Igor Stravinsky - Mordenist or Regressionist?

This essay aims to discern and clarify, if Igor Stravinsky is truly a composer of modernism, or simply a regressionist who reverts back to forms of the past. In doing so, I hope to explore both sides of the argument. A predominant figure that will be used as a constant reference, is Theodor Adorno whose critiques and criticisms on one of Stravinsky’s most celebrated works, The Rite of Spring, shall be discussed as well.

To start off, an explanation of the terms “modernist” and “regressionist” is unavoidable. At first thought, both terms seem to portray meanings completely opposite to each other. A modernist is someone who values the progression of the artform. The period of modernism is hence characterised by the constant thirst for invention, experimentation and revolution. Conversely, past forms and cultures, history and the idea of conservatism are frowned upon. They form the basis of regressionism. But are these the crowning definitions of the two ideas? Are they henceforth completely antithetical to each other? Are they really contradictory opposites? If pondered at a deeper level, there are some areas that can overlap. And thus my central claim for this essay - a “modernist” can display qualities of a “regressionist”, but the difference is the interjection of their own personality on these past forms and conventions.

The Rite of Spring, written for the 1913 season of Ballet Russes, was the last work of Stravinsky’s “Trilogy”, the other two compositions being the Firebird (1910) and Petrushka (1911), both receiving widespread acclaim and recognition. The word “Rite” suggests a celebration of spring after winter. This might be thought of as ironic, due to the seemingly dark nature of the narrative, centered around folklore and pagan rituals, where the sacrifice of a young maiden was to be made in order to affirm the blessings of the God of Spring. The premiere of The Rite of Spring took place at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, on the 29th of May, 1913, evoking one of the biggest public reactions and debacle in the history of Western Art, a shocking stark contrast to the immense triumph of Petrushka debuted a mere two years ago. The reasons for such an upheaval can be divided into many levels of reasoning, of course subjected to interpretation. However, in general terms, the causes for the “scandal” can be categorised into three main reasons - the choreography of the ballet, the music, and the underlying political tension that erupted at the given chance; the former two reasons being more relevant to the subject of this essay.

The choreography of the ballet was indeed, though a factor that Stravinsky did not have much influence other, is worth pointing out due to the fact that it was more than just unconventional. The ballet was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, widely declared to be a genius in the field of dance. The ballet audience, consisting of the most sophisticated, the most educated members of the high French society, expected an experience reflective of their high status. Maybe Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty were suited to the aristocrats’ dainty palates; but not in a million years - the ballet of The Rite of Spring. What was the “modernistic” element of the choreography, was its inherent refusal to follow convention. There was no light or upward movements of sylphides and willis who tiptoed around the stage. No tutus and tiaras so characteristic of classical ballet. Instead there was an abundance of inward turned feet, and the very apparent downward movements of the pre-historical peasants, almost as if they were drawn physically to the very Earth their ritual was based on. So modernistic, so original this was, that it went further than the extent of intriguing, but repulsing the audience. They could not accept it. To be termed as a “biological” ballet by Jacques Rivière, editor of Paris’ most sophisticated literary and intellectual journal La Nouvelle Revue Française, was almost a prove of it. According to him, it was a “dance of the most primitive man, it is also the dance before there was man.” And yet, they “carry it about with them without understanding it, like an animal that turns in its cage and never tires of butting its forehead against the bars”. This is an example of modernism infused within regressionism, or vice versa. This is a modernist’s take on regressionism, on the most primitive happenings of the human race. What it differs from Petrushka, is exactly what Jacques Riviere noted - the evident lack of the consciousness and reason; the evident lack of a soul in the mindless stampede of the dancers.

