Igor Stravinsky's Movements for Piano and Orchestra - Repositories

TREATMENT OF THE PIANO IN THE ORCHESTRAL 

WORKS OF IGOR STRAVINSKY 

by 

JAMES F. RAUSCHER, B.M.E., M.M. 

A DISSERTATION 

IN 

FINE ARTS 

Submitte(d to the Graduate Faculty of 

Texas Tech University 

in Partial Fulfillment of 

the Requirements for 

the Degree of 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

Approved 

Accepted 

December, 1991

© 1991, James F. Rauscher

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

A project of this scope could not have been completed without the help 

of many individuals. I would like to express my appreciation to all who were 

involved in this paper from its conception to its completion. A special word of 

appreciation is extended to the following. 

I would like to thank Dr. William Westney, who, as my main advisor, 

applied piano professor, mentor, and friend, has been an inspiration and 

guiding force in my musical development for the past six years. Appreciation 

is also expressed to the four other members of my committee for their 

assistance and constructive criticisms. 

Dr. Dale Roller, retired Chairman of the Division of Fine Arts at 

Amarillo College, has been a constant source of encouragement and support in 

urging me to complete my doctoral studies. Janice Gillham and Nancy 

Klingslick of the Lynn Library/Learning Center at Amarillo College were 

instrumental in helping to obtain needed database information as well as 

musical scores and reference materials. 

A special word of appreciation is expressed to Mr. Terry Moore, 

Associate Professor of Modern Languages at Amarillo College, for his 

painstaking translation into English of the German dissertation by Paul Terse, 

Studien zur Verwendung des Konzertflugels im Opernorchester in der Zeit. 

Appreciation is expressed to four music publishing companies for 

graciously consenting to allow the quoting of musical excerpts from their 

cop5n-ighted scores: CPP Belwin, Inc.; Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.; G. Schirmer, 

Inc.; and European American Music Distributors Corporation, sole U.S. and 

Canadian agent for Schott of London. 

I give praise and thanks to the triime God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

All abilities and talents which I possess come from Him, and this document 

was accomplished through the prayers of many people. 

u

I express my appreciation and love to my parents, Francis and Shirley 

Rauscher, who nurtured my love for music from an early age and encouraged 

and supported me in every step of my career. The solid family life which they 

provided me along with my sisters, Mary and Terri, was the foundation upon 

which I have built my adult life. Finally, I want to thank my wife, Vanessa, 

and my two children, John and Ann, whose constant support, faith, and love 

during all of the difficulties experienced throughout the degree program have 

made it possible for me to complete my studies; they are the three main 

reasons for which I finished this project. 

ni

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

ii 

ABSTRACT 

vi 

LIST OF TABLES 

viii 

LIST OF FIGURES 

ix 

PREFACE 

xii 

CHAPTER 

I. INTRODUCTION 1 ^ 

Role of the Piano in the Modem Orchestra 2 

Piano in the Orchestra Prior to Stravinsky's 

Compositions 

3 ' 

Orchestral Works with Piano 

4 J 

Limits of the Study 7 

Methodology of the Study 8 

II. THE EARLY WORKS: 1909-1920 11 

L'Oiseau de Feu (Original 1910 version) 11 

Petrouchka 12 

Le Chant du Rossignol 24 

Suite L'Oiseau de Feu 29 

III. THE MIDDLE PERIOD WORKS: 1920-1955 37 

Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra 38 

Concerto for Piano and Winds 44 

Oedipus Rex 59 

Quatre Etudes pour Orchestre 63 

Capriccio 67 

Symphony of Psalms 

70 ^ 

Persephone 75 

Scherzo a la Russe (Symphonic Version) 80 

Scenes de Ballet 82 

._! 

IV

Symphony in Three Movements 82 

Greeting Prelude for Orchestra 92 

IV. THE LATE WORKS: 1957-1966 94 

Agon 95 

Threni: Id Est Lamentationes Jeremiz Prophetse 98 

Movements for Piano and Orchestra 102 

A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer 106 

The Flood 107 

Variations: Aldous Huxley in Memoriam 108 

Canon for Concert Introduction or Encore 

Ill 

Requiem Canticles 114 

Stravinsky's Attitudes Regarding Non-traditional 

Usage of Piano 116 

V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 119 

Doublings with Other Instruments 119 

Octave Usage 121 

Pianistic Effects 122 

Percussive Effects 123 

Pedal Usage 124 

Solo Passage-work 124 

Conclusion 125 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 126 

APPENDIX 130

ABSTRACT 

Igor Stravinsky was one of the first composers to use the pianoforte as 

an integral member of the symphonic orchestra. The inclusion of piano within 

the orchestra spans nearly his entire creative output, from L'Oiseau de Feu of 

1909 to Requiem Canticles of 1966, in a total of twenty-two separate works. 

The ways in which Stravinsky treated the piano within the orchestra, and the 

changes in this treatment which took place during his compositional career, 

form the basis of this study. 

Scores of each work were analyzed in terms of Stravinsky's treatment 

of the piano within the orchestral texture, particularly in regard to the 

following: doublings with other instrimients; octave usage; pianistic effects 

such as glissandi, trills, arpeggiated figures, alternating hand passages, and 

tremolos; percussive effects; use of pedals; solo passage work; proportion of 

piano usage to entire work; and treatment of rhythm in piano usage. A table 

showing the analysis of each work is given in the Appendix. The discussion 

of individual works is divided into three chapters dealing with the early, 

middle, and late compositional periods, respectively. Treatment of the piano 

in each work is discussed, accompanied by pertinent examples from the score. 

The last chapter of text contains a summary of the material presented 

and states conclusions which have been drawn: Stravinsky's earliest uses of \^ 

the piano in the orchestra were primarily as a soloistic instrument or as a 

doubling instrimaent within the context of a huge orchestra, in accordance with 

his Russian compositional training. As he moved toward a thinner, more 

contrapuntal style which relied on concertato principles, the role of the piano 

increased in importance because its percussive and pol5rphonic qualities so 

closely matched the aesthetic he was working to achieve. Finally, when he 

turned to serialism in the 1950s, the piano's tone became primary in importance 

as a distinct color in his textural and tonal spectrum, and its usage 

primarily as a single line instrument reflected the more pointillistic approach 

vi

to composition in the final works. Composers, conductors, and pianists in 

particular will benefit from studying his unique treatment of the piano within 

the orchestra. 

Vll

LIST OF TABLES 

1. Chronological Listing of the Orchestral Works of 

Igor Stravinsky Containing Piano 5 

2. Chronological Listing of the Orchestral Works of 

Igor Stravinsky Not Containing Piano 6 

3. L'Oiseau de Feu (Original 1910 version) 133 

4. Petrouchka 134 

5. Le Chant du Rossignol 137 

6. Suite L'Oiseau de Feu 139 

7. Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra 141 

8. Concerto for Piano and Winds 142 

9. Oedipus Rex 145 

10. Quatre Etudes pour Orchestre 147 

11. Capriccio 149 

12. Symphony of Psalms 152 

13. Persephone 154 

14. Scherzo a la Russe (Symphonic Version) 156 

15. Scenes de Ballet 157 

16. Symphony in Three Movements 158 

17. Greeting Prelude for Orchestra 160 

18. Agon 161 

19. Threni: Id Est Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae 162 

20. Movements for Piano and Orchestra 163 

21. A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer 164 

22. The Flood 165 

23. Variations: Aldous Huxley in Memoriam 166 

24. Canon for Concert Introduction or Encore 167 

25. Requiem Canticles 168 

Vlll

LIST OF FIGURES 

1. Petrouchka^ measures 26-31 14 

2. Petrouchka^ measures 226-232 15 

3. Petrouchka, measures 305-311 16 






9. Le Chant du Rossignol, measures 21-32 26 



12. Suite de L'Oiseau de Feu, measures 21-23 30 






18. "Marche," from Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra, 

measures 1-4 39 

19. "Marche," from Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra, 


20. "Galop," from Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra, 


21. "Galop," from Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra, 


22. Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Mvt. I, 




IX







27. Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Mvt. II, 


28. Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Mvt. II, 


29. Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Mvt. Ill, 


30. Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Mvt. Ill, 


31. Oedipus Rex, measures 31-33 60 

32. Oedipus Rex, measures 496-501 61 

33. Oedipus Rex, Act II, measures 127-137 62 

34. "Danse," from Quatre Etudes pour Orchestre, 


35. "Excentrique," from Quatre Etudes pour Orchestre, 


36. "Madrid," from Quatre Etudes pour Orchestre, 


37. Capriccio, measures 79-84 68 

38. Capriccio, measures 446-450 69 

39. Symphony of Psalms, measures 1-5 71 




43. Persephone, measures 1-3 76 



46. Persephone, measures 743-745 79

47. Scherzo a la Russe, measures 41-49 81 

48. Scenes de Ballet, measures 273-274 83 

49. Symphony in Three Movements, measures 1-5 85 







56. Greeting Prelude for Orchestra, measures 1-5 93 

57. Agon, measures 190-203 96 



60. Threni: Id Est Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae, 


61. Threni: Id Est Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae, 

measures 310-312 101 

62. Movements for Piano and Orchestra, measures 1-12 103 



65. A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer, measures 

150-157 106 

66. The Flood, measures 180-188 108 

67. The Flood, measures 405-408 109 

68. Variations: Aldous Huxley in Memoriam, measures 5-10 110 

69. Variations: Aldous Huxley in Memoriam, measures 15-17 Ill 

70. Variations: Aldous Huxley in Memoriam, measures 130-134 . . . 112 

71. Canon for Concert Introduction or Encore, measures 1-8 113 

72. Requiem Canticles, measures 85-87 114 

73. Requiem Canticles, measures 302-305 115 

XI

PREFACE 

A voluminous amount of material has been written about the music of 

Igor Stravinsky. His works for solo piano and for solo piano with orchestra 

have been considerably analyzed, researched, and discussed. Charles M, 

Joseph in particular has written extensively about Stravinsky's solo piano 

music and the importance of the piano in his compositional technique, in A 

Study of Igor Stravinsky's Piano Compositions and Stravinsky and the Piano. 

To date, however, little has been written regarding Stravinsky's use of the 

piano as an orchestral instrument, which leaves a small gap in the total 

understanding of Stravinsky's perceptions of the possibilities for piano usage. 

It is hoped that this paper will, in some small way, begin to fill that gap. 

Xll

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

In considering the possibilities of the pianoforte as a musical 

instrument in connection of my Concerto, I was confronted with 

the fact that the treatment of the instrument by the composers of 

the nineteenth century made no appeal to me whatever in the 

sense which I desired to employ it. The composer has a definite 

obligation to his art which is destroyed if he is fettered by 

conventions. ... If Schumann had held to the conventions of 

Scarlatti, there would have been no Schumann as we know him. 

It is in orchestral employment that the piano appears to me as 

a wonderful percussion instrument. The piano has its own 

individuality and its own significance. Like all art, it is subject 

to a chronological development. In the past the piano has been 

treated at times as though it were a vocal instrument-that is it 

was made to sing, in fact it was cheated out of ever5d:hing but its 

own very evident and individual character as a percussion 

instrument. 

This concept of the piano seemed to be developed in my mind 

for a long period of time like a great tree. During the past year, 

it bore fruit in my Concerto. I have endeavored to restore the 

piano to its rightful place as a percussion instrument.^ 

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882-1971) made these comments about 

the piano and its possibilities as an orchestral instrument in the mid 1920s. 

His position as a composer at the forefront of his generation had already been 

established in the previous decade with the scores of L'Oiseau de feu, 

Petrouchka, and Le Sacre du Printemps. 

Though hailed as a visionary, he 

seemed to view himself more as a reactionary, pulling away from the excesses 

and opulence of nineteenth century romanticism. As can be ascertained from 

the above quotation, he admired the piano for its percussiveness and its 

mechanical, impersonal quality, and he emphasized these traits in his writing 

for the piano. He would continue to compose for the next forty years, and the 

^J. F. Cooke, "Chronological Progress in Musical Art," The Etude 44 (August 

1926): 559-560, as quoted in Charles M. Joseph, Stravinsky and the Piano 

(Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1983), p. 158.

piano would often be an important component in expressing his most profound 

thoughts. 

Stravinsky was one of the first composers to use the pianoforte as an 

integral member of the symphonic orchestra. The inclusion of piano within the 

orchestra spans nearly his entire creative output, from the early L'Oiseau de 

Feu of 1909 to Requiem Canticles of 1966, one of his last works. The ways in 

which Stravinsky treated the piano within the orchestra and the changes in 

this treatment which took place from the beginning to the end of his 

compositional career form the basis of the present study. 

Role of the Piano in the Modem Orchestra 

Although many orchestral works which include piano have been written 

in the twentieth century, a study of several standard orchestration books in 

print reveals very little written on the role of the piano in the modern 

orchestra. Gordon Jacob comments only that the harp, celesta, and piano 

cannot be classified within strings, woodwinds, brass or percussion; the harp 

is now a regular member of the orchestra, and the others are sometimes used 

for special effects.^ H. Owen Reed's book dealing with scoring for percussion 

makes no mention of the piano as being a member of the percussion section.^ 

Walter Piston's definitive book on orchestration does contain a short chapter 

dealing with keyboard instruments, in which he mentions that use of the piano 

as an orchestral instrument did not come to pass imtil the twentieth century. 

He cites the chief use of the piano within the orchestra as that of doubling 

other instruments, "by [which] an incisiveness, due to the percussive quality 

^Gordon Jacob, Orchestral Technique, A Manual For Students, 

(London: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 3. 

3rd ed. 

^H. Owen Reed and Joel T. Leach, Scoring For Percussion, and the 

Instruments of the Percussion Section (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice- 

Hall, Inc., 1969).

of the piano, is imparted to any instrimaent or group-strings, woodwind, brass, 

or percussion, in all registers."* 

Piano in the Orchestra Prior to Stravinskv's Compositions 

After the practice of utilizing a keyboard instrument in the role of a 

continuo within the orchestra died out in the early nineteenth century, the 

piano was not generally considered to be a member of the ensemble; when it 

appeared with orchestra, it was as a solo concerto instrument. Hector Berhoz 

(1803-1869), one of the greatest orchestra tors of all time, was probably the first 

composer to use the piano within the orchestra in a non-concerto work in his 

oratorio, Lelio. In his Treatise on Instrumentation, 

he stated: 

Thanks to the high degree of perfection attained by our skilled 

manufacturers, the pianoforte may now be considered from two 

viewpoints: either as an orchestral instrument or as a small v^ 

orchestra complete in itself. Only once has it been employed in 

the same fashion as the other instruments, so as to add its 

peculiar resources to the ensemble of the orchestra and to create 

effects which could not be attained in any other way [referring to 

his own work, Lelio].^ 

Berlioz credited Beethoven for pointing out ways in which the piano could be 

used non-soloistically within the orchestra: 

Certain passages in Beethoven's concertos ought to have drawn 

the composers' attention to this point long ago. They have surely 

admired the wonderfiil effect in Beethoven's Concerto in E flat, 

produced by the slow chord figurations of both hands in the high 

region of the piano, while the flute, clarinet, and bassoon play the 

melody over eighth-notes of the strings in contretemps.^ 

^Walter Piston, Orchestration (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 

1955), p. 341. 

^Hector Berlioz, Treatise on Instrumentation, enlarged/revised Richard 

Strauss, trans. Theodore Front (New York: Edwin F. Kalmus Publishing, 

1948), p. 153. 

^Berlioz, p. 154.

In Russia, where Stravinsky grew up, the piano was infrequently used 

within the orchestra. Stravinsky's only composition teacher, Nikolay Rimsky- 

Korsakov, who was well-known for his brilliant orchestrations, commented in 

his Principles of Orchestration: 

The use of a piano in the orchestra (apart from pianoforte 

concertos) belongs almost entirely to the Russian school [Rimsky- 

Korsakov's opera Sadko and Moussorgsky's Boris Godounov are ^ 

particularly interesting in this respect-translator's note]. The 

object is two-fold: the quality of tone, either alone, or combined 

with that of the harp, is made to imitate a popular instrument, 

the guzli (as in Glinka), or a soft peal of bells. When the piano 

forms part of an orchestra, not as a solo instrument, an upright 

is preferable to a grand, but today the piano is gradually being 

superseded by the celesta, first used by Tschaikovsky.^ 

Stravinsky, then, had as models the music of his teacher and the music of 

other prominent Russian composers to help mold his concepts of sound and 

orchestration, and the use of piano as an orchestral instrument was a distinct 

part of that overall concept. 

Orchestral Works with Piano 

Approximately one-half of Stravinsky's works for orchestra include piano 

in the instrimientation. Some orchestral works also include parts for chorus 

and/or soloists. The twenty-two works which will form the basis for this study 

are presented in Table 1. This is followed by Table 2, listing the orchestral 

works which do not include piano. 

^Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Principles of Orchestration, trans. Edward 

Agate (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1964), pp. 30-31.

Table 1: 

Chronological Listing of the Orchestral Works of Igor Stravinsky 

Containing Piano 

Work 

L'Oiseau de Feu 

Petrouchka 

Le Rossignol /Le Chant du Rossignol 

Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra 

Concerto for Piano and Wind 

Instruments 

Oedipus Rex 

Quatre Etudes for Orchestre 

Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra 


Persephone 

Scherzo a la Russe 

Scenes de Ballet 

Symphony in Three Movements 

Greeting Prelude for Orchestra 

Agon 

Threni: id est Lamentationes 

Jeremiae Prophetae 

Movements For Piano and 

Orchestra 

A Sermon, a Narrative, and a 

Prayer 

The Flood 

Variations: Aldous Huxley In 

Memoriam 

Canon for Concert Introduction 

or Encore 

Requiem Canticles 

Date 

1909-1910 (revised 1919) 

1911 (revised 1947) 

1914-1917 

1921 

1924 (revised 1950) 

1927 

1914-1929 (revised 1952) 

1929 (revised 1949) 

1930 (revised 1948) 

1934 (revised 1949) 

1945 

1945 

1945 

1955 

1957 

1958 

1959 

1961 

1962 

1964 

1965 

1966

Table 2: 

Work 

Chronological Listing of the Orchestral Works of Igor Stravinsky 

Not Containing Piano 

Faun and Shepherdess, Op. 2 

Symphony in E Flat, Op. 1 

Scherzo Fantastique, Op. 3 

Feu D'Artifice, Op. 4 

Zvezdoliki (le Roi des Etoiles) 

Le Sacre Du Printemps 

Bayka (Renard) 

Suite No. 1 For Small Orchestra 

Symphonies of Wind Instruments 

Pulcinella 

Mavra 

Apollo Musagetes 

Le Baiser De La Fee 

Concerto in D for Violin 

Divertimento (Suite of Baiser) 

Jeu de cartes 

Concerto in E flat (Dumbarton) 

Symphony in C 

Danses concertantes 

Circus Polka 

Four Norwegian Moods 

Ode 

Babel 

Concerto in D 

Orpheus 

Canticum Sacrum 

Abraham and Isaac 

Date 

1906 

1905-1907 

1907-1908 

1908 

1911-1912 

1911-1913 (revised 1947) 

1915-1916 

1917-1925 

1920 (revised 1945-1947) 

1919-1920 

1921-1922 

1927-1928 (revised 1947) 

1928 (revised 1950) 

1931 

1934 (revised 1949) 

1936 

1937-1938 

1939-1940 

1941-1942 

1942 

1942 

1943 

1944 

1946 

1947 

1955 

1962-1963

Limits of the Studv 

Although Stravinsky's early works were written for a standard sized or 

enlarged orchestra of the time, he began in the 1920s to experiment with 

different combinations and groups of instruments; this experimentation would 

continue throughout the rest of his life. Thus, many of his orchestral works 

contain non-standard instrumentation in one form or another. Because of this, 

limitations were set to determine which works would be considered for the 

purposes of this study. Chamber works, with one player to a part, were 

excluded. These included: Three Japanese Lyrics of 1913, written for high 

voice and chamber orchestra consisting of two flutes, two clarinets, piano, and 

string quartet; Ebony Concerto of 1945, for solo clarinet and jazz ensemble; the 

Septet of 1953, for clarinet in A, bassoon, horn, piano, violin, viola, and 

violoncello; and Introitus: T. S. Eliot In Memoriam, for male chorus, harp, 

piano, two tam-tams, two timpani, solo viola, and solo double bass. 

Only original works have been included in the study; orchestrations of 

other composers' music, such as Stravinsky's orchestration of Valse Brillante 

in E Flat by Frederic Chopin for Diaghilev's ballet Les Sylphides in 1909, were 

not considered. Tango, an orchestration of an earlier solo piano piece, is listed 

by some sources as having piano in the orchestration, but this refers to a 

version scored by Felix Guenther which was approved by Stravinsky; 

Stravinsky's own orchestration of the work in 1953 did not include piano. Les 

Noces was not included because its instrumentation of chorus, four pianos, and 

percussion does not allow for interaction of the piano with any of the standard 

sections of an orchestra. 

The score for the opera The Rake's Progress lists "pianoforte" in the 

instnmientation, but this part only appears as a solo accompaniment in 

recitative passages, never in combination with the rest of the orchestra. 

Moreover, the part is usually performed on harpsichord, as evidenced by this 

reminiscence of Stravinsky's wife. Vera, about a performance of the opera in 

Italy:

I thought, too, during the wait, about some of the echoes in the 

opera from Igor's so-called private life; of how the card game 

stemmed from his own fondness for cards, of how the harpsichord 

arpeggios imitate Igor's way of shuffling them, and of how the 

staccato of that instrument recalls his way of snapping them on 

a table.® 

Also, Robert Craft; commented on rehearsing The Rake's Progress in 

1968: "The harpsichord is distinguished by a no less painfiil pitch discrepancy 

... and the instrument is amplified to something near the level of the Mormon 

Tabernacle organ at triple /."^ Therefore, it seems clear that Stravinsky had 

the harpsichord, and not the piano, in mind for this particular work. 

