''Three Easy Pieces'', also referred to by its original French title ''Trois pièces faciles'', is a collection of pieces for four hands by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was finished in 1915 and was published as a set in the winter of 1917.

Composition

Stravinsky's ''Three Easy Pieces'' can be understood as an example of Gebrauchsmusik, that is, music that was conceived and composed specifically for some purpose, and not for its own sake. In this case, Stravinsky wrote this set and 1917 ''

Five Easy Pieces ''Five Easy Pieces'' is a 1970 American drama film directed by Bob Rafelson, written by Carole Eastman (as Adrien Joyce) and Rafelson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Lois Smith, and Ralph Waite. The film tells the s ...

'' especially for educational purposes. After completing his Valse des fleurs, which is similar to them in the sense that they were composed for his little children to play with him, Stravinsky decided to write pieces for four hands to teach them how to play the piano. The set was composed in Clarens, in 1914 and 1915 and was presented and first performed by

José Iturbi José Iturbi Báguena (28 November 189528 June 1980) was a Spanish conductor, pianist and harpsichordist. He appeared in several Hollywood films of the 1940s, notably playing himself in the musicals ''Thousands Cheer'' (1943), ''Music for Mill ...

, on April 22, 1918. It was eventually published in 1917.

Analysis

The ''Three Easy Pieces'' take approximately three minutes to perform. The pieces are: Even though they are titled as "easy", only the left part is easy, the right hand sustaining the whole burden of the composition. In this case, the '' secondo'' has only one staff and uses both hands to play ostinato parts. The set features an overtly satirical character, in contrast to its twin set, which is much more serious and displays much more insight into Stravinsky's compositional method. Stravinsky once referred to them as "popcorn".

Arrangements

Stravinsky himself made a number of arrangements of these three pieces. Upon completing the set in 1915, Stravinsky made a first transcription of the ''Polka'' for

cimbalom The cimbalom (; ) or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by V. Josef Schunda in 1874 in ...

and for cimbalom and a small ensemble. Later that year, he also arranged the ''March'' for twelve instruments and the ''Waltz'' for seven instruments. However, only the solo cimbalom version of the Polka was selected for publication. In 1921, Stravinsky reworked the three movements and arranged them for small orchestra, and published them as the first three movements in Suite No. 2.

Polka and Valse

Igor's son,

Soulima Stravinsky Sviatoslav Soulima Stravinsky () (23 September 191028 November 1994) was a Swiss-American pianist, composer, and musicologist. As a pianist, he was considered an important interpreter of the works of his father, Igor Stravinsky, but as a composer ...

, also wrote two small arrangements for solo piano, which were published in 1977. ''Polka'' was dedicated to

Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪˈrɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), usually referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, pa ...

, and retains most of the composer's original material, with three additional bars at the beginning, making it a total of 43 bars long. Marked "Moderato" at the beginning, the piece is in a constant . ''Valse'', on the other hand, an arrangement of "Waltz", was dedicated to Eric Satie. Marked "Tempo giusto" in the score, it is 99 bars long and has a ABACA structure (the C part being the Trio). It is in C major and . Both arrangements require

grace note A grace note is a kind of music notation denoting several kinds of musical ornaments. It is usually printed smaller to indicate that it is melodically and harmonically nonessential. When occurring by itself, a single grace note indicates eith ...

s to be played before the beat. They were published by Boosey & Hawkes.

References

External links