The music of The Rite of Spring, is one ladened with the cautiously planned unexpected. An absolute denial of the very essence music is based on that of metre and of harmony, happened at every corner. Instruments were stretched to their very limits - the famous opening bassoon’s strained lament, happening at the very highest registers, creating the transcendental immersion into a fantastical sound world of exotic wildlife. Scoring the tuba in the treble clef in the Ritual of the Two Rival tribes, must also have been startling. The Augurs of Spring encompasses the combination of an Fb major and Eb major chord combined to form the famous, highly dissonant “Augurs” polychord, which is later subjected to semitonal descents and repeated a countless number of times throughout the movement. The seemingly arbitrary accentuation of these chords but actually a resultant of carefully planning which serve to instil shock within its listeners. This will be elaborated later on. An interplay of textures is also employed by Stravinsky, which can be seen by the change between homorhythmic to polyrhythmic in the Mystic Circle of the Young Girls, for example. Tempo changes throughout the Rite of Spring are extremely frequent. The use of Additive Rhythm - to change the beat almost every bar until no beat seems to remain but a frantic scattering of melodic fragments, opens the great Sacrificial Dance. And above all, the clamouring dissonants were not only used explicitly, such as the seemingly consonant chords that make up a highly dissonant polychord, but also implicitly, to create an ominous foreboding atmosphere. An example of this can be found in the Mystic Circle of the Young Girls, where the two clarinets play an unnerving major 7th apart from each other.

The above brief mentionings barely touch the tip of Stravinsky’s extraordinary creativity, and certainly not do him justice. However, if one were to judge the individual components that make up The Rite of Spring like above, one could possibly argue that the use of polyrhythm, dissonance, syncopation et cetera, are certainly not new and unique to Stravinsky. This will also be further explained.

“The music always goes to the note next to the one you expect,” was the frustrated utterance of a critic. Is this not a prove that the music was so unexpected, that it tipped the scale of being acceptable by the public? Is this not a show of modernism, at least in the domain of new-found harmony, or in this case, dissonance? By piecing together these various elements employed by various composers of modernism, Stravinsky in essence, created a totally new sound world. New musical devices are used to express an old narrative. Hence another example of modernism and regressionism found within each other. So it would be unwise to judge Stravinsky on individualistic elements found in this great masterpiece, thus gleefully jumping to the conclusion of “infantilism”, as Adorno and Else Kolliner claimed, without first considering the entirety of the piece.

Notorious and scandalous was the Rite of Spring called. But it certainly was modernistic, surmounting to something likewise of a revolution. It could be deemed as a near revolutionary due to the political tension that sparked as a result. Obviously, the French aristocrats would feel more than disdain and displeasure with the primitive, uncivilised artform unravelling in front of their eyes. They were insulted. Their dignity, their ego, their taste was beyond hurt by this apparent affront. And they certainly showed it, by the deafening catcalls, jeers, hisses, spitting and even screaming during the performance. The second reason for this tumultuous reaction from the audience, was the apparent aggressiveness the Rite of Spring reeked of. Its whole being propagated the idea of a tribal Russian culture and tradition, conveyed in the most violent of manner, by the warlike nature of repetitive, pungent dissonance, by the insistent rhythm, was certainly deemed to be confrontational in nature to the French audience. This links to the third reason for the political uproar, though this reason more religious in nature. If the Rite of Spring seemed to reveal the violence and ruthlessness of rituals. It was a threat, mostly to religion of Christianity. The parallel between the sacrifice commencing on every Christian service and the sacrifice of the maiden in the Rite of Spring is almost too easy for comfort, to draw. However the question here is that was the intent of the Rite of Spring as violent and confrontational in nature? Could it be loyal to its title, as a “rite”, a celebration? Could this seeming aggressive show of power be interpreted as a show of ecstasy, a show of proud tribal belonging?

In all this public commotion and fuss, one voice rose above any other, that was of the German sociologist and philosopher, Theodor Adorno, who brought his philosophies into the realm of music. I shall be using his perspectives and criticisms towards Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring in particular, to suggest the other side of the argument - why Stravinsky Z modernist. Adorno is a strong believer that music should bMe progressive and completely original, and in other words, the dictionary definition of modernistic. It has to reflect a new, fresh perspective, one that is uninfluenced and untainted by any other. Modernist music should articulate social truths, instead of conforming to a particular taste, especially for entertainment purposes. This form of music that Adorno so approved can be called “critical music”, which rejects its purpose for existence as one for commodity, and in doing so can be hailed as “authentic”. There should be absolute liberty of the composer and performer; the former freedom to compose and the latter, freedom of interpretation. Thus, any artform that follows a narrative, known as programmatic music or Gebrauchsmusik, should be discouraged as far as possible. In the context of the Rite of Spring, Adorno felt there was overwhelming evidence to suggest Stravinsky as a composer, refusing to follow the path of advancing the human race. The reasons that might have led to his claim are as follows.