8 

Methodologv of the Studv 

Scores of each of the twenty-two works cited in Table 1 have been 

analyzed in terms of Stravinsky's treatment of the piano within the orchestral 

texture. In particular, the following areas will be discussed. 

Doublings with other instruments. 

Piston specifies doubling as the 

foremost reason for using piano in the orchestra, due to its percussive quality, 

which can then be imparted to any instrument in all registers. He further 

states that the high register of the piano is especially effective in adding 

brilliance to the upper woodwind sound.^° Stravinsky had very decided views 

on the subject of doubling, which he expressed during his series of lectures at 

Harvard in the late 1930s: 

In every case the doubling of parts weighs down the music and v^ 

constitutes a peril that can be avoided only by proceeding with 

infinite tact. Such additions call for a subtle and delicate 

/ •/ V 

®Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft;, Themes and Conclusions (Berkeley: 

University of California Press, 1982), p. 56. 

Îgor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Retrospectives and Conclusions (New 

York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969), p. 299. 

^°Piston, p. 341.

proportioning that itself presupposes the surest of tastes and a 

discriminating culture. 

It is often believed that power can be increased indefinitely by 

multiplying the doubling of orchestral parts-a belief that is 

completely false: thickening is not strengthening. In a certain 

measure and up to a certain point, doubling may give the illusion 

of strength by effecting a reaction of a psychological order on the 

listener. The sensation of shock simulates the effect of power and 

helps to establish an illusion of balance between the sounding 

tonal masses. A good deal might be said in this connection about 

the balance of forces in the modem orchestra, a balance which is 

more easily explained by our aural habits than it is justified by 

exactness of proportions.^^ 

Octave usage. The appearance (or lack) of octaves will be discussed in 

each of the works imder study. Stravinsky himself said that "octaves are 

peculiarly pianistic. No other instrument produces them so well."^^ 

Pianistic effects. Effects such as glissandi, trills, arpeggiated figures, 

alternating hand passages, and tremolo have been identified throughout the 

twenty-two works. 

Percussive effects. Passages in which the percussive nature of the piano 

is exploited are identified and discussed. 

Use of pedals. Stravinsky rarely indicated for the performer to use the 

damper pedal, in either the solo works or the orchestral works. He once made 

the comment that his childhood piano teacher's "only idiosyncrasy as a teacher 

was in forbidding me all use of pedals; I had to sustain with my fingers, like 

an organist-an omen, perhaps, as I have never been a pedal composer. "^^ He 

did, however, reveal a marked preference for the una corda pedal, frequently 

indicating that it should be used. 

^Îgor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music, trans. Arthur Knodel and Ingolf Dahl 

(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1947), pp. 130-131. 

^^Stravinsky, Themes and Conclusions, p. 99. 

^Îgor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Memories and Commentaries 

Faber and Faber, 1960), pp. 25-26. 

(London:

10 

Solo passage work. Passages in which the piano is treated as a solo 

instrument wiU be discussed. 

Proportion of piano usage to entire work. An analysis is given for each 

work of the number of measures containing piano versus the number of 

measures in the entire work. 

Treatment of rhythm in piano usage. In the discussion of each work, 

comments are made relative to the importance of the piano part in a rhythmic 

context. 

A complete and detailed analysis of each work studied is contained in 

the appendix. A table has been prepared for each work, showing specific 

doublings, octave usage, pianistic effects, percussive effects, pedal usage, and 

solo passagework, and the measure number(s) in which they appear. Because 

it would be impossible to discuss every instance of piano usage in any of the 

works, certain examples will be presented which illustrate specific important 

usages; for a complete analysis of piano usage, refer to the appendix. Major 

trends within each of these categories will be discussed in Chapter V.

CHAPTER II 

THE EARLY WORKS: 1909-1920 

L'Oiseau de Feu (Original 1910 version) 

Stravinsky's earliest works for orchestra, those written before 1909, did 

not include piano in the orchestration, as can be seen in Table 2. His first 

orchestral work to include piano was his transcription of Frederic Chopin's 

Valse Brillante in E flat Major, Op. 18, for Sergei Diaghilev's ballet Les 

Sylphides in 1909. It is impossible to say to what extent the piano was utilized 

in this transcription for, according to Dominique-Rene de Lerma's guide to 

publications of Stravinsky's music, this arrangement is unpublished and/or 

lost.^"* The first original orchestral composition to include piano was L'Oiseau 

de Feu, written from 1909 to 1910 for Diaghilev and his Ballet Russe. The 

score called for an extremely large orchestra of two piccolos, two flutes, two 

oboes, English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, 

contrabassoon, four horns, three tnmipets, three trombones, tuba, three 

onstage trumpets, two onstage tenor tubas, two onstage bass tubas, timpani, 

triangle, tambourine, cymbals, bass dnmi, tam-tam, glockenspiel, xylophone, 

celesta, three harps, piano, and the usual complement of strings. Stravinsky 

once made the comment that "the orchestral body of The Firebird was 

wastefiiUy large, but I was more proud of some of the orchestration than of the 

music itself."^^ 

It is highly possible that Stravinsky used the piano in these works for 

Diaghilev simply because it was available to him for the first time; another 

^*Dominique-Rene de Lerma and Thomas J. Ahrens, Igor Fedorovitch 

Stravinsky, 1882-1971; A Practical Guide To Publications of His Music (Kent, 

Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1974), p. 119. 

^Îgor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Expositions and Developments 

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962), p. 131. 

11

12 

supposition is that he was following the example of his composition teacher, 

Rimsky-Korsakov, whose views on the subject have already been mentioned. 

Whatever the reason, the piano played a very small and unimportant role in 

Stravinsky's first uses of it, at least in the original score of L'Oiseau de Feu. 

(This situation would change radically when Stravinsky, who had arranged a 

suite for concert performance in 1911, reorchestrated the suite in 1919 for a 

greatly reduced orchestra, which will be discussed in depth later in this 

chapter.) Out of 1,294 total measures, the piano only appears in twenty-eight, 

as can be seen in Table 3 of the Appendix; in general, it doubles the celesta 

and/or harps, occasionally doubling the high winds or full orchestra. No solo 

passages are given to the piano, and tfie entire part seems superfluous. 

Instead, the celesta is given a far more important role, appearing frequently 

in solo and accompanimental passages. 

Petrouchka 

Stravinsky was to give the piano a major role in his next orchestral 

work, however. After the success of L'Oiseau de Feu, he had already been 

commissioned by Diaghilev to compose the music for Le Sacre du Printemps. 

Speaking of that time in his autobiography, he stated: 

Before tackling the Sacre du Printemps, which would be a long 

and difficult task, I wanted to refresh myself by composing an 

orchestral piece in which the piano would play the most 

important part-a sort ofKonzertstUck. In composing the music, 

I had in my mind a distinct picture of a puppet, suddenly 

endowed with life, exasperating the patience of the orchestra with 

diabolical cascades of arpeggios. The orchestra in turn retaliates 

with menacing trimipet blasts. The outcome is a terrific noise 

which reaches its climax and ends in the sorrowful and querulous 

collapse of the poor puppet. Having finished this bizarre piece, 

I struggled for hours, while walking beside the Lake of Geneva, 

to find a title which would express in a word the character of my 

music and, consequently, the personality of this creature. 

One day I leapt for joy. I had indeed found my title- 

Petroushka, the immortal and unhappy hero of every fair in all 

countries. Soon aft;erwards Diaghileff" came to visit ... I played

him the piece I had just composed and which later became the 

second scene of Petroushka.^^ 

Diaghilev was extremely excited about Stravinsky's new piece and 

convinced him to write a complete score for a new ballet utilizing its ideas. 

The result, of course, was Petrouchka, which premiered in 1911 and was 

another resoimding success for Stravinsky and Diaghilev's Ballet Russe. 

The work is divided into four parts; each part, except the first, is 

preceded by a cadence on the snare drum. The piano appears in 539 of a total 

of 1267 measures, or nearly one-half of the score, and is most prominent in the 

first part and the second part (which was the music first composed); Table 4 

in the Appendix gives a complete listing of usage. 

appears as a soloist, representing Petrouchka. 

13 

In many instances, it 

At other times, it doubles 

various other instnmients to create a sharper, brighter sound. Figure 1 

illustrates a t5T)ical doubling with high winds: piccolo, flute, and oboe, from 

near the beginning of the work. The piano doubled with these instruments 

creates a more percussive attack to each note, defining and enunciating the 

sound. The doubling is exact in all respects: pitch, articulation, and dynamics. 

The piano spans three octaves; the piccolo and flute double the highest note, 

the oboe doubles the middle octave, and no instrument doubles the lowest 

octave. The particular timbre of each instrument's tone can be heard in this 

type of doubling, yet they all blend together to create a new timbre. This 

passage is also noteworthy for its rhythmic complexity of septuplets and 

quintuplets in the main melodic line moving over a steady stream of quarter, 

eighth, and sixteenth notes. 

Figure 2 shows a doubling in the lower register, with bass clarinet, 

bassoon, timpani, cello, and double bass (clarinets also double the right hand 

notes in the middle register). This is not an exact doubling; note the four 

^Îgor Stravinsky, An Autobiography 

1936), pp. 31-32. 

(New York: Simon and Shuster,

14 

^ • < ; • ^ I 3 1 . J 1 

MIT.) 

Figure 1: Petrouchka, measures 26-31. Copyright 1948 by Boosey & 

Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by permission. 

thirty-second notes which the piano plays in the measure before and the third 

measure aft;er square 48 versus the triplet in all other parts-the piano plays 

an extra B natural. Also, the left-hand part of the piano sustains while all 

other instruments except bassoon I release at square 48. This passage recurs 

several times in slightly varied form throughout the work and provides a good 

example of Stravinsky's fondness for shifting meters.

15 

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16 

The beginning of the "Danse Russe" is illustrated in Figure 3. The piano 

is doubled by nearly all of the winds, with trombones, harp, and strings 

doubling certain beats for emphasis. This passages foreshadows Stravinsky's 

growing interest in the wind soimd which would culminate in his Concerto for 

Piano and Winds in 1924. The "whiteness" of the music has often been 

DANSE RUSSE 

CU>.IJI 

l«BV 



commented upon; no doubt the passage was inspired by the white keys on the 

piano and the ability of a pianist's hand to move rapidly up and down the keys 

in blocked chords. The repeated chords in the left hand are not particularly 

pianistic in nature and are quite difficult to execute because of the speed 

required in getting the piano action to repeat. This type of writing reflects 

Stravinsky's growing perception of the piano as a percussion instrimient. Note 

that every note played by the other instruments is doubled by the piano, except 

for the bottom note of the harp in the second, fourth, and sixth measures of the 

example. 

This passage appears again as a solo for piano in slightly altered form, 

at rehearsal number 82. An unusual direction is given to the performer at this 

point: / subito left ped. The left (una corda) pedal is typically used in very 

soft passages where a more muffled sound is desired. Stravinsky, however, 

was specific in stating his desire for it to be used in this and other forte 

passages. The slight change in tone quality which results was more to his 

liking. The fact that this was not a mere misprint is substantiated by a 

comment from the diary of Robert Craft, Stravinsky's musical assistant and 

protege for the last twenty-five years of his life: 

At the rehearsals [in Caracas, from October 28 to November 3, 

1962] I. S. tells the Petrushka pianist to open the lid all of the 

way, to use the left pedal only, to play forte and secco, and as I 

have heard these directions a hundred times, I should record 

them as definitive.^^ 

The second part of the score contains the original music which 

Stravinsky first composed and played for Diaghilev, in which the piano is 

treated throughout as a solo instrument, representing Petrouchka. The socalled 

"Petrouchka chord," the juxtaposition of two major chords a tritone 

apart, can be seen in Figure 4, at number 97. This example clearly shows that 

17 

^''Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Dialogues and a Diary (London: Faber 

and Faber, 1968), pp. 310-311.

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the sound of this chord was derived by means of the black and white keys of 

the piano. Throughout this passage, the left hand remains on the black keys 

and the right hand on the white keys. Note that the passage beginning at 

number 98 is a single note run, alternating between the hands, and at square 

99, becomes a rapid alternation between the hands on every other note.

19 

Figure 5, taken from the third part, shows a very interesting type of 

doubling with rhythmic variations. At square 150, three solo instruments: 

flute, trumpet, and piano, play the same melodic phrase, but in differing time 

values; the flute moves in eighth notes, the trumpet in sixteenth notes, and the 

piano in sixteenth note triplets. These instruments represent the three main 

protagonists of the ballet: the ballerina (flute), the blackamoor (trumpet), and 

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20 

Petrouchka (piano). In the third measure after square 150, the trumpet joins 

the flute in playing the same rh5rthm, but the piano continues to play sixteenth 

note triplets repeating at the octave, symbolizing the blackamoor's gaining of 

the ballerina's affections and her rejection of Petrouchka. 

The fourth and last part of the original 1911 score of Petrouchka 

contains very little writing for the piano. Stravinsky corrected this deficiency 

when he revised the score in 1947, giving the piano an equally prominent role 

to the other three parts. The following examples are taken from the revised 

score. 

A passage of rapidly repeating fifths alternating between the hands 

occurs several times in the fourth part, as shown in Figure 6. This use of 

repeated notes, again not particularly pianistic, is another foreshadowing of 

Stravinsky's evolving style which would become so prominent in the works of 

the 1920s. The harp doubles the notes of the piano in this example, but one 

at a time. 

Figure 7 illustrates yet another foreshadowing of what would become a 

part of the neoclassical style of the 1920s, the use of diatonic scalar passages. 

The two hands move in parallel motion at the interval of a fifth. While no 

instrument exactly doubles the notes of the piano, all notes played in the 

passage are contained in the "white" key of C Major; there are no chromatic 

alterations. This is an excellent example of the compositional language which 

became known as "pandiatonicism," where the combination of diatonic parts 

results in a type of static harmonic activity. 

At number 228, Stravinsky gives the piano a measured tremolo of two 

full chords alternating between the hands: a four note A major chord in second 

inversion for the right hand and a five note G sharp half diminished seventh 

chord in third inversion for the left hand. This continues for the next thirtyseven 

measures. It is doubled, but never exactly, by horns, trumpet III, 

strings, and harp on the second half of each beat, and by winds in measured 

tremolo with variations. Short solo lines in many different instruments weave

21 

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in and out through the texture. This passage is another example of how 

Stravinsky was able to create a feeling of static or unchanging harmony in a 

passage of music while sustaining interest. 

Stravinsky not only doubled the piano with other instruments to achieve 

a particular tone color, he sometimes experimented with differing articulations

22 

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23 

between instruments. Figure 8 provides an example: the piano and clarinet 

double the same sextuplet run in the same octave, but the clarinet is clearly 

instructed by the slur to play legato, whereas the piano's part is marked with 

staccato and leggiero. The piano's staccatos enunciate each note of the clarinet, 

and the overall effect is a unique one, for this occurs as the scuffle takes place 

between the blackamoor and Petrouchka, resulting in the latter puppet's 

"death." Petrouchka's flight from his rival is represented in the piano by 

THE SCUFFLE 

Blackamoor and Petrousbka 

^S2] kleoo ooMO J : too 



24 

alternating octave passages of varying length, ending with a glissando doubled 

by strings that signifies his falling to the groimd. After his "death," the piano 

is not heard again. 

Although the work was conceived as a type of piano concerto, and the 

piano is treated soloistically in several sections, its contributions to the score 

in non-soloistic ways are extremely important. Stravinsky obviously saw great 

possibilities in its use as a doubling instnmient and as a means of adding new 

color to his orchestration. He would continue to turn to the piano in many of 

his new works. 

After Petrouchka, Stravinsky poured all of his energy into Le Sacre du 

Printemps, whose premiere caused the famous riots in Paris in 1913. The 

score does not include piano in the orchestration and, therefore, does not fall 

under the scope of this study. It is possible that Stravinsky did not want to 

create another Petrouchka, and so may have intentionally omitted the piano. 

Perhaps the piano just did not fit into his tonal ideas for Le Sacre. 

Le Chant du Rossis noi 

In the fall of 1913, after the completion of Le Sacre du Printemps, 

Stravinsky returned to a work first begun even before the composition of 

L'Oiseau de Feu. He had composed the first act of an opera entitled Le 

Rossignol in 1908, and now set about completing the work. His compositional 

style had changed dramatically in the previous four years, however, and Acts 

2 and 3 ended up being a radical departure from his original music. The 

earlier Act 1 did not contain piano in the orchestration, but the new Acts 2 and 

3 saw a change in orchestration which included the addition of piano, again 

signaling Stravinsky's growing interest in the piano as an orchestral 

instrument. Stravinsky was aware of the extreme difference between the old 

and new music, and equally aware that he could never again write in the older 

style; consequently, he was never really satisfied with the opera. Years later, 

he would comment:

I can only attribute the musical style of the later acts-the 

augmented seconds, parallel intervals, pentatonic tunes, 

orchestral devices (tremolos, muted brass, cadenzas, etc.) to the 

great difficulty I experienced in returning to the opera at all after 

five years, and especially after Le Sacre du Printemps.^^ 

In 1917, he recast the music of Acts 2 and 3 as a symphonic poem and 

later a ballet, entitled Le Chant du Rossignol. 

25 

Always experimenting and 

searching, Stravinsky began at this time to decrease the size of his orchestra 

and to treat it in fimdamentally new and different ways. As he would later 

state in his autobiography: 

I ought to mention here a concert which had a certain 

importance for me in view of my new orchestral experiments. On 

December 6 a first performance of Le Chant du Rossignol was 

given at Geneva at one of the subscription concerts of the 

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under the direction of Ernest 

Ansermet. I say new experiment because, in this symphonic 

poem, written for an orchestra of ordinary size, I treated the 

latter more as a chamber orchestra, and laid stress on the 

concertante side, not only of the various solo instruments, but also 

gave this role to whole groups of instruments. This orchestral 

treatment was well adapted to music full of cadenzas, vocalises, 

and melismata of all kinds, and in which tutti were the exception. 

I enjoyed the performance greatly, for the rendering was careful 

and highly finished.^^ 

The piano is quite prominent in Le Chant du Rossignol, appearing in 

more than one-third of the work, although it is not used soloistically as often 

as in Petrouchka. 

It is generally doubled by one or more other instruments in 

a variety of different combinations, as is shown in Table 6 in the Appendix. 

The most common instruments doubled with piano are the harp, the flute and 

the piccolo; less frequently, the piano is doubled with brass or string 

instruments. Glissandi are frequent, as are tremolos played with alternating 

hands, both on single notes and on chords. 

Although there are some 

^^Stravinsky, Memories and Commentaries, p. 131. 

^^Stravinsky, An Autobiography, p. 84.

26 

indications ofsforzando, the piano is not used very much for percussive effects. 

Pedal markings are occasional but rare; several times Stravinsky again calls 

for use of the una corda pedal in a forte passage with sforzando, as in Figure 

9 below, just as he did in Petrouchka. Use of the damper, or right pedal, is 

indicated by the sign for laisser vibrer (let vibrate), which is a slur extending 

from a note head, and/or the indication of "Ped." Both of these methods for 

using the damper pedal can also be seen in Figure 9. 

«r B a H. 16312 

Figure 9: Le Chant du Rossignol, measures 21-32. Cop)rright 1921 by 

Edition Russe de Musique, printed by arrangement, Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. 

Reprinted by permission.

27 

Figure 10 gives an example of a soloistic passage for piano, doubled by 

first and second violins and viola. The pentatonic passage was again probably 

inspired by the black keys of the piano and is very reminiscent of passages 

from Petrouchka. A solo trumpet echoes the passage in canon one measure 

later. Again the piano is instructed to use the una corda pedal along with e 

sempre poco sf (always a little sforzando). 

Several times the piano doubles short melismatic rims of the flute, 

sjnnbolizing the living nightingale, usually in septuplets. With the appearance 

rrkkl 

Figure 10: Le Chant du Rossignol, measures 150-156. Copyright 1921 by 



28 

of the mechanical nightingale of the fairy tale, the piano assumes a more 

static, mechanical role, playing a pianissimo tremolo in single notes a tenth 

apart with alternating hands for eighteen measures. 

The piano represents the retum of the living nightingale with flutters 

and runs either in solo or doubling the flute or clarinet. It also has an 

important solo of a different type closer to the end of the work, given in Figure 

11, where a single c'" is repeated seventeen times while winds tremolo 

n,iM. 

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Figure 11: Le Chant du Rossignol, measures 460-465. Copyright 1921 by 



29 

underneath, very likely representing the crying out of the bird in 

and despair. 

finstration 

Suite L'Oiseau de Feu 

Just as the piano became an important component in Stravinsky's 

completion of Le Rossignol and Le Chant du Rossignol, so it would become 

much more important in his resetting of the music from L'Oiseau de Feu in the 

1919 orchestral suite. While the original ballet score utilized the piano in only 

twenty-eight measures, the revised suite contained music for piano in 135 of 

its 568 total measures. The celesta was much more prominent in the original 

score; in the revised 1919 suite it does not even appear. In fact, Le Chant du 

Rossignol would prove to be the last score in which Stravinsky used the celesta 

until Movements for Piano and Orchestra in 1955. Much of what was 

originally written for the celesta was given instead to the piano, indicating 

both Stravinsky's desire to scale down the size of his orchestra and the growing 

importance of the piano in his orchestral concept. 

In the first section of the suite, the piano is generally given rapid, single 

note runs, often divided between the hands. These are soloistic in nature and 

can be readily discerned through the texture. Figures 12 and 13 on the 

following pages give two such examples. The melisma shown in Figure 12 was 

originally performed on the celesta; on piano the figure sounds brighter and 

clearer. This run is not doubled by any other instrument and probably depicts 

the fluttering wings of the firebird. Figure 13 shows an extremely active 

passage for piano and winds, in which no parts are doubled, but piccolo, flute 

and clarinet share the upward sweep with the piano. Again, the piano sound 

clearly cuts through the texture and is soloistic in nature. The last measure 

of the example (one measure after square 18) shows an upward sweep on white 

keys in the right hand and on black keys in the left hand, showing again 

Stravinsky's fascination with this combined sound and its derivation.

