Contextual Review

To this day, there have been many studies and writings on Stravinskys Petrushka,
however, there has been a few that talk about orchestration in depth. In Hee Chungs
Igor Stravinskys Three Movement from Petrushka: An Analysis of Performance
Practise he talked mainly about Petrushka from the point of view of a pianist. He did
comparison between the Orchestral and Piano score of Petrushka, to look in depth and
to help the interpretation of this piece for solo piano. He also talk about technical
problems that is found in the solo piano version, however, this doesnt explain
Petrushka from the point of view of a composer or orchestrator, but more as a pianist
that interprets an orchestral work, transcribed for solo piano1
In Joseph N. Strausss Three Stravinsky Analyses: Petrushka, Scene 1 (to Rehearsal
No. 8); The Rakes Progress, Act III, Scene 3 (In a foolish dream); Requiem
Canticles, Exaudi He talked about Petrushka in a great depth, besides the other 2
works. He analyzed the motive of Petrushka, using atonal set theory, Melodic contour,
harmony, use of scales, ambiguous rhythm and meter, Recomposition of existing
material, such as folk tunes and many more theoretical things that he touched upon
really in-depth in his writing. He also provides the reference in Petrushka that comes
from other works, both by Stravinsky and other composers. However, he it is only for
that short excerpt of Petrushka (Scene 1 to Rehearsal No. 8) and he didnt show the
connection to the dance that is happening in the scene.2
1 Chung, Hee. Igor Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka:
An Analysis of PerformancePractice. MA Thesis. The Ohio State
University, 2002. Print.
2 Strauss, Joseph N. "Three Stravinsky Analyses: Petrushka, Scene 1
(to Rehearsal No. 8); The Rakes Progress, Act III, Scene 3 (In a
Foolish Dream); Requiem Canticles, Exaudi." MTO 18.4: Straus,
Three Stravinsky Analyses. N.p., Dec. 2012. Web. 04 Sept. 2014.

Frederick W. Sternfelds writing Some Russian Folk Songs in Stravinskys

Petrushka talks about his melodic materials that come from folk, popular tunes, and
religious songs.3 Stephen Walshs The Music of Stravinsky and Eric Walter Whites
Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works provide extensive information on the
history of Petrushka, the creation, and the collaboration process between Stravinsky,
and Diaghilev. Brief analyses of each movement are provided.45
From the existing studies and writings, I would like to add depth and details to the
study of composition and orchestration technique of Petrushka. In the following
chapters, I will give a brief history of the work, and present the result of my analyses
of this work, regarding his technique of composing and orchestrating

Composition
Written in 1910-1911, this work tells about a Russian folk puppet that comes to life.
The initial seed of ideas of Petrushka came right during Stravinsky was sketching the
Rite of Spring, after the completion of the highly successful Firebird. In his
autobiography, Stravinsky said In composing the music, I had in my mind a distinct
picture of a puppet, suddenly endowed with life, exasperating the patience of the
orchestra with diabolical cascades of arpeggios. The orchestra in turn retaliates with
menacing trumpet blasts."6. Initially, Stravinsky wanted this piece to be a concert
3 Sternfeld, Frederick W. Some Russian Folk Songs in Stravinskys
Petrouchka. Igor Stravinsky:Petrushka: An Authoritative Score or
the Original Version, Backgrounds, Analysis, Essays,Views, and
Comments. Charles, Hamm. New York: W. W. Norton, 1967. 203
215. Print.
4 Walsh, Stephen. The Music of Stravinsky. London: Routledge,
1988. Print.
5 White, Eric Walter. Stravinsky, the Composer and His Works.
Berkeley: U of California. Print.
6 Stravinsky, Igor. 1936. Autobiography. New York: Simon and Schuster.

piece, instead of a ballet. The first two pieces that Stravinsky worked on are Petrushka
Cry, which later became the second movement, and Russian Dance. However,
Diaghilev, the ballet impresario, founder of the Ballets Russes realized this work had
a great potential to be a ballet work. Composed during the end of 1910 to early 1911,
Stravinsky collaborated with Michael Fokine as the Choreographer, Alexandre Benois
for the set, and Vaslav Nijinsky danced the title role of Petrushka. This piece is
premiered in Paris on 13 June 1911.
In Charles Hamms Norton Critical Scores of Petrushka, it is said that, the unity in
Petrushka is achieved, not by thematic materials or motivic development, but through
the unity in personality, mood, and spirit that characterize Petrushka.. The music is
narrative and it does not repeat musical motifs. The other characteristic of Petrushka
is the dance that mixes set dances and narration. Action in the dance and music stop to
give way to a lyric dance, accompanied by closed forms in the music. This work is
also characterized by frequent use of folk and popular melodies, or religious songs
during that time.7
The work consists of 4 movements, which will be analyzed closely and in depth in the
next chapter, especially the first movement.

