TheCantata byIgor Stravinsky is a work for soprano, tenor, female choir, and instrumental ensemble (of twoflutes,oboe,cor anglais (doubling second oboe), andcello), and was composed from April 1951 to August 1952. The premiere performance on 11 November 1952 was by the Los Angeles (Chamber) Symphony Society (to whom the work is dedicated), conducted by Stravinsky himself. After completing the operaThe Rake's Progress, Stravinsky felt the urge to compose another work setting English words, but in a non-dramatic form.[1]
"A lyke-wake dirge. Versus II. First interlude: 'If ever thou gav'st hos'n and shoon'"
Ricercar II. "Sacred History: 'To-morrow shall be my dancing day'"
"A lyke-wake dirge. Versus III. Second interlude: 'From Whinnymuir when thou may'st pass'"
"Westron Wind"
"A lyke-wake dirge. Versus IV. Postlude: 'If ever thou gav'st meat or drink'"
For his texts, Stravinsky chose four anonymous 15th- and 16th-century poems found in,[2], an anthology of poetry presented to him as a Christmas gift by W. H. Auden, the librettist of his operaThe Rake's Progress.[3]
Thedirge sections concern a soul's approach to and journey throughpurgatory. In between the verses of the dirge there are two ricercars (Ricercar I sets "The maidens came"; Ricercar II sets the carol "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day"), and a sixteenth-century song text, "Westron Wind".
^White, Eric Walter (1979).Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works (2nd ed.).Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press. pp. 468–9.ISBN0-520-03985-8.
^Auden, W.H.; Pearson, Norman Holmes, eds. (1950).Poets of the English Language. 5 vols. New York City: Viking. 1:426–31.
^Falby, Vern Clifford. 1987. "Music in and out of Words: Music, Language, and Stravinsky's Vocal Works of 1948–54. Ph.D. diss.College Park: University of Maryland. p. 319.
‹See TfM›Carter, Chandler. 2010. "The Rake's Progress and Stravinsky’s Return: The Composer’s Evolving Approach to Setting Text".Journal of the American Musicological Society 63, no. 3 (Fall): 553–640.
‹See TfM›Cushman, D. Stephen. 2000. "Stravinsky's Lyke-wake Dirge Revisited: A Possible Source". InThe Varieties of Musicology: Essays in Honor of Murray Lefkowitz. Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music 29. Edited by John Daverio and John K Ogasapian, 167–74. Warren, MI: Harmonie Park.ISBN0-89990-093-3.
Garbutt, John, and Matthew Patterson. 1957. "An Approach to Stravinsky's 'Cantata' and 'The Wedding'".Music & Letters 38, no. 1 (January): 28–31.
‹See TfM›Ginsborg, Jane, Roger Chaffin, and George Nicholson. 2006. "Shared Performance Cues in Singing and Conducting: A Content Analysis of Talk During Practice".Psychology of Music 34, no. 2 (April): 167–94.
‹See TfM›Neidhöfer, Christoph. 2004. "A Case of Cross-fertilization: Serial and Non-serial Counterpoint in Stravinsky'sCantata (1951–52)".Tijdschrift voor muziektheorie 9, no. 2 (May): 87–104.
‹See TfM›Schechter, John M. 1970. "An Analysis of the Stravinsky Cantata: The Craft within the Style." M.Mus. thesis. Bloomington: Indiana University.
‹See TfM›Straus, Joseph N. 1999. "Stravinsky's 'Construction of Twelve Verticals': An Aspect of Harmony in the Serial Music".Music Theory Spectrum 21, no. 1 (Spring): 43–73.