30 

P.l.gr. 

Cor. Ingl. 

(ob.ll.) 

CornI 

Figure 12: Suite de L'Oiseau de Feu, 1919 reorchestration, measures 21-23. 

Copyright by Edwin F. Kalmus, printed by CPP/Belwin, Inc. Reprinted by 

permission.

31 

r.ri«|i|!^ 

Fl.„. 

Figure 13: Suite de L'Oiseau de Feu, 1919 reorchestration, measures 74-78. 

Copyright by Edwin F. Kalmus, printed by CPP/Belwin, Inc. Reprinted by 

permission.

32 

Figure 14, taken from the "Infemal Dance," offers an excellent example 

of how Stravinsky's concepts in orchestration had changed in the ten years 

between the original ballet score and the revision of 1919 from which the 

example is taken. In the original, the solo line is given to the piccolo clarinet. 

In the revised suite, however, the flute and piano are given the melodic line, 

with violin I partially joining in the second measure and beyond. It is not an 

exact doubUng, however, for every other note is displaced at the octave, with 

the flute taking the higher octave and the piano the lower. The diverging 

octaves give each instnunent's tone color more presence, while still 

maintaining the effect of a doubled solo line. Piano notes contain laisser vibrer 

and sf sempre indications. Xylophone, harp, and piccolo double the end of the 

phrase for emphasis. 

Whereas the beginning sections of the suite utilize the piano mainly in 

single note runs divided between the hands, the "Infemal Dance" exploits 

another facet of piano technique, that of octaves. In Figure 15, the piano first 

has alternating octaves between the hands, with the inner note repeating, and 

then both hands in parallel octaves. These octaves double with the flute and 

oboe in the high register and the horns in the lower register, and are in canon 

with trumpet and trombone. 

Another pianistic device used with great effect in this suite is the 

glissando, which appears no fewer than fourteen times in the work. Figure 16 

shows the beginning of a section in which the piano executes six upward 

glissandi on the white keys while the harp executes glissandi both up and 

down on the "black key" notes, creating a dazzling whirl of soimd. 

The piano is doubled less often with the string section. One excellent 

example is contained in Figure 17, in which the right hand doubles the violin 

I and II notes, and the left hand doubles the viola, cello, and double bass notes; 

all strings play pizzicato with the exception of one chord. 

The completion of the revised suite of L'Oiseau de Feu marked a turning 

point in Stravinsky's compositional style. As he entered the 1920s, his

33 

n.ricc 

..Mi 

Figure 14: Suiê cfe L'Oiseaw cfe Fei/, measures 230-233. Copyright by Edwin 

F. Kalmus, printed by CPP/Belwin, Inc. Reprinted by permission. 

constant experimentation with the orchestra and concepts of sound would lead 

him into what would become known as the "neoclassical" movement.

Violc 

piu. t 

atmyrtf 

Figure 15: Suite de L'Oiseau de Feu, measures 270-273. Copyright by 

Edwin F. Kalmus, printed by CPP/Belwin, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

n.ricc 

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36 

Okal 



CHAPTER III 

THE MIDDLE PERIOD WORKS: 1920-1955 

As can be seen in the revised scores of Le Rossignol and Suite L'Oiseau 

de Feu, Stravinsky was moving towards an aesthetic which called for a smaller 

orchestra, treated more in a concertante manner. The piano was growing more 

important as a part of this aesthetic, as evidenced by its increasing number of 

appearances. The works of the 1920s would reveal his quest for new means 

of expression through varied instrumental combinations. 

A pivotal work of this time period is Les Noces (The Wedding), which 

was begun shortly after the completion of Le Sacre du Printemps. Forty years 

later, Stravinsky would recollect: 

I began the composition of Les Noces in 1914 (a year before 

Renard) in Clarens. The music was composed in short score form 

by 1917, but it was not finished in full score until three months 

before the premiere, which was six years later. No work of mine 

has undergone so many instrumental metamorphoses. I 

completed the first tableau for an orchestra of the size of Le Sacre 

du printemps, and then decided to divide the various 

instrumental elements-strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, 

keyboard (cimbalom, harpsichord, piano)-into groups and to keep 

these groups separate on the stage. In still another version I 

sought to combine pianolas with bands of instruments that 

included saxhorns and fliigelhoms. Then one day in 1921, in 

Garches, where I was living as the guest of Gabrielle Chanel, I 

suddenly realized that an orchestra of four pianos would fulfill all 

my conditions. It would be at the same time perfectly 

homogeneous, perfectly impersonal, and perfectly mechanical.^° 

This statement is important not only because it shows the evolution of 

the orchestration for Les Noces, but also because it reflects Stravinsky's 

perception of the piano as being impersonal and mechanical, which were 

positive attributes of the instmment in his mind. 

Although the final 

instrumentation of four soloists, chorus, four pianos and percussion does not 

^°Stravinsky, Expositions and Developments, p. 118. 

37

38 

constitute an orchestral work for the purposes of this discussion, Les Noces 

still must be mentioned in any study of Stravinsky's use and treatment of the 

piano. 

Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra 

In the period from 1914 to 1917, Stravinsky had written two sets of 

piano duets, entitled Three Easy Pieces and Five Easy Pieces, so called because 

one part in each had been written with Diaghilev (who was not a pianist) in 

mind as the performer. In the early 1920s, he decided to set these pieces for 

orchestra in the form of two suites. He did not retain the piano in any of the 

pieces in Suite No. 1 (which actually was finished after the second suite), but 

chose to use piano in two of the four pieces in Suite No. 2, which were settings 

of the Three Easy Pieces and the last piece from Five Easy Pieces. 

The opening measures of "Marche," which begins Suite No. 2, are 

contained in Figure 18 on the following page. Immediately one can see the 

radical change that has taken place in Stravinsky's orchestration. Although 

the four standard orchestral families are all present, their numbers have been 

drastically reduced. The winds are represented by two flutes, one oboe, two B 

flat clarinets, and two bassoons; there is no piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet, 

or contrabassoon, among others. Four instruments form the brass component: 

one each of horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba. The snare drum, bass drum 

and piano constitute the percussion section, and finally, there is the usual 

complement of strings. Not only is the scoring much thinner, but there are few 

tutti passages; instead, smaller combinations of instruments banter back and 

forth. In Figure 18, notice how the piano is doubled by first and second violins 

in the lower octave, and both flutes in the higher octave. The phrase is also 

doubled in the lower octave by a dovetaiUng of oboe and clarinet, giving the 

oboe the more emphatic accented triplet which begins the phrase and the more 

mellow sounding clarinet the legato downward sweep at the end of the phrase.

pour petit orchestre / 

Droits d'cxccutlon reserves 

AnffBknmg^rteki vorMtalten 

Performing rights reserved 

2 Flautl graiidl 

Oboe 

2 ClarinetU in Sit 

2 Fagotti 

SUITE N?2 

fur kleines Orcnoster / for small orchestra 

I. MARCHE 

Igor Strawinsky 

(•1882) 

39 

Corno In Fa 

Tromba in Do 

Trombone 

Tuba 

Calsse clairc 

Gran Cas.sa 

Piano 

Violino I 

Viollno n 

Viola 

Violoncello 

Contrabass o 

Figure 18: "Marche," from Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra, measures 1-4. 

Copyright 1925 (renewed) by J. & W. Chester, Ltd. All rights for United 

States and Canada controlled by G. Schirmer, Inc. 

Figure 19 illustrates number 4 of the "Marche" and is typical of the 

writing throughout the movement. In fact, the broken accompanimental figure 

in the piano part three measures after number 4 appears in nearly every 

measure of the movement. These notes are doubled throughout by the tuba, 

snare dnma, bass drum, violin II, viola, violoncello, and double bass, but the

40 

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Figure 19: "Marche," from Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra, measures 26-29. 


States and Canada controlled by G. Schirmer, Inc. 

resulting effect sounds very lightly and thinly orchestrated. Notice that this 

figure is also present at number 4 itself, but relegated to the left hand, while 

the right hand plays a two measure phrase doubled with flutes, oboe, 

trombone, and violins. The notes in the right hand represent a composite of 

the other doubling instruments, compressed to within an octave span. The 

writing, especially the rapid diatonic triads, is reminiscent of Petrouchka.

41 

Figure 20 shows the beginning of the fourth piece of the suite, "Galop." 

Here, the piano is used in a fresh and novel way, stemming directly from 

Stravinsky's perception of the piano as a percussion instrument. In the fourth 

measure, the piano plays a cluster comprised of the bottom three keys on the 

IV. 

GALOP 

Flauto piccolo 

Flauto grande 

Oboe 

2 Clarinetti in La 

2 Fagotti 

Corno in Fb 

in Do 

Tromba 

in La 

Ti-ombono 

Tuba 

ClaLsse claii-e 

Piatte 

Grand Cassa 


Violino I 

\ôlino II 

Viola 

Violoncello 

Contrabasso 

Figure 20: "Galop," from Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra, measures 1-5. 


States and Canada controlled by G. Schirmer, Inc.

42 

instrument, at the same time as a /// bass drum crash. The combination of 

the two instruments creates a sound which neither could produce alone. It is 

a striking effect when heard in the context of the movement. 

The last movement is scored much more thickly than the previous 

movements, and the instruments are almost constantly performing tutti. A 

typical page of the score is given as an example in Figure 21. All instruments 

Figure 21: "Galop," from Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra, measures 6-12. 


States and Canada controlled by G. Schirmer, Inc.

are in play. The right hand of the piano is doubled by tmmpet and trombone 

at one octave lower. The flutes, oboe, clarinet, hom, violins, and viola play the 

same rhythm as the right hand, but on different pitches, in what is a good 

example of pandiatonicism. The violoncello doubles the left hand of the piano 

exactly, while the double bass part plays the same pitches but singly, in an 

ascending and descending pattern. 

Throughout the work, the piano is used primarily in a percussive 

capacity, providing the steady rhythmic drive which the music demands. 

Although it frequently doubles the melodic line, it does not appear as a solo 

instrument, but rather as an integral part of the orchestration. 

However, even though Stravinsky had used the piano several times 

already in his orchestrations, most notably in Le Chant du Rossignol and 

Suite No. 2, he still seemed to perceive the piano primarily as a soloistic 

instrument. The following comment from his autobiography, dealing with the 

composition of L'Histoire du Soldat, is particularly revealing: 

I knew only too well that so far as the music was concerned I 

should have to be content with a very restricted orchestra. The 

easiest solution would have been to use some such polyphonic 

instrument as the piano or harmonium. The latter was out of the 

question, chiefly because of its dynamic poverty, due to the 

complete absence of accents. Though the piano has polyphonic 

qualities infinitely more varied, and offers many particularly 

dynamic possibilities, I had to avoid it for two reasons: either my 

score would have seemed like an arrangement for the piano, and 

that would have given evidence of a certain lack of financial 

means, which would not have been at all in keeping with our 

intentions, or I should have had to use it as a solo instrument, 

exploiting every possibility of its technique. In other words, I 

should have had to be specially careful about the "pianism" of my 

score, and make it into a vehicle of virtuosity, in order to justify 

my choice of mediimi. So there was nothing for it but to decide 

on a group of instruments, a selection which would include the 

most representative types, in treble and bass, of the instrumental 

families . . . ^^ 

43 

21 

Stravinsky, An Autobiography, pp. 71-72

44 

This perception of the piano as a vehicle for virtuosity, coupled with his 

conception of it as a percussion instnmient, would result in the Concerto for 

Piano and Winds of 1924. 

Concerto for Piano and Winds 

As already mentioned, in the late teens and early 1920s Stravinsky was 

experimenting with diverse and smaller combinations of instruments in his 

compositions. Les Noces, written for vocal soloists, chorus, four pianos, and 

percussion in its final form, and L'Histoire du Soldat, written for clarinet, 

bassoon, comet, trombone, violin, double-bass, percussion, and narrator, are 

good examples. Stravinsky was also becoming more interested in the sound 

of wind instruments separate from the orchestral string section. In 1920, he 

completed t^he Symphonies of Wind Instruments, dedicated to Claude Debussy, 

and in 1923 he composed the Octet for Wind Instruments for flute, clarinet, two 

bassoons, trumpet in C, trumpet in A, trombone and bass trombone. The Octet 

was soon followed by another composition utilizing winds, as remembered by 

Stravinsky in his autobiography: "Having again used a wind ensemble for 

chamber music in the Octuor, I later undertook the composition of my 

Concerto, which, as regards color, is yet another combination-that of piano 

with a wind orchestra reinforced by double basses and timbals."^^ 

Stravinsky began this new composition before determining the 

instrumentation; it evolved only gradually into a concerto for piano and wind 

instruments. Two separate statements by Stravinsky reveal the evolutionary 

process that transpired: 

... at the beginning of the composition I did not see that it would 

take the form of a concerto for piano and orchestra. Only 

gradually, while already composing, did I understand that the 

musical material could be used to most advantage in the piano, 

whose neat, clear sonority and pol5T)honic resources suited the 

22 

Stravinsky, An Autobiography, p. 104.

dryness and neatness which I was seeking in the structure of the 

music I had composed.^^ 

The short, crisp dance character of the Toccata [the first 

movement], engendered by the percussion of the piano, led to the 

idea that a wind ensemble would suit the piano better than any 

other combination. In contrast to the percussiveness of the piano, 

the winds prolong the piano's sounds as well as provide the 

human element of respiration.^* 

In the Concerto, Stravinsky's conception of the piano as a percussion 

instrument crystallized. The piano is treated throughout in a dry, detached 

fashion, energizing and driving the rhythm in the first and third movements 

by means of continuous streams of sixteenth notes in one or both hands. 

Accents and sforzandi abound, and the writing is essentially non-lyric in style. 

Passages of chordal octaves and octave runs alternate with more contrapuntal 

sections of two or three voices. In general, the piano writing calls to mind the 

continuo of the eighteenth century orchestra. Heinrich Strobel, in discussing 

this work, commented: 

The word *suivi' in the original, indicating the solo piano's 

dominating role, is not to be understood, however, in the sense of 

the romantic virtuoso concerto with effective sound passages, but 

rather in that of a fluid, motor-like concertato style as found in 

the concerti of Bach and Vivaldi.^^ 

The work begins with a slow introduction for winds, in dotted rhythms, 

reminiscent of the French Overture style of the Baroque period. Years later, 

Stravinsky would comment about his intentional use of this stylistic 

convention: 

Dotted rhythms are characteristic eighteenth-century rhythms. 

My uses of them in . . . works of that period, such as the 

45 

^êra Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents 

(New York: Faber and Faber, 1978), p. 197. 

^*Vera Stravinsky, Pictures and Documents, p. 252. 

^^Heinrich Strobel, Stravinsky: Classic Humanist, trans. Hans Rosenwald 

(New York: Merlin Press, 1955), p. 105.

introduction to my piano Concerto, are conscious stylistic 

references. I attempted to build a new music on eighteenthcentury 

classicism, using the constmctive principles of that 

classicism (which I cannot define here) and even evoking it 

stylistically by such means as dotted rhythms.^^ 

Stravinsky's compositions of this time, in which he used the principles and 

evoked the styles of eighteenth century classicism, are now commonly referred 

to as the "neoclassical" works (although perhaps "neobaroque" is more 

appropriate). 

The piano enters for the first time at a sudden change in tempo to 

"Allegro," which is shown in Figure 22 on the following page. The writing is 

angular and percussive, with both hands playing in octaves; the right hand 

part also contains inner notes. Every note played by the orchestra is contained 

in the piano part; all instruments are present, but the writing is fragmented 

so that each instrument plays only a few notes. Despite the lightness of the 

scoring, however, the overall effect is still that of an orchestral tutti, such as 

one might expect in a concerto from the Classical period, but with a much 

clearer, cleaner texture. 

As mentioned above, the chordal octave passages for piano alternate 

with more thinly scored contrapuntal passages such as the one contained in 

Figure 23, shown on page 48. At number 8, the solo piano appears with oboe 

and English hom in a passage similar to a baroque trio sonata, with each 

instrument playing a distinctly individual line. The piano part itself is in 

three-voice counterpoint. In the fourth measure after number 8, two horns 

enter, doubling the left hand octaves, building the passage toward the cUmax 

of the first section. 

The section which begins in the sixth measure after 

number 8 again shows the use of fragmented doubling to achieve the effect of 

a tutti without overthickening the texture. The flute and clarinet partially 

46 

^Îgor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Conversations with Igor 

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), p. 18. 

Stravinsky

47 

A-Uepro Js 104 

Pier. 

Fi. t.2 

Ok. 1.2 

C.I. 

U.Ul.2| 

I 

Piaio 

1.2 

Car. 

3.4 

1.2 

Tr-kr 

3.4 

Tr-ii 

2.3 

Taka 

Tinp. 

C-B. 

B.ftH.i87ee 

Figure 22: Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Mvt. I, measures 31- 

36. Cop)nnght assigned 1947 to Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by 

permission.

toeo,/^p 

f^c*/^P 

PI. 1.2 

fc 

?£,;?? EW"^ 

CI. It 1.2 [ 

F»».l 

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57. Copyright assigned 1947 to Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by 

permission.

49 

double the highest notes of the piano, while the bassoon, contrabassoon, tuba, 

timpani, and contrabass help to sustain the left hand octave. Three homs play 

a variant of the piano's sixteenth-note figure, augmented in duration to eighth 

notes. 

In addition to the thickly scored octave passages and the more thinly 

scored contrapimtal passages already mentioned, a third type of writing for the 

piano which occurs frequently is that of altemating the hands back and forth, 

on either chords, octaves, or single notes, so that the hands do not strike 

together throughout the passage. An example is given in Figure 24, which 

occurs near the end of the first movement. At the top of the page, five 

measures before square 39, the right hand plays successive single or double 

notes followed by one chord in the left hand. Certain notes in the right hand 

are punctuated by oboes and clarinets. At square 39 all other instruments 

drop out, and the piano begins a type of cadenza, which can be seen as another 

stylistic reference to classical forms. The writing, however, is remarkably 

strict and rigid, allowing for none of the freedom normally associated with a 

cadenza. The hands are in strict and regular alternation throughout, with the 

right hand playing chordal octaves and the left hand playing single notes, in 

a constant stream of sixteenth notes. The time signature changes with each 

measure, creating a feeling of shifting accents and instability. As the cadenza 

builds to a climax, the horns and high winds reenter, again punctuating 

certain chords; at this point, the notation changes from sixteenth notes to 

eighth notes, and the section is marked Piu mosso. The ending of the cadenza 

leads to a dramatic silence, seen in Figure 25. The movement closes with a 

return to the slow theme of the introduction, this time accompanied by the 

piano, as also seen in Figure 25. The piano provides a steady current of 

sextuplets in the right hand and quarter note triplets in the left hand, which 

continues the rhythmic instability set up in the cadenza and drives the 

movement forcefiiUy to its close.

Ok. 1.2 

CI. 

ri ui.2[ 

PiiDw 

Ok. 1.2 

C.I. 

CI. U I. 2 I 

Piaoa 

riacn 

PiaD« 



permission.

51 

Ok. t.2 

C.I. 

CI. It 1. 2 ( 

Pitaa 

Car. t [ 

[^f^ Maestoso, J: 48 (Largo del principo) 

n. 1.2 

Ub. 1.3 

ri.iti.3[ 



permission.

The second movement of the work caused Stravinsky many problems 

and much anguish, in both its composition and its performance. In one of his 

many dialogues with Robert Craft, he mentioned: 

As for the composer's memory, I will cite the story of 

Schoenberg, who, after having interrupted the composition of 

Moses und Aron for a long interval, complained of his inability to 

recall what he had already written. I experienced something 

similar to this while composing the second movement of my piano 

concerto. Some pages of the manuscript disappeared 

mysteriously one day, and when I tried to rewrite them I found 

I could remember almost nothing of what I had written. I do not 

know to what extent the published movement differs from the lost 

one, but I am sure the two are very unlike. ... I have already 

told how at the first performance of this same piano concerto I 

was obliged to ask the conductor to remind me of the theme of the 

second movement. (A large psychological problem is involved 

with this movement, evidently.)^^ 

The final, published version of the second movement opens with a solo 

passage for piano, shown in Figure 26, accompanied by an obligato for two 

homs. The writing is more lyric, but its lyricism is countered by the thick, low 

scoring of the left hand. The passage is restated by the fiill orchestra, with the 

piano playing thick chords in a more accompanimental role. 

The slow section is interrupted by a passage marked "Cadenza (poco 

rubato)" which is given in Figure 27. This cadenza is much freer than its 

counterpart in the first movement and begins with a doubling of low to high 

brass, each instrument being given several notes, creating an extremely 

effective buildup to the highest notes. The piano part is rhythmically very 

complex. A similar cadenza occurs near the end of the movement; the end of 

the cadenza is shown at the top of Figure 28. 

One of the few indications for damper pedal occurs in the second 

measure of this example. Stravinsky uses the French phrase laissez vibrer 

along with its symbol. This cadenza leads back to the retum of the opening 

52 

27 

Igor Stravinsky, Expositions and Developments, p. 46-47.

53 

II 

FLAUTO CR. 

I 

2 0BOI 

II 

CORKO INCL. 

I 

2 CLAR. IN LA 

II 

I 

2 FACOTTI 

II 

PIANO 

I. II 

4 CORNI IN FA 

111. IV 

I.I! 

4 TROMBB 

III. IV 

TROMBOKI 1.11 

TROMBONB III 

TUBA 

TIMPANI 

I 

C-BASSI [ 

B.AH. 18766 



permission.

Figure 27: Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Mvt. II, measures 408- 


permission. 

Itmfrt

55 

ilnernle 

Plino 

I - tni'ttrM titter 

,= ^ Doppio valorc—tempo primo (J^tM 

:i> Doppio valore —tempo primo (J^sSi) 

PItno 

Figure 28: Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Mvt. II, measures 419- 

428. Copyright 1947 assigned to Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by 

permission.

56 

theme, this time given to both piano and solo oboe; the moment is very 

poignant and beautiful, and the subtle differences between the oboe and piano 

writing tend to bring out each instrument's individual tone color. 

