Igor Stravinsky

Born: 1882-06-17 (Oranienbaum, Saint Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire) At present Lomonosov, Russian Federation. Died: 1971-04-06 (New York City, New York, United States). Russian composer, pianist and conductor. Main figure of musical modernism, one of the greatest representatives of world musical culture of the 20th century. The composer's creative itinerary was extremely dynamic. Stravinsky's musical language tends to overcome the barrier of historical periods and uses historical and personal models (such as Russian folklore, Western cultured tradition, dodecaphony, polyrhythms and asymmetrical rhythms) freely adapting them to his personal creative needs. In stravinsky's works the rhythmic dimension is extremely dynamic and varied and becomes a structural element of the composition, as is the interval elaboration. The composer uses melodic cells that are reassembled and broken down with great variety and freedom, the overlapping and reiteration of rhythmic-interval cells creates episodes of rhythmic-metric asymmetry and polyrhythm. Other elements that we find in his compositions are: the structuring in discordant sections, the use of the octotonic scale and the modal scales. He has written music for a variety of different instrumental and vocal combinations, ranging from works for huge orchestras to works for small ensembles or solo instruments Starting from the 1950s he wanted to leave a precise sound testimony of his creative intentions, through the recording of his works directed by himself A citizen of France (1934) and the USA (1945).