Three Pieces for String Quartet (Stravinsky)

Three Pieces for String Quartet is a composition by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was finished in 1914, revised in 1918,[1] and eventually published in 1922.[2]

Composition

As most of the works by Igor Stravinsky, this three-movement work was arranged from a four-hands on one piano version, from which the final revised version of 1918 derives and differs in some respects. The manuscript (originally titled IStravinsky. Trois pièces pour quatuor à cordes – reduction pour piano à quatre mains par moi, IStr.) contained no movement titles for any of the three pieces. However, with the passing of time, Stravinsky rearranged these three movements for large orchestra, together with his Étude pour pianola, and premiered the whole collection as Quatre études in 1928.[1]

The first movement is reminiscent of Russian folk melodies. The first violin line plays a repeating melody that is folk like in it's dancing character and melodic contour. This melody plays in a bright G major and uses syncopation to develop the dance-like theme. The first violin also has the note "Glissez avec toute la longueur de l'archet jusqu'à la fin" which means, use the whole length of the bow. In this context, because of the faster tempo (♩=126), the speed of the bow will increase and therefore it will have a fuller and brighter sound. The second violin plays a descending melody in a different tonal center, interrupting the pattern and color of the first violin. It is also marked "excessivement sec" meaning extremely short. This second violin line is reflective of the guttural singing traditions in East Russia. The other string instruments play in different tonal centers with pizzicato also reinforces this dancing style.

It is no coincidence that Stravinsky bases his melodies off Russian folk music. This piece, written in 1914, was during the time of excessive European nationalism. In this piece, Stravinsky stays true to his roots.

Structure

This collection of pieces takes approximately 7 minutes to perform. The movement list is as follows:

  1. (later entitled Danse in Quatre études)
  2. (later entitled Eccentrique in Quatre études)
  3. (later entitled Cantique in Quatre études)

The first movement consists on several cells superposed in different layers, all of them consisting of different and irregular lengths. The second piece was inspired by one of the performances of Little Tich, an English music-hall clown, just like in Debussy's Général Lavine – eccentric, one of its Préludes. Finally, the third movement is a calm, fond piece, in which some listeners and musicians claim to discern references to the composer's Dies Irae.[1]

First Movement Rhythm

This movement is very interesting to the listener because of the complex rhythmic structure. Individually, each part is quite simple. But by putting the 4 parts together in a rhythmically complex way, the result is a complex aural experience.

The 1st violin part is 23 beats long, meaning every 23 beats, the 1st violin will start over with it’s melody. For the duration of the piece, the 1st violin plays only this melody a number of times. The other parts can be seen the same way with the exception of the violin 2 part. The Cello and Viola parts also have a simple phrase that is repeated throughout the movement, but the length is only 7 beats in length, not 23 like the 1st violin. The violin 2 part is the only one that doesn’t maintain a pattern. The rests between each statement in the violin 2 part vary throughout the piece. One would actually have to analyze the score to find the ostinatos and repetition that stravinsky uses. Because the individual parts are simple and independent, this music is reminiscent of minimalism.

At the beginning of the piece, the parts start their recurring motives together, but they don’t line up again for the rest of the piece. In order for the parts to line up again, The piece would need to be at least 161 beats long. This is found with the help of math. 7, (the length of the cello and viola parts) and 23 (the length of the 1st Violin Part) are both prime numbers, so to find the least common multiple of the 2, you can just multiply them together. 7x23=161. This piece doesn’t have 161 beats. This means that the parts don’t line up together again after the beginning. In fact, in the last few bars, Stravinsky actually changed the 1st violin part at the end so it could line up with the other parts and create a resolve.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jacobs, Paul (2008). Stravinsky: Music for Four Hands. New York: Nonesuch Records and Arbiter Records. p. 5. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
  2. ↑ Carpenter, Alexander (2012). "Pieces (3) for string quartet". Rovi Corporation, Ltd. Retrieved January 26, 2012.