The third movement returns to the same fast tempo of the first 

movement but is lighter in character than the preceding two. The piano part 

is written in a "perpetual motion" style of nearly continuous sixteenth notes in 

one or both hands; this predominates throughout the movement. Figure 29 

gives a typical example: note the steady stream of sixteenth notes in the right 

hand. The angularity of the right hand writing gives a suggestion of 

S5mcopation and shifting accents. The left hand part displays a new concept 

of octave writing which Stravinsky would later use frequently and with great 

effect, especially in his Symphony in Three Movements: the notes are moving 

upward by step, as in a scale, but instead of every note being doubled at the 

octave, only every other note is doubled. This could not have been written 

merely to simplify the performance of the passage, as there are many other 

more difficult octave passages for the left hand in the work, but was quite 

probably an experiment in thinning the texture. 

Figure 30, which is from near the end of the work, shows an orchestral 

tutti in which nearly all of the instruments double the right hand part. Every 

note in the wind parts is separated by a breath mark (with the exception of 

bassoon), which tends to make each note more distinct and imitate the decay 

of the piano's tone. The left hand part again is written in partial octaves. 

The slow introductory material of the first material reappears one final 

time immediately before the end of the work. This is followed by a fast 

passage in octaves for the piano, punctuated in the middle of each beat by full 

orchestra, which brings the work to a close. 

In the Concerto for Piano and Winds, Stravinsky's concepts of piano 

utilization within the orchestra found fiiU fruition. Methods of use which can 

already be seen in Petrouchka are here employed to their fiillest extent. The 

percussive aspects of the piano which Stravinsky so admired had been solidly

57 

PI. 1.2 I 

Figure 29: Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Mvt. Ill, measures 

480-489. Copyright assigned 1947 to Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by 

permission. 

and definitively incorporated into the work. His treatment of piano in the 

orchestra would not change significantly for the next twenty-five years, but 

would rather continue along the same lines as in the Concerto.

58 

FI. 1.2 

Cl.lt I. 21 

f 

lat. M« Mareafo 

Figure 30: Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, Mvt. Ill, measures 600- 


permission.

59 

Oedipus Rex 

The next large scale work in which Stravinsky would include piano was 

the opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex, which premiered in 1927. This work was, in 

fact, the first time since Le Sacre du Printemps of 1914 that Stravinsky 

returned to the use of the standard symphony orchestra, but used it in new 

ways. 

Roman Vlad, in his book on Stravinsky, commented that, in contrast to 

the works of the 1914 period, his new instrumental writing bore the mark of 

his experience with individualized groups.^® In Oedipus Rex, the piano 

appears in only 132 of 1268 total measures, exclusively in doublings with other 

instruments. It is used again in a percussive context, propelling the rhythm 

of the passages in which it appears and adding its particular color to the tonal 

palette. The piano is most frequently doubled with the harp and/or timpani, 

the low strings, or the high winds; it appears less frequently with brass and 

high strings. Octaves appear frequently in one or both hands. There are few 

pianistic effects: no glissandi and few arpeggiated figures. Pedal indications 

are sparse, and the piano is rarely used in a soloistic context. For a complete 

analysis of piano appearances and usage, refer to Table 9 in the appendix. 

Figure 31 gives a page of the score from near the beginning of the work. 

The piano is doubled in pitch and rhjrthm by timpani, harp, and low strings in 

a percussive context, but the registers differ between the instruments. The 

timpani, violoncelli, and double basses are confined to a span of a major third, 

repeating each pitch three times. The harp covers the distance of an octave, 

repeating the inner pitch three times in each group, and the piano spans the 

distance of two octaves, playing single notes which do not repeat. This ostinato 

passage recurs several more times in the work. 

^^Roman Vlad, Stravinsky, trans. Robert Craft and Andre Marion (London: 

Oxford University Press, 1961), p. 102.

60 

Cl.tlk 

T.Ctlll 

Figure 31: Oedipus Rex, measures 31-33. Copyright 1949 by Boosey & 


61 

A similar passage in which piano is doubled by timpani is shown in 

Figure 32. A study of the left hand part reveals that Stravinsky quite possibly 

desired to have a pitch of Gj as the lowest note, but as the lowest note of all 

pianos at that time was Ag, he had to settle for this pitch. (In a contemporary 

performance of this work, the pianist should consider changing the pitch in 

question to a Gj if an instnmient is available which is capable of producing 

that pitch, such as a Bosendorfer Imperial Grand.) 

Cir 

Ti.,. 

riim 

t.ll 

TU 

T.Ctlll 

C.I. 

Figure 32: Oedipus Rex, measures 496-501. Copyright 1949 by Boosey & 


62 

Figure 33 shows an example of a more soloistic use of piano in the score 

of Oedipus Rex. Each hand plays a single note arpeggio; the figure is doubled 

by the harp, which plays the same pitches but in a different manner. Each 

instrument's tone color thus achieves greater individuality while retaining the 

doubling called for in the passage. The writing is reminiscent of the second 

movement of the Concerto for Piano and Winds; the arpeggio in Figure 33 is 

similar in nature to the one already illustrated in Figure 27. 

Figure 33: Oedipus Rex, Act II, measures 127-137. 

Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by permission. 

Copyright 1949 by

Quatre Etudes pour Orchestre 

Stravinsky had traveled to Madrid in 1917, and the visit had made a 

deep and vivid impression on his mind. 

63 

In remembrance of his visit, he 

composed a short piece for the pianola, a mechanical piano popular in Madrid 

at the time. In his autobiography, he stated: 

The whimsicalities of the imexpected melodies of the mechanical 

pianos and rattletrap orchestrinas of the Madrid streets and the 

little night taverns served as theme for this piece, which I wrote 

expressly for the pianola, and which was published as a roll by 

the London Aeolian Company. Subsequently, I orchestrated this 

piece, which was called Madrid, and formed part of my Quatre 

Etudes pour Orchestre, the others being the three pieces originally 

written as quartets in 1914.^^ 

Stravinsky completed this set of pieces in 1929. He included piano in 

the first two pieces entitled "Danse" and "Excentrique," as well as in the last 

piece, "Madrid." The piano is tacet in the third movement, "Cantique." 

In "Danse," Stravinsky continued his use of piano in a rhythmic, 

percussive context. The piano plays an ostinato pattern of three measures in 

length, which continues unchanged through the entire piece. This pattern is 

shown in Figure 34. Harp, timpani, and violoncelli double the pitches of the 

piano in varied forms; collectively they form the ostinato. 

The piano is used more soloistically in the second piece, "Cantique." A 

solo glissando is called for on four separate occasions, doubled on the end notes 

by hom. The texture is very thin, frequently with only one pitch sounding at 

a time from the combined orchestra. There is a three-measure passage in 

which the piano plays with the right hand on white keys in sixteenth notes 

and the left hand on black keys in eighth notes, barkening back to Petrouchka. 

Figure 35 shows an example of piano doubled with strings, with frequent 

octave displacement. For instance, piano and violin I begin on the same pitch, 

fJj", but the violins move up to g" while the piano leaps nearly an octave down 

29 

Stravinsky, An Autobiography, p. 69.

QUATRE ETUDES POUR ORCHESTRE 

Con moto J>r26 

I 

DANSE 

IGOR STRAVINSKY 

(1914-1929) 

RviKd I9S2 

64 

Fl. Piccolo 

2 Fl.^randi 

Corno-ing 

Violc 

Violoncelli 

C- bass 

(«nipr* mf 

Figure 34: "Danse," from Quatre Etudes Pour Orchestre, measures 1-6. 

Revised version copyright 1971 by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Ltd. 

Reprinted by permission. 

to g'; this occurs with each beat. Likewise, every other note of the left hand 

is displaced an octave compared to the violoncelli and double basses. This 

example also shows the thinness of texture typical of this movement. 

"Madrid," the final movement which was originally set for pianola, is 

more thickly scored than the other movements. The piano is given some

65 

Figure 35: "Excentrique," from Quatre Etudes Pour Orchestre, measures 37- 

48. Revised version copyright 1971 by Boosey & Hawkes Music PubHshers 

Ltd. Reprinted by permission. 

soloistic passages, but is generally doubled with other instruments and is 

treated as a member of the ensemble. It is prominent in another ostinato 

passage near the beginning of the piece, doubled with timpani and low strings. 

As the piece progresses, Stravinsky gives the piano more thickly scored chordal

66 

passages, such as the one given in Figure 36. In general, the hands altemate 

back and forth in widely spaced, rapidly moving chords. A final ostinato 

pattern, with a thinner texture, brings the work to a close. 

1-2 

Cor. 

i^^N^^^ 

Figure 36: "Madrid," from Quatre Etudes Pour Orchestre, measures 63-65. 

Revised version copyright 1971 by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd. 


Capriccio 

I worked at my Capriccio all summer and finished it at the end 

of September [1929]. I played it for the first time on December 6 

... I had so often been asked in the course of the last few years 

to play my Concerto (this I had already done no fewer than forty 

times) that I thought that it was time to give the pubhc another 

work for piano and orchestra. That is why I wrote another 

concerto, which I called Capriccio, that name seeming to indicate 

best the character of the music. I had in mind the definition of 

a capriccio given by Praetorius, the celebrated musical authority 

of the eighteenth century. He regarded it as a synonym of the 

fantasia, which was a free form made up of fugato instrumental 

passages. This form enabled me to develop my music by the 

juxtaposition of episodes of various kinds which follow one 

another and by their very nature give the piece that aspect of 

caprice from which it takes its name.^° 

The Capriccio is written for a standard size orchestra, but with one 

unusual feature: the strings are divided into a concertino group of solo violin, 

viola, violoncello, and contrabass, and a ripieno group, once again recalling 

Baroque practice, this time in the conventions of a concerto grosso. Eric Walter 

White, in his study dealing with Stravinsky, comments that "Throughout the 

Capriccio, the writing for solo piano is more graceful and less percussive than 

in the Piano Concerto." ^^ The piano is also used more as a vehicle for 

virtuosity. Rapid runs, often chromatic in nature, arpeggiated figures, trills, 

octave runs in one or both hands, and alternating hand passages predominate. 

Table 11 in the Appendix gives a detailed analysis of piano usage. Stravinsky 

cited the influence of the cimbalom, a Hungarian dulcimer which he had used 

in composing the short piece entitled Ragtime, on the composition of the 

Capriccio: 

I continued to play the cimbalom every day in my Pleyel Studio 

in Paris between the wars, though I wrote no more music for it 

67 

30 

Stravinsky, An Autobiography, p. 159. 

^Êric Walter White, Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works, 2nd ed. 

(London and Boston: Faber and Faber, 1979), p. 358.

ecause of the difficulty of finding good players. Nevertheless, 

some of the piano writing in my Capriccio is cimbalomist in style, 

especially the cadenza in the second movement, which is a kind 

of Rvunanian restaurant music.^^ 

Figure 37, taken from the first movement, shows the type of writing 

common to much of the work. Each hand performs runs or arpeggiated figures 

68 

PUBO 

TiB. 

Tlk. 

Tt. 

n»

69 

comprised of single notes, weaving together in a loose type of counterpoint. 

The measure before nimiber 14 and the fourth measure after number 14 both 

contain chromatic scales in the right hand. The left hand throughout plays an 

arpeggiated figure. The solo piano is accompanied, but not doubled, by high 

winds executing trills and rapidly repeating notes. The general effect is one 

of playfulness and lightheartedness, coupled with a different kind of virtuosity. 

One new technical device makes its appearance in the Capriccio: the 

use of extremely rapid repeating notes, such as in the passage in Figure 38, 

PUao 

•Ul. 

Tk. 

Tel. 

m 

s 

Figure 38: Capriccio, measures 446-450. Revised version copyright 1952 by 

Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

70 

taken from the third movement. Although the piano had been given repeated 

note passages as early as in Petrouchka (see Figures 5 and 6), these earher 

appearances had been measured and not as fast. The repeated notes at square 

84 in Figiu-e 38 are to be played as rapidly as possible and illustrate a way in 

which to make the piano prolong its pitch, along with demonstrating great 

virtuosity. 


The Symphony of Psalms was composed in 1930, commissioned by Sergei 

Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra to celebrate its fiftieth 

anniversary. The work is written for chorus and orchestra, with several 

unusual features in the orchestration. Stravinsky omitted the clarinet, violin, 

and viola sections, instead writing two piano parts; this would be his only 

orchestral work utilizing this combination of instruments. 

The pianos are treated throughout in a percussive fashion similar to 

other works already discussed, helping to sustain the rhythmic drive. At 

times, the pianos double each other, and nearly all appearances are doubled 

by one or more other instruments. Octaves occur frequently in one or both 

parts; there are few glissandi or other pianistic effects. There are several 

indications for use of the una corda pedal; the laissez vibrer symbol indicating 

use of the damper pedal seldom appears. One or both pianos frequently 

perform a soloistic fiinction in short passages. 

Figure 39 contains the first page of the score of Symphony of Psalms. 

The pianos appear in measures one and four in a chord which occurs several 

more times throughout the movement. The pianos are doubled exactly by 

winds, trombones, percussion, harp, and low strings. The spacing of the 

opening chord is suggestive in its pianistic spread, as one of the largest chords 

which could be played by one hand on the piano, and the mirror image of the 

low and high chords corresponds to the mirror image of the left and right 

hand. The other instruments double every note with none added.

FLAl'TI 6RA.

72 

Figure 40 illustrates a highly inventive doubling between the two piano 

parts. Piano II contains the same notes as the right hand part of Piano I, but 

is marked Una corda (secco) whereas the notes of Piano I are not marked at 

all, and would should be played more legato. This combination of sounds 

results in a crisper, more pointed attack on each note. 

A good example of incomplete doubling, which is similar in style to the 

Concerto, is given in Figure 41. The sixteenth-note pattern played by 

Piano II's right hand is doubled completely by two flutes in a higher octave, 

and partially by a third flute and three bassoons, resulting in a thinner texture 

than if each instrument played every note. This pattern is augmented to 

eighth notes in the Piano I and harp parts. Notice that the last chord of the 

example is another statement of the opening chord given in Figure 39. 

The pianos are tacet in the second movement, but are extremely 

prominent in the third movement, which is a setting of Psalm 150 from the 

Bible. Referring to this movement, Stravinsky said that "the allegro in Psalm 

150 was inspired by a vision of Elijah's chariot climbing the Heavens; never 

caul, ttprtttivo 

Piano 1 

Pl&no t 

Gil altri 

V-C. 

Figure 40: Symphony of Psalms, measures 17-21. New revision copyright 

1948 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

73 

Kl.ir 

nkd 

(kt»*) 


1948 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

74 

before had I written anything quite so literal as the triplets for hom and piano 

to suggest the horses and chariot."^^ The passage referred to is shown in 

Figure 42, and the writing is indeed heroic and awe inspiring. Homs and 

pianos double the line, but not quite exactly, with the combination of two 

pianos covering a three octave span, and the homs in the middle octaver 

Ctr. 

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1948 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by permission. 

33 

Stravinsky, Dialogues and a Diary, p. 46.

Persephone 

Stravinsky's next work to include piano was a musical melodrama 

commissioned by Ida Rubenstein, based on a French setting of the Homeric 

hymn to Demeter. Persephone was written in 1933 and 1934, but did not 

receive its premiere imtil April 30, 1954, at the Paris Opera. 

75 

It was not 

received well and had relatively few performances. Stravinsky stated on the 

occasion of its first performance: 

I think I should tell the pubhc that I hate any orchestral effects 

as a means of embellishment; they should not expect to be 

enthralled by seductive sonorities ... I rejected the futility of 

mere brio years ago ... I have used a normal orchestra, a mixed 

choir and a children's choir.^'^ 

Piano is used in about one-fifth of the score. As with the other works 

of this period, it is primarily used in a percussive fashion, doubling with one 

or more other instnmients, sometimes is a soloistic manner. Octaves in one 

or both hands are abundant. 

There are several passages written for 

altemating hands, and several glissandi. Scales on white keys appear several 

times. The una corda pedal is called for in several different ways: "una corda," 

"Ped. e Sord.," and "Ped. gauche." 

The first page of the score is given in Figure 43. The piano executes a 

tremolo altemating between the hands, with the lower note repeating; this 

writing is very similar to passages discussed in the Capriccio (see Figure 38). 

The piano is doubled at the beginning and at the change of pitch in measure 

two by xylophone, harps, and strings. 

Figure 44 shows a doubling with the foiu* homs and contrabass, which 

is marked come prima and continues for several measures past the end of the 

example. The homs double exactly the pitches and rhythm of the piano's right 

hand part, while the contrabasses double the left hand part. 

instruments play in counterpoint with the winds, voices, and strings. 

These 

34 

Vlad, Stravinsky, p. 113.

76 

PERSEPHONE 

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PERSEPHONE RAVIE 

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Figure 44: Persephone, measures 120-123. New revision copyright 1950 by 


78 

A more accompanimental use of piano is shown in Figure 45, from the 

second movement. The "whiteness" of the music suggests another excellent 

example of pandiatonicism. The right hand part of the piano contains 

descending C major scales with an intriguing rhythmic effect: seven notes of 

the scale are played before the octave which again starts the descent, moving 

the beginning of each scale forward one sixteenth note; therefore, it takes 

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seven beats for the beginning of the scale to fall on a beat once again. These 

scales are doubled by two trombones altemating back and forth. The left hand 

part contains octaves moving in quarter notes which are doubled by the 

contrabassoon, bass trombone and tuba in altemation, and low strings. 

A final example from the score of Persephone is shown in Figure 46, 

taken from the beginning of the third movement. The piano is used in a 

ni 

PERSEPHONE RENAISSANTE 

Iênto J X to 

?."•- — 

79 

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80 

thicker scoring for tutti orchestra. Sustained octaves in the upper middle 

register altemate with quintuplet runs in the lower register. The octaves are 

doubled exactiy by piccolo, flute, horns, piccolo trumpet, violins and violas, and 

on the downbeat of each measure by the harps. The quintuplets in the piano 

are doubled in pitch but not in rhythm by bassoons, timpani, and low strings: 

each other instrument plays a triplet consisting of three of the five pitches 

played by the piano in its quintuplet, while the harp plays a glissando 

beginning on the piano's first and lowest pitch. 

Scherzo a la Russe (Symphonic Version) 

Stravinsky: 

The Scherzo a la Russe was written in 1944, and according to 

. . . was commissioned by Paul Whiteman for a special radio 

broadcast. I wrote it originally to exact specifications of his 

ensemble, then rewrote it for standard orchestra-which gave me 

some trouble, as the volume of mandolin and guitar in the Trio 

canon was so much lighter than that of harp and piano.^^ 

The piano is present in nearly the entire piece, appearing in 190 of 198 

measures. 

Throughout much of the work, it remains in the low register, 

doubled with bass driun, playing staccato notes on each beat in a steady pulse. 

There are several glissandi doubled by xylophone, and two alternating hand 

passages with repeated notes similar to those already seen in other works 

discussed. Several scalar passages on white keys call to mind the Concerto and 

Petrouchka. 

The piano is given one lyric passage, played in canon with the 

harp, a portion of which is shown in Figure 47. The canon begins in the piano 

in the second measure after rehearsal number 10, on the fourth beat, followed 

one beat later by the harp. The piano is written with left and right hand 

doubling each other two octaves apart, with harp playing in the octave 

between, and the canon is exact throughout with no pitch changes. 

35 


81 

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Figure 47: Scherzo a la Russe, measures 41-49. Copyright 1945 by 

Associated Music PubHshers, Inc., renewed 1972, assigned to Boosey & 


Scenes de Ballet 

In the 1940s, Stravinsky was requested to compose many and diverse 

conmoissions, several of which he accepted. One was from Paul Whiteman for 

the Scherzo a la Russe just discussed. Another came from a director of popular 

musicals in Philadelphia who asked Stravinsky to write a work for one of his 

dance revues. Rather siuprisingly, Stravinsky accepted, and the result was 

Scenes de Ballet. Regarding its premiere, he related: 

After the first night of the Philadelphia preview run I received a 

telegram: YOUR MUSIC GREAT SUCCESS STOP COULD BE 

SENSATIONAL SUCCESS IF YOU WOULD AUTHORIZE 

ROBERT RUSSELL BENNETT RETOUCH ORCHESTRATION 

STOP BENNETT ORCHESTRATES EVEN THE WORKS OF 

COLE PORTER. I telegraphed back: SATISFIED WITH GREAT 

SUCCESS. Scenes de Ballet is a period piece, a portrait of 

Broadway in the last years of the War. . .^^ 

Although Stravinsky broke no new ground in this work, it is nonetheless 

a delightfiil and exciting glimpse into his perceptions of contemporary 

American popular music. The piano is utilized in the score in much the same 

way as the previous works discussed. It frequently doubles the high winds or 

the low strings. Some octaves and many arpeggiated rims are present. The 

damper pedal is called for more often than usual, and the piano is given 

several soloistic passages of a nature recalling the Concerto and other works 

on the 1920's. In one passage, illustrated in Figure 48, the piano is given very 

large chords, spaced in the same manner as the opening of Symphony of 

Psalms (see Figure 39). In this representative passage, the piano sustains the 

rhythmic drive of the work, while supporting the harmonic stmcture. 

82 

Symphony in Three Movements 

According to Eric Walter White, in 1942 Stravinsky began to 

contemplate writing another piano concerto, or else a concerto for orchestra 

36 


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Figure 48: Scenes de Ballet, measures 273-274. Copyright 1945 by Chappell 

& Co., Inc. Renewed 1973, assigned to Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted 

by permission.

with a prominent part for piano, and wrote out sketches for the work. In 1945, 

when he was invited by the New York Philharmonic Symphony Society to 

provide them with a symphony, he decided to incorporate this material into the 

first movement of the new symphony.^'' He also used pre-existing material 

as the basis for the second movement: 

Franz Werfel... the distinguished poet and dramatist tried to 

encourage me to write music for his Song ofBernadette film. . . . 

