Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky Research Paper

The first of Igor Stravinsky's three famous early ballets, The Firebird is the most traditional and derivative. While The Firebird, similar to Petrushka and The Rite Of Spring, is unquestionably one of Stravinsky's masterpieces, if considered strictly historically it can be, with some justice, viewed as warmed-over Rimsky-Korsakov (the device of contrasting a folkloristic, diatonic style representing human characters, with a highly chromatic style reserved for depicting the supernatural had its most conspicuous use in Rimsky's

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

This contrasts the motives of the composer and the conductor, which should be to keep the integrity of the piece of music, but as mentioned above, Stravinsky believes that the conductor's are usually for personal gain.

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

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Shostakovich was a Russian composer. He was well known for his string quartets, concertos, and instrumental works that he composed, as well as for his numerous film scores, incidental theatre music, and ballets. Shostakovich is usually regarded as the greatest symphonist in the 20th musical achievements. However, even though Shostakovich was a famous musician, he was not projected to have a musical gift at an early age. Born in St. Petersburg on September 25, 1906, Dmitri Shostakovich was raised in a home where “music-making assumed an important place” (Fay 8).

Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was born in Saint Petersburg whose parents were born in Ukraine. He was a pianist, composer and conductor, he also was a noble man. By age 15, he al-ready could play the Mendelssohn piano concerto in g minor. At first, Stravinsky did not regard music as his major, instead the law in Saint Petersburg university in 1901, at the same year he started studying in harmony counterpoint with Fedir Akimenko. Stravinsky met Rimsky-Korsakov who was a famous leader composer in Russia in the summer of 1902 and Rimsky sug-gested Stravinsky not to attend St Petersburg Conservatory of Music and he should study the composition with him in private lesson until Rimsky death. Stravinsky was snatched by his teacher’s death. He had

ATchaikovsky=s music is not only one of the cornerstones of Russian musical society and world music . . . It is at the same time a creative and technical encyclopedia to which every Russian composer has reference in the course of his own work,@ commented Dimitri Shostakovich.1 This was a typical view held by Tchaikovsky=s contemporaries. He was well known and well respected, especially in his later years. In addition, Tchaikovsky was recognized as the most expressive Romantic composer in Russia.2 He was often idolized and put on a pedestal, particularly during his tour of the United States in 1891 when he conducted concerts of his own works in some of the leading concert halls. Tchaikovsky brought national attention to

Born on June 17, 1882, Igor Stravinsky grew up in Orianenbaum, a resort town off the coast of Finland. His parents loved music and ignited a passion for the fine arts in him at a young age. However, they pushed him to enroll into law school and he agreed. Rimsky- Korsakov’s youngest son also attended the university and soon the two men grew to be close friends. Rimsky- Korsakov mentored him. After graduating from law school, he wrote the composition, Fireworks, and sent it to Korsakov. Unfortunately, his mentor never received the package due to sudden death. Loyal, even after death, Korsakov arranged to have Stravinksy’s pieces used for a performance. This gave him the opportunity to enter into the world of music. Upon the request of a patron, he created the ballet, The Firebird, and it opened in Paris in 1910. Audiences loved it and his popularity skyrocketed. Then in 1911, he wrote Petrouchka, and following that, The Rite of Spring in 1913. The latter caused controversy because of its departure from Romantic music with its erratic sounds and noises. Yet, by a year later, people accepted it and it became a

Aleksandr Scriabin entered Moscow conservatory in 1888. There he studied composition with Anton Arensky, and piano with Vasily Safonov. As a boy, Scriabin had previously studied with Sergei Taneyev, a famous Russian composer who also taught Rachmaninoff. Scriabin was skillfully adroit on the piano, and for the notes his span couldn't reach, he justified with his nimble fingers . During his studies at the conservatory, Scriabin suffered an injury to his right hand, due to onerous, self-imposed practice of certain highly technical pieces. While this incident sent him on a downward spiral into despair and depression, it also forced his attentions more towards composition. During this temporary handicap, Scriabin

Richard Strauss was known as an outstanding German Romantic composer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Strauss’s symphonic poems, from the closing years of the 19th century and his operas, from the early years of the 20th century has remained a fundamental feature of the standard repertoire. Richard Strauss was born on June 11, 1864 in Munich. Strauss was the first of two children to be born to Franz Strauss and Josephine Strauss. His father, Franz Strauss, who was a principal horn player in the Munich court orchestra as well an accomplished performer on the guitar, clarinet, and viola.

Igor Stravinsky is considered by many the greatest composer of the 20th Century. Several composers have made breakthroughs and great accomplishments in the past 100 years, but Stravinsky has dominated nearly every trend set. He was born near St. Petersburg, Russia in Oranienbaum, on June 17, 1882. He was born to a famous Russian bass opera singer, Fyodor Ignatyevich Stravinsky.

Shostakovich was born on Sept. 25, 1906, in St. Petersburg to Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich and Sofiya Vasilievna Kokoulina. His father was an engineer and his mother was a piano teacher. He showed no inclination for music until the age of 9, when his mother, began to give him lessons. A month later, he was already playing the classics and attempting to compose. At the age of 11, he was able to play an advanced piece, J. S. Bach 's entire Well-Tempered Clavier. Recognized a bright young prodigy, he was accepted into the prestigious Petrograd Conservatory in 1919, where he studied piano with Leonid

At the age of nine, Stravinsky started practicing Piano (Siohan, 13). Igor began being introduced to the music scene around the age nine; he was finally allowed to attend his parents music parties (Siohan 13). When his father starred in Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmila, young Igor visits the set behind stage (Siohan, 14). Igor is in awe of Glinka’s light transparent orchestration which is vivid through the texture of his sound (Siohan 14). Stravinsky went through studying law, not letting it get in the way of his main focus music; he graduated in 1905 then married his cousin Catherine Nossenko (Siohan, 20). Igor, “enjoyed wrestling with mysterious of counterpoint” (Siohoan 15), which explains why he created such a bond with his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov. He later established many other compositions with and without Rimsky-korsakov such as The Rite of Spring and Symphony B flat minor (opus I), 1907 (Siohan, 20).

Stravinsky was an innovative composer of the 20th century and is known to be the most influential of 20th century music. Many of his pieces are contrasting, but the two that I have chosen are his “Piano Sonata (1924)” and “Tango.” These pieces are very diverse. While Stravinsky is not mostly known for his piano pieces, they are my favorite of his works.

The music was composed by Igor Stravinsky, who considered himself an inventor of music. He was also known for many controversial works reminiscent of Nijinsky. He created many works that blasted the whole realm of music into other possibilities, in which it would never return from. He started his career writing music for other ballets like Firebird and Petrouchka, which were grand and familiar like traditional ballet, but had a small hint of a more modern tone. It was not until The Rite of Spring that Stravinsky’s work was truly inspirational. This work tested the future of the 20th century classical music, and in many ways it paved the path to a modernized view. There are still many who do not understand how he