Modes of Communication in Stravinsky’s Works Sign and Expression

Igor Stravinsky left behind a complex heritage of music and ideas. There are many examples of discrepancies between his literate statements about music and musicians and his musical compositions and activity. Per Dahl presents a model of communication that unveils a clear and logical understanding of Stravinsky's heritage, based on the extant material available. From this, Dahl argues the case for Stravinsky’s music and his ideas as separate entities, representing different modes of communication. As well as describing a triangular model of communication, based on a tilted and extended version of Ogden's triangle, Dahl presents an empirical investigation of Stravinsky's vocabulary of signs and expressions in his published scores - his communicative mode towards musicians. In addition to simple statistics, Dahl compares the notation practice in the composer’s different stylistic epochs as well as his writing for different sizes of ensembles. Dahl also considers Stravinsky’s performances and recordings as modes of communication to investigate whether the multi-layered model can soften the discrepancies between Stravinsky the literary and Stravinsky the musician.

Introduction Part I: Sign and expression in communication 1 Prelude 1.1. The point of departure 1.2. Discourses of a musical work 2 The multi-layered triad 2.1 Ogden 2.2 Agawu 2.3 A multi-layered triad 2.4 Literacy 2.5 Bacon 2.6 A complete communication model 3 Stravinsky’s background and languages 3.1 St. Petersburg 3.2 Suisse/France 3.3 Religion 3.4 America 4 The Aesthetics 4.1 A grid 4.2 Quotes from Stravinsky 4.3 Comments and critiques of Stravinsky’s aesthetics 4.4 Adorno 5 The Logics 5.1The operational grid 5.2 Some aspects from semiotics and linguistics 5.3 Some statements from Stravinsky 5.4 Bacon’s idols 6 The Ethics 6.1 The ethical grid 6.2 The listening process 6.3 The composer in action 7 Postlude Part II: Modes of Communication in Stravinsky’s music 8 Notation 9 Music notation and literacy in music:a historical approach 10 A study of Stravinsky’s notation practice: an empirical approach 10.1 Design 10.2 Results 11 Vocabulary, concepts and adjustments:a semiotic approach 12 Musicians’ music reading practices:a cognitive approach 12.1 Music reading 12.2Approaching the music notation 12.3Elements in Stravinsky’s notation practice 13 Stravinsky’s recordings and performances:a critical approach 13.1 The composer as performer 13.2Some case studies 13.3Reliability and validity Conclusion Appendices: 1 Work categories 2 Vocabulary 3 Works in the Serial period 4 Shorted and stretched notes

Per Dahl is Professor of Music at the University of Stavanger, Norway.