Firstly, the Rite of Spring was bluntly in favour of the “universal” point of view, meaning that the narrative did not portray individualism of the protagonist, the sacrificial maiden, and instead seemed to perpetrate an indifferent, apathetic point of view that is the “universal”. Essentially, the personality and development of the protagonist is suppressed. Furthermore, as the point of view, that of the cruel detachment that is portrayed in the Rite of Spring leaves the audience with no choice but to ‘side’ with the annihilating authority. That, Adorno felt, was a false utterance of social truth, a direct confrontation with his philosophy of modernism in music. The second accusation Stravinsky faced with, was the constrainment and dehumanization of the performers, that including not only the orchestral members, but also the conductor and the dancers. The conductor would be reduced to “puppet-like motions” and the orchestral members, forced to be obsessed with deciphering and adhering to the perplexing rhythmic dictation Stravinsky imposed on them. The dancers meanwhile, have to obey to the tiresome, unaesthetic and unappealing choreography. This leaves claustrophobic space for artistic freedom of interpretation and individual expressiveness. Third, Stravinsky was charged with “Infantilism” as mentioned above. According to Adorno, the term could be likened to when a child ‘takes apart his toys and put them back incorrectly”. Quoting Else Kolliner’s analysis of Stravinsky’s apparent “Infantilism” in his Philosophy of Modern music, that the “stubborn repetition of individual motives - as well as the disassembling and totally new recomposition of their elements...are instrumentally accurate translations of childlike gestures of play into music”, it can be inferred that he thought Stravinsky’s attempt, if any, at modernism was comical and probably not the most convincing shot. Although infantilism could be argued as a new form of composition, it imposes restrictions on the work and hence restricts advancement of the music genre. Forth, Adorno claimed that the apparent modernist elements that Stravinsky employed, was in fact, not “modernistic” or original at all. The polychords and the element of “timelessness” predominant in the Introduction of the Rite of Spring he claimed, was already found in Debussy’s compositions.

Adorno’s take on Stravinsky and his music surely has its groundings. However, I feel that many of his claims, especially that of Infantilism, contain many aspects of falseness. The first reason as stated above, that Stravinsky was not a modernist because of his use of narrative in the Rite of Spring, is actually self-contradictory. He believes that music should not have any perimeter and that the composer should have and should display absolute liberty in his compositions. Hence, the act of denouncing Stravinsky’s choice of using a narrative as unprogressive is in conflict with his own claim that the composer should have freedom in whatever he chooses to do. By claiming that composers should not follow any framework is essentially limiting the perimeters music should cover. He is essentially advocating music that contains no framework, no structure, and how much music actually can be capable for that? If every composer had to adhere to this mindset, there would surely be limited, so how can progression occur? The second point regarding how displaying the point of view of the universal is also extremely debatable and provokes contradiction to Adorno’s own philosophies of music. If the universal point of view is the reflection of social truth, while the individual perspective is not, should the universal point of view still be accepted?

His claim on Infantilism, as mentioned, is deeply subjective in my opinion. However subjectivity in the realm of art is unavoidable. What is totally unacceptable for me with this claim is the lack of evidence to concretise it. What is the criteria of judging how one’s music can imitate “childlike gestures of play”, when the narrative of the Rite of Spring, suggests something utterly different? Do “stubborn repetition of motives” have to suggest “childlike gestures of play”? I certainly think not. The claim of Infantilism has no concrete reasoning on Adorno’s part. If a repetition of motives can be denounced as an act of Infantilism, when evidently Stravinsky had a clarity of reason to do so, then it is disrespectful of the composer’s intentions. Another instance where Adorno does not consider the intention of Stravinsky as a few paragraphs before, was incomplete reading and understanding of intention of The Rite of Spring. The Rite of Spring is subtitled “Scenes from Pagan Russia”, reflected in the music, choreography and set. The word “pagan” refers to a person or a group of people holding beliefs other than main world religion, such as Christianity. And in The Rite of Spring, it was religion of primitive mankind, unnamed but unveiled. Religion is a complex and highly disputed topic that shall not be discussed in depth in this essay, but I believe that a religion, mainstream or not, has a purpose, a purpose to unite people by a faith or common morals. This is true of Christianity but also true to that or an unheard primitive religion. In the context of The Rite of Spring, the religion depicted a belief in the sacrifice of a maiden for the God of Spring would bring peace to the land. In the lens of a modern, civilised individual, one can hardly put oneself in the shoes of the to-be-sacrificed maiden. But the apparent dark nature of the event can be an act of honour, privilege and glory to her, as the title of the work suggests. It is a “rite”, a celebration of spring and not a sacrifice in spring. “She is fearful but her soul is touched to be the one chosen to make this appeal to the god of spring” is the narrative of the Sacrificial Dance.” All this meaning is described in the music of The Rite of Spring, and if Adorno were to dismiss this as an infantile act, is not this the equivalent of uttering blasphemies in today’s context?

