Symphony in Three Movements (Stravinsky)
The Symphony in Three Movements (original Symphony in Three Movements ) is a work by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky ( 1882-1971 ), which was commissioned composition in the U.S. and in 1946 arrived in New York for the premiere.
Genesis and first performance
Igor Stravinsky had moved to the United States in 1939 and took American citizenship in 1945. From the Philharmonic Society of New York commissioned a work for orchestra, Stravinsky grabbed at the performed between 1942 and 1945 composition on a 1942 planned Piano Concerto back that went into the first set, also on a 1943 started, but never led to the end of film music, the rose in the second set. On 24 January 1946, the first performance of the Symphony took place in Three Movements, played by the New York Philharmonic conducted by the composer (the same year appeared as a post- premiere of a first recording for Columbia Records / CBS). The German premiere followed in 1948 at the Kranichsteiner ( Darmstadt ) holiday courses under the direction of Werner Egk.
Instrumentation and Duration
The score provides an orchestra following line before: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets (3rd also bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, piano, harp and strings.
The performance lasts about 24 minutes.
Characterization
The period beginning with a signal-like main theme toccata 1st set (Overture, Allegro) uses elements of sonata form (two separate exposures with common Reprise) and includes the piano solo demanding tasks. He leaves the original plan Stravinsky to write a piano concerto, see. With around 12 minutes of playing time he is about the same as the following two sentences together.
In the second movement (Andante ) the harp occurs ( next to the flutes) with a reduced orchestra solo shows, but without the typical harp effects such as arpeggio or glissando, but in linear guided Part flowed In this set a 1943 composed for the scene of the apparition (but not finished ) music for Hollywood film the Song of Bernadette, based on the novel Franz Werfel's the Song of Bernadette, a. The set consists of three parts, the third part is an abbreviated repetition of the first. A short chordal interlude ( Interlude - L' istesso tempo ) passes over without a break in the third set.
The final movement ( Con moto ) embeds harp and piano in a full orchestra setting. In its dynamic force and emphasis on the rhythmic element is reminiscent of the 1913, first performed ballet Le sacre du printemps. A fugal ( Alla breve ) leads to effective Schlussstretta that closes with a D flat major chord progression.
In the program the premiere Stravinsky wrote: The symphony is not based on a program, it would be futile, such a search in my work. However, it may be that the reaction that triggered our difficult time with their violent and changing events, desperation and hope, their incessant torment, their tension and finally relax with me, has left its traces in this symphony. On the other hand, he was on the cover of the second album played under his direction in 1961 (again with Columbia / CBS ) to to remember exactly that, and how each episode is connected in this symphony in my imagination with a specifically cinematographic impression of the war.