Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps can often appear overwhelming in its cacophonous complexity. It's irregular meter and quickly changing rhythms, overlapping contrapuntal passages, unpleasant instrumentation, discordant chords, and overbearingly thick musical texture are only a few of the tools Stravinsky uses liberally to create a score which can sounds harsh and unpleasant.
At first, I was extremely put off by what I perceived to be unnecessary excesses in the use of standard musical techniques. In a manner similar to Berlioz's tampering with orchestration, Stravinsky had turned upside down and inside out musical concepts such as a discernible meter, a clear key, and familiar chords which I had come to take for granted after a few weeks in this course. To see these specific concepts and my general understanding of what constituted as music distorted and twisted beyond recognition to no understandable effect or justifiable musical innovation was incredibly unpleasant. I could not understand why Stravinsky had made these changes and I could see no other reason for what I perceived to be superfluous modifications than the fact that Stravinsky felt he could.
When Monteverdi had used the recitative, when Handel had enhanced the importance of choruses and differentiated the recitativo secco from the accompagnado, when Beethoven had turned traditional forms of orchestra music (such as the sonata) on its head , when Berlioz had revolutionized traditional orchestra instrumentation, when all these breaks from tradition were made, I could see a progression; I could see a connecting thread leading to new heights of musical appreciation. I could see that by breaking with the old in new innovative ways, these composers may help liberate our conception of what music should sound like and allow us to visualize new musical possibilities. In Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, I felt that I have lost this connecting thread and all that remains is chaos. How is that for a first impression?
After listening to this piece in its entirety and replaying large portions of it, I have begun to see some order in the chaos, and more importantly, I am finding short snippets of beauty amidst the sometimes ugly cacophony. I feel that perhaps by analyzing these small islands of peace, I may be able to anchor myself long enough to gain perspective of the entire piece and perhaps even regain the thread of comprehension which may connect it to earlier composers we have seen in this course.This comparative approach has not necessarily always been the focus of this course, but gradually I feel that is has become critical to understand the more recent musical pieces and Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps is no exception.
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