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The Bransles of Stravinsky's Agon : A Transition to Serial

Composition
By Bonnie S. Jacobi

This article originated as a paper for a graduate-level Post-Tonal Analysis

course at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. The paper
has been adapted for the Web as part of a Music Technology Seminar
taught by Dr. Tim Koozin, which also took place at the Moores School of
Music during Spring 2000. Bonnie S. Jacobi is a doctoral candidate in
Music Education.

Stravinsky's ballet Agon reflects a major turning point, both within his compositional
career and in the history of the dance world. For Stravinsky, this work represented the
fusion of his previous diatonic writing style and a new experimentation with the
twelve-tone composition learned through studying the music of Anton Webern. Despite
the complexity of the music, the results of the teamwork of Stravinsky and Balanchine
astonished dance audiences at the New York City Ballet's premiere of the first
twelve-tone ballet, a combination thought by many to be an oxymoron up until this
point. 1 Started by Stravinsky in 1953, he set Agon aside to write In Memoriam Dylan
Thomas and Canticum Sacrum, and then resumed work on it in 1956. Agon was finally
completed in 1957, with a few minor revisions to the earlier written parts. This break in
the composing process may well explain why only the center portion of Agon is serial, yet
the beginning and ending are both diatonic and modal.

Serial Portions of Stravinsky's Agon as listed in Eric White's book Stravinsky

SECOND
FIRST PAS
PAS DE
DE TROIS
TROIS
Pas
Pas de Bransle
prelude Saraband-Step interlude interlude de
Quatre Simple
Deux
Double
Bransle Four
Pas de Gailliarde
Gay Duos
Quatre
Bransle
Triple
de Four
Pas de Coda
Pointou Trios
Quatre
(Double)

However, there is little doubt that Stravinsky had twelve-tone composition in mind even
before he set the project aside. In his book Stravinsky, Roman Vlad points out that
Stravinsky used twelve tones as early as the second movement, Double Pas de Quatre,
which was written prior to the break.

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Although the instruments do present a twelve-tone row, it is not yet used as a series in
this movement but rather, as three chromatic tetrachords which neighbor one another. 2
Nonetheless, Stravinsky's concept of twelve-tone writing stretched further than just pitch
order. Agon was originally conceived as a ballet depicting a contest between twelve
dancers, four males and eight females. 3 The ballet lacks a plot, but consists of twelve
movements: a series of four sections containing three dances each. 4 The dances are a
mixture of both traditional ballet genres (such as Pas de Quatres and Pas de Deux) and
old French court dances (such as the Saraband, Galliard and Bransles).

In studying the motivic construction of the dance movements, there are several unique
characteristics which draw one's attention to the three Bransle dances. Not only do they
proceed the Coda, which marks the first serial dance of the ballet, but they comprise a
consecutive group, which suggests possible interrelationships. (See table, Serial Portions
of Stravinsky's Agon) Furthermore, it was the Bransle which inspired Stravinsky to create
the ballet in the first place. Upon seeing an engraving of two trumpeters playing a
Bransle simple in De Lauze's Apologie de la danse, a French seventeenth-century dance
manual, Stravinsky decided to write one of his own. 5

The choreography of the three Bransles in Agon, also referred to as "branles", is based
only loosely on the seventeenth-century French court dance in which couples would
dance in a circle or a row. Traditionally, the dance was accompanied by singing and
involved some swaying movements of the body or hands. Balanchine acknowledged that
detailed descriptions of branles existed in dance histories, yet referred to his versions as
"improvisations" in which the female dancer is shown off by the male dancers. 6 This is
consistent with many of Balanchine's ballets; Agon was supposedly choreographed
around Diana Adams. 7

As Balanchine strayed from the

traditional French court dance
style in his choreography,
Stravinsky also created new
paths in his musical score. One
example is Stravinsky's
selection of meter for the
Bransles. Traditionally, the
Bransle simple and the Bransle
double were written in duple
meter, while the Bransle gay
was written in triple meter. 8 In
Agon,the Bransle simple is in
duple meter as expected.
However, the meter of the
Bransle double fluctuates

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between triple and duple

throughout the piece. Each
time, the new meter is
sustained for fewer measures.

It is the Bransle gay in which Stravinsky most successfully departs from tradition to
achieve his own style. While retaining the expected triple meter in the castanets
throughout (3/8), Stravinsky juxtaposes this 3/8 meter with irregular subdivisions such
as 7/16 and 5/16 meters in the harp, flute, bassoon, clarinet and strings. Metrically, these
instruments are treated as a group, moving together in time against the ostinato of the
castanets. The subdivided rhythms seem to move around the steady beat of the castanets,
creating jazz-like syncopations and an improvisatory sound. Oftentimes, the downbeat of
the castanets does not fall at the same time as the downbeat of the instrumental group
(such as m.323 and m.329). When the downbeats become misaligned, an agogic stress can
often be heard on a weak beat of the measure. Also interesting to note is that Stravinsky's
sketches show that during mm.315 and 320, where the castanets play alone, the ballerina
is "supposed to turn her head towards each of the two male dancers in turn". 9

In addition to Stravinsky's creative, individual approach to meter in the Bransle

movements, his choice of instrumentation also contributes greatly to the structure and
sound of the work. The fact that Stravinsky features trumpets does not seem to be a
coincidence; afterall, this was the instrument shown in the illustration which inspired
him to write the work. The brass instruments are associated with the male dancers 10,
which may explain why the Bransle simple begins with a trumpet canon and the Bransle
double includes trumpets and trombones playing almost entirely throughout. These
instruments can be heard in Sound Example 1, mm.278-287 of the Bransle Simple.
Click for Sound Example 1.

