Music Analysis Essay on Ebony Concerto by Igor Stravinsky

Introduction

In 1945, Igor Stravinsky wrote the Ebony Concerto for a band popularly known as the First Herd. The song is one of the many that was commissioned by the bandleader together with the clarinet. The composition was first performed on March 25th, 1945 in New York City and the performance was conducted by Walter Hend. Igor started his work on jazz in the late 1920s and would later incorporate blues in the 1930s. However, it was with the Ebony Concerto that Igor started to incorporate jazz components into a composition on a wide scale (Battisti, 2002). The uniqueness of that composition left many with awe and even in the modern day, many are still amazed by his skills in art and composition hence this paper that analyzes various aspects of the style of Ebony Concerto.

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One of the key features of Ebony Concerto is that it is a three-movement instrumental piece that deviates from the usual composition of jazz. The piece has distinct figures for each movement and instead of numbering the movements, it has metronome markings and Italian-based performance guidelines. Surprisingly, there are no numbers for center movements or names for characteristic movements. Basically, the art piece is composed around three movements whereby the first movement is fast, the second is slow, and the third one is fast and hence is seen to adopt the form of a classical concerto (Keefe, 2005; Elsen, Hutchings, & Botstein, 2001).

In many of Stravinsky's works, he is seen to hold the ragtime rhythm in high regard. The Ebony Concerto is no different in which the development of the first movement is seen to have been informed by the ragtime rhythm in the form of A-B-A-C (DeNora, 2005). An in-depth analysis shows that the first A-section ends at figure 8 and then transitions at the B-section. On the right side of figure 17, there is a da capo sign to signify the repeat of section-A. Instead of proceeding with the figures of the C-section for the second transition with figure 18, Stravinsky uses figure 9a in a sequential manner. Compared to the initial interlude B, the composer has shortened interlace C.

The movement comes to an end at the rear of figure 14a. It is then opened by the trumpet only to be displaced by the saxophones at bar 6. Later, the other instruments gradually get in. This rhythmic music which is reinforced by the percussion serves as a prelude to herald into section B. The music is purposefully composed for the solo clarinet which gets its first big entry with a combination of trombone and trumpet while the saxophones take a break (Smith, 2010). Analysis indicates that the interlude is given out by the prelude while the coda is given out by the second repeated section. After performing a few bars in the previous style in the absence of the solo clarinet, the first trumpet then gets in as a solo trumpet together with the saxophones which send the trombones and the trumpets to silence. The type of instrumentation arranged by Igor is understood in the alternating relationship of the solo clarinet with metal and solo trumpet with woodwind, while the other instruments fulfill the role of coloration and definition of rhythm that is demonstrated by the percussion with small solo entries like those by the piano (Hoek, 2007).

The second movement is a representation of the key movement of Ebony Concerto as a slow movement. The K Catalog website describes it as "an A-B-A form with an introduction and Coda, as an A-A1-B-A1-C form, as an A-A1-B-A1-B1 form, as an A-A1 form or also as an A-B form". The introduction is immediately followed by the typical blues game with a call (three bars of trombones and saxophones) and then an answer (one bar of silent trumpets). That is then connected to five bars which in accordance with Igor's style, the motifs are interconnected and compressed. One particular observation is that the call-and-answer stage in the trumpets is repeated twice in a compressed manner. The last response call marks the transition into the ten bars of the initial phrase. It comprises of harp motions distributed at the first two bars and the remainder of the response is found in the trumpets. The section terminates at the fifth bar with a solo clarinet that has one note over the background tones of harp and clarinets. Following the repetition of nine bars just after introduction, the response proceeds to the four bars of the second section which finish the movement as a coda. The final phrase is uniquely brilliant as it comprises of the baritone saxophone and the first clarinet which are accompanied by the French horn and the clarinets and then joined in by the soprano saxophone in the last bar (Heim, 1987).

The third and final movement adopts a two-pronged form which have a repeated clause and a coda with ten bars together with a soothing bass clarinet melody that resembles the blues style flow. Analysis indicates that the first variation starts at figure 3 with the con moto and proceeds to the end of figure 20 where it develops a framework initiated by the bass clarinet gaps. That happens in a primarily combinations of seconds in the clarinets while at the same time the tenor saxophone is being used as the solo component. The rhythmic framework is formed by the percussion of the guitar, harp, and the bass. The second variation starts after the repetition of the theme in figure 23. It appears that Igor uses the second variation as a solo clarinet and importantly as a composed-out improvised cadenza which has a supporting role with respect to other instruments. Before the end of the piece, the music is seen in figure 33 to flow into the seventeen coda bars all with the same tempo which in turn joins them together to form heavy strings of chords with the style of a chorale. The music comes to end with a repetition of 7 bar tutti clause three times together with a solo clarinet in an equally high note.

