Dissertation Index



Author: Carter, Chandler

Title: The Progress in "The Rake's" Return

Institution: The City University of New York

Begun: August 1992

Completed: January 1995

Abstract:

Igor Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress (1948-51) represents a culmination of the composer's neo-classical period (ca. 1920 to ca. 1951), the works of which are characterized by the adaptation of tonal conventions from the distant past into a modern, post-tonal context. The stylistic variety contained in such music poses challenges that defy any single-faceted analysis. The analytical model developed in this paper incorporates tonal and post-tonal approaches, grouping Schenkerian tonal graphs, basic motivic analysis and set, theory. Such an approach offers a field on which to make connections and measure distinctions between diverse elements. More importantly, this model allows for the disjunctions, abrupt juxtapositions and discontinuity that characterizes so much of Stravinsky's music. The important dramatic effects of such stylistic play on the listener are also addressed.

The story of The Rake's Progress is itself an exploration of the issue of artistic progress and return. The choices that the opera's characters confront reflect important choices that an artist must make. Because Stravinsky subsequently abandoned neo-classicism in favor of a more uniformly modern serialism, the opera offers an insight into the choices of its own creator.

Keywords: Igor Stravinsky, "The Rake's Progress", neo-classical, pluralistic analysis, W. H. Auden, Schenkerian analysis, Set theory, motivic analysis, theatrical distance

TOC:

INTRODUCTION
Meaning in the Music of Stravinsky and his Classical models
Style, Emotion and Theatrical Distance
The Rake's Progress and the Modern Stage
Chapter
I. ANALYSIS: SEPARATING STYLES
Act III, scene iii - Anne's Lullaby
Act I, scene ii Chorus - "How sad a song"
Prelude to Act III, scene ii
II. THE STRUCTURE OF SCENES
Act I, scene iii - Anne's Recitative, Aria and Cabaletta
Act II, scene ii - Arioso, Duet, Trio and Finale
Introduction and Arioso (R79-97)
Servants Procession and Duet (R97-127)
Trio (R127-142)
Finale (R142-152)
III. THE STORY AND ITS MORAL
Music Without Time
Timeless Music
CONCLUSION
Re-use of the Musical Past Since The Rake's Progress
Analyzing Styles
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Contact:

Chandler Carter
255 West 108th St. Apt. 2D
New York, NY, 10025
105577.543@compuserv.com
212-666-5958


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