Serenade in Ais a work for solo piano by Russian composerIgor Stravinsky.Completed on September 9, 1925, in Vienna[1]and published byBoosey & Hawkes,[2]it resulted from his signing his first gramophone recording contract, forBrunswick,and was written so that eachmovementcould fit on one side of a78 rpmrecord.[3]The dedicatee was Stravinsky's wifeYekaterina.[2]
Structure
editSerenade in Alasts about twelve minutes and is in four movements:
- Hymne (Hymn)
- Romanza (Romance)
- Rondoletto
- Cadenza finala (Final cadence)
Despite its title, the work is in neitherA majornorA minor.According to Eric White,Ais not the "key" of the work, but rather the music radiates from and tends towards A as a "tonic pole". Thus, the first and the last chord of each movement contains the note A, either as the root, third, or fifth of atriad.[4]According to Stravinsky, the piece was conceived "in imitation of theNachtmusikof the eighteenth century, which was usually commissioned by patron princes for various festive occasions, and included, as did the suites, an indeterminate number of pieces ".[5]Therefore, the movement titles are meant to evoke the specific parts of such festive celebration.
From the pianist's perspective, "Hymne" is related toFrédéric Chopin'sBallade No. 2,while theCadenza finalareflects Stravinsky's Russian heritage.[6]
References
edit- ^Alexander Carpenter.Igor Stravinsky:Serenade for Piano in A majoratAllMusic
- ^abIgor Stravinsky (1980). Soulima Stravinsky (ed.)."Serenade in A".London; New York: Boosey & Hawkes.RetrievedJuly 27,2012.
- ^David Truslove, "Igor Stravinsky – Piano Music",liner notes toStravinsky: Music for Piano Solo,Naxos 8.570377, January 2008. Accessed July 12, 2013.
- ^Eric Walter White,Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works,second edition (Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press, 1979): 324.ISBN0-520-03985-8.
- ^Igor Stravinsky,An Autobiography(New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1962): 124.ISBN0-393-00161-X;OCLC311867794.Originally published in French asChroniques de ma vie,2 vols. (Paris: Denoël et Steele, 1935), subsequently translated (anonymously) asChronicle of My Life.London: Gollancz, 1936.OCLC1354065.This edition reprinted asIgor Stravinsky An Autobiography,with a preface by Eric Walter White (London: Calder and Boyars, 1975)ISBN0-7145-1063-7(cloth);ISBN0-7145-1082-3(pbk.). Reprinted again asAn Autobiography (1903–1934)(London: Boyars, 1990)ISBN0-7145-1063-7(cased);ISBN0-7145-1082-3(pbk). Also published asIgor Stravinsky An Autobiography(New York: M. & J. Steuer, 1958).
- ^John Ogdon, "Stravinsky and the Piano",Tempo,new series, no. 81, Stravinsky's 85th Birthday (Summer 1967): 36–41. Citation on 40; Alfredo Casella, "Stravinsky" (Brescia: Editrice La Scuola, 1947): 129.
Further reading
edit- Boettcher, Bonna J. 1991.A Study of Stravinsky's Sonate pour piano (1924) and Sérénade en la.San Francisco: Mellen Research University.ISBN0-7734-9806-0.
- Cone, Edward T.1962. "Stravinsky: The Progress of a Method".Perspectives of New Music1, no. 1 (Fall): 18–26.
- Joseph, Charles M. 1983.Stravinsky and the Piano.Russian Music Studies 8. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press.
- Martins, José António Oliveira. 2006. "Stravinsky's Discontinuities, Harmonic Practice, and the Guidonian Space in the 'Hymne' from theSerenade in A".Theory and Practice31:39–63.
- Straus, Joseph N. 1987. "The Problem of Coherence in Stravinsky's Sérénade in la".Theory and Practice12:3–10.
- White, Eric Walter. 1948.Stravinsky: A Critical Survey, 1882–1946.New York: Philosophical Library. Reprinted, Mineola, New York: Courier Dover Publications, 1997.ISBN0486297551.