More insights on the form of instrumentation used by Stravinsky are revealed by analyzing the path that led to the composition of Ebony Concerto. Before Igor composed for Woody Herman, he took time to study the instruments played by the band. They included the solo clarinet, trumpets, saxophones, piano, guitar, and trombones. Stravinsky added the French horn and a harp. In particular, Igor studied the playing style of the bandleader and then consulted an instrumentalist who illuminated him on the playing of the saxophone. The saxophone was the most vital tool for Woody because it acted as a replacement of the string-based instruments (Hollerbach, 2002). Typically, it would have been expected that Igor would similarly consult a choral expert in regard to the brass instruments. That is because Stravinsky's concept of form was derived from a jazz-orientated performance with a Blues as the slow middle movement because for him the blues signified the peak of the African-American music sphere. Due to the deviation from the ordinary, the composition was tedious due to the unique combo as indicated in his letter to Boulanger (Hollerbach, 2002).

An analysis of scholarly works on Strawinsky shows that even though some of his compositions refer to jazz in the title, he in person was not attracted to the jazz style but rather its rhythmic ragtime. His opinion on the resemblance of ragtime to jazz and blues to jazz is clear in Ebony Concerto as they heavily informed his composition. According to Igor, ragtime was not the same as jazz but blues was closely related to jazz. Given that he was strongly opposed to the fundamental and structural features of jazz, he believed that incorporating blues in the Ebony Concerto was an important expression of the African-American culture and also the entire music industry (Heintze, 2001). The absence of jazz in the Ebony Concerto was because Strawinsky believed Jazz and composed music had nothing in common. An attempt to combine the two would result in bad music for both styles.

Conclusion

In conclusion, an analysis of the Ebony Concerto reveals the unique ways in which Strawinsky applied aspects like instrumentation and style to compose a unique piece that still fascinates many several decades after its composition. The discussion above shows that Ebony Concerto combines both the jazz elements and the classical concerto clauses not to form a unit but rather in progression. In particular, the jazz aspect of blues is well noted in its purest form in the 2nd movement. For this reason, the composition is considered as untypical for jazz music.

References

Battisti, F. L. (2002). The winds of change: the evolution of the contemporary American wind band/ensemble and its conductor. Galesville, MD, Meredith Music. Retrieved February 19, 2019, from googlebooks.com

DeNora, T. (2005). The concerto and society. In S. P. Keefe (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to the concerto (pp. 19-31). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved February 19, 2019, from https://sites.google.com/site/musicfrom16001800/home/classical-concerto

Eisen, C., Hutchings, A. & Botstein, L. (2001). Concerto. In S. Sadie (Ed.), The new grove dictionary of music and musicians (2nd ed., Vol. 6, pp. 246-251). New York, NY: Grove Dictionaries. Retrieved February 19, 2019, from googlebooks.com

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Heim, N. (1987). Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, (92), 60-62. Retrieved February 19, 2019, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40318125

Heintze, J. R. (2001). Igor Stravinsky: an international bibliography of theses and dissertations, 1925-2000. Warren, Mich, Harmonie Park Press.12-91 Retrieved February 19, 2019, from googlebooks.com

Hoek, D. J. (2007). Analyses of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Music, 1940-2000. Lanham, Scarecrow Press. Retrieved February 19, 2019, from http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1565245.

Hollerbach, P. (2001). Rite of Swing: Stravinsky, Woody Herman, and the Ebony Concerto. International Jazz Archives Journal,2 (3), 6-38. Retrieved February 19, 2019, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44758069

K Catalog. (2014). K Catalog - K074 Ebony Concerto. Retrieved February 19, 2019, from http://www.kcatalog.org/index.php/browse-chapters/56-k074-ebony-concerto

Smith, M.M., (2010). The Swing Era Clarinetists and Their Contributions to Twentieth-Century Clarinet Repertoire (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University). Retrieved February 19, 2019, from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1291011109&disposition=inline