I actually did compose music for the 'Apparition of the Virgin' 

scene and this music became the second movement of my 

Symphony in Three Movements.^^ 

The piano is utilized extensively in the first movement, because of the 

origin of the music. It is silent in the second movement, in which the harp is 

given the principal role. Stravinsky had this to say about the origins of the 

music and the relationship between the piano and the harp: 

The first movement was . . . inspired by a war film, this time 

a dociunentary of scorched-earth tactics in China. The middle 

part of the movement-the music for clarinet, piano, and strings, 

which moiuits in intensity and volimie until the explosion of the 

three chords at No. 69~was conceived as a series of instrumental 

conversations to accompany a cinematographic scene showing the 

Chinese people scratching and digging in their fields. 

The formal substance of the Symphony-perhaps Three 

Symphonic Movements would be a more exact title-exploits the 

idea of coimterplay among several types of contrasting elements. 

One such contrast, the most obvious, is that of harp and piano, 

the principal instrumental protagonists. Each has a large 

obbligato role and a whole movement to itself and only at the 

turning-point fiigue, the queue de poisson of the Nazi machine, 

are the two heard together and alone.^^ 

Stravinsky's treatment of the piano in this work can be seen as a 

summation of all the techniques used in his middle period works. The piano 

84 

^'White, p. 122. 

^®Stravinsky, Expositions and Developments, p. 77. 

^^Stravinsky, Dialogues and a Diary, p. 52.

85 

is generally doubled, especially by high winds or low winds and low strings. 

Octave writing is abimdant. There are frequent altemating hand passages and 

glissandi. The piano primarily drives the rhythm forward in a percussive 

manner. Damper pedal usage is minimal; una corda pedal is often called for. 

An excerpt of the first page of the score is shown in Figure 49. The 

piano's opening glissando is doubled by low winds and the entire string section, 

FUuto piccolo 

J. 160 

Clartndlo basso in SA 

iClarimlloinSit 3> 

Conlrafagotlo 

CornI in Fa 

Trombt in Do 

Violoncello 

Conlrab basso 

Figure 49: Symphony in Three Movements, measures 1-6. © Associated Music 

Publishers, Inc., New York, 1946; assigned to Schott & Co., Ltd., London, 1946. 

© Renewed. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of European American 

Music Distributors Corporation, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Schott London.

86 

punctuated by trombones at the beginning and end of the glissando. The 

octaves which follow are doubled by four homs and strings. This section is 

very similar in style to parts of the Capriccio. 

Figure 50 shows page 8 of the score. The piano is clearly in a soloistic 

capacity here, doubled by high and middle strings. The altemation of thick 

chords between the hands harks back to passages already discussed in the 

Concerto (see Figure 24). 

Two other examples from the first movement are given to show their 

similarity to the earlier Concerto for Piano and Winds. Figure 51 illustrates 

a passage for piano in partial octaves, the use of which can be traced back to 

the third movement of the Concerto (see Figure 26), but here carried to a much 

greater extreme. The passage is essentially scalar in nature (as can be seen 

more clearly in the bassoon, contrabassoon, violoncello, and double bass lines 

which double the piano), but becomes quite angular and jagged because of the 

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incompleteness of the octaves. Figure 52 shows a contrapuntal section in 

which the piano is again used as a soloist, which is very similar in style to the 

sections in the first and third movements of the ConceHo. The influence of 

American jazz rhythms, particularly the syncopations of ragtime style, can be 

readily seen in this example. 

The harp and piano first play together in the tutti which begins the 

third movement, shown in Figure 53. The score is similar in its incomplete 

doubling to the beginning of the Allegro in the ConceHo (see Figure 22). The 

harp and piano are assigned almost the same pitches, although the piano 

writing is somewhat thicker. The chordal tenths in the right hand part of the 

piano call to mind his spacing of chords in Symphony of Psalms. 

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The fiigue referred to by Stravinsky in the earlier quote as being the 

queue de poisson of the Nazi Machine is given in Figure 54. Solo trombone 

begins with a partial statement of the fugue subject, followed by piano at 

rehearsal niunber 170. The harp enters with its statement of the subject one 

measure before rehearsal nimaber 172, doubled partially at the octave, while 

the piano begins a countersubject. 

A fine example of Stravinsky's treatment of piano doubled with strings 

is given in Figure 55. The piano doubles three solo strings: violin, viola, and 

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92 

violonceflo, but only partially; notice the rests in the piano part which 

correspond with pitches in the string parts. The piano is used in this case to 

reinforce certain pitches in the phrase without completely being a part of its 

statement. The ensuing coxmterpoint with the clarinet and bass clarinet is 

also worthy of study. 

Symphony in Three Movements marked an important tuming point in 

Stravinsky's use of piano within the orchestra. Many of the devices which he 

had cultivated since the Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra can be found within 

its score. With one short exception, twelve years would pass before he would 

again incorporate the piano into an orchestra, in which time his compositional 

style would once again make a radical change in direction, and with it, a 

change in his treatment of the piano within the orchestra. 

Greetins Prelude for Orchestra 

The short exception mentioned above is a very short little piece which 

Stravinsky wrote in 1955 in honor of the eightieth birthday of his fiiend, 

Pierre Monteux, based on the popular melody of "Happy Birthday." It is an 

unpretentious work, thirty-two measures in length. The piano is included in 

the opening and closing statements, treated in much the same way as the 

neoclassic works already discussed. The beginning section is given in Figure 

56. The piano is given the theme, and doubled by a succession of instruments 

beginning with timpani, then bass drum and trombones, through to the horn 

section. The piano writing itself illustrates octave displacement of the melody, 

with each measure being one octave higher than the one before; this is 

comparable to examples found in works as early as L'Oiseau de Feu and 

Quatre Etudes.

93 

Piccolo 

J , J: 102 

for the 80tli birthday 

of Pierre Monteux 

Fiauti I.II 

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in Do 

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I.II 

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III. IV 

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in Do 

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Timpani 

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Viole 

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Figure 56: Greeting Prelude for Orchestra, measures 1-5. Copyright 1956 

by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

CHAPTER IV 

THE LATE WORKS: 1957-1966 

During the 1950s, Stravinsky's compositional techniques tumed in the 

direction of serialism; this style would become the focal point of his last group 

of works. His growing interest in serial techniques had come about largely 

because of his collaboration with Robert Craft, a yoimg conductor who had 

become Stravinsky's musical aide and assistant in the late 1940s. Craft was 

vitally interested in the music of the Viennese seriaHsts, and he encouraged 

Stravinsky, who had always kept his distance from serialism, especially the 

music of Schoenberg, to listen to and study the scores of a wide range of serial 

music. Stravinsky's curiosity was stimulated; he grew particularly receptive 

to the music of Anton Webern. As the decade progressed, he assimilated the 

techniques of serialism into his own unique compositional style. 

The piano had been absent from his orchestral scores since the 

Symphony in Three Movements of 1945. With the advent of his serial 

compositions, however, the piano returned to use, albeit in a different function. 

In his last works, Stravinsky seems less concerned with exploiting the 

percussive qualities of the instnmient, and more interested in utilizing its 

particular tone color in much the same way as he would any other instrument. 

The polyphonic capabilities of the instrument (its ability to sound more than 

one pitch at a time) are rarely utilized in the final works; instead, the piano 

generally plays a single note at a time. It still is frequently doubled with one 

or more other instruments to create certain timbres, but quite often it also 

appears alone or in counterpoint with other instnmients, adding its own 

imique tone color to the overall sonority; these solo appearances are as long as 

several measures or as brief as one staccato note. Pianistic devices such as 

glissandi are virtually nonexistent, although an occasional tremolo can be 

foimd. Damper pedal usage remains minimal, and Stravinsky continues to 

show a preference for the use of the una corda pedal. 

94

95 

Ason 

Stravinsky had received a commission from Lincoln Kirstein and George 

Balanchine to create a new ballet score for the New York City Ballet, which he 

began in 1953, but then shelved for several years because of other projects. By 

the time of its completion in 1957, he had fully developed his serial style and 

found the need to recast some of the music written earlier. 

The score calls for a large orchestra reminiscent of his early ballet 

scores, but always divided into small concertante groups; the thin, rather 

pointilHstic scoring is reflective of Stravinsky's interest in the music of Anton 

Webern. The piano is present in 100 of the work's 620 measures; it is 

effectively combined with many of the other instruments of the orchestra, both 

in doubled passages and those more contrapuntal in nature. A complete 

analysis of piano usage can be found in Table 18 in the Appendix. 

The work is composed of a series of dances for varying numbers of 

performers, divided at times by short pieces entitled "Prelude" or "Interlude" 

for orchestra alone. Most movements are orchestrated for particular groups 

of instnunents which do not change within the movement. For instance, the 

"Galliarde," for two female dancers, is written for three flutes, mandolin, harp, 

piano, timpani, solo viola, violoncello, and double bass I and II. The writing 

is very contrapuntal, with little doubhng of parts. 

A section of the "Coda" which follows the "Galliarde" is given in Figure 

57. Here the piano is used with trombone and bass trombone to state the 

twelve-tone row of A-B-B b -C-D b -E b -E li -F Jt -F li -G-D-G|J which was first played 

by harp and solo violoncello at the beginning of the movement. The piano and 

trombones trade the notes of the row back and forth, at first in varying 

rhythms, but beginning at measure 197, with strict rhythmic regularity. The 

piano part is marked sempre una corda f, which Stravinsky has shown a 

fondness for since Petrouchka', he must have found this particular sound to 

work well with the biting staccato attacks of the trombones. The sparsity of 

the notes, the single note Hne, and the use of the piano undoubled by other

96 

«i.t*i« 

f p f p 

^ 

Figure 57: Agon, measures 190-203. Copyright 1957 by Boosey & Hawkes, 

Inc. Reprinted by permission.

97 

instruments in this type of passage are all characteristics of Stravinsky's 

treatment of the piano in his late works. 

The first page of the "Coda" to the "Pas-de-Deux" is given in Figure 58. 

This music is based on a seven-tone row: G-A b -C b -B b -A li -C l| -D b, which is first 

stated by strings in its original form followed immediately by its retrograde. 

Coda 

(both daacort) 

J.ttt 

VI. I. II aZoait. 

n.i.ir 

uois. a2 

TI. I.II 

Tri 

laD* 

Figure 58: Agon, measures 495-501. Copyright 1957 by Boosey & Hawkes, 

Inc. Reprinted by permission.

98 

The piano enters in measure 496 by stating the first five pitches, then starting 

over with the first four pitches; this statement of the row carries over to the 

trombone and trumpet and finishes with the strings in measures 498, followed 

again by the retrograde. In measure 500, the piano states the entire row; the 

last two pitches serve also as the beginning of the retrograde, which is 

entwined with the tnmapet. The last note of the retrograde serves to begin the 

original row one last time, stated by piano and trumpet. The piano writing is 

again predominantly in single notes, although at the end of measure 496 two 

pitches are struck together. The notes are divided between the hands, similar 

in technique to many of the altemating hand passages encountered throughout 

Stravinsky's music. 

The end of this same "Coda" is shown in Figure 59, given as an excellent 

example of the use of piano as a doubling instrument. Based on the same 

seven-tone row, the passage moves in pitch from the low range to the high 

range, with a corresponding use of low and high instnmients in the brasses 

and strings, reinforced by timpani. Here, the piano is a unifying factor, 

playing every pitch. Each pitch is doubled by one or more instruments, but the 

doubling changes on each particular note. 

Threni: Id Est Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae 

Stravinsky's next work after Agon was based on sections of the book of 

Jeremiah from the Bible. It is scored for six solo voices, chorus and a 

relatively large orchestra which includes parts for fliigelhom (also referred to 

in the score as "Bugle C-alto") and sarrusophone (a double reed brass 

instrument comparable in range to a contrabassoon); trumpets and bassoons 

are omitted. 

The piano appears in only 43 of 419 total measures. It is used almost 

exclusively as a doubling instrument in Threni. It doubles the sarrusophone in 

several sections near the beginning in a series of repeated low F|J's; one such 

passage is shown in Figure 60. In this particular usage, the piano reinforces

99 

Quasi stretto, J. tii 

,2 —s==iir 

*l. Ml 

i'». I ICE 

Trb. I :^ 

) iJ J i IJZ^ 

poco ritard. 

ry-^ rif^ Tif r^T 

Tin, 

riaao 

attaeca 

Figure 59: i4ôn, measures 512-519. Copyright 1957 by Boosey & Hawkes, 

Inc. Reprinted by permission. 

the attack of the sarrusophone and make it clearer and more easily heard; the 

blending of the two tone colors certainly creates a unique sound. In a later 

passage, the piano doubles timpani and solo Basso II in much the same 

manner on a low E b, one of the lowest notes in a basso's range.

100 

CORO 

^ 

parlando totto voce 

i i i 

do. mi' na 

(^rn-ti • um: 

CI. I.II 

Cl.batto 

'pF^ 

Êt 

\f 

Ê=EB 

l5p^ 

H 

ti-. 

m 

fc^ 

^ 

i i 

i 

Sarru*. 

^ 

i: 

ttaceatisiimo 

a^^^=fi 

^î=gil^ 

una eor(/a 

Plino ^ 

i! 

I i 

Cor. to Fa 

II 

8 ban. J 

4^1 t j. m 

3 ^ ^ a i 

rfp 

* 

I ^ ^ 5 

tfP 

tfp 

^ i rt:^ 1 

1 

VI. I 

VI. II 

vie. 

M 

pizz. 

^ . . . ^ ^ 

1 

Vc. 

Cb. 

m 

^ 

^ 

it *> J' 'r > 

I/pin. 

JM (^ •• I 

i § 

i 

i 

i 

Figure 60: Threni: Id Est Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae, measures 33- 

36. Copyright 1958 by Boosey & Co., Ltd. Reprinted by permission.

101 

One new utiHzation of the piano occurs several times beginning at 

measure 310, shown in Figure 61. The piano plays a sustained low FU, 

doubled by chorus, harp, timpani, and double bass. The piano part is marked 

2 Ped., meaning to use both damper and una corda pedals, and is given the 

direction aW estinzione, which, loosely translated, means to sustain until 

inaudible. This effect would be very difficult to produce on either wind or 

bowed instruments but is a simple matter for the hammered string of the 

piano and the plucked string of the harp. 

K«pr. 

In - vo. ca • Ti oo.mt-n lu . um, Do . mi . nr. 

de la . cu fiu- 

\cantabtle e legale 

V«. 

ceao 

""• 1^ 

ArM 

fitas. 

Iliay. 

tcceitf 

IM p 

Figure 61: Threni: Id Est Lamentationes Jeremae Prophetae, measures 310- 

312. Copyright 1958 by Boosey & Co., Ltd. Reprinted by permission.

Movements for Piano and Orchpstm 

102 

In 1958, Stravinsky accepted a commission from the husband of pianist 

Margrit Weber to write a work for piano and orchestra, in which he was given 

caHe blanche in all aspects of the composition. The result was Movements for 

Piano and Orchestra, which was completed on July 30, 1959, and premiered 

shortly afterward with Ms. Weber as soloist. A humorous story was cited in 

Robert Craft's diary concerning the composition of this work: 

April 17, 1959: I.S. receives a letter this morning from the 

people who have commissioned his Movements for piano. After 

reading it he says, *I think I will have to add another minute or 

two of music' V. [his wife. Vera]: *So much for "all-encompassing 

conceptions of form." The artist simply makes it up as he goes 

along.'*° 

No accounts are available as to whether or not Stravinsky actually did "add 

another minute or two of music." 

The ten minute long Movements is divided into five short movements; 

all but the first are preceded by short interludes for various instrumental 

groupings without piano, which serve as transitions into the next movements 

by sharing their respective tempi. Even a cursory glance at Figure 62, which 

presents the first page of the score, reveals this work to be the most 

rhythmically complex which Stravinsky ever composed. Despite its rhythmic 

complexity, however, the technical treatment of the piano is very similar to 

Agon and Threni; single note writing which often alternates between the hands 

predominates, and again the score has the pointillistic look of a work by 

Webern. 

timbres. 

The work is a study in the combination of different instrumental 

Once used, a particular combination is not heard again, as, for 

example, the opening combination of flute, trumpet and violins with the piano 

seen in Figure 62. 

William G. Walden notes that there are a total of 

*°Stravinsky, Dialogues and a Diary, p. 197.

MOVEMENTS 

for Piano and Orchestra 

103 

Plaala I 

IGOR STRAWINSKY 

1»S8«» 

Traaba I 

Fiaao 

•lallaltn 

VI. I. n 

Via. 

> / 

PIftftO 

Figure 62: Movements for Piano and Orchestra, measures 1-12. Copyright 

1960 by Hawkes & Son, Ltd. Reprinted by permission. 

ninety-five different such groupings of instnmients within the work.'*^ 

In the second movement, measures 55 to 57, as shown in Figure 63, the 

pianist is instructed to produce harmonics by pressing down and holding 

*^William Glenn Walden, "Igor Stravinsky's Movements for Piano and 

Orchestra: The Relationships of Formal Stmcture, Serial Technique, and 

Orchestration," Journal of the Canadian Association of University Schools of 

Mwsic 9 (Spring 1979): 73-95.

104 

certain notes without sounding, and then striking three other notes staccato, 

resulting in the sympathetic vibration of the held notes. This is the only 

example in Stravinsky's entire orchestral oeuvre of the use of harmonics on the 

piano, or indeed any type of "nontraditional" utilization of the instmment. The 

piano is also given several measures of rapidly repeated single notes, as first 

seen in the Capriccio; these repeated note tremolos can be seen in measures 

53 to 55 of Figure 63. 


Via. Sou 

Ve. Salo 

Tr.I 

Arpa 

Piaoo 

Vc. Sole 

marc. >» jf 


1960 by Hawkes & Son, Ltd. Reprinted by permission.

105 

A new type of doubling makes its appearance in the Movements, as 

shown in measure 87 of Figure 64. Two instmments (piano and oboe in this 

instance) weave or "dovetail" back and forth to create one single line. Notice 

that in the quintuplet, the oboe is given the first two parts, the piano is given 

the third, they share the fourth, and the oboe is given the fifth to complete the 

group. This is a hitherto unseen method of combining the timbres of two 

different instmments, where the two instmments in effect become one. 

With Movements, Stravinsky showed the complete assimilation of serial 

techniques into his compositional style. In his last book written with Robert 

Craft, he commented: 

The greatest crisis in my life as a composer was the loss of 

Russia, and its language not only of music but of words. The 

second great crisis followed The Rake's Progress, though I was not 

aware of it as such at the time, continuing as I did to move from 

work to work. The 'period of adjustment' was even longer, and 

looking back on it now I am surprised myself at how long I 

continued to straddle two 'styles.' Was it because at seventy 

unlearning is as difficult as learning? In any case, I now see the 

Movements as the turn-of-the-corner in my later music.'*^ 

PiaDO 

Ob. 

CI. 

Arpa 


1960 by Hawkes & Son, Ltd. Reprinted by permission. 

42 

Stravinsky, Themes and Conclusions, p. 33.

106 

A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer 

The piano is again used primarily as a doubHng instmment in A 

Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer of 1961, although it does appear several 

times without being doubled by any other instnmient. It is present in 60 of 

the work's 275 total measures. As is Agon and Threni, the writing is 

predominantiy in single notes, such as in the passage foimd in Figure 65, 

Taaer* 

Solo 

i 

Which of tha pro • phcta, which of the pro • pheta haro 

....... •>! I tJ 

' — " ^ I * I 

Taba 

Figure 65: A Sermon, a Narrative, and a Prayer, measures 150-157. 

Copyright 1961 by Boosey & Co., Ltd. Reprinted by permission.

107 

where the piano is given a jagged, staccato triplet run, doubled inexactly by 

bass clarinet. The texture throughout the work remains thin, with the 

orchestra again being divided into smaller groupings; note that the passage 

contained in Figure 65 is written for only three instruments and solo tenor. 

The Flood 

The Flood, a musical play "derived principally from the Book of Genesis 

and the York and Chester cycles of miracle plays (set down between 1430 and 

1500),"*^ was commissioned by the CBS Television Network and premiered 

in a broadcast on June 14, 1962. It was written for solo tenor, two solo bassi, 

chorus of sopranos, altos, and tenors, five speaking roles, and large orchestra. 

The piano is used in 149 of the 582 measures of the score. Treatment of the 

piano is very similar to the other late works already discussed, with single note 

passages predominating. The piano is quite often doubled, especially by harp 

and flute. 

An extremely fascinating use of doubling occurs in the passages where 

God speaks to Noah; one such passage is given in Figure 66. God's voice is 

represented by two solo basses, weaving in and out of unison. The piano 

doubles the first solo bass, one or two octaves lower in register, while the harp 

doubles the second solo bass in the same register. In my opinion, the overall 

effect of this combined doubling conveys the omniscience and overpowering 

might of the voice of God in a masterful way never before portrayed. 

In the section depicting the flood itself, Stravinsky uses an eerie, 

unchanging cluster of sound throughout the entire movement, given to 

contrabassoon, harp, piano, and low strings, to create a sense of desolation and 

unending isolation from aU Hving things. This chord is reiterated thirty-three 

times during the scene and is shown in Figure 67. Each hand of the piano 

*^Stravinsky, The Flood (London: Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd., 

1962), Titie Page.

108 

GOD 

OOTT 

1 Baaal Ball 

J. 86-80 "» 2" " a 

.hmm}rm 

rm i ,rm rm,nm i rm rmjâJ. 

alaaaala 

Arpa 

«

109 

Figure 67: The Flood, measures 405-408. Orchestral score copyright 1963 

by Boosey & Hawkes Music PubHshers, Ltd. Reprinted by permission. 

appearances, being used in eighteen of the work's 141 total measures. It 

appears on five separate occasions as an unaccompanied solo instmment, 

performing either a single chord or a quick burst of single notes. In doubHng 

usage, it appears six times, each time with a different combination of 

instmments. 

Appendix. 

