The Aesthetics of Igor Stravinsky

Author(s): F. G. Asenjo
Source: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Spring, 1968), pp. 297-
305
Published by: Wiley on behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics
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 F. G. ASENJO

The Aesthetics of Igor Stravinsky

I. PURPOSE mantic aura, in spite of the sure hand

and inventive strength overwhelmingly
IGOR STRAVINSKY'S versatility is an
present in every detail.
aesthetic phenomenon which can only be
This article will examine some aesthetic
paralleled outside the realm of music: the
concepts and principles from the point of
names of Picasso and Joyce come to mind.
view of their relevance to Stravinsky's
Stravinsky's aesthetics, then, constitute an
music. I do not pretend that the principles
appealing subject for study, and an intri-
cate one. Rather than an article, an entire
selected cover the whole subject or are
volume should be written on this theme;
even necessarily the primary ones. Often
the reasons why a principle is absent from
such a volume should be primarily tech-
nical, for we know well that aesthetic
a particular artistic work are as important
as the reasons for the work's significance.
effects are never independent of technical
We tend to take rejection as a purely
devices. But Stravinsky's techniques are in
negative gesture, when in fact it should
themselves so attractive, his scores are so
sometimes be looked upon as a positive
much a musician's delight, that the pleas-
choice.
ure and learning gained from just reading
his music easily lead us away from aesthetic
II. THE RETURN TO ORIGINS
awareness. Stravinsky's scores are certainly
not the only contemporary ones from A. M. Jones, in his Studies in African
which to derive discovery and learning Musicl, mentions that "African children
profitably and pleasantly. Arnold Schoen- love to turn any physical movement into
berg's printed music is equally rewarding; song." This incidental sentence reveals an
not only do his solutions to technical essential principle of musical aesthetics:
problems have heuristic value but also the a primary ontogenetic and phylogenetic
problems themselves, as he puts them to source of music is physical movement-
himself. However, while Stravinsky em- all physical movements, but principally the
braces nearly the whole spectrum of musi- periodic ones. Music seldom liberates it-
cal aesthetics (serial principles included), self from this genealogical root, although
Schoenberg remained until the end of his it is constantly trying to do so. The repre-
life within the world of German expres- sentation, the evocation, or the potential
sionism, and even his late religious works enactment of movement is one of music's
are well imbued with a decadent, neoro- basic polarities. That rhythm comes from
physical movement is especially obvious
F. G. ASENJO is professor of mathematics at the in the African children's songs, of which
University of Pittsburgh and also a composer. Jones says: "It is the claps which are the
The Eastman Wind Ensemble and Eastman Phil-
time-backbone of the song." 2 But the above
harmonia have performed his compositions. His
article "Polarity and Atonalism" was published principle also applies even when strong
in the Fall 1966 issue of this journal. rhythmic structures are absent; in fact, it

