Symphonies d'instruments à vent
The Symphonies d'instruments à vent (German title wind symphonies ) are a work for wind instruments by Igor Stravinsky . The first version for 24 instruments was made in 1920, the revised version for 23 instruments in 1947.
The reason for the creation was an appeal by the French magazine Revue Musicale to send in a piano piece for a tombeau in honor of Claude Debussy, who died in 1918 . Stravinsky then wrote the chorale , which now forms the end of the Symphonies d'instruments à vent, and sent the piano version of it to the magazine. For the remaining part, he used sketches that had already been made while working on the Piano-Rag-Music and the Concertino for string quartet .
The one-movement work differs from the classical symphony not only in its brevity and instrumentation, but also in the lack of a sonata main movement and harmonic development. The designation in the title refers less to the generic name than to the original meaning of the word (harmony).
Stravinsky made the work according to his frequently used “construction kit method”, in which he strung together different types of molded parts without developing thematically, motifs or harmoniously. In the case of the Symphonies d'instruments à vent , bell motifs, chorale motifs, dance motifs, Russian melodies and pastoral melodies that characterize the content can be identified, while transition phrases, a staccato eighth note motif and a final turn are used as formal components. A development takes place in such a way that the bell motif dominating at the beginning (also called the invocation fragment ) gives way to the chorale motif in the course of the piece. Internal, but hardly audible, connection is also created by the specification of the tempos 72, 108 and 144, which are in a ratio of 2: 3: 4.
In 1947, two years after receiving American citizenship, Stravinsky revised the Symphonies d'instruments à vent , as well as several other works, in order to secure American copyrights . In doing so, he replaced less common instruments with more common ones, made technical playing easier and also adapted them to his changed musical aesthetics. Due to the extensive changes, two different versions are used.
The first performance on June 10, 1921 was unsuccessful, one critic judged that the opening part sounded like the screams of a donkey.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Scherliess names the molded parts in his article On Igor Stravinsky's working method .
literature
- Scherliess, Volker : On the working method of Igor Stravinsky: Depicted at the ‹Symphonies d'instruments à vent›. In: Danuser (ed.): From the idea to the artwork. The Composition Process in 20th Century Music, Laaber 1993, pp. 161–186.
- Schweizer, Klaus:… Not to satisfy sentimental needs: Comment on Igor Stravinsky's “Wind Symphony”. In: Analyzes: Contributions to a problem history of composing. Festschrift for Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht on his 65th birthday. 1984. 377-92.
- Stravinsky, Igor: Symphonies d'Instruments à vent. Facsimile edition, edited by Andre Baltensperger and Felix Meyer. Winterthur 1991.