Multiple Masks: Neoclassicism in Stravinsky's Works on Greek Subjects

In Multiple Masks, Maureen A. Carr studies Igor Stravinsky's creative process for Oedipus Rex, Apollo, Perséphone, and Orpheus through his musical sketches and other documents—scenarios, librettos, correspondence, reviews, and philosophical commentaries, as well as previously uncited sources for Stravinsky's book Poetics of Music. A clear explanation of Stravinsky's compositional techniques within a broad cultural context emerges for each of these four significant works. Carr concludes that Stravinsky used Greek myths as filters for certain poetic ideas and musical techniques that he developed in his earlier works. At the same time the mythological story lines provided him with the objective stance that he was seeking in these neoclassical works.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; Literary, Musical and Artistic Sources for Stravinsky's Neoclassicism; Oedipus Rex: the Collaboration between Jean Cocteau and Igor Stravinsky; Apollo: Stravinsky's Compositional Process; Persephone: the Collaboration between Andre Gide and Igor Stravinsky; Orpheus: Stravinsky's Compositional Process; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Captions

About the Author :
Maureen A. Carr is a professor of music at The Pennsylvania State University. She is editing a facsimile of Stravinsky's sketches for L'histoire du soldat, forthcoming from A-R Editions, Inc.

Review :
"[T]his book stands alone in its thoroughness and insight into a problematic style of this significant 20th-century composer."—Choice "[A] wonderful addition to the growing literature on Stravinsky and his music. The book's focus on neoclassicism by way of four of the composer's stage works is just right at this point in time. The author examines the compositional process and the contribution of each of Stravinsky's collaborators, including Jean Cocteau, André Gide, and George Balanchine. This is must reading for all those interested in twentieth-century music."—Pieter C. van den Toorn, author of The Music of Igor Stravinsky "Using the metaphor of multiple masks [Carr] provides a new insight into one of the most perplexing and also one of the oldest questions about Stravinsky as the preeminent artistic phenomenon of the twentieth century—the coalescence of extreme passion and personal detachment that his music evokes. The author assembles hitherto unpublished archival documents, a significant treasure that will most assuredly facilitate our understanding of Stravinsky, the man and his music."—Margarita Mazo, Ohio State University