Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

Rival Tribes ~

The movement starts with trombone and tuba. The Timp. is accomp. the brass instruments. They are playing on the off beats. The meter changes every few measures, which gives the piece the feeling of constant movement. Two measures after square 57, the bassoon, horn, cello, and bass answer the trombone and tuba. Even though there are four different instruments playing here, the horn is predominant. The other instruments seem to be thickening up texture. The brass and the woodwinds have a call and response until the a tempo ritentuo pesante. There is another call and response between the horns and the timpani and tuba. All 8 horns are playing at this time. At 60 the woodwinds have a "round" going on. Three before 61 the full orchestra is playing. There are only four horns playing, probably to help with balance. After these three huge measures, Stravinsky has only a few instruments playing. The trumpet and flute are playing octaves. The flute is playing up an octave to probably match the brightness of the c trumpet and to help balance. The brass is heard again in 62, but it blends in with the the strings so it is difficult to hear them. At 63, all 8 horns are playing with the strings. Three measures before 65, the timpani has a hemiola figure. They are playing in 3/4 while the rest of the orchestra is playing in 4/4.

Procession of the Oldest and Wisest One ~

The horns have a a motif that continues throughout this whole movement. The brass in this movement seem more like percussion instruments with all of their rhythms and interjections. The woodwinds are constantly playing, unlike the last movement which switched between brass and woodwinds. There are constant 8th notes through out this movement, giving the movement forward motion. The percussion have hemiola type rhythms again at 70. The Grand pause at the end of the movement is very abrupt but helps lead into The Kiss of the Earth.

The Kiss of the Earth ~

Very slow compared to all that has been played so far. All of the bass instruments except for tuba is used in these four measures.

The Dancing out of the Earth ~

This movement has many 7 or 6 ascending note runs. They are normally in the woodwinds. Sometime the horns have these runs along with the woodwinds. There is a lot of syncopation in this movement also. At 73 almost all of the instruments have the same rhythm, except for the Bassoon 1 and 2. The timpani has constant 16th notes until 78, when they have a triplet figure against 8th notes in the bass drum. While the timpani has 16th notes the horns have triplets throughout. They move from one horn part to another.