For a complete analysis of usage, refer to Table 23 in the

110 

Figure 68 illustrates measures 5 through 10 of the score. In measure 6, 

the piano is doubled by harp and the string section moving from low to high 

registers; the passage is very similar to the one already discussed in Agon and 

shown in Figure 59. The piano once again plays single notes, divided between 

the hands, and plays the entire passage. 

Figure 68: Variations: Aldous Huxley in Memoriam, measures 5-10. 

Copyright 1965 by Boosey & Hawkes Music PubHshers, Ltd. Reprinted by 

permission.

Ill 

In measures 7 and 8, the piano executes a "dovetailed" passage with 

harp, similar to those discussed in Movements for Piano and Orchestra and 

shown in Figure 59. Another example of "dovetailing" occurs in measures 15 

through 17, this time with flute, shown in Figure 69. In this instance, not only 

do the two instruments weave back and forth, but the two hands of the piano 

part weave back and forth in the manner used so often by Stravinsky. 

Figure 70 shows two separate instances of the piano used as an 

unaccompanied solo instrument, as mentioned above. In measure 130 to 131, 

the piano is given a short passage of single notes alternating between the 

hands in a familiar manner, and in measure 134, a short upward sweep is 

followed by a brief measured tremolo on two pitches. 


Copyright 1965 by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Ltd. Reprinted by 

permission. 

Canon for Concert Introduction or Encore 

This extremely brief piece for large orchestra was somewhat of an 

anomaly for Stravinsky. Written in 1964, this thirty-five measure piece 

(including a repeat of all but the last measure) is an exercise in canonic 

treatment of a melodic idea, in this case the "Russian popular tune" which 

Stravinsky used fifty-five years earHer in the finale of L'Oiseau de feu. The 

first page of the two page score is given in Figure 71. UnHke the serial works 

of this period, the Canon is written for tutti orchestra throughout. The theme 

is actually written in canon with its inversion; the inverted theme begins in 

measure 5, followed one beat later by the theme, at the interval of a perfect

112 

CM.I 

4 

a 

I i . ' 

^ ^ ^^•^^f ' 

5» 

1 ^ â 2 » 7- 

» 



permission. 

fourth. Both versions also appear in augmented form, two beats apart. The 

piano part is a focal point in the score, as the left hand is given the inverted 

theme and the right hand is given the original theme, both in octaves; both 

lines are doubled extensively throughout the orchestra.

ianui picvtilo 

I'ortissiiMo c Modcruto 

CANON* 

lor Coiicerl liilruduclioii or Encore 

113 

e riaull graiitll 

Clalliirtli) lij 

3. 

£ Tioiiilioiii Tetioif 

Tiuniliunr liasMi 

'u* a liii.^xiiia {KicHlar lunr. 

Figure 71: Canon for Concert Introduction or Encore, measures 1-8. 


permission.

Requiem Canticles 

114 

The Requiem Canticles of 1966 was Stravinsky's last work to include 

orchestra; the only completed composition postdating it is a Hght piece. The 

Owl and the Pussycat, for solo voice and piano, although several projects 

remained uncompleted. The piano appears only in the "Dies Irae" and the 

"Postlude," and is only present in sixteen of the work's 350 measures. 

Stravinsky's treatment of the piano in his final work is very similar to his 

other works of the serial period. Figure 72 contains two statements of a 

Tr. I. II 

Trba. I. II S 

Ua. ^= 

Figure 72: Requiem Canticles, measures 85-87. Copyright 1967 by Boosey 

& Hawkes Music Publishers, Ltd. Reprinted by permission.

115 

phrase which occurs five separate times in the "Dies Irae." The piano is 

doubled with timpani and full string section in a manner similar to those 

already discussed in Agon (Figure 59) and Variations (Figure 68), but is made 

more interesting by the inexactness of the doubling, both in rhythm and in 

pitch: second violins share the first pitch and the triplet rhythm of beat three, 

but diverge in pitch; violas play in the same rhythm and share a common pitch 

on each beat, but diverge in pitch between the beats; violoncelli play two 

common pitches in the first two beats, but in a different rhythm. 

Figure 73 contains the last measures of the Requiem Canticles. The 

piano is utilized in a chordal capacity, sounding six pitches, doubled on all 

C«»fM«t 

Figure 73: iêgwiem Ca;i^tc/es, measures 302-305. Copyright 1967 by Boosey 

& Hawkes Music PubHshers, Ltd. Reprinted by permission.

116 

pitches by piccolo, flute, alto flute, harp, celesta, bells, vibraphone, and hom. 

It is interesting to note that Stravinsky incorporates the pianistic device of 

placing the lowest sound of a widely stretched chord, one which cannot be 

reached by the hands of a pianist, before the beat as a tied grace note. It 

obviously was more important to him that the piano sound all of the tones 

written, even if it meant changing the rhythmic sense of the measure. (One 

wonders why he did not assign the lowest notes of the chords to a second 

pianist; it is highly possible that Stravinsky, ever the pragmatist, could not 

justify another performer for so small a role). 

Although the Requiem Canticles was a work specifically commissioned 

to be dedicated to the memory of Helen Buchanan Seeger, it must be supposed 

that Stravinsky also had in mind his own approaching death and that it would 

be his own requiem. It is fitting and beneficial for the purposes of this 

particular study that he chose to incorporate the piano into his last major 

work, bringing to a close a tradition that had begun with his first major 

success nearly sixty years previously. 

Stravinskv*s Attitudes Regarding 

Non-traditional Usage of Piano 

. . . And what of the future? I shall continue to trust my taste 

buds and the logic of my ear, quaint expressions which I may be 

able to ampHfy by adding that I require as much hearing at the 

piano as ever before. I know, too, that I will never cross the gulf 

from well-tempered pitches to sound effects and noise, and never 

abdicate the rule of my ears.** 

This comment, made by Stravinsky to Robert Craft in the early 1960s, 

is an eloquent statement of his compositional and musical philosophy of music. 

Although one cannot be certain what Stravinsky is referring to as "welltempered 

pitches," I believe he was alluding to the twelve pitches of the 

chromatic scale, which can be identified as the twelve different keys within an 

44 

Stravinsky, Themes and Conclusions, p. 33.

octave on the piano. His treatment of the piano within the orchestra reflected 

this resolution not to resort to "soimd effects and noise." Through all of the 

major stylistic changes which marked his long compositional career, he never 

once utilized the instrument in any of the nontraditional methods which were 

in vogue during the twentieth century, such as the plucking of the strings with 

the fingers; striking of the strings with mallets; use of the prepared piano with 

bolts, metal cHps, paper, mbber, felt, etc., attached to or laid across the 

strings; striking the wooden cabinet of the piano; or using of electronic 

keyboard instruments. The closest he came to a nontraditional usage of the 

piano was the one-time use of harmonics in the Movements for Piano and 

Orchestra, discussed in Chapter IV. 

comment: 

His contempt for some of these effects is evident in the following 

Progress, or at least invention, might have been detected by the 

non-initiate in the new techniques for the movement of sound in 

space. But some of the other 'pioneering' of the period must have 

seemed to him [the non-initiate] like paring closer and closer to 

nothingness ... [for instance] the performances on the woodwork 

of the piano (after the attractions of 'topless' pianos had been 

overexposed). . . *^ 

In an earlier dialogue with Robert Craft, when discussing 

instrumentation, Stravinsky commented that an "old" instrument, the piano, 

interested him more than an Ondes Martinot.*^ This was an electronic music 

instrument invented by Maurice Marteriot, first presented in 1928, which used 

a keyboard and produced only one note at a time. Vibrato could be created, 

and both low and high ranges exceeded the limits of the piano. Wide glissando 

sweeps and expressive portamentos were possible. 

117 

Many of Stravinsky's 

*^Stravinsky, Themes and Conclusions, p. 150. 

*^Stravinsky, Conversations with Igor Stravinsky, p. 32.

contemporaries wrote works for it or incorporating it, including Milhaud, 

Jolivet, Ibert, Honegger, Varese, and Messiaen.*^ 

118 

On still another occasion, he made the following remark about the use 

of computers to create music: 

At a recent concert featuring one of Bell Laboratory's IBM 

computers ... I leamed that the instrument costs more than 

$100 an hour to rent and a great deal more than that to operate. 

. . . the concert, by the way, persuasively demonstrated that 

this new means of communication has as yet nothing to 

communicate.*® 

Stravinsky also refrained from using pianos which had been timed in 

non-traditional ways. Regarding quarter-tone pianos, he once commented that 

"I remember playing a quarter-tone piano four hands with Hindemith in the 

Berlin Hochschule in the 1920's. I also remember my surprise at how quickly 

our ears became accustomed to it. . . . Since then I have thought about 

quarter-tones but avoided writing them."*^ Although he made this comment 

in the 1950s, it would hold true for the rest of his life. He was content to 

utilize the piano within traditional means and soimds only. 

*^Stanley Sadie, ed.. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 

vol. 13 (New York: MacmiUan PubHshers Limited, 1980), pp. 540-541. 

*®Stravinsky, Themes and Conclusions, p. 20. 

*^Stravinsky, Expositions and Developments, p. 103-104.

CHAPTER V 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 

The purpose of this study has been to docimient Stravinsky's treatment 

of the piano as an orchestral instmment and to trace the changes which took 

place in this treatment from the beginning to the end of his compositional 

career. In particular, six areas have been analyzed and presented in the tables 

which form the Appendix at the end of this study: doublings with other 

instruments; octave usage; pianistic effects; percussive effects; pedal usage; and 

solo passage-work. This next section will simimarize trends discovered in 

analyzing each of these areas within the context of the entire orchestral output 

and relate these trends in piano usage to the changes in Stravinsky's 

compositional style throughout his career. 

Doublings with Other Instruments 

Although the piano was used to double other instnmients throughout 

Stravinsky's orchestral works, the ways in which it was doubled changed 

considerably from the early to the late compositions. In the earliest works, 

Stravinsky doubled the piano most often in large tutti sections, in combination 

with groups of instruments, such as high winds or low strings, or with harp 

and/or celesta; less often with individual instruments. Beginning in the 1920s, 

he began to double the piano more often with individual instruments, or with 

smaller groups of instruments, and frequently used partial doubling of other 

instruments, such as has been discussed in the Allegro of the Concerto for 

Piano and Winds. Very often, the piano would be given all notes of a 

particular musical phrase, while the other instruments would weave in and out 

of the phrase. In the serial works toward the end of his life, the piano is 

generally doubled by one or sometimes two instruments. Partial doubling and 

doubling with slight variations in pitch and rhythm are common. Stravinsky 

showed an interest in producing as many different types of tone colors as 

119

possible, through constantly changing combinations of instruments, and 

oftentimes a particular grouping appeared only once in a composition; this 

exploration of tone color reached its apex in Movements for Piano and 

Orchestra. 

Although examples can be found of the piano being doubled with each 

instnmient of the orchestra at one time or another, certain instnmients were 

doubled much more frequently. Stravinsky showed a marked affinity for the 

soimd of piano doubled with piccolo and/or flute, sometimes joined also by oboe 

or clarinet. When in the lower registers of the piano, he often doubled the 

pitches with bassoon, bass clarinet, and sometimes contrabassoon. 

Of the brass family, he seems to have preferred the piano sound doubled 

by the horn. 

120 

Trombone and tuba double the lower registers with less 

frequency; the use of sarrusophone combined with piano in Threni creates a 

unique timbre. The highest of the brass instruments, the tnmfipet, is rarely 

doubled with the piano except in full orchestral tutti sections; when it does 

appear with piano, it is often placed one or two octaves lower than the piano 

in register. The trumpet does appear frequently in canon with the piano, in 

the same register. 

The percussion instnmient most frequently doubled with the piano (in 

its low register) is the timpani; the combination of timpani, piano, and harp is 

used often in the neoclassical works. The xylophone is combined with the 

piano's higher register several times in the early and middle period works; it 

appears only once with piano in the later works, in two measures of The Flood. 

OccasionaUy, the piano is doubled in rhythm by the bass dnun, snare drum, 

or other percussion instrument. 

Stravinsky evidently regarded the doubling of piano and stringed 

instruments as a special problem. In the early 1930s, after completing his 

violin concerto, he commented: 

For years I had disliked the sounds produced in combination by 

the percussive strings of the piano and the strings vibrated by the

ow. In order to be able to accept this combination of 

instmments, I felt I had to use the smallest possible grouping, 

i.e., as two solo instruments, so as to find a way of solving the 

instrumental and acoustical problems arising from the alliance of 

the two different types of strings. This is what suggested the Duo 

Concertant for violin and piano. The wedding of the two 

instruments seems to make for greater clarity than the 

combination of pianoforte with several stringed instruments, 

which tends to sound like an orchestral ensemble.^° 

Perhaps because of this reservation regarding the combination of the 

percussive piano tone and the bowed string tone, Stravinsky often instructed 

string instruments to play pizzicato (pluck with the fingers) when doubled by 

piano. However, the piano does still double many passages which are bowed, 

especially in the earlier works. When appearing with strings, the piano most 

often doubles either the entire section in all registers, or else doubles the 

violoncello and double bass in the lower register; it appears with violins alone 

much less frequently. 

121 

Octave Usage 

Octaves seemed to hold a particular fascination for Stravinsky; at times, 

they also .seemed to present him with a great problem. It was already 

mentioned at the beginning of this study that Stravinsky viewed octaves as 

being particularly pianistic and that no other instrument produced them so 

well. In 1968, near the end of his life, he commented to Robert Craft: "I had 

no sooner forbidden myself to use octaves in one piece than I saw what 

richness I could extract from them, and I used them in the next piece all the 

time."^^ Octaves appear in his music in diverse ways: each hand playing a 

single note one or more octaves apart; one hand playing a line in octaves and 

^âd, p. 116. 

"Robert Craft, Chronicle of a Friendship, 1948-1971 (New York: Alfred A. 

Knopf, 1972), p. 343.

122 

the other playing a single note Hne one or more octaves above or below; one 

hand in octaves while the other hand plays something completely different; 

both hands striking simultaneously in octaves; hands altemating back and 

forth in octaves; hands altemating back and forth with one hand in octaves 

and the other on single notes; one or both hands in octaves along with other 

chordal tones filled in; partial octave runs in which octaves altemate with 

single notes within the same hand. 

Octaves appear frequently in the early works; Petrouchka contains 

mainly different types of octave writing, as does Le Chant du Rossignol and 

the revised Suite L'Oiseau de feu of 1919; Figures 1 and 15 contain good 

examples of octave passages. Chordal octaves, in which one or both hands 

must play an octave along with one or more chord tones within, occurred 

infrequently in Petrouchka, and are more prevalent in the middle period works, 

especially the Concerto for Piano and Winds and the Capriccio for Piano and 

Orchestra. Partial octaves, already discussed at length, also appear, beginning 

with the Concerto for Piano and Winds and culminating in the Symphony in 

Three Movements. The use of octaves disappears after the latter work, except 

for the anomalous Canon for Concert Introduction or Encore, as Stravinsky 

began his compositions in serial style. 

Pianistic Effects 

Besides octaves, which Stravinsky viewed as being so pianistic, he also 

made great use of other pianistic effects such as glissandi, arpeggios, tremolos, 

passages which altemate between the hands, and passages which remain on 

the white or black keys. Glissandi appear frequently in each of the early 

works; appearances in the middle period works are mainly limited to 

orchestrations of earHer pieces such as the Suite No. 2 and the Quatre Etudes, 

although they reappear in the early 1930s in Symphony of Psalms, Persephone, 

and Scherzo a la Russe. Two occurrences of glissandi in Symphony in Three 

Movements of 1945 would become the last time he used this effect. There are

123 

none in the later works, although he evidentiy still liked the effect of a 

gHssando. Late in his Hfe, in discussing Kariheinz Stockhausen's Carre, he 

said: "Not only are the sounds attractive, but so are the Aion-sounds. . . I also 

like the role of the piano, both solo and in combination; and I like the glissandi 

at 67."" 

Arpeggios are most prevalent in the early works such as Petrouchka and 

Suite L'Oiseau de feu. They appear occasionally in the middle period works 

such as Oedipus Rex, but are not present in the late works. Tremolos do occur 

in several of the late works, as well as the early and middle period 

compositions. Passages altemating between the hands, often at great speed, 

occur frequently, especially in the middle period works such as the Concerto 

and the Capriccio. Stravinsky must have found this pianistic technique 

particularly appealing because of its percussive nature. Although the nature 

of his writing in the late works did not dictate much need for the use of 

altemating hands, he did write several passages in this manner, in A Sermon, 

a Narrative, and a Prayer and Requiem Canticles. One final pianistic effect 

worthy of mentioning again is found in Threni, where he instructs the pianist 

(and harpist) to let the sound vibrate all' estinzione, or until inaudible. 

Percussive Effects 

Stravinsky's perception of the piano as a percussion instnmient, which 

began early in his career and, by his own statement, reached full fruition in 

the Concerto, has been well documented in this study. He treated the piano 

in a non-lyrical, dry, detached manner in much of his music, and gave 

nimierous and varied types of accents and sforzandos to indicate different 

levels of stress which he desired to be place on the attacks. These various 

indications of accent are given in the "Percussive effects" column in the tables 

of the Appendix. 

^^Stravinsky, Themes and Conclusions, p. 25.

Pedal Usage 

124 

It has already been mentioned that Stravinsky was uncomfortable with 

and seldom used the damper pedal, and a glance through the tables confirms 

this. The abstinence from use of the damper pedal results in a sharper, 

clearer, more percussive tone which is much more in keeping with his 

aesthetic. His fondness for the una corda pedal, which is apparent throughout 

the orchestral works, is noteworthy, especially in the rather frequent forte 

passages which are to be played with this pedal. This again would tend to 

reinforce the percussiveness of the piano tone, as the pianist must attack each 

note with greater sharpness and precision to obtain a loud tone with the pedal 

engaged. 

Solo passage-work 

Stravinsky's perception of the piano as a solo instrument underwent 

major changes throughout his lifetime. In the early works, the solo passages 

for piano have a distinctly pianistic character, such as in Petrouchka. When 

Stravinsky used the piano, he generally intended to feature it as a concertante 

instrument. This attitude still prevailed in the late teens when he wrote 

L'Histoire du Soldat. As already has been discussed, he intentionally did not 

include piano in it because he felt he would have to make it a vehicle of 

virtuosity for the instrument. The solo works for piano and orchestra of his 

middle period, the Concerto and the Capriccio, as well the Symphony in Three 

Movements, reflected this virtuosic conception. In several of the works of the 

1930s, such as Symphony of Psalms and Persephone, he began to integrate the 

piano more completely into the orchestral texture, and to rely on it less as a 

solo instrument. 

This integration became complete in the serial works, in which the piano 

is no longer used in the virtuosic sense; instead, it often plays one note at a 

time and is exploited more in terms of its tone color. Even in the Movements 

for Piano and Orchestra, in which the piano is featured as the solo instrument,

125 

it is treated in a more integrated fashion. What prominence it has in this 

piece could be due more to its commission as a work for piano and orchestra 

than any other factor. 

Conclusion 

Stravinsky's treatment of the piano in the orchestral works written 

through the course of his long career can be seen to parallel and reflect the 

evolution of his compositional style as a totality. In its earHest uses, it was 

used primarily as a soloistic instrument or as a doubling instrument within the 

context of a huge orchestra, in deference to his Russian tutelage under 

Rimsky-Korsakov. As Stravinsky moved toward a thinner, ascetic, and more 

contrapuntal style which relied on concertato principles, the role of the piano 

increased in importance because its percussive and polyphonic qualities so 

closely matched the aesthetic he was cultivating. Finally, when his 

compositional style tumed to serialism in the 1950s, the technical and 

polyphonic capabilities of the instnmient became secondary to the piano's tone, 

which rose in importance as a distinct color in his textural and tonal spectrum, 

and its use primarily as a single line instnmient reflected the more pointillistic 

approach to composition in the final works. 

The study of Stravinsky's treatment of the piano in his orchestral works 

offers a wealth of information to anyone interested in new and creative uses 

of the instrument; conductors and pianists in particular will find much of 

value. He was a pioneer in the inclusion of the piano as an integral member 

of the orchestra, and his unique, fascinating explorations into the possibilities 

of piano treatment in the orchestral texture reveal yet another facet of his 

genius.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Adler, Samuel. The Study of Orchestration. New York: W. W. Norton and 

Co., 1982. 

BerHoz, Hector. Treatise on Instrumentation. Enlarged/revised by Richard 

Strauss. Translated by Theodore Front. New York: Edwin F. Kalmus 

PubHshing, 1948. 

Blatter, Alfred. Instrumentation I Orchestration. New York and London: 

Longman, 1980. 

Caesar, Clifford. Igor Stravinsky: A Complete Catalogue. San Francisco: San 

Francisco Press, 1982. 

Craft, Robert. Stravinsky: The Chronicle of a Friendship; 1948-1971. New 

York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1972. 

de Lerma, Dominique-Ren^, and Ahrens, Thomas J. Igor Fedorovitch 

Stravinsky, 1882-1971; A Practical Guide to Publications of His Music. 

Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1974. 

Eaton, Quaintance. Opera Production, a Handbook. Minneapolis: University 

of Minnesota Press, 1961. 

Forsyth, Cecil. Orchestration, 2nd ed. New York: The MacmiUan Company, 

1949. 

Horgan, Paul. Encounters With Stravinsky; A Personal Record. New York: 

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972. 

Jacob, Gordon. The Elements of Orchestration. 

1965. 

New York: October House, 

Jacob, Gordon. Orchestral Technique, A Manual For Students, 3rd ed. 

London: Oxford University Press, 1982. 

Joseph, Charles M. Stravinsky and the Piano. Ann Arbor, IVHchigan: UMI 

Research Press, 1983. 

Joseph, Charles M. A Study of Igor Stravinsky's Piano Compositions. 

Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1974. 

Ann 

126

Kennan, Kent. The Technique of Orchestration. 

1952. 

127 

New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 

Lang, Paul Henry. Stravinsky; A New Appraisal of His Work, With a Complete 

List of Works. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1963. 

Libmann, LilHan. And Music at the Close: Stravinsky's Last Years, a Personal 

Memoir. New York, W. W. Norton, and Co., 1972. 

