"I"s, "V7"s, and "Expressive" Modulations: Stravinsky's Use of Tonal Conventions to Project Theatrical Distance
Chandler Carter
Mannes College/Hofstra University
It has been observed (by Boulez and Louis Andriessen, among others) that Stravinsky's play with diverse styles and compositional procedures in his works for the theater achieve a Brechtian "alienation effect." Drawing on both tonal and post-tonal analytical techniques, I demonstrate how Stravinsky achieves such an effect by contrasting his post-tonal treatment of Russian folk melodies with his conventionally tonal (though still parodied) music for the organ grinder in the opening tableau of Petrushka. I conclude by examining Tom's death scene from The Rake's Progress. In this moving passage, Stravinsky achieves a more ambiguous expressiveness by relaxing his "play" with archaic conventions, and thereby dissipates the audience's sense of alienation - an effect not unlike that used by Mozart in Cosi fan tutte, an opera in which Stravinsky's was "deeply involved."