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 298 F. G. ASJENJO

is then their very absence that is felt. Much the first movement of his Violin Concerto.
has been said about Stravinsky's aesthetic First listen to the music uncritically; then
primitivism, meaning his rhythmic listen again, trying to suppress in your
strength and sharpness, his devotion to mind your entire experience of internal-
ostinato effects, his appeal to the sense of ized physical movement. This element of
physical movement. This primitivism is byconsciousness is automatically produced
no means rudimentary; rather, it is a per- and ordinarily associated with listening,
sistent determination to recapture the and without it there is little musical ex-
generative strength of music at its origin. perience, little enjoyment, and-above all
Recalling architect Antonio Gaudi's com- -little musical effect. Memory of a given
ment that "originality is the return to the piece of music is derived from the repre-
origins," we can say that one of the bases sentation of the scheme of movements
of Stravinsky's originality lies in his recog-raised in the mind by that music. The
nition of the procreative power of both nature of those movements is of no im-
actual and potential physical movement portance; what matters for enjoyment is
in their appeal to the aesthetic senses. Of the pattern of intensities and durations;
course, this is not a reference to the tap these need not be too concretely repre-
ping of feet or clapping of hands: it is a sented or imagined, but they must be
discussion of a stirring of animus, a mental present for a musical experience to be en-
rehearsal of an action or gesture, an in- grossing rather than faded. However, too
ternalization triggered by the basically much awareness of the presence of move-
representational acts of running, waving,ment does not contribute to appreciation.
grinning, or twisting, none of which ever This is something music shares with the
creates a very clear mental image. Further,enjoyment of mathematics, since mathe-
these triggering actions need not be thosematics, like music, often moves away from
of a living creature; things, machines, ab- its concrete origins into involvement with
stract objects moving in abstract spaces, abstract structure. And now we ask: has
confusedly imagined, are equally effective Stravinsky's dedication to the ballet been
sources of musical conception. Lest this a result of his return to the physical ori-
"return to the origins" be interpreted as gins of music, or is it the other way
no more than another version of Verdi's around? Perhaps not even he himself
"torniamo all 'antico, e sari un progresso,"' could say.
emphatically, this is not the case. Verdi
was talking about the study of past models III. THE ECSTASY
to solve problems of the present, his pre-
scription for a kind of permanent neo- Once origins originate, where does their
classicism. Gaudi's dictum is more funda- impulse lead us? I mentioned that there
mental; for him it came to mean specifically is something paradigmatic and pregnant
the study of natural forms, study that in led
any origin, something that in music
to the organicism which produced his phan- constitutes a basic polarity when music is
tasmagoric, biological type of art nouveau. considered as a field of tensions and a play
Stravinsky's aesthetics are very different of forces, something to look at attentively
from Gaudi's, of course, but in respectbefore to use and habit freeze the manifold
the return to the origins they are precisely possibilities, the promise of what is only
the same; his are not like Verdi's, a return to just beginning to be. Another and opposite
purely historic sources, but a return to onto- polarity of music is represented by con-
logic ones, to music in statu nascendi. One trasting moments of vast release of ten-
always feels the presence of these ontologic sion, of absolute absence or absolute pres-
fountains through the palpitating, obsessive, ence of force, moments that constitute an
pulsating quality of Stravinsky's work. experience of fulfillment that carries with
Let us suggest the following phenomeno- it an especial sense of happiness rarely
logical exercise as an aid to understanding. provided through other means, in short,
Take a piece of Stravinsky's music, say, what we can call here "the ecstasy." This

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The Aesthetics of Igor Stravinsky 299

is not a reference to any sort of romantic Aldous Huxley have been made into very
climax, of course, but just to that ex- successful ballets, judging from the com-
quisite quality that makes certain musical plimentary newspaper reviews. I have seen
passages the natural locus of a very satisfy-
only the first of these two works. It was
ing experience that we learn to treasure indeed beautiful, but in an unusual way.
above most of the ordinary pleasures. The general effect was that of a sequence
There is much of this ecstatic quality in of still takes; dancers were continuously
that uplifting, timeless final passage of posing, and the physical action was re-
Bach's Saint Matthew Passion, for ex- stricted to walking or running from pose
ample. But ecstasies are fairly common to pose. These movements had a pre-
events in music, more frequent than this dominantly transitional character, for what
one example suggests; in fact, and alas, really mattered was the sequence of human
often a good ecstatic passage seems to be formations, however brief the poses. It is
the only justification for much irrelevancyinteresting to note that critic Clive Barnes
and noise. An ecstasy complements the wrote that seeing the Variations was like
polarity of the physical movement: they "walking around a piece of sculpture.""4
help one another, they give meaning to These comments should not be taken in
one another, they enhance one another. a pejorative sense, for they are no more
As T. S. Eliot said of a Chinese jar, it than a description to show the tendency
"moves perpetually in its stillness," 3 soofcan
serialism to produce a vacuum in the
we say that a musical ecstasy remains per- field of musical tension, a vacuum that
petually still in its movement. That Stra- dynamics or instrumentation cannot fill
vinsky is devoted to ecstasies of beauty is completely.
evident. Think only of the sustained trans-
parency of Persephone or Orpheus. Ac- IV. THE MUSICAL IDEA
tually, he has no score in which the
rhythmic elements do not occasionallySchoenberg
re- says: "I consider the totality
solve into an ecstasy, as though it were of a piece as the idea.... Every tone which
the justification, the purpose, and fulfill- is added to a beginning tone makes the
ment of rhythm and development. And meaning of that tone doubtful.. and the
contrary to general opinion, I believe that addition of other tones may or may not
this devotion to ecstasy goes deeper in clarify the problem. In this manner there
Stravinsky's aesthetics than his devotion to is produced a state of unrest, of imbalance
rhythmic complexities. There is partial which grows throughout most of the piece
proof of this in Stravinsky's dedication and is enforced further by similar func-
to serial music during the last decade or tions of the rhythm. The method by which
so. Serial music does not preserve much of balance is restored seems to me the real
the originative force of physical move- idea of the composition." 5 This statement
ment; it is, in fact, at the farthest point can be understood in various ways, but
from an aesthetic in search of a return an additional quotation of Schoenberg's
to the origins. Actually, and for very should help determine which interpreta-
specific technical reasons, serialism is prone
tion he may have had in mind. "All that
to expand itself into a permanent ecstasy,happens at any point of the musical space
prone to be nonphysical, disembodied, has more than a local effect. It functions
and disruptured. Just think of the ecstatic not only in its own plane, and is not
supernatural beauty of Webern's scores, ofwithout influence even at remote points." 6
his spiritualistic suspension of time. (ThisWhen one speaks of wholes or totalities
is oversimplification to make a point, of it is customary to think in terms of their
course.) unitary character. So used are we to think-
An objection to the preceding comments ing of unity as the primary virtue of a
could be based on the fact that both Stra- whole that we never think of a totality
vinsky's Movements for Piano and Orches- otherwise. This conception is inaccurate,
tra and his Variations in Memory of for wholes need not be unitary; they may