Onnen, Frank. Stravinsky. Translated from the Dutch by M. M. Kessler- 

Button. Stockholm: The Continental Book Company, 1948. 

Piston, Walter. Orchestration. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1955. 

Read, Gardner. Style and Orchestration. New York: Schirmer Books, 1979. 

Read, H. Owen, and Leach, Joel T. Scoring For Percussion, and the 

Instruments of the Percussion Section. Englewood CHffs, New Jersey: 

Prentice-Hafl, Inc., 1969. 

Redcay, Erwin Thomas. The Piano as an Orchestral Instrument. Doctoral ^ 

dissertation, Eastman School of Music, 1962. 

Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay. Principles of Orchestration. Translated by Edward 

Agate. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1964. 

Routh, Francis. Stravinsky. London: J. M. Dent, 1975. 

Rubinstein, Arthur. My Many Years. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1980. 

Siohan, Robert. Stravinsky. Translated by Eric Walter White. London: 

Calder and Boyars, 1965. 

Stravinsky, Igor. An Autobiography. New York: Simon and Shuster, 1936. 

Stravinsky, Igor. A Complete Catalogue of His Published Works. London: 

Boosey and Hawkes, 1957. 

Stravinsky, Igor, and Craft, Robert. Conversations With Igor Stravinsky. 

Berkeley: University of CaHfomia Press, 1980 

Stravinsky, Igor. Selected Correspondence. Translated and edited with 

commentary by Robert Craft. London: Faber and Faber Co., 1982.

Stravinsky, Igor, and Craft, Robert. Dialogues and a Diary. London: Faber 

and Faber, 1968. 

Stravinsky, Igor, and Craft, Robert. Expositions and Developments. Berkeley: 

University of CaHfomia Press, 1962. 

128 

Stravinsky, Igor, and Craft, Robert. Memories and Commentaries. 

Faber and Faber, 1960. 

London: 

Stravinsky, Igor. Poetics of Music. Translated by Arthur Knodel and Ingolf 

Dahl. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1947. 

Stravinsky, Igor, and Craft, Robert. Retrospectives and Conclusions. 

York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1969. 

New 

Stravinsky, Igor, and Craft, Robert. Themes and Conclusions. Berkeley: 

University of California Press, 1982. 

Stravinsky, Vera, and Craft, Robert. Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents. 

New York: Faber and Faber, 1978. 

Strobel, Heinrich. Stravinsky: Classic Humanist. Translated by Hans 

Rosenwald. New York: Merlin Press, 1955. 

Terse, Paul. Studien zur Verwendung des Konzertflugels im Opernorchester in 

der Zeit von etwas 1930 bis etwa 1970. Regensburg: Bosse, 1982. 

Thomason, Marshall Malone. Neo-Tonality: A Unified Approach to 

Stravinsky's Neoclassical Music. Dissertation Abstracts International, 

Vol. 48/05-A, 1987. 

Tierney, Neil. The Unknown Country: A Life of Igor Stravinsky. London: R. 

Hale, 1977. 

Toom, Pieter C. van den. The Music of Igor Stravinsky. 

University Press, 1983. 

New Haven: Yale 

Vlad, Roman. Stravinsky. Translated from the Italian by Robert Craft and 

Andr^ Marion. London: Oxford University Press, 1961. 

Walden, William Glenn. Igor Stravinsky's Movements for Piano and Orchestra: 

The Relationships of Formal Structure, Serial Technique, and 

Orchestration. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1979.

129 

White, Eric Walter. Stravinsky: The Composers and His Works, 2nd ed. 

London: Faber and Faber, 1979.

APPENDIX 

TABLES OF ANALYSIS SHOWING PIANO USAGE 

FOR EACH WORK DISCUSSED 

130

The tables which follow give a detailed analysis of each orchestral work by 

Igor Stravinsky which has been discussed in this study. Measure numbers are 

given in the first column, followed by all pertinent appearances imder the 

colimMi headings: doubling, octave usage, pianistic effects, percussive effects, 

pedal usage, and solo passagework. At the end of each table, the total 

measures containing piano and the total measures of the work are given. 

Kev To Instnmaental Abbreviations 

B 

bass section of chorus 

belt 

bass clarinet 

b.d. 

bass drum 

brs 

brass section 

bsn 

bassoon 

eel 

celeste 

chor 

chorus 

cl 

clarinet 

cym 

C5nnbals 

db 

double bass section 

e.h. 

engHsh hom 

fl 

flute 

full orch full orchestra 

glock 

glockenspiel 

hm 

hom 

hrp 

harp 

marib 

marimba 

ob 

oboe 

P. I, P. II Piano I, Piano II 

pelt 

piccolo clarinet (E flat) 

perc 

percussion 

pic 

piccolo 

sarrus 

sarrusophone 

s.d. 

snare dnmi 

stngs 

entire string section 

T 

tenor section 

tam 

tam-tam 

tba 

tuba 

tbn 

trombone 

timp 

timpani 

tpt 

trumpet 

vc 

violoncello section 

via 

viola section 

vn 

violin section 

xylo 

xylophone 

wnds 

wind section 

131

Kev To Other Abbreviations And Svmbols Used 

accom 

alt hands 

arp 

ben marc, 

bth hnds 

cdnza 

chrds 

con 

diff rthm 

d/n 

gliss 

l.h. 

l.v. 

par 

ped or Ped 

pizz 

r.h. 

rhy 

rip 

s/n 

syn accents 

trem 

u.c. 

var 

3/n 

8vaT 

15vaT 

132 

a solo passage which is accompanimental 

altemating hands passage 

arpeggio 

ben mareato 

both hands; refers to both hands, each playing octaves, but 

on different pitches 

cadenza 

chords 

concertino group 

different rhythm 

4 note octave line, with each hand playing an octave on the 

same pitch in different registers 

glissando 

left hand 

laissez vibrer, or let vibrate 

partial or incomplete doubling 

damper pedal 

pizzicato 

right hand 

rhjrthmic doubling, not in pitch 

ripieno group 

2 note octave line, with each hand playing one of the notes 

syncopated accents 

tremolo 

una corda pedal 

variation; not doubled exactly in pitch or rhythm 

3 note octave line, with one hand plajdng two notes an 

octave apart, the other hand pla5dng a single note one or 

more octaves away 

piano plays 1 octave higher than instrument cited 

piano plays 2 octaves higher than instrument cited

Table 3: L'Oiseau de feu (Original 1910 version) 

133 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

102 

cel/hrp 

179-180 

full orch 

657-666 

667-672 

glock/hrp 

full orch 

tremolo 

675-681 

eel (15vaT) 

682-683 

pic/fl/ob/ 

e.hVcl 

Total measures with piano: 28 

Total measures of work: 1294

Table 4: Petrouchka 

134 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

11,21 

fVbsn(var) 

X 

14-17 

vn(var) 

25-41 

pic/fl/ob/ 

tpt(32,35-41) 

3/n 8va 

apart 

gliss(41) 

X 

42-61 

full orch 

r.h. 

73-81,95-99 

155-163 

bclt/bsn/timp/ 

vc/dbO.h.) 

vn/vla(r.h.) 

l.h. 

r.h. in 9ths 

mareato sempre 

88-92 

130-131 

140-144, 

151-154 

166-194 

bclt/bsn/timp/ 

vc/dbO.h.) 

tptCr.h.) 

pic/vc 

pic/ob(154,r.h.) 

similar to 25-61 

l.h. 

r.h. in 9ths 

s/n 15va 

apart 

arpeggio 

gliss(174) 

X 

X 

206-240 

249-250 

similar to 73-99 

ob, pic/fl in 

canon 

s/n 8va 

apart 

X 

252-254 

pic/fl in canon 

s/n 8va 

255-258 

fl (var) 

264-265 

pic/fl/tpt/ 

hrp/stngs 

296-299 

305-312 

313-324 

325-340 

fl/hrp(var) 

pic/fl/ob/ 

e.h./clt/bclt/ 

hm/tpt 

hrp/vn(var) 

fl/vn(canon) 

r.h. 

r.h.(328, 

337-339) 

gliss(312) 


ghss(339-40) 

X 

341-347 

348-349,352 - bsn/vla/vc/db 

353,356-357 

363-374 

375-386,389 

387-388,3901- pic/xylo 

392 

iinO-407 

1 

full orch 

r.h.chordal 

l.h. 

3/n 8va 

apart 

r.h.chordal 1 


white key runs 

lefl pedal 

X 

X (lyric) 

X (accom) 

X 

X

135 

Table 4: Continued 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

408-423 

425,427,429- 

430,432-438 

pic/fl(var) 

X 

X 

449 

pic/fl/ob/ 

e.h7cl/tpt 

d/n (incomplete) 

455-456 

467-481 

cym 

d/n 

r.h. white/ 

l.h. black 


sf-p 

X 

X 

482-490 

fl/ob/e.h./ 

cl/bsn/hm/ 

tpt/s.d. 

alt hands trem 

491-509 

510-515 

516-517 

518-533 

536-543 

544-552 

fl(492-495) 

cl/vn(var) 

r.h. 

alt hands runs 


arpeggios, alt 

hands runs 


black/white alt 

hands 

X (lyric) 

X (accom) 

X (lyric) 

X (accom) 

X (runs) 

X 

553-558 

559 

fl/ob/e.h./ 

bsn/hm/s.dy 

stngs 

tpt/stngs 



562 

567-569 

hrp/stngs 

full orch 

chord 


573-576 

hm/stngs(par ) l.h. 

610 

bsn/tbn/timp/ 

vc/db 

613 

pic/fl 

617 

745-751 

bsn/hm/hrp/ 

stngs(var) 

fl/tpt(var) 

r.h. 

(748-751) 

alt hands, 

repeated notes 

left pedal 

X 

763-765 

fl/vn 

both hands alt hands 

777 

ob/bsn/hm/vc ; both hands alt hands 

782-784 

hrn 

both hands alt hands

136 


Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

785 

tba/timp/b.d7 

db 

l.h. 

sffF 

787-792 

hm/tpt/tbn/ 

stngs 


793-794 

799 

803-811 

812-819 

826-833 

875-878 

885-890 

full orch 

fl/hm/hrp 

hrp/vla(var) 

pic/fl 

stngs(var) 

fl/cl/tpt 


s/n 15va 

apart 

3/n 

arpeggios 

solo line, 

arpeggioSjChords 


measured trem 

alt hands, repeated 

notes 

ghss (889-90) 

i 

sf 

ostinato 

ped. 

X 

936-939,942-• hrp 

945,972-979 

alt hands,repeated 

fifths 

956-960 

single chords 

sff 

1056-1067 

cl/hrp(var) 

alt hands (3rds) ben articulate 

white keys only 

1068-1105 

bth hnds 

alt hnds,chrds 

1106-1107 

hrp 

bth hnds 

alt hnds 

ped. 

1115-1125 

hrp(var) 

arpeg,alt hnds 

1127-1130 

ob/e.h./cy 

hm/hrp 

sf 

1149-1160 

pic/fl 

3/n 8va 

X 

1198-1201 

cl 

X 

1202 

cl/fl/pic(par) 

X 

1204-1208 

vn/vla(var) 

X 

1210-1211 

1215 

fl 

vn/vc 

gliss 

ben marc. 

X 

X 



Table 5: Le Chant du Rossignol 

137 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

1-2 

hm/trb/hrp 

l.h. 

gliss. 


ped. 

3 

cl 

s/n arpeggio 

4 


7-11 

fl/cKbeat 2) 

3/n(beat 2) 

arpeggio(beat 1) 

13-16 

27-32 

cel/hrp(var) 

vcO.h.) 

3/n(13-14) 

sf downbeat on 

28,30,32 

alt meas: 

Ped,l.v./ 

una corda sf 

33-38 


notes 

pno on whites, 

cel/hrp black 

X 

44-49 

alt hands trem, 

chordal 

50-53 

64-65 

67 

hrp(52-53) 

pic/fl/cel 

4 gliss 

gliss 

X 

108 

full orch 

117-118 

hm 

127-129 

stngs,timp 

130-133 

136 

137-142 

151-159 

182-183 

193-196 

pic/hm/hrp/ 

stngs 

cel(var) 

tpt(canon) 

fl/cl 

s/n 8va 

apart 

s/n arpeggios 

all black keys 

all black keys 

s/n alt hands 

una corda 

Una corda X 

sempre poco sf 

ped. 

X(accom) 

197-202 

tremolo on repeated 

note 

203-214 

hrp( canon) 

l.v. 

215-226 

227-237 

hrp/vc/db 

fl/ob/tpt/ 

tbn/tba/timp/ 

stngs 

l.v.


138 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

247,274 

251-258 

fl 

vn/vla(var) 

s/n arpeggio 

poco sf 

X 

291-293 

s/n trem on repeated 

notes 

295-300 

vc 

sf 

alt meas: 

Ped,l.v./ 

Una corda sf 

301-306 


notes 

312-317 

alt hands trem, 

chordal 

318-321 

332-333 

335 

hrp(320-321) 

pic/fl/cl/ 

eel 

gliss 

black keys 

gliss 

345-350 

367-384 

hrp(l.h.) 

alt hand s/n 

tremolo at 10th 

385-390 

hrp/stngs 

sf 

l.v. 

391-395 

ob/clr/hm 

396-403 

vc/db,hrp(400) 

fVob/cl/hm/ 

hrp/stgs(403) 

404-413 

460-463 

484 

489 

492 

549-576 

fl/cl/hrp/ 

stgs (par) 

stgs(downbeat) 

tam/hrp 

fl/cl(par) 

tam/hrp/vc/db 

l.h.sus 

l.h.sus 

repeated note 

arpeggio 

ped. 

X 

X 



Table 6: Suite de L'Oiseau de feu (1919) 

139 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

22 

s/n run 

X 

34 

fl/vn/vla 

s/n 15va 

apart 

36-37 

cl/bsn/hm 

tremolo 

41,45 

picc/fl 

s/n 8va 

apart 

sf, > 

l.v. 

47, 49, 50 

vn/vc (beat 2) 

gliss (r.h.) 

arpeggio (l.h.) 

X 

48 

52-54, 56-57 

vn (2nd half ol 

each beat: 52, 

54, 56) 

arpeggio 

arpeggios 

X 

X 

59 

62,66 

72,73 

74-81 

hrp 

fl 

hrp 

s/n 8va 

apart 

gliss (r.h.) 

arpeggio (l.h.) 

gliss 

arpeggios 

gliss (ms. 80) 

sf, > 

l.v. 

l.v.(beat 3) 

X 

204,214,218, 

222,224,226, 

230 

230-237 

full orch 

fl,pic(233-37), 

xylo(231,235), 

hrp(234-237) 

d/n 15va 

apart 

sfff 

sf sempre 

l.v. 

X 

238,240 

241 

picc/fl/ob/cl/ 

bsn/hm/tpt/ 

hrp/stgs 

fl/bsn/hrp 

d/n 8va 

apart 

arpeggio 

250,252,254, , vc 

256 

257-258 

266-267 

270-271 

272-275 

fl/hrp 

fl/ob/hm 

fl/vn 

fVob/cl/hm 

tpt in canon 

d/n alt 

d/n alt 

d/ntgthr 

> each octave 

> each octave 

l.v. 

X 

276-277 

pic/fVob/cl/ 

Ibsn/hm/tpt/ 

tbn/tba


140 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

278-279,284 

286 

288 

292-293 

295-300 

332-343 

344-345 

362-367 

, xylo 

xylo 

xylo 

pice 

hrp 

hm/vc 

picc/fVcl 

d/n alt 

with singlf 

d/n alt 

s/n 15va 

apart 

s/n 8va 

apart 

gliss(bl/wht) 

6 gliss 

X 

X 

368-375 

fl,pic(371-375) 

xylo( 369,373, 

375),hrp(372- 

375) 

sff 

l.v. 

X 

376-378 

full orch 

380-391 

hrn/tmp/hrp/ 

strgs 

l.v. 

396-403 

strgs 

424-425 

428-429 

450-453 

hrp G.h.) 

hrp G.h.) 

strgs 

gliss 

gliss 

X 

X 

458-461 

hrp 

gliss 

462,464 

l.v. 

X 



Table 7: Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra 

141 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

I. Marche 

3-4 

fl,vn 

ob/cl(par) 

s/n 8va 

apart 

7-12,14-24, 

27-39 

tba/vl/vla/ 

vc/db/b.d. 

l.h. 


27-28 

fl/ob/tbn/vn 

r.h.chordal 

36 

fl/hm 

mareato 

41-42 

tba/vl/vla/ 

vc/db/b.d. 

l.h. 

41 fl(r.h.) 

Total measures with piano: 

Total measures of movement: 

34 

42 

II. Valse (tacet) 

III. Polka (tacet) 

IV. Galop 

3 

4 

hm/tbn/tba/ 

s.dyvla/vc/db 

cl/tpt/tbn/ 

(beat 1), 

b.d.(beat 2) 

sfff 

beat 2: 

cluster on lowest 

3 notes 

5-20 

20-21 

22-24,26-32 

33-34 

tpt/tbn(r.h. 

8vaT),tba/vc/ 

dbO.h.) 

pic/fl 

pic/fl/ob/vn 

r.h.(13-20) 

3/n 8va 

gliss 


X(accom) 

35-36,43-44 

full orch 

37-38 

tpt/tbn/vn 

s/n 8va 

40-42 

45-48 

ob/tbn/vn 

tpt(var) 

b.dyvc/db 

hm/tbn(var) 

l.h. 

Ped. 

52-64,69-72, 

77-80 

fl/vn/vla 

s/n 8va 

81-122: repeat of 1-44 


Total measures of movement: 

102 

122

142 

Table 8: Concerto for Piano and Winds 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

33-47 

49-54 

55-58 

59-63 

64-68 

69-86 

87-92 

93-95 

96-103 

104-109 

110-115 

116-119 

120-123 

125-141 

142-162 

163-177 

192-232 

233-238 

239-251 

252-260 

tutti orch 

(partial) 

counterpoint 

w/ob,clt 

fl/clt(par) 

bsn/cbsn/ 

tba/timp/ 

cbOh par) 

pic/fl/ob/ 

cl/hm/(par) 

hrn(84-86) 

ob,cl(var) 

tpt(99,8vaT) 

tbn(96-98) 

ob/clt'bsn 

(par) 

pic/fl/tpt 

cl(123) 

fl/ob/cl(130- 

131) 

both 

hands, 

r.h. 

chordal 

s/n& 3/n 

8 or 15va 

apart 

s/n,3/n & 

d/n(61-63 

scalar run) 

d/n partial 

l.h.84-86 

l.h. 

l.h. 

d/n(par) 

r.h.chordal(128-13i; 

) 

106-107 alt 



s/(47) 

syn accents 

syn accents 

syn accents 

accents 

shifting >, 

meter 

marcatissimo, 

accents 

shifting > 

pic(150) l.h. 

fl/ob/cl(148- 

150,var) 

db(168-172) 

bsn(172-177, 

var) 

l.h.168-172 

shifting > 

LITERAL RECAPITULATION OF MEASURES 33-86 

LITERAL REPEAT OF MEASURES 96-108 

ob/cl/bsn(par) alt hands shifting >, 

l.h. 

sustained 

octave 

X(tutti) 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X(accom) 

X 

X(accom) 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X

143 


Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

261-282 

283-312 

313-327 

hm(par)fl/ 

ob/eh/cl(297) 

tpt(298-299) 

tutti orch 

r.h.chordal alt hands 

l.h.313-317 

s/n 318-323 

d/n 324-327 

shift meter 

X(cdnza) 

X 

X(accom) 

Mvt. II: 

328-336 

337-344 

345-350 

354-361 

362-370 

371-400 

412-421 

422-425 

431-435 

e.h.(334) 

cl(335) 

tpt,bsn/hm/ 

tbn/timp/cb 

fl(345-346) 

ob(345-350) 

tbn/tba/timp/ 

c/b( 354,360, 

par) 

e.h.(var) 

tpt/tbn/tba/ 

timp/cb(par) 

(var) 

ob(var) 

l.h.chordal 

d/n chordal 

r.h.chordal 

lh354-355, 

360-361 

broken 

l.h. 

r.h. 

l.h. 

accents, low 

thick chords 

accents 

accents, s/ 

l.v. 

XGyric) 

X(accom) 

XGyric) 

X(cdnza) 

XGyric) 

X( accom) 

X(cdnza) 

XGyric) 

XGyric) 

Mvt. Ill: 

436-450 

451-458 

459-464 

465-490 

491-500 

506-516 

517-524 

cl/bsn/hm 

(436) 

hm(459) 

timpG-h.) 

lh436-444 

l.h. runs 

l.h. 

r.h.chordal 

cl(506,514,var) 3/n alt 

hrn(508,516) hands(507, 

515) 

cbG.h.) 

fl/cl(520,524, 

var)e.h.(523- 

524)ob(524) 

l.h. 


accents 

shifting > 

shifting > 

shifting >, 

sempre sf 

X 

X 

X(accom) 

X(accom) 

X 

X 

^v 

X

144 


Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

525-537 

538-548 

549-551 

552-554 

555-561 

tba(8vaT) 

r.h.chordal 

3/n alt 


r.h. run 

alt hands on 


syn accents 

sf, hemiola 

tres court 

l.v. 

X 

X(accom) 

X(accom) 

X 

X 

562-566 

567-578 

579-594 

595-602 

603-614 

615-630 

631-636 

640-646 

657-664 

db 

tutti orch 

fl/ob/e.h./ 

cl(623-625) 

cbG.h.) 

tutti(628-630) 

db 

tpt/tbn/tba 

tutti, on 

second part 

of each beat 

l.h.tenths 

lh577-578 

l.h. 

r.h.chordal 

l.h.(par) 

l.h. 

r.h.chordal 

both hands 

d/n, min 6th 

apart 

a alt hands 

shifting > 

shifting > 

shifting 

meter 

m,arcatissim,o 

l.v.(605) 

l.v. 

