Recontextualising late Stravinsky

Thesis

This thesis aims to investigate the conditions under which the trope of Webern’s influence on Igor Stravinsky’s late works and the row-focussed analytical tradition regarding them evolved, and offers a new analytical focus point to help broaden the study of Stravinsky’s late works. It examines the correspondence of Stravinsky associates such as Lawrence Morton and Claudio Spies to shed new light on the position of Stravinsky’s assistant Robert Craft, their relationship, and questions regarding the authorship of the published books of Stravinsky-Craft conversations and other printed utterances of Stravinsky’s. The conception and reception of the Stravinsky-Craft conversations is subsequently explored within the context of the contemporary expert music scene. A close inspection of published and unpublished research material of Stravinsky’s associates – Spies’ articles in Perspectives of New Music, Morton’s research notes and chapter drafts, and Ingolf Dahl’s lecture notes – reveals that many early remarks on the contrapuntal aspect of Stravinsky’s early row treatment receded with the analytical focus shifting to his row constructions and derivatives, especially the technique of hexachordal rotation-transposition. Though Ernst Krenek’s influence for the latter has been widely acknowledged, his twelve-tone manual Studies in Counterpoint has hardly been consulted in connection with Stravinsky’s late works, even though he allegedly studied serial methods through it. Neither have comments regarding the influence of Taneyev’s Convertible Counterpoint in the Strict Style been given much attention. Several examples from Stravinsky’s late works – and Stravinsky’s contrapuntal treatment of the serial technique more broadly – are henceforth examined under the auspices of both studies.

Authors: Schmidtmann, A

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-er5vqqyr6
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Claudio Spies; Fanfare for a New Theatre; Stravinsky and craft: publications; craft; Igor; Ingolf Dahl; Stravinsky's advocates: Lawrence Morton; analysis: Double Canon; Stravinsky; The Owl and the Pussy-Cat; Stravinsky's late works and serial music; Ernst Krenek's 'Studies in Counterpoint': influence on Stravinsky's late works; (American) music theory and analysis 1950s-1970s; Elegy JFK; contemporary music 1950s-1970s; epitaphium; Sergej Taneyev's 'Convertible Counterpoint' (moveable counterpoint): influence on Stravinsky's late works; Robert; anthem; Stravinsky's late works and counterpoint; Milton Babbitt
• Subjects: Musicology