Stravinsky, specifically during his first 10 years in the United States, appeared to “stress his archaic neo-classical trend very strongly”(Vlad, 1958). Throughout this period, he simplified his music by taking away the ornaments, and getting rid of polyharmonic devices as well as polytonality. The Rakes Progress reaches the height of Stravinsky’s neoclassic era. In The Rakes Progress, Igor Stravinsky uses a combination of past musical tools, such as Mozart’s model for comic opera (A History of Western Music) and aspects from other composers, Cavatina Caboletta form and classic Recitative Aria form, as well as using characters based off of different characters from other famous operas, and newer musical ideas in his work, specifically by creating an opera appropriate to the time yet something completely different that anyone had ever seen, rejecting romanticism, and using motives for different characters. However, even when he is borrowing ideas from other composers, he does so in a way that makes his work completely unique. He sometimes even considered that …show more content…
While Stravinsky uses numerous aspects of old musical technique, he refurnishes them, and makes them his own. He has mastered the skill of borrowing ideas from other composers. He recognizes what will make a successful work and what won’t, and he uses it to his advantage. Not only does he use countless compelling techniques in his writing, but he also, with the help of his librettist, turned The Rake into a beautiful story, that has a clear message to be taken from it. Stravinsky was clearly passionate about his work, as when he would speak of it he tended not to do some with a professional emphasis. It was his occupation, but he did it because he loved it. (Lederman, 1975) Through his use of combining the old with the new, Stravinsky has truly created and modern, unique, and creative work in The Rakes