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 300 F. G. ASENJO

well be multiple in ways essentially ir- thought of the author's.... A work is an

reducible to oneness of any sort. The rea- object or event of the senses, whereas the
sons why a whole becomes an irreducible various values or interpretations it sug-
many may vary. On the one hand, a whole gests are consequences (ideas or affections)
may be a many simply because of the sheer which cannot alter it in its entirely ma-
unrelatedness of its parts, or, on the other terial capacity to produce quite different
hand-for precisely the opposite reason, ones." 8 If one adds to this that each
that is-because the parts are so intimately period in history has its own way of rea
related that not only do they help com- ing and listening, giving the emphases
pose one another but each provides a peculiar to the times, then the multiplic-
different configuration of the whole. This ity of every artistic whole should be obvi-
last thesis has been identified elsewhere as ous. But a distinction must still be made
the "principle of multiple location." 7 between
With the multiplicity of the substance
this expression we signify that when one -the multiplicity of the idea, in Schoen-
takes an arbitrary portion of any whole, berg's sense-and the multiplicity of the
this portion is never fully limited to what- experience-the multiplicity of the idea,
ever space it seems to occupy; instead, it in Valery's sense. In synthesis, the idea of
transcends to some extent its apparent lo- a work of art is synonymous with the
cation to influence other parts, rendering totality of that work considered as a mul-
a particular version of the whole as a tiplicity of perspectives, all those various
consequence. There are, then, as many perspectives which the work assumes.
wholes as parts according to this principle,
These perspectives are produced by the
since every part introduces its own "idea" work's own parts as they influence one
of the whole. another, and simultaneously by the spec-
Aesthetic use of the principle of mul- tator as he takes each part successively as
tiple location is obvious; for example, in a vantage point from which to perceive
Ryunosuke Akutagawa's tale "In the and assess the whole.
Wood" (also known as "Rashomon"), an
event that involves several persons is re- V. THE BALANCE
told from the contradictory viewpoints of
each participant without any final unitary We have examined the musical idea de-
truth ever being suggested. And why fined as the totality of a work. No idle,
should it be? Stravinsky's Variations in dreamy vagary, this is a precise conception
Memory of Aldous Huxley, a brief work, that can be used both for systematic aes-
was presented in ballet form several times thetic analysis and to assess aesthetic effect,
in succession at one performance, each as in Stravinsky's Variations, a work that
time danced with a different choreography, is non-romantic, clear-cut-so sharp, in
one stressing the energy of the music, fact, that its structure shows like the
another the structure, etc. Writing of theseskeleton of a Gothic cathedral. But Schoen-
successive performances, Clive Barnes, in berg also mentions balance. While totality
the review mentioned earlier, observes that is a concept that involves temporal or
"the music sounds completely different...." spatial location, balance is definitely a
These are extremely explicit examples, of dynamic concept-not fully independent
course, but the principle of multiple lo- from location, of course, but dealing prin-
cation is so all-pervading that endless cipally with plays of forces and with po-
proofs of its relevance could be given, larities in search of equilibrium. In his
even from works that seem perfectly uni- Poetics of Music9 Stravinsky discusses tonal
tary and closed to alternative interpreta- effects and elaborates on how "a system of
tions. Paul Valery asked himself about tonal or polar centers is given to us solely
Alain's ideas concerning Charmes, and for the purpose of achieving a certain
answered: "It is an error contrary to the order." This was written in 1939 when
nature of poetry... to claim that for each Stravinsky's music was exclusively tonal.
poem there is a corresponding true mean- The mention of "poles" is a reference to
ing, unique and conformable to... some the dynamic hierarchy of sounds for each

