution to solo trombone literature, and his notable
reputation among professional trombonists began with the composition of Deux Danses
(1953). Since this piece, he has composed many other significant works for brass
instruments. I propose that the quality of his music necessitates further attention and
more extensive study by the musical community.
Aaron Rader writes that the À la Manière de series “offers a glimpse into the
styles of prominent composers who overlooked the trombone as a solo instrument.”87
The importance of the series is further discussed in an interview between Rader and
Professor of Trombone at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris,
Jacques Mauger. The French trombonist stated, “It is very important for trombone
players to practice and perform pieces from a composer of a different century who did
not compose solo works specifically for trombone, as well as consider the historical
context of their music.”88
Jean-Michel Defaye does not intend À la Manière de Stravinsky to be
approached as an etude, but as a significant trombone solo in the style of a work that
Igor Stravinsky might have written. Though there are many substantial orchestral
trombone parts in Stravinsky’s writing, he never utilized the instrument in a purely
soloistic manner. This piece gives the trombonist an opportunity to invent new concepts
of musicality through the creativity of Defaye. The investigation of À la Manière de
87
88
Rader, 36.
Ibid.
42
Stravinsky shows the composer’s creative use of many elements of music in a way that
Igor Stravinsky commonly utilized these features in his own compositions. The
interpretation of this piece must be approached with informed knowledge and
experience of Stravinsky’s music. The other pieces in this series require further
investigation as well. Jean-Michel Defaye has already garnered great admiration and
success as a composer because of his creativity. With further research of the À la
Manière de series, as well as into his other works for solo trombone, Defaye’s status as
a well-respected composer becomes more widely acknowledged.
43
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andrews, H.K. “Whole-tone Scale.” Grove Music Online. Accessed March 1,
2014. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com
Asaf’yev, Boris. A Book About Stravinsky. Edited by Richard F. French. Ann
Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1982.
Baines, Anthony C., et al. "Trombone." Grove Music Online. Accessed February
3, 2014. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Bonds, Mark Evan. A History of Music in Western Culture, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson, 2006.
Boyden, David, and Robin Stowell. "Glissando." Grove Music Online. Accessed
February 7, 2014. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Brickens, Nathaniel. “Jazz Elements in Five Selected Trombone Solos by
Twentieth Century French Composers.” DMA diss., University of Texas, 1989.
Brown, Clive. "Articulation marks." Grove Music Online. Accessed March 3,
2014. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Defaye, Jean-Michel. À la Manière de Stravinsky pour Trombone et Piano. Paris:
Alphonse Leduc, 2005.
________________. À la Manière de Stravinsky pour Trombone et Piano.
Performed by Brent Phillips. Potenza Music PM1017. CD. 2011.
________________. À la Manière de Stravinsky pour Trombone et Piano.
Performed by Jacques Mauger. Indesens Records B009P13FRA. CD. 2012.
Flanigan, Sean Gerard. “From Deux Danses to Fluctuations: Compositional
Components and Innovations in Two Solo Trombone Works of Jean-Michel
Defaye.” DMA dissertation. University of North Texas, 2006.
Horlacher, Gretchen. “The Rhythms of Reiteration: Formal Development in
Stravinsky’s Ostinati.” Music Theory Spectrum 14, no. 2 (Fall 1992): 171-187.
Jackson, Roland. Performance Practice; A Dictionary-Guide for musicians.
Abingdon: Routledge, 2013.
Jarzebska, Alicja. “The Problem of Articulation in Stravinsky’s Music.” Musica
Iagellonica 3, no. 1 (2004): 241-256.
Kielian-Gilbert, Marianne. “The Rhythms of Form: Correspondence and Analogy
in Stravinsky's Designs.” Music Theory Spectrum 9 (Spring, 1987): 42-66.
44
Krebs, Stanley Dale. “Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky, 1882–1971.” Russian Review
30, no. 3 (July 1971): 317-319.
McDonald, Matthew. “Jeux de Nombres: Automated Rhythm in The Rite of
Spring.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 63, no. 3 (Fall
2010): 499-551, 726.
McVeigh, Simon and Neal Peres Da Costa. “Ornaments and Ornamentation.”
Grove Music Online. Accessed March 11, 2014.
Day-O’Connell, Jeremy. “Pentatonic.” Grove Music Online. Accessed March 1,
2014. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Rader, Aaron. “Jean-Michel Defaye's À la Manière de Debussy pour Trombone
et Piano: A Compositional Comparison to Claude Debussy's Harmonic, Melodic,
and Rhythmic Practices.” DMA diss., University of North Texas, 2011.
Routh, Francis. Stravinsky. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1975.
Schnapper, Laure. "Ostinato." Grove Music Online. Accessed February 23, 2014.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
Van den Toorn, Pieter. “Stravinsky, Adorno, and the Art of Displacement.” The
Musical Quarterly 87, no. 3 (Autumn, 2004): 468-509.
________________. The Music of Igor Stravinsky. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1983.
Walsh, Stephen. "Stravinsky, Igor." Grove Music Online. Accessed October 18,
2013. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
________________. The Music of Stravinsky. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1988.
White, Bryan. "Articulation." Grove Music Online. Accessed January 3, 2014.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
White, Eric. Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1966.
Wold, Milo, and Edmund A. Cykler. An Outline History of Music. 6th ed. Dubuque,
IA: Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers, 1985.
Woodside, Mary S. “Leitmotiv in Russia: Glinka’s Use of the Whole-Tone Scale.”
19th Century Music 14, no. 1 (Summer 1990): 67-74.
45