Best Of Igor Stravinsky
5 videos • 10 views • by GeoMelodias Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971) was a Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor who is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. His work embraced multiple compositional styles and he had a significant impact on the evolution of music during his lifetime. Stravinsky first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: "The Firebird" (1910), "Petrushka" (1911), and "The Rite of Spring" (1913). The latter was so groundbreaking in its approach to rhythm and its dissonant tonality that its premiere famously incited a riot. Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. After his early period of work in a Russian-influenced style, he turned in the 1920s to Neoclassicism, drawing inspiration from music of the 18th century. The works from this period tended to make use of traditional musical forms (concerto grosso, fugue, symphony), frequently concealed a vein of intense emotion beneath a surface appearance of detachment or austerity, and often paid tribute to the music of earlier masters. In the 1950s, Stravinsky adopted serial procedures (method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements), integrating his distinctive rhythmic, instrumental and melodic style with the twelve-tone technique. Throughout his career, Stravinsky's work was marked by a unique ability to completely reinvent his musical style, while retaining a distinctive, personal voice. Despite his late adoption of serialism, Stravinsky's most impactful work arguably remains his early ballets, which dramatically reshaped 20th-century music and continues to be regularly performed today.