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The Aesthetics of Igor Stravinsky 301

diatonic scale or mode. In diatonic music the idea. For this reason, polyphonic music
balance is achieved by returning to the is still the highest point in musical history
tonic. Or to be more general, balance is in so far as richness is concerned. Stra-
any equilibrium achieved by compensatingvinsky himself recently described the "dev-
the different forces and tensions in play, olution from polyphony to monophony" as
whatever their origin and nature. In this a "decline of culture in musical terms." 10
more general sense we must distinguish This is one of the shortcomings of elec-
between the balance of substance and the tronic music: it is too simple and uncul-
balance of form. Ecstasy implies a balance tured. In addition, electronic music lacks
of substance, while a balance of form de- direction and therefore loses the enhance-
pends on the overall distribution of ment gained from meaningful balance. In
motives, phrases, periods, rhythms, soundshort, it is poor in idea. If any new medium
intensities, and so forth. The two types in music is going to endure, its proponents
of balance are independent of one another. must carefully consider the following
One may have to wait until a work ends general principle: it is the relative over-
to realize that there is a balance of form, lapping of elements that gives a work its
but whenever there is balance of substance depth, its character as a living, autonomous
equilibrium is immediately, unequivocally creation. However, musical overlappings
present. are always somewhat transparent; they
Although Stravinsky has moved back never fully cover whatever is behind.
and forth from the dominance of one Further, overlapping does not imply the
type of balance to the dominance of the blurring of form, the disappearance of
other, he seems also to have moved steadily beginnings and ends, or any other kind of
toward being more and more preoccupied confusion, diffusion, or obscuring of struc-
with balance of substance. In The Rite of ture. Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli
Spring balance of form prevails, althoughneatly links its manifold aspects. And how
occasionally a spectacular balance of sub- high this work still stands today-the
stance is achieved when dynamics and very essence of clarity and decisiveness.
rhythm are unleashed in a whirl of ex- Whenever a polyphonic work is heard,
treme intensities, just as equilibrium is the listener subconsciously assimilates sev-
achieved in electricity by a discharge of eral groupings; each independent voice
high voltage-and those who have heard becomes a group's point of view, a figure
the score in a concert hall know the al- against the background of the rest. And
most physiological relief that accompanies what is indeed surprising about the multi-
the transition into, say, the second part, organizational principle of polyphony is
which follows an almost terrifying orgy that the crime it consummates against
of sound. In contrast, in Apollo balance simplicity does not endanger clarity but
of substance is always close, for tensions enhances it through a multiplicity of con-
are rather low and gentle. Just as ecstasy trasts. We learn to recognize the coordina-
tion of different independent voices, and
is the fulfillment and justification of phys-
ical movement, balance is the fulfillment even learn to prefer it to the short-lived
and justification of tension. Balance per- enchantment found in the simple unity of
forms this soothing, satisfying aesthetic homophonic effects. The great asset of po-
role because it gives the feeling of a lyphony lies in its not striving toward fu-
triumph of order over chaos, a triumph sion but toward varieties of simultaneous
of peace over the meaningless agitation of unitary effects. Instead of a single intensi-
unresolved struggle. fied one, we get a multiplicity of intensified
interdependent manies. Stravinsky is aware
VI. THE IMPORTANCE OF of this general principle and usually makes
OVERLAPPING different instruments or groups of instru-
ments conserve their individuality while
If the idea of a work is the totality of serving a given purpose in a chord, either
that work taken in its entire multiplicity, by following a natural line assigned to
then the greater the multiplicity the richerthem against the background of other

