Stravinsky and his Harmony

In this video I look at the harmony of Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto. It's a short piece and written in unusual circumstances for a jazz ensemble, but it still shows off many of the main harmonic techniques Stravinsky used throughout his career, so i thought it offered a nice chance to give an overview of those techniques.

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[silas]

I like this format! Little analyses of single pieces with connections to bigger ideas/composer style!

[billherreid]

I like how Stravinsky sits right at the edge of the harmonic and melodic tradition. He’s like the impressionists who were trained in more traditional art techniques but chose to break the mold. I feel like a lot of the composers and painters in the early 20th century brought this trend a little too far. I think the really great art works that continue to appeal to people throughout time are those that can appeal to a general audience while maintaining artistic integrity and complexity. But then again Stravinsky was seen as a barbarian in his day, so maybe I’m just a grumpy old traditionalist!

[zacharygh]

My only problem with this video is that it wasn't long enough. I need at least a one hour video discussing this 9 minute piece.

[chicolofi]

My favorite composer. To me that man came from another planet in order to show us what music can be.

[georgemarshall]

I think it is one of the most beautiful attributes of Stravinsky's music, the switching between the diatonic scales and chords to more chromatic, octatonic structures. One of my favourite music moments is the finale of the Firebird with the extended diatonic harmony and horn melody. A moment made all the more beautiful by the interchanges of the harmony, in the ballet, before it.

[mikemcmahon]

Got to enjoy the Firebird driving home tonight on the radio a nice surprise, its my fav piece of music right after Petrushka and the Rite! Great analysis thx!! I like the video clip of him saying"for me it's the rhythm and the intervals" simplifying his approach, you demonstrated this concept right here for sure!

[GretchenKruegerMusic]

Your point about the chromatic sax section at 2:20 is really fascinating. I love how the top voice (and to a lesser extent, the bottom voice) contains all the information necessary for your ear to latch on to the melody, and the rest of the harmony is almost just there as a textural component. It strikes a really amazing balance between dissonance and consonance without quite falling on one side of the fence or the other.

[composer]

Excellent video.I keep returning to it, thank you, David.

[kevintmusic]

Excellent analysis and breakdown of the main compositional material. Thanks

[grantveebeejay]

Thanks for posting this well put together episode on Stravinsky. One of the highlights was unrelated however. It was the close up and lean into the camera towards the end that had greatest impact. Thank you.

[FelixDegenaar]

Very insightful and compact as well, thank you

[carlosrodriguez]

Most heartfelt thanks Mr. Bruce! This is literally the best video I've seen this year. It was a Godsend for I have only recently entered the wonderful world of Stravinsky. What I needed was a video that explained in a relatively simple manner the secrets of modern harmony. The ones before were too technical and geared to professionals. This was right up my alley. You accomplished this with such simplicity, thourougbness and clarity that I am as excited as well as pleaseed. I look forward to similar videos and thank you again. Mr. Bruce, this Bud's for you!

[almuel]

I also love Stravinsky's Atonal Pieces. Unfortunately, not many people know that he was also a really good atonal composer and was someone who deeply appreciated the Second Viennese School.

[composer]

very interesting, thank you for the upload.

[LokeyeMC]

I wanted to add that the Em7 over Bbm7 octotonic is a standard way of viewing chord scales as deriving from the whole tone scale into the three diminished 7ths and all the chords that come from those diminshed 7ths. The Bbm7 comes from the Db6 chord (inverted) with the Edim7 naturally creating the rest of the scale. So while it seems to be a Bbm7 over an Em7 it's actually just the Db6 scale as played with 8 notes, which was commonly used in classical music centuries prior. It's my belief that this is one of the reasons Billy Strayhorn grew up treasuring Stravinsky as his primary inspiration but also why the bebop movement mirrored so much of Stravinsky's work: because they fed off each other threw musical conversation between the figured heads (Hank Jones, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, etc.) who all were aiming to advance classical music from the early 1800s. Chopin for example would use the Em7 over Bbm7 all the time, while thinking of it as the Db6 scale. Barry Harris talks a lot about this in his videos.

[wingflanagan]

Thanks, David. I LOVE videos like this. I love Stravinsky and have since I was a wee lad, and it's wonderful to see (hear?) some of his techniques deconstructed. I think Stravinsky can be added to the list of composers who would be excited by all the tools and techniques we have now.


As an aside, I have a CD of him conducting the CBS orchestra in "The Rite of Spring" and "Petrushka". Much has been made of his deficiencies as a conductor (I cannot judge), but it's wonderful to hear how he, himself, approached his music. The point is that his jazz influence is clearly evident in his own readings - at least the later ones from the 60's.


Thanks!

[marinoscarpa]

I remember playing this piece in school, i was playing the piano. It was so much fun

[Venture]

These comments are all very enlightening. Excellent presentation by Mr Bruce, as usual.

[videnteloco]

I loved this. It would be great if you could talk about Messiaen, of course, like a favor.

[DallasCrane]

I love his music. It's homely and folksy, not too clean and polished. I could expect it in a village as I pass through.