Quiz: Mystery scores

[Karl Henning]

OK, here's a few things.

Firstly, the opera and the first harmonic glissando are by the same composer. He's been mentioned as a possible and is very famous - you will all have heard of this opera.

Secondly, the first harmonic glissando was written before the second, Stravinsky one, and it is therefore abundantly clear that Stravinsky modelled the effect on this example (they are virtually identical, as you can see). This is despite Stravinsky, ever the opportunist, proclaiming it as his invention

Richard Taruskin was AFAIK the first to point this out, and he also pointed out that Stravinsky will also have been reminded of the harmonic glissando by a brief example in Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole, which he was exposed to during the writing of Firebird.

Thirdly, the composer in question is known, among other things for his interest in magical sounds (such as this harmonic glissando) and symmetrical scales and structures such as the wedge-like idea in the opera example. This opera in particular is often cited for its use of a particular type of symmetrical scale which subsequent composers, including Stravinsky, found highly useful. In this work and in others, this scale is often used to suggest magic, wizardry, madness etc.

Well, the composer must be Rimsky-Korsakov, who composed a number of "fairy-tale operas," typically after Pushkin.

[classicalgeek]

Well, the composer must be Rimsky-Korsakov, who composed a number of "fairy-tale operas," typically after Pushkin.

You are correct, Karl! 

Also, the opera in question is sometimes known by its French title.

[Luke]

Stravinsky was a Rimsky pupil, of course, and the influences are deep and sometimes amount to barefaced theft, as with the harmonic glissando. I can't help but admire the shameless audacity of the last part of the statement quoted above:

I was delighted to have discovered this, and I remember my excitement in demonstrating it to Rimsky's violinist and cellist sons.

[Luke]

....meanwhile, the scale in question is the octatonic, alternating semitones and tones, a symmetrical or, in Messiaen's terms, a non-transposable mode - it is Messiaen's Mode 2. Rimsky was basically the first to use it, and he does so in passages relating to altered or disorienting states - magic, madness, fire, science etc. Messiaen's Mode 1 is the whole-tone scale (he hardly used it because it so associated with Debussy). It, too, was first used in seriousness by the Russians, in this case by Glinka in Ruslan and Ludmila.

[Karl Henning]

You are correct, Karl! 

Also, the opera in question is sometimes known by its French title.

I appreciate your delicacy in not giving it away outright, but that is probably true of any Russian opera. Still, let me guess Золотой Петушок (Le coq d'or)

[Florestan]

I have an idea who the composer in question is, as well as the opera... I've been looking at operas in Russian, with French translations, on IMSLP - and at least I think I'm on the right path...

Prince Igor?

[Luke]

let me guess Золотой Петушок (Le coq d'or)

Cock-a-doodle-d'or, that's the one.

[Karl Henning]

Stravinsky was a Rimsky pupil, of course, and the influences are deep and sometimes amount to barefaced theft, as with the harmonic glissando. I can't help but admire the shameless audacity of the last part of the statement quoted above:

Shameless audacity was certainly on-brand for Игорь Фёдорович

[Florestan]

I appreciate your delicacy in not giving it away outright, but that is probably true of any Russian opera. Still, let me guess Золотой Петушок (Le coq d'or)

Cock-a-doodle-d'or, that's the one.

I should have guessed it, or at least the composer, based on the Stravinsky hint alone. 

It's funny, though, how some seemingly genuinely-patriotic-sounding lines from a libretto can send someone on a wild goose chase. 

[classicalgeek]

....meanwhile, the scale in question is the octatonic, alternating semitones and tones, a symmetrical or, in Messiaen's terms, a non-transposable mode - it is Messiaen's Mode 2. Rimsky was basically the first to use it, and he does so in passages relating to altered or disorienting states - magic, madness, fire, science etc. Messiaen's Mode 1 is the whole-tone scale (he hardly used it because it so associated with Debussy). It, too, was first used in seriousness by the Russians, in this case by Glinka in Ruslan and Ludmila.

Shameless audacity was certainly on-brand for Игорь Фёдорович

I wonder if Stravinsky claimed to have invented the octatonic scale too.

[classicalgeek]

OK, here's a few things.

Firstly, the opera and the first harmonic glissando are by the same composer. He's been mentioned as a possible and is very famous - you will all have heard of this opera.

Secondly, the first harmonic glissando was written before the second, Stravinsky one, and it is therefore abundantly clear that Stravinsky modelled the effect on this example (they are virtually identical, as you can see). This is despite Stravinsky, ever the opportunist, proclaiming it as his invention

Richard Taruskin was AFAIK the first to point this out, and he also pointed out that Stravinsky will also have been reminded of the harmonic glissando by a brief example in Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole, which he was exposed to during the writing of Firebird.

Thirdly, the composer in question is known, among other things for his interest in magical sounds (such as this harmonic glissando) and symmetrical scales and structures such as the wedge-like idea in the opera example. This opera in particular is often cited for its use of a particular type of symmetrical scale which subsequent composers, including Stravinsky, found highly useful. In this work and in others, this scale is often used to suggest magic, wizardry, madness etc.

I tracked down the source of Rimsky's use of the harmonic glissando ('Mystery gliss'): another one of his operas, Christmas Eve. Thanks to this informative article: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2017/08/stravinsky-technique-and-theory-part-4.html.

[Luke]

I tracked down the source of Rimsky's use of the harmonic glissando ('Mystery gliss'): another one of his operas, Christmas Eve. Thanks to this informative article: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2017/08/stravinsky-technique-and-theory-part-4.html.

Yes, that's correct. Thoroughly recommend Taruskin on this (and on most things)

[Florestan]

I wonder if Stravinsky claimed to have invented the octatonic scale too.

He didn't invent bullshitting about music and musicians either, but he certainly took it to unprecedented levels. 

[Florestan]

Yes, that's correct. Thoroughly recommend Taruskin on this (and on most things)

Taruskin is my favorite musicologist as well. He wasn't always right, but when he was wrong it was always with gusto and panache.

[Karl Henning]

Taruskin is my favorite musicologist as well. He wasn't always right, but when he was wrong it was always with gusto and panache.

Like all the best critics, even when he's mistaken, he's worth reading.

[classicalgeek]

Taruskin is my favorite musicologist as well. He wasn't always right, but when he was wrong it was always with gusto and panache.

Like all the best critics, even when he's mistaken, he's worth reading.

I'm aware of Taruskin's work but haven't really dug into it. Any recommendations on a place to start? I greatly enjoyed The Rest is Noise, Alex Ross's extensive (although by no means complete) survey of music in the 20th century.

[Luke]

I love this one

[Luke]

...and, though they overlap, this one

[classicalgeek]

Thanks for the recommendations, Luke! It appears Russian music was his specialty. Interestingly, I took a course on Stravinsky my junior year in college - this would have been in the 1995-1996 school year, so right before Taruskin's work was published. I think the primary biography we used was Eric Walter White's; we also read from Stravinsky's own Poetics of Music.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks for the recommendations, Luke! It appears Russian music was his specialty. Interestingly, I took a course on Stravinsky my junior year in college - this would have been in the 1995-1996 school year, so right before Taruskin's work was published. I think the primary biography we used was Eric Walter White's; we also read from Stravinsky's own Poetics of Music.

The first Taruskin I read was an article in (maybe) JAMS, showing Stravinsky's octatonic debt to Rimsky-Korsakov, with examples (IIRC) from R-K's Khaschtchey the Deathless.