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 302 F. G. ASENJO

voices or just by detaching their blend of in Palestrina, Victoria, and Monteverdi,

timbres. In short, they are not filling a and only relatively more opaque, although
gap but making their presence felt. much less changeable, in the overloaded
Overlappings are more important in scores of Wagnerian and post-Wagnerian
music than in the plastic arts, perhaps composers. This explains why music has
because in a musical space there are no no parallel to cubism. Cubism attempted
closed figures that divide the space into to depict a figure from several sides simul-
an inside and an outside. In music all taneously, which is an inherent charac-
lines are open: the end never coincides teristic of polyphonic music.
with the beginning even if the same notes
VII. THE ILLUSION OF A
are repeated. Because of this essential open-
PLURALITY OF
ness of musical voices, surface effects,
thickness, and division into areas do not DIMENSIONS

exist, although an illusion of all these can Although music is basically unidimen-
be created with polyphonic and other sional, multidimensional perceptions can
effects. In fact, it is the overlapping of be added, as explained, by polyphonic
open voices that often adds dimensional effects, by color (the use of contrasting
depth to an otherwise unidimensional instruments), and by changes in intensity
stream. Polyphonic overlapping introduces (think of the feeling of distance sometimes
additional meanings and increases the role produced by Vivaldi and Haydn with
of each voice through its relationships to echo effects). The illusion of a many-
the others. This is so because, in addition dimensional organism can then be created.
to the primary movement of each inde- But polyphony, in particular, not only
pendent voice, new secondary movements creates the experience of an extra dimen-
are created. These are the movements one sion through the figure-ground effect of
perceives when one hears one voice against setting each voice against the others but
another, the latter serving temporarily also as a
through a studied distribution of the
point of reference. But these musicalintervalsover- between voices. These intervals
lappings are fleeting; each voice tempo- or interstices play a positive role similar
rarily, alternatively, and imperfectly covers
to that of empty spaces in a painting or
the rest, but in turn the voice that is open areas in a sculpture. Because of a
covering may easily be covered by other normally unchecked tendency to fill all
simultaneous voices. Further, just a quickavailable musical space, intervals between
shift of the listener's attention can alto- voices are not always used to the best ad-
gether change the direction of an over- vantage. There is a kind of "horror of
lapping, as in those labile figure-ground emptiness," to cite the attitude towards
illustrations in Gestalt psychology text- matter in Galileo's time. Too much clutter-
books. There is no question that overlap- ing ruins the illusion of multidimensional-
pings constitute an inescapable psycho- ity, and we can think of many a score
logical phenomenon that derives from the that could be enriched by simplification.
focal character of consciousness, a char- Also, whether a theme is in the treble or
acter that always obliges us to put thingsin the bass radically affects the distribution
in perspective. We must accept this onto- of blanks. For reasons of physical reso-
logical limitation of the mind: we cannot nance, almost everything can be accepted
perceive a many as a many but only as in the upper treble; dissonances sound
a figure-ground perspective. Not only must consonant and clusters of very close sounds
we accept this but we must use it to serve are easily taken as thoroughly natural
our aesthetic purposes. However, musical chords (what the situation would be if
overlappings are less rigid than pictorial the range of our acoustical perception
ones, which are usually established once were to be extended is difficult to imagine).
and for all. Indeed, musical overlappings But what can be done in the treble cannot
are as fluid as human consciousness. They be done in the bass. The lower registers
are fully transparent (and beautifully so) have their own laws as to the distribution