X 

X 

X(accom) 

X(accom) 

X 

X 

X 

X 


Total measures of work: 

592 

664

145 

Table 9: Oedipus Rex 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave ] Pianistic 

usage ( affects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

12-20, 

23-31, 

100-111 

timp/hrp 

(8vai) 

s/n brken 

112-116 

tpt/tbn/r/B 


X 

123-128 

132-134 

wnds/brs 

s/n broken 


ma mareato 

l.v.,Ped. 

135 

141-142 

145-150 

150-154 

159-161 

162 

162-165 

204-211 

219-221 

222-227 

timp/stmgs 

timp, tutti 

pclt(r.h.) 

tbn (l.h.) 

Creon(var) 

Creon/vc/db 

hrp,hm 

pclt/clt 

timp 

hrp,vln 

bsn 

fl/ob/e.h./ 

hm(r.h.) 

tpt/tbnG.h.) 

3/n broken 


s/n 22va 

apart 

l.h. 

l.h. 

3/n 

l.h. 

r.h.chordal 


sf 

offbeats 

sf 

accents 

Ped. 

Ped. 

Ped. 

l.v. Ped. 

X 

X 

X 

228-231 

bsn 


334-340 

444-452 

492-494, 

503-505, 

513-515, 

521-524 

495-502, 

506-512, 

516-520 

timp/hrp 

(8va>L) 

hrp(r.h.) 

tbn/cbG.h.) 

fl/ob/hm/ 

tpt/voices 

timp 

s/n brken 



sff 

lowest 

register 

ACT II: 

531-532 

656 

677-688 

hrp(var) 

hrp(var) 

timp/hrp/vc/ 

cb(pizz) 

arpeggio 

arpeggio 

low,thick 

repeated chord 

X(accom) 

X(accom)

146 


Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

759-771 

980-983 

timp/hrp/db 

vc(diff rthm) 

fl/cl/hm/tpt/ 

strings(pizz) 


low, thick 

repeated chord 

accented 

ped. 

1214-1222 

1235-1240 

bsn/vc/db(var) 

timp/tba(var) 

bsn/vc/db 

timp/tba 

3/n & 2/n 

3/n & 2/n 

s/,ostinato 

ostinato 



132 

1268

147 

Table 10: Quatre Etudes pour Orchestra 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

I. Danse: 

4-45 

vla/vc(var) 

ostinato 

II. Excentrique: 

16 

hrn(var) 


X 

18 

21 

vc 

hm(var) 


poco sf on 

single note 

X 

24 

27-30 

31-32 

34 

35-36 

37-51 

52-54 

70-71 

hm(var) 

hm 

vn 

bclfcb 

stngs(octave 

displacement) 

fl/vc(53) 

hrn/stngs(var) 

r.h. white 

l.h. black 



sff 

ostinato 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

III. Cantiqu e: 

TACET 

rv. Madrid 

25 

27-51 

33-34 

52-53 

bsn 

timp/stngs 

(var) 

fl(var,r.h.) 

bsn/tpt/tbn 

l.h.chorda 1 

ostinato 

mareato 

sff sub. 

X 

X 

X 

53-54 

55 

56-61 

64 

66-67 

70-71 

vc/db 

ob/hm/stngs 

vn I(var) 

hm/tpt 

hrn/tpt/tbn 

hrn 


chordal 


chordal 


chordal 

Ped. 

X 

X 

X

148 


Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

73 


chordal 

76 fl/vn(var) glissando 

X 

77-78 hm(var) 

82-87 

88-91 stngs(rhy) 

95-98 

99-113 vc/db(var) 

113 timp/stngs 


chordal 

l.h. 

ostinato 

ostinato 

ostinato 

l.v. 

X 

X(accom) 

X(accom) 

X 



145 

280

149 

Table 11: Capriccio 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

1-4,10-13 

brs/timp/ 

con stngs 

both hands trill 

4,13 

tutti orch 

19-22 

timp 

d/n &8/n 


ostinato: 

ben mxircato 

26-31 

32-39 

40-46 

47-80 

81-88 

89-102 

103-105 

106-115 

116-121 

122-124 

125-131 

132-134 

135-147 

136,138 

148-163 

fl(var),db 

timp/vc/db(var) 

rip vn/vla 

(var) 

timp/vc/db(var) 

d/n &s/n 

d/n 

3/n repeated 

clt/con vn(var) broken 

d/n & s/n 

r.h.run 

s/n broken 

repeated 

notes 


chrom runs 


l.h. arp 

alt s/n 





ostinato 

marc. > 

ostinato 

ostinato 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X( accom) 

165-168, 

175-176 

168-174, 

179-192 

bsn/tpt/tba/ 

timp/con stgs 

both hands trill 

s/n 15va 

apart 

X(accom) 

177 

tutti orch 

Mvt. II: 

195-196 

200-201 

202 

203 

204-210 

d/n 

l.h. 

trill 

scalar 


triKr.h.) 



X 

X 

X 

X

150 


Measure 

211-213 

Doubling 

con vc 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

arpeggios 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

X 

214-220 

X 

222-249 

X 

253-254 

258-263 

268-277 

278-279 

d/n,l.h. 

trill,arp 

alt hands,trill 

alt hands,trill 

scalar 

X 

X 

X(cdnza) 

X 

Mvt. Ill: 

281-290 

292-298 

s/n 8va 

3/n 


shifting > 

X 

X 

298-300 

301-321 

322-330 

331-367 

368-372 

pic/con vn/ 

vla( 305-307) 

con vn(var) 

d/n run 

r.h. 

d/n runs, 

r.h.chordal 


s/n repeated 

X 

X 

X 

X 

373-386 

387-412 

413-424 

425-426 

427-430 

431-433 

434-440 

441-443 

447-451 

451-460 

461-484 

485-492 

493-498 

con vc(var) 

hm/stngs 

ob/clt/bsn/ 

stngs 

tutti(var) 

fl/cl/bsn 

r.h.runs, 

broken 

d/n chordal 




l.h. 

s/n 8va 

arpeggios 

l.h.arpeggios 


trem on repeated 

note 

double notes 

l.v. 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X


151 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

499-518 

3/n 


X 

525-527 

tutti orch 

X 


Total measure of work: 

485 

527

152 

Table 12: Symphony of Psalms 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive Pedal Solo 

effects usage passagework 

1,4,8,14 

fl/pic/ob/ both hands spacing of 

e.hTbsn/ (tenths) chord based 

cbsn/tbn/timp/ 

on extended 

bd/hrp/vc/db 

hand position 

12-13 

15-25 

47(P.I) 

fl 

s/n 15va 

apart 

s/n 15va 

apart 

scalar 

P.II secco 

P.II u.c. 

X 

X 

X 

48,52 

as in ms. 1 

as in ms.l 

as in ms. 1 

49-52 

fl/bsn(P.II) 

hrp(P.I) 

s/n 15va 

apart(P.I) 

65-67 

fl/pic(P.I) 

bsn(P.II) 

d/n (P.I) 

s/n 15va 

apart(P.II) 

marcatissim.o 

72-78 

fVob/cbsn/ 

vc/db(P.II) 

ob/bsn(P.I) 

s/n 15va 

apart(P.I) 

d/n (P.II) 

Mvt. II: 

TACET 

Mvt. Ill: 

4-6 

timp/hrp 

l.h. 

7-8, 

21-22 

fl/ob/e.h./ 

cbsn/tpt/tbn 

l.h., r.h. 

tenth 

14-19 

35 

38-39 

40-43(P.I) 

44-45(P.I) 

hrp/vc/db 

tbn 

fl/ob(var) 

pic/fl/tpt 

s/n 8va, 

5 oct. span 

P.I & II 

l.h. 


s/n 

s/n 


accents 

poco sf sempre 

X 

X 

X 

X 

40-45(P.II) 

46-47 

vc/db 

fl/ob/hm 

s/n alt hands 

X 

48-51 

tutti orch 

l.h. 

53-60 

bsn 

61-64 

l.v.(tres 

sonore)

153 


Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

65-71 

87-98 

hrp/cb 

fl/ob/tpt 

109-112(P.II) hrp(rhy) 

112-114(P.I) pic/fl 

121 

124-125 

126-129 

tbn 

fl/oKP.I) 

timp/vc/db(II) 

l.h. 

l.h. 


chordal 

l.h. 


sf sempre 

accents 

poco sf sempre 

l.v. 

pedale de 

gauche 

X 

X 

130-131 

132-137 

138-141 

fl/tpt(P.I) 

hrp/vc/db(II) 

hm/hrp/vc/db 

fl/ob/tpt/vc(I) 

tbn/db(II) 

s/n 15va 

l.h.(II) 


s/n 15va 

l.h. 



brillante marc. 

X 

X 

142-150 

cbsn/db 

r.h.broken 

163-205 

timp/hrp 

s/n 8va 

210-212 

fl/ob/e.h./ 

cbsn/tpt/tbn 

l.h., r.h. 

tenth 



164 

378

154 

Table 13: Persephone 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

1-14 

58-66 

72-85 

hrp 

pic(r.h.) 

obO.h.) 

3/n w/repeat 

note 

s/n 15va 

alt hand 

trem 

alt hand 

sffz, > 

sf 

Ped. 

95-104, 

117-126 

hm(r.h.) 

dbG.h.) 

185-187 

timp/hm(l.h.) 

vla/vc/db(r.h.) 

l.h. 

2 glissandi 

189 

205 

211 

213 

217 

221 

226 

240-241 

vc/db 

timp(var) 

timp(var) 

vn Il(var) 

timp(var) 

bsn(var) 

bsn 

pic/fl/ob/ 

hrn/hrp 

l.h. 

3/n w/repeat 

note 

lh& 3/n 


s/n scalar 

poco sfz 

una corda 

l.v. 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

245-255, 

273-275 

284-285 

285-292 

303-306, 

352-355 

328-341 

380-406 

554 

hrp 

pic/fl/hrn 

vc/db 

db 

hrp 

hm/chor/ 

stngs 

l.h. 

3/n 

3/n 

l.h. 

l.h. 

s/n 15va 

accents 

Ped., l.v. 

Ped. e Sord. 

X 

556-560 

561-565 

645-660 

fl/ob/e.h. 

tbn/tba 

hrp 


l.h. 

l.h. 

white scales 

stacc runs 

X 

Ped.gauche X 

(659) 

661 

737,740 

clt/bclt 

pic/fl/clty 

hrn/tpt 

3/n 8va 

Ped 

X 

743-751, 

fl/bsn/hm/ 

both hands

155 


Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

784-796 

798-801 

tpt/hrp/stngs 

Ped, l.v. 

X 

866-869 tpt/hrp(var) 

877-887 bsn/timp/hrp s/n 

vc/db(var) w/triplet 

l.v., 

una corda 



202 

1053

156 

Table 14: Scherzo a la Russe (Symphonic Version) 

Ik M 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

1-20 

21-23 

23 

24-25 

26-37 

33,37 

39-56 

59-61 

62-81 

82-84 

84 

85-86 

87-98 

33,37 

99-102, 

107-108, 

109-114 

b.d. 

tba/perc 

xylo 

b.d. 

bsn/tba/perc 

xylo 

hrp( canon) 

fl 

b.d. 

tba/perc 

xylo 

b.d. 

bsn/tba/perc 

xylo 

hrp 

l.h.tenth 

3/n 

s/n 15va 

l.h.tenth 

3/n 

r.h. 





alt hands w/ 

repeat note 

low,stacc 


same as above 

same as 1-20 

same as above 

loWjStacc 


same as above 

same as 1-20 

same as above 

X 

X 

XGyric) 

XGyric) 

X 

X 

103-106 

pic/fl/tpt 

X 

115,117, 

120 

vla/vc/db 

offbeat sff 

121-122 

pic/fl/ob/ 

clt/bsn/hm/ 

hrp 

d/n sus. 

123-136 

tutti orch 

d/n & 3/n 

138-144 

150-156 

hrp 

r.h. 

alt hands w/ 

repeat note 

145-149 

pic/fl/tpt 

X 

157-161 

tutti orch 

l.h. 

l.v. 

162-198: 

Repeat of Opening Scherzo, ms. 1-37 



190 

198

157 

Table 15: Scenes de Ballet 

Measure 

1-3. 

8-10 

145 

146-149 

153-156 

157-160 

161-166 

171-174 

175 

Doubling 

pic/fl/ob/ 

cl/hm/tpt/ 

tbn/stngs 

ob/cl(rhy) 

ob/cl(rhy) 

fl/cl/hm/ 

vn(var) 

Octave 

usage 

r.h. 

G.h.9th) 

s/n 8va 

Pianistic 

effects 

arpeggio 

arp. runs 

Percussive 

effects 

sf 

sf 

Pedal 

usage 

l.v. 

right and 

left pedal 

right and 

left pedal 

Solo 

passagework 

X 

X 

X 

X 

176-179 

180-181 

fl/ob/cl 

arp.runs 

X 

199-206 

264-271 

272-282 

pi c( part) 

l.h.chordal 

r.h.chordal 

tenth 

arp.chord 

repeated chords 

for rhythm 

Ped., l.v. 

left pedal 

309-312 

bsn/vc(var) 

arp. run 

328-333 

tutti orch 

d/n & 3/n 

408-413 

vc/db 

poco sf 

left pedal 

429-440 

tutti orch 

tenths in 




87 

440

158 

Table 16: Symphony in Three Movements 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

1,8,10,11 

bclt/bsn/cbsn/ 

stngs 

l.h. 


X 

2-3.9,11-12 

14-19 

32-53 

54-62 

hm/stngs 

tutti wnds/ 

brss/vc/db 

vn/vla(part) 

bclt/bsn/stngs 

(var),tba(par) 

d/n 


r.h.chordal 



chordal 

accents 

marcatissimo 

l.v.(57,59) 

X 

X 

X 

X 

63-77 


vc/db 

both hands alt hands, 

r.h. partial scalar 

X 

78-80 

bsn/tbn/tba 

s/n & 3/n 


109-123 

vc 

l.h.,3/n 

sfff, 

note 

Aon every 

Ped.,l.v. 

X 

150-162 

contrapuntal 

shifting accents 

X 

165-169 

contrapuntal 

X 

173-185 

contrapuntal 

X 

204-206, 

209-211, 

216-218 

contrapuntal 

shifting accents 

X 

229-230, 

236-237 


una corda 

262-264 

tutti orch 

chordal 

repeating chords Ped. 

267-270 

l.h. offbeats 

una corda 

X 

278-288 

bcltd.h.) 

contrapuntal 

ostinato 

X 

289-299 

alt hand/2nds 

marc. 

una corda 

X 

300-304 

alt hand runs 

marc. 

X 

307-334 

r.h.(part) 

alt hand runs 

X 

335-356 

vn/vla(part) 

alt hand chrdal 

X 

361-363 

fl/ob/clt/ 

hrn/vn/vla 

chordal 

X 

368-384 

contrapuntal 

X 

385 

fl/vn/vla 

r.h.chordal 

X 

386-395 

tim/vc/db(var) 


accented 

X 

396,407 


stngs 

l.h. 


X 

397-399, hm/stngs d/n accents

159 


Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

408-410 

Mvt. II: 

TACET 

Mvt III: 

543-547, 

551-554 

562-569 

fl/ob/cl/hm/ 

timp/hrp/stng 

(var) 


rh chordal 

559 

hrp/stngs(var) 


X 

585-586 

arpeggios 

una corda 

X 

587-591 

fVob/cl/hm/ 

vn Il/vc/db 

l.h. 

sempre stacc. 

marc. 

592-597 

soli vn/vla/vc 

X 

601 

hrn(var) 


X 

619-626 

tutti orch 

ben marc. 

X 

627-629 

hrn(var) 


X 

640-646 

pic/fl/ob/clt/ 

hrn/tpt/timp/ 

hrp/stngs 

accents 

657-665 

tbn(canon) 

X 

665-683 

s/n 8va 

una corda 

X 

688-695 

d/n chdl 

709-710 


hm 

3/n 8va 

chordal 

720 

timp/bd/hrp/ 

stngs 

3/n alt hands 

722-725 


hm/tpt 


ninths 

730-738 


hm/hrp/stngs 


chordal 

740-745 

bsn/vla/vc/db 

d/n & 3/n 


X 

746-747 

tutti orch 

l.h. 

r.h. chordal 

tenth 



340 

747

160 

Table 17: Greeting Prelude for Orchestra 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

1,4 

2-3,5-6 

timp/b.dytbn/ 

tba 

tbn/hm 

l.h. has 

1 octave 

octave 

displaced 


accents 

6-10 

22,25 

fl/ob/clt 

timp/b.dVtbn/ 

tba 

3/n 

l.h. has 

1 cx:tave 



23-24,26-27 

tbn/hrn 

octave 

displaced 

accents 

27-32 

pic/fl/ob/clt 

3/n 


32 

tutti orch 


rh adds 

lower 9th 



21 

32

161 

Table 18: Agon 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

1-3 

hrp/stngs(piz) 

l.v. 

10-13, 

23-25 

cb 

secco sf 

166-167 

X(cptl) 

171-178 

timp ,hrp( 172- 

178)fl.III 

(var.177-178) 

182-183 

191-206 

tbn(rhy.canon) 

sernpre 

una corda f X 

208-227 

tbn(rhy.canon) 

244-247 

hrp 

sempre secco(una 

corda sf 

253 

352-354 

356 

358 

360-361 

362-364 

464-471, 

485-490 

496-497 

500-501 

512-515 

560-563 

570-573, 

583-585 

vc 

fl 

cl/fl(par) 

fl(par) 

stngs(par) 

fl/cl, 

stngs(par) 

hrn(canon) 

hm/tpt/tbn/ 

tmtm/timp/ 

stngs(part) 

hrp/stngs 

cb 

piano sustains 

ben mareato 

accents 

secco sf 

l.v., Ped. 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

620 

tutti orch on 

final chord 

Total measures with piamo: 


100 

620

Table 19: Threni: Id Est Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae 

162 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

35,37-41 

69,71 

73-75 

82-87, 

135-141 

218,221-223, 

226-228 

sarrus 

cb(74-75) 

sarrus 

timp/basso II 

una corda, 

l.ped. f 

una corda, 

l.ped. f 

X 

X 

243-245 

310-311,314, 

318-319 

385 

391 

399 

403 

hrp/timp/vc/db 3/n 

coro/hrp/timp/ 

db 

ob/e.h. 

ob/hm 

hrp 

all'estinzione 

(to inaudible) 

secco 

left ped. 

2 Ped. 

X 

X 

X 

X 


Total measures in work: 

43 

419

Table 20: Movements for Piano and Orchestra 

163 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

1-14 

18-26 

27-30 

31-39 

42 

fl/tpt/vn(l) 

tpt(3) 

vla/vc(19-21, 

par)vc(23-26) 


X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

Mvt. II: 

46-50 

51-67 

db(46) 

solo vla/vc 

(par) 

repeated note 

tremolo 

X 

X 

Mvt. Ill: 

74-78 

83-84 

86-87 

89 

ob(dovetail) 

X 

X 

X 

X 

Mvt. IV: 

100-105 

X 

108-109 

113-119 

Pedum 

X 

X 

121-122 

Ped 

X 

127-135 

X 

141-144 

r.h.(l-brkn' 

) 

X 

147-168 

db(168) 

X 

171-173 

vc(173) 

X 

180-183 

hrp/cel 

X 

192-193 

X 



132 

193

164 

Table 21: A Sermon, a Narrative, and a Prayer 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

I. Sermon 

TACET 

II. Narrative 

143-147 

153-154 

156-161 

164-165 

bclt(159-161) 

stngs 


X(accom) 

X 

X 

165-167 

fl 


179-182 

s/n alt hand 

trem 

X(accom) 

208 

X 

211-215 

una corda 

X 

III. A Prayer 

231-234, 

244-246, 

249-275 

hrp/db 



60 

275

165 

Table 22: The Flood 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

1 

4-5 

61 

62,63 

64 

65 

69 

fl/cbsn/hrp 

hrp(par) 

hrp 

bclt/tba/hrp 

cbsn/hrp 

bclt/tba/hrp 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

150-151 

fl/tpt 

181-215,217-• SoloBassI, 

221,224-233, , hrp/SoloBassII 

235-246 (var) 

X 

250-251 

X 

255-258 

X 

274-276 

X 

299-300 

fl/marib/xylo 

2 Ped. 

302 

tpt(var) 

X 

307 

319-321 

fl(var) 

hrp(par) 

u.c. & Ped, 

ff 

X 

X 

324 

vc 

327 

349 

357-358 

399 

hrp 

marib(dvtl) 

pic/fl(var) 

X 

X 

X 

402-452 

455 

458-464, 

466-475 

hrp(rhy) 

pic/fl(var) 

SoloBassI, 

hrp/SoloBassII 

dimSth 

both har 

ids 

X 

X 

486-489 

fl 

490 

fl/cbsn/hrp 

494-495 

timp/hrp 



149 

582

166 

Table 23: Variations: Aldous Huxley in Memoriam 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

1 

6-9 

15-17 

73,79,84 

85 

103 

111 

130 

131 

134 

136 

tpt/tbn 

hrp/stngs(par) 

fl(dvtl) 

ob/hm 

cl/fl 

hrp(var) 

Ped 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 



18 

141

167 

Table 24: Canon for Concert Introduction or Encore 

Octave Pianistic Percussive Pedal Solo 

Measure Doubling usage effects effects usage passagework 

1,3,18,20 tutti orch both hands 

chordal 

5-17,22-34 cl/hrp/vn/vla both hands 

(r.h.)bsn/cbsn/ 

tbn/tba/vc/db 

a.h.) 

35 tutti orch both hands 

chordal 



168 

Table 25: Requiem Canticles 

Measure 

Doubling 

Octave 

usage 

Pianistic 

effects 

Percussive 

effects 

Pedal 

usage 

Solo 

passagework 

81-82,85- 

86,87 

timp/stngs 

(par) 

88-90 

94,96-97 

timp/stngs 

(par) 


289,294, 

299,304-305 

pic/fl/hm 

sustained 

chords 



16 

350

Igor Stravinsky's Movements for Piano and Orchestra - Repositories

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