Lhistoire du Soldat Igor Stravinsky Music Analysis

Stravinskys piece Lhistoire du Soldat (The Soldiers Tale) has a

melody which moves rom the mid to high ranges throughout its
entirety! Short notes are dispersed in "urries and repeated creating
a ragmented eel! The phrases remain general short #ut there are
some long phrases that also appear! The entire piece has a
descending shape adding to a eel o evil!
The $armony has a march like eel presenting the story o the
soldier and his %ddle! The #ass line& which creates the march& uses
ostinato to create constant momentum! The piece is #uilt on a
dissonant harmony with comple' chord progression! It has a non(
diatonic tonality and is not centered on a scalic movement adding a
sense o suspense to the piece!
The te'ture o the piece ranges rom sparse to dense! It #egins
almost empty #ut #uilds to create a thicker sound! The percussion
moves along the #ottom& the other instruments all play separately
moving together to play a large section #eore moving #ack to their
separate sections! The instruments or the most part dont overlap
#ut rather overtake each other playing similar melodic parts! These
varying te'tures add to the eerie mood placed throughout the piece!
There is a strong steady pulse in the rhythm played #y the
percussion! The rhythmic patterns echo each other within a )*+ time
signature! The tempo is moderate and some o the notes are
strongly accented again adding to the creepy eel o the piece!
Some o the rhythms are shiting and irregular at some point!
The piece contains strings ,iolin& -ercussion( Timpani& Tam#ourine&
and drums! As well as Trumpet& Trom#one .assoon /larinet and the
0ou#le .ass! The tone colour o the piece is #rittle with and intense
punchy eel! It changes rom sot empty noises to an intense loud
calamity! There is a shrill sounding clarinet with sustaining drums!
The opening phrase sounds like a anare almost militaristic!
0uring the piece the phrases develop over time! There is lots o
repetition with solo sections constantly repeated #y various
instruments! There are #oth large and small sections echoed or
ornamented #y di1erent instruments! The piece #egins and ends
2uite similarly the mid(section has a high clarinet and there are
times when many sections play together creating an intense sound!
The dynamics o the piece range rom loud to sot& it #egins
moderate& #uilds and then drops #ack #eore #uilding again! In the
sections where several instruments are playing the dynamics are
signi%cantly louder than the sections where there are less
instruments! 3ading sometimes occurs during the piece and there is
also thunderous percussion throughout! All these aspects add to the
constant eerie e1ects in the piece!