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IGOR STRAVINSKY (18821971)

Igor Stravinsky stands alongside fellow-composer Schoenberg, painter Pablo Picasso,


and literary
figure James Joyce as one of the great trendsetters of the 20th century. He was born in Oranienbaum (now
Lomonosov), Russia on June 17, 1882. Stravinskys early music reflected the influence of his teacher, the
Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. But in his first successful masterpiece, The Firebird Suite
(1910), composed for Diaghilevs Russian Ballet, his skillful handling of material and rhythmic inventiveness
went beyond anything composed by his Russian predecessors. He added a new ingredient to his
nationalistic musical style. The Rite of Spring (1913) was another outstanding work. A new level of
dissonance was reached and the sense of tonality was practically abandoned. Asymmetrical rhythms
successfully portrayed the character of a solemn pagan rite. When he left the country for the United States
in 1939, Stravinsky slowly turned his back on Russian nationalism and cultivated his neo-classical style.
Stravinsky adapted the forms of the 18th century with his contemporary style of writing. Despite its
shocking modernity, his music is also very structured, precise, controlled, full of artifice, and theatricality.
Other outstanding works include the ballet Petrouchka (1911), featuring shifting rhythms and polytonality, a
signature device of the composer. The Rakes Progress (1951), a full-length opera, alludes heavily to the
Baroque and Classical styles of Bach andMozart through the use of the harpsichord, small orchestra, solo
and ensemble numbers with recitatives stringing together the different songs. Stravinskys musical output
approximates 127 works, including concerti, orchestral music, instrumental music, operas, ballets, solo
vocal, and choral music. He died in New York City on April 6, 1971.

BELA BARTOK (18811945)


Bela Bartok was born in Nagyszentmiklos, Hungary (nowRomania) onMarch 25, 1881, to musical parents.
He started piano lessons with his mother and later entered Budapest RoyalAcademy of Music in
1899.Hewas inspired by the performance of Richard Strausss Also Sprach Zarathustra to write his first
nationalistic poem, Kossuth in 1903. He was a concert pianist as he travelled exploring the music of
Hungarian peasants. In 1906, with his fellow composer Kodaly, Bartok published his first collection of 20
Hungarian folk songs. For the next decade, although his music was being badly received in his country, he
continued to explore Magyar folk songs. Later, he resumed his career as a concert pianist, while composing
several works for his own use. As a neo-classicist, primitivist, and nationalist composer, Bartok used
Hungarian folk themes and rhythms. He also utilized changing meters and strong syncopations. His
compositions were successful because of their rich melodies and lively rhythms. He admired the musical
styles of Liszt, Strauss, Debussy, and Stravinsky. He eventually shed their influences in favor of Hungarian
folk and peasant themes. These later became a major source of the themes of his works. Bartok is most
famous for his Six String Quartets (19081938). It represents the greatest achievement of his creative life,
spanning a full 30 years for their completion. The six works combine difficult and dissonant music with
mysterious sounds. The Concerto for Orchestra (1943), a five-movement work composed late in Bartoks
life, features the exceptional talents of its various soloists in an intricately constructed piece. The short and
popular Allegro Barbaro (1911) for solo piano is punctuated with swirling rhythms and percussive chords,
while Mikrokosmos (19261939), a set of six books containing progressive technical piano pieces,
introduced and familiarized the piano student with contemporary harmony and rhythm. His musical
compositions total more or less 695 which include concerti, orchestral music, piano music, instrumental

music, dramatic music, choral music, and songs. In 1940, the political developments in Hungary led Bartok
to migrate to the United States, where he died on September 26, 1945 in New York City, USA.

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