Strawinskys Transformation des Urbanen

Abstract

After 1900 there were new technical inventions like cars, aeroplanes, or locomotives on the one hand, crowded streets and factories on the other, which fundamentally changed the experience of space and time. Simultaneity, motor activity, and montage replaced traditional structures and demanded new modes of perception. Linear development as known in classical drama as well as in symphony or opera appeared increasingly anachronistic. Life at its core was now kinetic and marked by machine-like ‚steely‘ rhythms. In the stage works of Igor Stravinsky these changes are transformed into a musical and scenic language: music is no longer merely sound, it is also and always motoric action; construction and montage are the main principles of this ‚new music‘; the development of themes is replaced by sequences of sound images. The present paper follows these transformations of urban life from Petrouchka (1911) to Le Sacre du Printemps (1913), Les Noces (1914-23), and finally Histoire du Soldat (1918).