The

Septet A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry. ...

for clarinet, bassoon,

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

is a Chamber music composition by Igor Stravinsky. It was composed between July 1952 and February 1953, and the first performance took place at

Dumbarton Oaks Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, ...

in Washington, D.C., on 23 January 1954. The score is dedicated to the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. It consists of three movements, the first lacking a title, and the last lacking a number in the score. The work is influenced by

twelve-tone technique The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...

, especially by the

Wind Quintet A wind quintet, also known as a woodwind quintet, is a group of five wind players (most commonly flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon). Unlike the string quartet (of 4 string instruments) with its homogeneous blend of sound color, the in ...

, Op. 26, and the Suite for septet, Op. 29, composed by Arnold Schoenberg.

Movements

The piece consists of three movements.

Analysis

The Septet stands at a stylistic turning point in Stravinsky's œuvre, between the neoclassical period ending with his opera, ''

The Rake's Progress ''The Rake's Progress'' is an English-language opera from 1951 in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings '' A Rake's Prog ...

'', and the final, serial phase. All of the Septet is characterized by highly

contrapuntal In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

textures, but the first movement remains close to Stravinsky's earlier manner, whereas the remaining two exhibit his emerging new style.

Erwin Stein Erwin Stein (7 November 188519 July 1958) was an Austrian musician and writer, prominent as a pupil and friend of Schoenberg, with whom he studied between 1906 and 1910.

, "Strawinsky's Septet (1953) for Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon, Piano, Violin, Viola & Violoncello: An Analysis'", ''Tempo'' new series 31 (Spring 1954): 7–11. Citation on p. 7. Stravinsky's adoption of serial techniques, here and in the Ricercar II of the Cantata (1952), caught nearly everyone by surprise at that time. The first movement is in

sonata-allegro form Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th c ...

, with a first theme group in the winds in the key of A, characteristically hesitating between major and minor and strongly recalling the opening of Stravinsky's "Dumbarton Oaks" Concerto (1938). The second theme is in the piano, with a series of syncopated E-minor chords, and is followed by a developmental fugue for the winds and strings. The recapitulation has the first theme in its original key but the second now in D minor, and the movement closes with a short coda. The main theme of this movement anticipates the pitch material of the second and third movements, as its recurring thematic motto is the same as the first five notes of the tone-row used in the Passacaglia and Gigue. The second movement, according to

Robert Craft Robert Lawson Craft (October 20, 1923 – November 10, 2015) was an American conductor and writer. He is best known for his intimate professional relationship with Igor Stravinsky, on which Craft drew in producing numerous recordings and books. ...

, "is everything, ... the Passacaglia, that's where the big change occurs". The second movement is actually a repetition of the note-pattern of the Passacaglia, a set of nine variations over a bass theme consisting of a series of sixteen notes. The movement ends with a coda, or tenth variation, but the ninth variation is the climax, "an utter marvel", according to Craft, "because all seven instruments are playing the same pianissimo and you must hear every note and you do hear every note".Derrick Puffett, "Too Sharp a Mind". ''The Musical Times'' 136, no. 1833 (November 1995): 590–98. Citation on p. 590. Stravinsky uses the bass theme similarly to Schoenberg's twelve-note series. The upper parts consist of various sorts of canons using the same sequence sixteen notes, with

imitation Imitation (from Latin ''imitatio'', "a copying, imitation") is a behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. Imitation is also a form of that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our culture. ...

at various intervals, by inversion, retrograde, and inversion of the retrograde. The third movement consists of a succession of four fugues, all based on the same sixteen-tone series used in the Passacaglia. The first is a three-voice fugue for strings. This is then repeated in the piano, with another fugue for wind trio superimposed on it, thereby forming a double fugue. The subject of the new wind fugue uses the same notes, but with different rhythms. The third and fourth fugues are disposed similarly to the first pair: a three-part fugue for the strings, followed by a double fugue for the piano and the winds, now with the note rows of the subjects inverted. The entries in all four fugues present a double tonal center on A and E.

Erwin Stein Erwin Stein (7 November 188519 July 1958) was an Austrian musician and writer, prominent as a pupil and friend of Schoenberg, with whom he studied between 1906 and 1910.

, "Strawinsky's Septet (1953) for Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon, Piano, Violin, Viola & Violoncello: An Analysis'", ''Tempo'' new series 31 (Spring 1954): 7–11. Citation on p. 9.

Published editions

*Stravinsky, Igor: Septet for clarinet, horn, bassoon, piano, violin, viola, and violoncello. London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1953 (BH 6400701 – parts, BH 6500518 – study score) *Stravinsky, Igor: Septet 1953 for clarinet, horn, bassoon, piano, violin, viola, and violoncello. New York: Boosey & Hawkes, 1953 (B&H 17447 – Hawkes Pocket Scores No. 682).

Movements

Analysis

Published editions

References

Further reading