| Summary: | "Although there have been acclaimed volumes on such leading eighteenth and nineteenth century composers as Handel, Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi and Wagner, an encyclopedia devoted to a twentieth century composer is a new initiative for Cambridge University Press. Igor Stravinsky is one of a small number of early modernist composers whose music epitomises the stylistic crisis of twentieth century music and indeed of the arts in general during the last century. In a creative span of some seven decades, he witnessed at first hand the slow decay of the opulent world of post-Wagnerian romanticism, the advent of serialism, and finally, the beginning of the era of stylistic pluralism which marked the last three decades of the twentieth century. Indeed, these developments find a parallel in Stravinsky's own evolution, starting from the Russian nationalist heritage of the early works, a world which is irretrievably shattered in the dissonances and rhythmic innovations of The Rite of Spring, the seismic shock of which continues to resonate to this day. The subsequent neoclassical works anticipate the stylistic diversity of the contemporary musical scene, the composer's multi-faceted artistic personality finding expression in the adoption of a dazzling and at times bewildering range of identities, culminating in his attempts to integrate serial techniques into a personal style during the final period. Whilst avoiding making exaggerated claims for Stravinsky's artistic legacy, it can be stated with confidence that his position in the history of Western art music is such that he is widely recognised as 12 one of the most imposing musical personalities of his time, and as such comparable to Monteverdi, Bach, Beethoven and Wagner"--
|
|---|
