The Melodic Organization of The Rite of Spring

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Joseph Straus

Abstract

Most previous analytical studies of The Rite of Spring have focused on its harmony and rhythm. This article shifts attention to its melodies—mostly short fragments that move repetitively within a narrow registral frame—and shows that they take on an expressive meaning that is closely linked with the work’s dramatic scenario and original choreography. The melodies not only operate somewhat in the manner of Wagnerian leitmotivs—in relation to characters or dramatic situations—but are often bound together in expressive families through the manipulation of their constituent dyads.

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