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The Aesthetics of Igor Stravinsky 303

of intervals, laws that can be violated, trast, Debussy was often able to dress up
of course, but only occasionally and with a simple motive with luminescent effects.
specific purpose. As for the benefit of But it is with Stravinsky that a conscious,
color as an additional element of depth, varied, and determinedly experimental use
there can be no question about it, given of orchestral color is fully developed with
Stravinsky's sensitive usage. Paco Aguilar, consistent success. All of his scores have
the lute player, mentioned once the "glut- different spectrums: they are colored by
tony" with which Stravinsky had reacted different lights and have distinctive ways
to the discovery of a new string effect of shining or receding into darkness. They
when he heard it for the first time on even have different "temperatures," for
Aguilar's instrument. Everything is im- just as an artist's colors are described as
portant for an artist, what he chooses and warm and cold, so are a musician's combi-
what he discards, but principally anything nations of timbres. Can anyone listen to
that can possibly add a new dimension Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht without
to his art. It goes without saying that it feeling chilled? A composer develops his
is impossible to exhaust the means by feeling for orchestral temperature entirely
which the illusion of multidimensionalityby instinct, since there is very little theory
can be created. Another technique-and concerning this elusive matter, just the
one that Stravinsky has used often and textbook platitudes as to how flutes and
ingeniously-is the quotation of another clarinets are cold and transparent while
composer. When a Rossini theme appears oboes and bassoons are warm and opaque,
in Jeu des Cartes, the music rises abruptly etc. Orchestral temperature and related
to another level and it is as though a concepts are learned almost entirely by
new presence, almost like a new color studying
in examples, yet this is an area in
a painting, were to add depth, volume, which electronic devices could be very
and meaning. The same kind of change helpful, instead of being used merely to
occurs in Pulcinella, a work which is at reproduce familiar noises. Since timbre
the same time classic, neoclassic, and results from the superimposition of dif-
modern. Multidimensionality adds to the ferent harmonics, a systematic analysis of
multiplicity of a work, and it makes it orchestral possibilities could be attempted
ever more difficult to obtain a single uni- by trying to create timbres electronically.
tary image of that work, just as it is A new world of sound lies waiting, from
difficult to conceive the shape of a crowd. the production of absolutely new single
Musical dimensions cannot be counted timbres-color saturation, as painters call
easily, as can the simplified, abstractit-to creation of new chamber and en-
spaces
in physics, where the shape of an object semble combinations.
allows itself to be identified in a kind of Finally, the role of silence has equal
representational nutshell. In art and music,weight as a positive dimension of music.
every dimensional effect begets secondary The importance of silence depends very
effects, also of a dimensional nature. For much on the subject matter. Just think
example, the treble is to the bass as light how the silence before music starts differs
is to darkness, and this contrast itself adds from the silence after music ends: the first,
a new vertical dimension, the dimension although full of expectation is empty of
of light, dependent but not to be confused content, while the second is precisely the
with simple polyphonic dimensionality. opposite. Composers learn to be aware of
Polyphony, with sensitive instrumentation,how these differences can be used to good
plays heavily on the illusion of light and effect.
darkness and the subordinate effects of
VIII. THE PRINCIPLE OF
brightness, glow, and opacity. Brahms,
GROWTH
despite his abilities, did not have a sense
of orchestral color and usually let his Children draw, but although they sing
themes get drab because of his massive, they do not write music; rather, they sing
gray, uniform use of the orchestra. In con- what their elders teach them. Picasso has