Analyses
1st Movement The Shrovetide Fair
The ballet opens with a bustling scene of Russia in 1830s, St. Petersburg Admiralty
Square to be exact. The set is filled with colorful booths, carousel, Ferris wheel, and
7 Hamm, Charles. The Genesis of Petrushka. Igor Stravinsky:
Petrushka: An Authoritative Score or the Original Version,
Backgrounds, Analysis, Essays, Views, and Comments. Charles,
Hamm. New York: W. W. Norton, 1967. 3-20. Print.

the puppet theatre in the center that is going to be Petrushkas performance space. The
characteristic of the first-half of the first movement is the appearance of many
descriptive dances of different characters that interrupt the flow of the scene. The
Characters that appear in-order are: Drunken Revelers, Master of Ceremonies, OrganGrinder, Music Box, Ballet Dancers, Two Drummers, and finally the Magician.
The first half of this movement present the problem of characterization and flow
because of the various characters that appears in a short amount of time. There are
several techniques and ideas that Stravinsky used to color and enhance the scenes:

1. Orchestral Texture
In this scene, Stravinsky used many tremolo figures in the orchestra to
simulate the buzzing, bustling sound of a busy market.

5 Bar before Rehearsal No. 1

First, the scene opens with tremolos on Clarinet and Horn, alternating between
D,E and G,A. This texture, as time goes, is picked up by the most of orchestra,
with the violins, viola, harps, celesta, and the piano. The violin 1 is on the top
of the textures, hence the most clearly heard and penetrating. Although the
notes alternating are all different, the sound created are dense and buzzing, but
not dissonant, because all of them are part of the diatonic scale.

Rehearsal No. 3
2. Sudden change of Orchestral texture and Musical Material
To deal with the ever-changing characters, dances and scenes, Stravinsky
mimic the abrupt change in the scene, with abrupt change with the music also.
Stravinsky had two-way of doing this:
i.
Hard Change

Rehearsal No. 8
Here, the Hard-change is characterized usually by a hit in the percussion
and the sudden change in instrumentation. From the given example, the
flow of the musical material played by the strings is suddenly interrupted
by the entrance of the timpani and upper-woodwinds, creating a hard and
abrupt change.

ii.

Soft Change

Rehearsal No. 12
Soft-change is characterized by cross-fading two different musical
materials. The first and second musical materials are over-lapped together,
usually at a softer dynamic, creating a smoother change and transition.

3. Instrumentation Details
In some part of the ballet, the scene that is happening on the stage determines
the instrument choice. For example, during the dance of the Organ-grinder and
the Dancer, Stravinsky uses Triangle in the music, because the dancer is also
holding and playing a triangle while dancing

.
Rehearsal No. 13
4. Folk, Popular and Religious Melodies
As afore-mentioned, Petrushka is characterized by frequent use of folk
material. For example:

Rehearsal No. 3
This melody comes from the song of Volochebniki, a song about Easter
Time. The reason Stravinsky inserted this melody, is because the
Shrovetide Fair is a carnival that procedes Lent, a Christian religious day
that is six weeks before Easter. Stravinsky frequent use of folk, religious,
and popular melodies is to reflect and symbolize the busy scenes the Fair,
with people from all walks of life being in the Fair.
In the second half of the first movement, the scenes changes from the bustling scenes
of the market, to focus more on the Magician and the three puppets.
Several techniques he uses in the second half of the movement:

1. Change of Orchestration Function

In this part, where the scene are more theatrical and with the absence of
choreography, the orchestration function also changes. Unlike the first half of
the first movement, where the music accompanies the dance and the character,

the orchestration in the second half becomes more atmospheric, with less

driving rhythm.
Rehearsal No. 30

The example above shows how Stravinsky used Celeste and Harp to create the
magical effect, with the Strings playing at the tip of the bow for the light
feeling.

2. Mickey-mousing
This is a film scoring term that means the synchronization of accompanying
music and the action in the scene. Although popularized by Walt Disney films,
from this example, we know that this technique has been used long before film
scoring

Before Rehearsal No. 33

During this passage, the magician touches the three puppets with his flute and
bringing them to life. As the magician touches them, we can hear this flute
motif playing with increasing interval, synchronizing it with the action.

3. Pianistic Orchestration

Rehearsal No. 33
Stravinsky is always known to have composed on the piano. So it is usual to
encounter Pianistic texture in his work. For example in the given example, the
Russian Dance, which is one of the first pieces he wrote that was intended to
be a concert piece. We can see the chordal approach he used in this part, which
is different from the other parts of Petrushka.