Lhistoire du Soldat Igor Stravinsky Music Analysis

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

melody which moves from the mid to high ranges throughout its
entirety. Short notes are dispersed in flurries and repeated creating
a fragmented feel. The phrases remain general short but there are
some long phrases that also appear. The entire piece has a
descending shape adding to a feel of evil.
The Harmony has a march like feel presenting the story of the
soldier and his fiddle. The bass line, which creates the march, uses
ostinato to create constant momentum. The piece is built on a
dissonant harmony with complex chord progression. It has a nondiatonic tonality and is not centered on a scalic movement adding a
sense of suspense to the piece.
The texture of the piece ranges from sparse to dense. It begins
almost empty but builds to create a thicker sound. The percussion
moves along the bottom, the other instruments all play separately
moving together to play a large section before moving back to their
separate sections. The instruments for the most part dont overlap
but rather overtake each other playing similar melodic parts. These
varying textures add to the eerie mood placed throughout the piece.
There is a strong steady pulse in the rhythm played by the
percussion. The rhythmic patterns echo each other within a 2/4 time
signature. The tempo is moderate and some of the notes are
strongly accented again adding to the creepy feel of the piece.
Some of the rhythms are shifting and irregular at some point.
The piece contains strings Violin, Percussion- Timpani, Tambourine,
and drums. As well as Trumpet, Trombone Bassoon Clarinet and the
Double Bass. The tone colour of the piece is brittle with and intense
punchy feel. It changes from soft empty noises to an intense loud
calamity. There is a shrill sounding clarinet with sustaining drums.
The opening phrase sounds like a fanfare almost militaristic.
During the piece the phrases develop over time. There is lots of
repetition with solo sections constantly repeated by various
instruments. There are both large and small sections echoed or
ornamented by different instruments. The piece begins and ends
quite similarly the mid-section has a high clarinet and there are
times when many sections play together creating an intense sound.
The dynamics of the piece range from loud to soft, it begins
moderate, builds and then drops back before building again. In the
sections where several instruments are playing the dynamics are
significantly louder than the sections where there are less
instruments. Fading sometimes occurs during the piece and there is

also thunderous percussion throughout. All these aspects add to the

constant eerie effects in the piece.