The Stravinsky Legacy

This book explores the technical and aesthetic legacy of Igor Stravinsky.

Jonathan Cross (Author)

9780521023856, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 November 2005

296 pages, 1 b/w illus. 51 music examples
24.4 x 17 x 1.6 cm, 0.465 kg

'[a] thoughtful overview of the Stravinsky legacy …' Journal of the American Musicological Society

It has become increasingly apparent in recent decades that Stravinsky's music has had far-reaching influence on the development of music in our century. Stravinsky's modernist innovations - evident in such features as his music's discontinuity, its stasis, its ritualized anti-narrative, its novel rhythmic and formal structures, its articulation of new kinds of musical time, and its reinterpretation of music and materials from the past - have helped shape much of the music of our time. This book represents a first substantial attempt to evaluate Stravinsky's technical and aesthetic legacy. In Part I ('The Stravinsky Legacy'), Jonathan Cross explores the breadth of Stravinsky's impact on the music of composers as diverse as Adams, Andriessen, Birtwistle, Boulez, Carter, Messiaen, Reich, Stockhausen, Tippett, Varèse and Xenakis. In Part II ('Stravinsky Reheard') he returns to Stravinsky's neoclassical music to examine how recent developments in composition and musicology affect our understanding of and analytical approaches to Stravinsky.

Part I. The Stravinsky Legacy: 1. Introduction: Stravinsky's modernism
2. Block forms
3. Structural rhythms
4. Ritual theatres
5. Minimal developments
Part II. Stravinsky Reheard: 6. A fresh look at Stravinsky analysis
7. Conclusions: Stravinsky, Adorno and the problem of non-development.

Subject Areas: 20th century & contemporary classical music [AVGC6]