Igor Stravinsky Research Paper

Alexander Kerensky had a remarkable career. He was born in Simbirsk on the Volga River on May 2, 1881. His father was a head schoolmaster. Kerensky trained and graduated as a lawyer. He went on to a legal practice in St. Petersburg where he specialized in defending cases that involved political offenses.

Raoul Wallenberg was born near Stockholm, Sweden on August 4, 1912. His father died, due to an illness, only a few months before Wallenberg was born. As a result, his grandfather raised him, giving him a lavish childhood. Wallenberg grew up going on extensive trips around Europe and expiring many different cultures. After mandatory military school, Raoul went to a architecture academy in Paris, and graduated top in his class.

He studied under Rimsky-Korsakov until his death in 1908. In that same year, Stravinsky started composing for Serge Diaghliev’s dance company, a partnership that would last a while. These collaborations produced popular ballets such as “Les Sylphides,” “The Firebird,” and “Petrushka.” While “The Firebird” was the most famous, “Petrushka” was the most influential in the musical realm. In this ballet, Stravinsky placed the music in two different keys at the same time, namely C sharp major and F major. This idea of bitonality was not common at this time, and this was the first major modern piece to use it. Therefore, it was aptly named “the Petrushka” chord and has been influential in music ever

Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” and Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring “ are two of the most influential ballets to ever be recorded. Their ballets have been played and duplicated for many years. I will start this paper with a summary of each composer which will include where they are from culturally, geographically and musically. Then I talk about each ballet. Where it was written, the story behind each piece, and its reception now and its reception at the time it was published. I will also include the popularity of each ballet in other forms such as Disney. Finally, I will provide a detailed concert report of each ballet.

To begin, The Rite of Spring was composed by Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky was born in 1882 near St. Petersburg, Russia. As a Russian-born composer, his music had “a revolutionary impact on musical thought and sensibility just before and after World War I, and his compositions remained a touchstone of modernism for much of his long working life” (Taruskin; White). According to Wikipedia, he is considered one of the most important and

Igor Stravinsky was third of a family of four boys. He grew up hearing his father practicing his opera and attending local ballets. He also started taking piano lessons when he was 9 years old and continued on with musical notation and composition instruction. All throughout his early life he studied music. However, although he had been brought

Mendelssohn was a famous German composer of the Romantic period. Although he was born into a Jewish family and grew up without a religion he soon became a reformed Christian. Mendelssohn was born with the talent to be able to play instruments and make music, but his parents never really supported his talent and didn’t help him to improve his talent. He went on to pursue what he loved to do and that was to compose and conduct music. Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany, 1809.

Tchaikovsky began composing music while he was still a student under Rubinstein. His first piece was "the Anastasia Valse". His first official opera was completed in 1864, called, "The Storm", which was admittedly torn to shreds by his professor. Tchaikovsky 's symphonies have "no trace of development, but a succession of repetitions and a sequence of climatic runs” (Harmon). The symphonies are also described as "purely romantic", (Abraham). Tchaikovsky stated that he stuck to the outline, but manipulated the details freely and that it was difficult for him to grasp the form of symphony. He

He remained a clerk for three years. He hated his job but he worked feverishly at it for he worked hard at every task he was given. He continued to be drawn into the music world and he took piano and theory lessons. Finally, in 1862, he quit his job and devoted the rest of his life to music which he began by entering the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He graduated with a silver medal in 1865. After graduation he was unsure of what to do until 1866 when Nicholas Rubenstein offered him the job of professor of harmony at the newly formed Moscow Conservatory. It was here that he wrote his first serious works which included AA Festival Overture on the Danish National Hymn,@ his First Symphony in G AWinter Daydreams,@ and his first opera AThe Voyevode.@ Showing his desire for perfection he tore up the opera because he was dissatisfied with it and it wasn=t until 1949 that it was revived.5

In this period his composition Histoire du Soldat, Rag-piano-music and the Ragtime for eleven instruments were very famous. Histoire du Soldat was composed base on a Russian folk tale by Stravinsky and C. F. Ramuz who was a Swiss writer. It was a theatrical need to be played, read and danced. The ragtime-piano-music composed in 1919 for solo piano. At that time, Stravinsky was moving to

Rimsky Korsakov was Stravinsky’s teacher and mentor. Much of Korsakov’ style can initial be seen in Stravinsky’s writing, specifically in works such as Firebird. Unlike Firebird, the Rite of spring breaks away from Korsakov’s style. The timpani parts of Scheherazade and The Rite prove the drastic differences between the two composers writing style. The timpani writing in Scheherazade parallel Korsakov’s lush romantic writing style.

Wassily Kandinsky was born on December 4, 1866 in Moscow. His father was a successful tea merchant and his mother was a teacher. From early on in his life, Kandinsky acquired a love for travel moving

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, the Viatka District in Russia on May 7, 1840 to a Russian miner and a mother of French origin. During his early life, Tchaikovsky did receive some musical training from a French governess in the form of piano lessons, but the training did not continue. As a young child, Tchaikovsky's family moved to St. Petersburg because

Frederic Chopin was born on March 1, 1810 in Zelazowa Wola, Poland. Due to a registered

Peter Tchaikovsky was born May 7, 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia. His family was in the upper middle class. He was the second eldest of six children. His father, Ilya, was a mine inspector and metal works manager. At age four he made his first recorded attempt at composition, a song written with his