JAVS Spring 2026

the metrical alignment of repeated motives, themes, and chords. Stravinsky himself often began […] with a phrase turned rhythmically, a motive or chord displaced in relation to a steady metrical framework.” 8 It is also worth noting Stravinsky’s own perspective on harmony, as documented in Robert Craft’s Conversations with Igor Stravinsky, published in 1959: Harmony, a doctrine dealing with chords and chord relations, has had a brilliant but short history. This history shows that chords gradually abandoned their direct function of harmonic guidance and began to seduce with the individual splendors of their harmonic effects. Today harmonic novelty is at an end. As a medium of musical construction, harmony offers no further resources into which to inquire and from which to seek profit. The contemporary ear requires a completely different approach to music. It is one of nature’s ways that we often feel closer to distant generations than to the generation immediately preceding us. Therefore, the present generation’s interests are directed toward music before the “harmonic age.” Rhythm, rhythmic polyphony, melodic or intervallic construction are the elements of musical building to be explored today. When I say that I still compose “harmonically” I mean to use the word in a special sense and without reference to chord relations. 9 All of this information is directly applicable to the analysis of this viola work. There are numerous instances in Élégie where motives introduced in the exposition gradually unravel in the B section while still referencing the initial foundational patterns. Additional elements— such as intervallic juxtaposition, particularly motion by half-step—contribute to a broader understanding of how the two melodic voices interact and evolve over the course of the piece.

É légie - Analytical Breakdown For the purpose of this analysis, the viola work will be discussed through two broad sections, addressing how rhythm (phrase groupings) and intervals (scale collections and patterns) are distinctly utilized. Focusing first on the linear elements of the piece, Stravinsky’s Élégie is set in ternary (ABA) form and contains no indication of a time signature. The melodic writing can be described as exhibiting a “two-voice counterpoint,” a style traceable to J. S. Bach’s keyboard works that emphasized the interaction between two independent melodic lines, as found in the two part inventions. 10 Stravinsky explicitly reinforces this approach in his program notes, emphasizing that “the fingerings have been chosen with a view to underlining the counterpoint, and not for technical facility,” thereby privileging clarity of line over physical ease in performance. 11 Although this comment is primarily intended as guidance for performers, the compositional decision to employ multiple voicings invites further discussion regarding how harmony and rhythm contribute to the shaping of phrase structure, as well as how displaced intervals suggest underlying modal implications. The methodology of displacement—both rhythmic and intervallic—serves as a key component in understanding the work and will be expanded upon throughout this section. The first A section (mm. 1–15) plays a critical role in understanding the construction of the piece as a whole. At first glance, the opening measures appear centered around a C-minor tonality. A closer examination of the intervallic content, however, reveals fragments of C Phrygian, characterized by lowered scale degrees 2, 3, 6, and 7. On a more localized level, the vertical intervallic structures consist primarily of minor thirds, sixths, and sevenths, contributing to the overall dissonant character of the harmonic framework.

Figure 1. C Phrygian Scale.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 42, No. 1, Spring 2026

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