Some believe that decisions Stravinsky made in the Rite of Spring are largely arbitrary, such as folk tunes present in the music that he randomly selected at the bottom right hand corner of a book. However, the fact that he is able to develop and grow these tunes into music weighing with such meaning and content, is certainly not any arbitrary decision of his. At first listen, the music might sound like a utter gibberish, an exciting cacophony of sound, but irrational. However, there is a great deal of rationality and thought behind the music. A simple example - the Augurs of Spring. One can condemn Stravinsky for his inconsistent or seemingly haphazard choice of accents. But when one studies the pattern of these accents, one can come up with the pattern:

one two three four five six seven eight

one two three four five six seven eight

one two three four five six seven eight

one two three four five six seven eight

Shocking it will be to the listener who is unable to discern Stravinsky’s intention - and this is exactly the effect Stravinsky was looking for. He must have known that few people would be able to figure out the complex pattern of the accents and thus shock is effectively instilled in the audience. Hence, this proves not only of Stravinsky’s ability of masterminding the music, but also of human emotion. Adorno’s declaration of Infantilism, hence, might be wholehearted in nature, and was instead a ‘force-fit reason’ to supplement his stand of Stravinsky as a regressionist. The last point that I will be addressing is of Adorno’s reason for claiming Stravinsky to lack originality and ‘individualism’ by stating the similarities of the employment of musical technicalities, as his contemporaries. This I feel, would be the hardest assertion Adorno made to rebut. The fact remains that a composer of modernism should seek constant progression of the music genre and hence should be one that innovates new forms, ideas et cetera. I bring back the point that if one is ‘forbidden’ to utilize the ideas of others into their own creation, lest being denounced a traitor of modernism, the pool of music written during the era of modernism, albeit ‘purely innovative’, will be tremendously limited - whether in variety or number. And are not ideas meant to be shared, utilized, and most importantly, built on? If one is only allowed to selfishly holds on to his or her own ideas and must refuse to accept or integrate others, is it not only a restriction of individual liberty, but also gravely limiting the progression of the collective good? How is the genre of modern music be able to progress as such? Linking back to the apparent reflection of Debussy’s ideas in Stravinsky’s music, as brainless as it may to be point out, Stravinsky did not explicitly ‘copy and paste’ a chunk of Debussy’s music into his own, and as such there is a grey area of subjectivity, once again. Can one copy an idea? Especially something intangible and prone to subjectivity like music? It would be foolish to pinpoint the exact composer that came up with the idea of the usage of a polychord, or the idea of ‘ad libitum’ and obviously, an utter waste of time. Music is not a competition to stamp a copyright sign on whatever innovative material that one comes up with. Music is not a blame game, where someone who might have imitated your way of thinking, performing or composing should be denounced. Music is the universal language, and hence, it is for everyone. As Stravinsky said so himself, “Art postulates communion, and the artist has an imperative need to make others share the joy which he experiences himself.”

Then, one might question, does Adorno have a motif to make all these assertions? Some suggest that Adorno and his family experienced cruelty and loss during World War 2. One can only empathise and try to understand how Adorno might have despised the fascist regime, and how it translated into one of his philosophies in music, that there must not be an annihilating authority. A composer should hence, never side with the “universal” point of view.

In actual fact, whether Stravinsky is a modernist or regressionist, will never in my opinion, be answered. Though the above discussion seem to suggest my biasness towards Stravinsky being a modernist rather than a regressionist. This view is certainly highly individualised and I am sure that there can be an argument, valid in all sense, deeming Stravinsky as a regressionist instead. The point of this essay, hence, was not to “discern and clarify” (as stated at the start), but instead to bring out both sides of the argument, those that suggest Stravinsky as a composer of modernism, and those, by Adorno for example, that suggests otherwise. Like all debates where both sides of the argument can be seen as equally valid, a line can never be drawn; just like how good and evil can sometimes not be as clearly defined as hoped.

References

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