Igor stravinsky was a unique composer during his time, and it is said that the only consistency to be found in the music of Stravinsky is its stylistic inconsistency. Stravinsky has changed up compositional technique numerous times throughout the course of his musical career. Up until the 1920s, Stravinsky’s music evidently exhibited the influence of his Russian heritage. His studies with Rimsky-Korsakov were reflected throughout his exotic orchestrations and his utilization of Russian folk song. Though he began to settle, Stravinsky entered what has been called his neoclassical period in the 1920s to the 1950s. The composer than adopted the Schoenberg’s twelve-tone system later in his career. This decision came to a surprise to Stravinsky’s supporters, as up until this time, he publicly criticized the technique. What made stravinsky so special was how revolutionary his music was. In the 1900s, the traditional modes of composition were already beginning to change. The work of Stravinsky was carried by the ‘crisis of tonality’ which was relevant in the twentieth century. His teacher came from a russian background and Stravinsky was also influenced by this Russian nationalism. …show more content…
Stravinsky was known for many things. In regard to harmony the word that best describes Stravinsky’s style is ambiguity. His ballets such as Petrushka serves as an example of his use of polytonality, which is the use of two or more keys at the same time. His passages contain many examples of the use of bitonality, which is the use of two different keys simultaneously. As you can hear, While the first clarinet plays a melodic figure which is rooted in C major, the second clarinet plays the same melody, but in the F sharp major key. The superimposition of the two keys serves as an example of music that would have been shocking during the turn of the