Chamber Music: An Essential History

15. Benchmarks: Chamber Music Masterpieces since circa 1920

fifteen Benchmarks: Chamber Music Masterpieces since circa 1920 The expense and logistical challenges involved with rehearsing large ensembles as well as the diversity and novelty of many musical styles cultivated since 1900 have been powerful stimuli for the composition of chamber music. Because tone color has assumed greater importance in music since the time of Debussy, many of these chamber works have unique or distinctively modi‹ed instrumentations. Other factors, such as polycultural synthesis, advances in electronic and other technological devices, philosophies , and religious beliefs, have played a role in shaping chamber music composed during approximately the last seventy-‹ve years. This chapter will present a sampling of some of the most important of these works. igor stravinsky’s octet (1923) In the course of his career, Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) ‹rst cultivated a late-Romantic, Russian nationalist style, then, beginning in 1919, a neoclassical style, and ‹nally, from 1951 onward, a style based on serial permutations of sets. The Octet (1923) for ›ute, clarinet, and pairs of bassoons , trumpets (C and A), and trombones (tenor and bass) came into being at the juncture of Stravinsky’s Russian and neoclassical style periods. All three movements of the Octet are predicated on Classical pattern forms: The opening Sinfonia is designed as a sonata form in E-›at with a secondary tonal center of D. Like many late eighteenth-century sonatas, it 274 begins with a slow introduction (Lento). The arrival of the main theme (Allegro moderato) is highlighted by drastic changes in meter (from triple to duple), texture (from independent lines to unison tutti), and dynamics (from piano to forte). The development section and ultimate return of the main theme in E-›at are distinctively pro‹led as well.1 The second movement (Andantino) is an octatonic waltz theme with ‹ve variations centered on D. This movement was Stravinsky’s ‹rst use of variation technique. His preference here is for strict variations that preserve the original melody intact ; however, there is one novel feature: The ‹rst variation (labeled A) returns twice, always at the same tonal level and in essentially identical form. The result is a movement combining variation technique and rondo form. For the ‹nale, Stravinsky writes a ‹ve-section design in which the oddnumbered components are centered on C and the even-numbered ones are of ambivalent tonality. Whereas the majority of the previous music was self-consciously neo-Baroque in its textures and motor rhythms, the ‹nal, brief return to C is colored by the syncopations and harmonies of pop music , especially jazz. Stravinsky’s neoclassicism has been criticized by many, including Serge Proko‹ev, but his combination in the Octet of Classical forms, Baroque textures, and Russian octatonicism—which even dictates the succession of the movements’ tonal centers: E-›at, D, and C—is extraordinarily subtle and effective.2 The composer conducted the ‹rst performance at the Paris Opera on 18 October 1923. It was his ‹rst appearance of many on the podium. Stravinsky’s other important chamber works are his ‹ve-movement suite for violin and piano called Duo concertante (1932) and the Septet (1953) for clarinet, horn, bassoon, piano, violin, viola, and cello. Both exhibit the same deft synthesis of elements drawn from various historical styles with aggressively modern techniques. Though it was originally a ballet with orchestra, Pulcinella exists in three chamber versions—all by Stravinsky. The earliest of these (1925) is the ‹ve-movement Suite for Violin and Piano. For Gregor Piatagorsky, Stravinsky arranged ‹ve movements for cello and piano to make the Suite Italienne (1932), and in the following year, he arranged six movements—also called Suite Italienne—for the violinist Samuel Dushkin. edgard varèse’s Octandre (1923) According to Milton Babbitt, Octandre (1923) is “probably Varèse’s best known and most widely performed ensemble work.”3 This is surprising in Benchmarks • 275 view of its uncommon instrumentation: “Octandrous” ›owers are those having eight stamens; correspondingly, Varèse’s composition is scored for eight instruments: ›ute (piccolo), clarinet (E-›at clarinet), oboe, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, and double bass. Perhaps the success of the piece rests in its remarkably concise melodic premise—successive chromatic tones of a tetrachord—and the inventive deployment of these limited resources. In stating the successive half steps of the tetrachord, Varèse displaces the second, thereby establishing a secondary motif consisting of a whole step followed by a half step. The ‹rst motif...