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 304 F. G. ASENJO

shown a serious interest in children's way of proceeding, is one of the aspects

drawings, but this is an event without of music that justifies speaking of musical
parallel in music. Music requires a rather meaning. To reject growth tears music
sophisticated level of abstract thinking. from its biological roots and throws it
Also, although gifted madmen have been into the world of pure physical acoustics,
known to paint, and their paintings some- where direction plays no significant role:
times have been remarkable, no remark- it is growth that gives tension meaningful
able piece of music is the work of a mad- direction. I refer to both horizontal ten-
man. Music requires special control, the sion (the tension that derives from the
possession of an especial imaginative abil- mutual attraction or rejection of sounds as
ity, and a keen memory. The painter sees they converge upon or diverge from a
his work grow on his easel, but the com- given chord) and vertical tension (the ten-
poser writes in patchwork fashion, striv- sion inherent in a chord). In tonal music
ing toward an ideal image he does not horizontal tensions depend entirely on
always attain. Audiences have a similar vertical ones, while in serial music the
problem. Although we can see a painter's opposite is the case. For this reason, since
final product in one single look, every an arbitrary series need not necessarily
time we listen to a piece of music we arehave any tension at all, growth is not as
witnesses to a re-enactment, the birth difficult to avoid in serial music as it is
and growth of a composition. Paintings in tonal.
are there to be admired in their entirety,
IX. THE HUMAN PURPOSE
and although they should be looked at
long and carefully, there is nothing in the In nature form is overwhelmingly hap-
study of a painting that compares with the hazard: Schroedinger's equation dispels any
feeling of immediate participation that isillusion that a snowflake, say, is anything
experienced by a musical audience. In- but an accident. Listening to Milton
deed, we are never able to catch the whole Babbit's Relata Number One is like look-
of a piece of music but only feel the ing at rock formations-the human pur-
presence of that whole in the neighbor- pose is absent. Admittedly, this comment
hood of the sounds we perceive instant by is not entirely fair, since it stems from
instant. This experiencing of the complete only a single hearing; but as a first im-
work through its successive parts taken as pression it stands, and the fact that Relata
points of view makes listening to music Number Two can be played just as
an active re-creation. suitably before as after Relata Number
Music lends itself naturally to these One indirectly confirms the initial impres-
aesthetic effects of organic growth and sion. Art imitates nature but differs from
cumulative evolution, and Stravinsky has it in the addition of human intention, a
often used these ontologic characteristics quality that is characteristic of Stravinsky's
of music as aesthetic elements. Think, for work, as shown by even his least concrete
example, of the first movement of the compositions, such as the homages to
Symphony of Psalms, where a progressive Dylan Thomas, John F. Kennedy, and
series of growing levels of intensity leads Aldous Huxley, and the Canticum Sacrum,
us by gradual addition of voices and in- Threni, and Abraham and Isaac: these
struments into a plenum of sound and are scores no computer could possibly have
volume. We can look at a piece of sculp- produced. Human purpose puts order into
ture from any direction we choose, but we the chaos of absolute freedom, chaos that
cannot listen to that first movement in any is leading us towards incurable perplexity
other order than the one written. Nor and then rigidity. Psychologists define
could we change the final allelujah, much habit as an inhibition of the reflex of
less the middle fugue-the fugue being orientation, but the elimination of all
an essentially organic form, unequivocallyhuman purpose makes the reflex of orien-
based on the principle of growth. Growth, tation "un-inhibitable," condemning us
with its lifelike necessarily unidimensional forever to a state of bewilderment and

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The Aesthetics of Igor Stravinsky 305

doubt. Without organizational purpose all ad nauseam ... for the last forty years or
paths are meaningless. There are no con- more...." 11 In contrast, no similar indica-
necting bridges because there are no tions are audible in the work of current
regions to link together-no line is a fron-
composers, still completely governed by an
tier. This accounts for the rapid abandon-unbridled reflex of orientation.
ment of new media by contemporary com-
posers well before anything significant
has been achieved, a proof of the half-
hearted interest in new credos or anti- '(Oxford, 1961), I, 16.
2 Jones, I, 17.
credos and a symptom of the dismal lack T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets (London, 1943).
of conviction that surrounds us. This New York Times, April 1, 1966.
fumbling in a twilight world is parallel Arnold Schoenberg, Style and Idea (New York,
to a similar situation in modern painting, 1950), p. 49.
with its almost exclusive dedication to 6 Schoenberg, p. 109.
7 F. G. Asenjo, El Todo y las Partes: Estudios de
abstract art. Aldous Huxley thought he Ontologia Formal (Madrid, 1962).
saw signs that might "presage [thank 8 Paul Valery, The Art of Poetry (New York,
heaven!] the supersession and early demise
1961), pp. 155-158.
of non-representational painting." He 9 Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music (Cambridge,
Mass., 1947).
pointed out that "every pictorial device 10 The New York Review, May 12, 1966.
invented by the old masters of non-repre- 11Aldous Huxley, Heaven and Hell (New York,
sentational art" has been "reproduced 1963).

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