The woodwind instruments, on the other hand, seem to be associated with the female
dancers. For example, the Bransle gay, which is a movement written for a solo female
dancer, does not contain any brass instruments but rather flutes, clarinet and bassoon.
Click for Sound Example 2. The string and percussion instruments (piano, harp and
castanets) serve as background accompaniment to the solo group of instruments. By
selecting instruments from different families to represent the male and female dancers,
Stravinsky achieves contrast in timbre while at the same time maintaining balance.

There are very few occasions when the solo groups of instruments are not paired (see
Bransle gay, m.329-bassoon and Bransle double, m.351-trombone, m.356-flute). It is not
only the pairing, but the manner in which these instrument families alternate that creates
an atmosphere of "contest" between them. For instance, in the Bransle simple, Stravinsky
uses articulation to maximize the contrast. He has the trumpets play marcato eighth notes
(mm.279-285) and then the clarinets play legato quarter notes (m.285-287). Click to hear
Sound Example 1 again. One wonders if the contest could actually be between the male
and female dancers in the work, or if it between couples.

In the Bransle double, Stravinsky manipulates the rhythm to differentiate the two
instrument families. For example, the rhythm of the trumpet and trombone section
(mm.336-351) is fairly regular; it is comprised of eighth notes and quarter notes. Some of
the tied eighth-notes create a hemiola effect. When the flutes enter at m.352, there is a
sudden meter change to duple time as well as a revival of the grace notes from the
Bransle gay. Within less than five measures, the flutes play a triplet rhythm (along with

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the piano) and the clarinets enter with sixteenth-notes and another grace-note figure. This
juxtaposition of rhythmic contrast helps to characterize two opposing sides in the music.

In many ways, the effect of Stravinsky's free use of the twelve-tone system within the
Bransles is less striking than his manipulation of rhythm, meter and timbres. Movements
such as the Coda utilize an entire twelve-tone row:

On the other hand, the Bransles depend upon hexachords for their pitch material.

Although the complements to the hexachords are at times present, it is only the Bransle
double which contains a full presentation of a twelve-tone row:

At the outset, one might think that the Bransle hexachords are derived from
permutations of the twelve-tone row of the Coda (which begins with pitch A=0,see figure
2). Although this row does seem to have several tetrachords which contain the same
interval class as notes within the hexachord, the Bransles can be more clearly understood
by observing the hexachord formed from the first six pitches of each movement. For
example, the Bransle simple begins with the pitches D-E-F-G-F#-B (see figure 3). This
hexachord (H1) can be traced throughout the movement, both as a whole unit and also in
terms of subsets. Moreover, its complement (H2) can be deduced and traced as well. In
the Bransle simple, hexachord H1 is heard five times in its entirety. The first and second
occurences are at the canon in m.279, the third and fourth occurences are at the return of
the canon in m.299 and the fifth occurence is a vertical presentation forming the last
chord of the movement (m.308). Although the pitches of H1 suggest an E minor tonality
in m.308, the G# member of the H2 creates an ambiguity between the major and minor
modes.

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Stravinsky permutates the hexachord in various ways. One permutation involves

transposition. When the clarinets enter at the end of m.285, the hexachords are
transposed when viewed horizontally. The first clarinet plays P9 while the second
clarinet plays P5. Another permutation involves the use of subsets. Subsets of H1 in its
retrograde form are used to form the tetrachords played by the harp in mm.286, 296 and
306. Stravinsky also presents subsets of H1 in free order such as the trichord (D-G-F#)
played by the flutes and harp in m.289. In m.280, the hexachord H1 can be heard in
inversion (I9); the pitches are (B-A-G#-F#-G-D).

Stravinsky appears to have been very selective in planning which permutations to use. It
so happens that the P9 and P5 used horizontally in mm.285-287 also have a vertical
relationship which coincides with H1 and H2. This time Stravinsky uses dyads from the
two hexachords. For instance, two pitches from H1 (G and B) are heard simultaneously
followed by two pitches from H2 (A and C#). After two alternations between H1 and H2,
Stravinsky presents a vertical dyad containing one pitch from each of the two hexachords
(D from H1 and C from H2). This happens again at the end of the phrase in m.287: the
pitches E and B are from H1 while the G# is from H2. This verticality outlines the E major
sonority rather clearly.

At first glance, the Bransle gay seems to be based on a different hexachord but it is really
one which is closely related to H1 (see figure 4). The new hexachord (H3) contains the
same pitch content as H2 of P7 from the Bransle simple. Therefore, in a sense, the
hexachords used in the first two Bransles are combinatorial. Stravinsky's treatment of this
hexachord (H3) is different from the Bransle simple in that the presentation is in vertical
blocks. The pitches are paired in dyads and repeated several times before moving on to
the next pitch. Stravinsky's mirror image positioning of the pitches is very much in the
style of Webern (for example, see the flute pitches D-F which surround the pitch B in
mm.311-319).

Like the Bransle simple, Stravinsky permutates H3 using transposition and retrograde
inversion. In mm.321-325, the first hexachord of RI9 is stated in a linear fashion with few
repetitions. In m.325-326, the second hexachord of P9 is also stated linearly with fewer
repetitions. The movement ends in the same way as it began, using large vertical blocks
of sound. Instead of using fragments of the complementary hexachord, Stravinsky is very
thorough and deliberate this time. Directly prior to the final block statement of H3, he
places a chordal, block statement of H4 (the complementary hexachord) in the strings.
This ending simulates a full retrograde presentation of the row by hexachord, first H4
stated by the string accompaniment and then H3 stated by the solo woodwind group.
Click for Sound Example 3. This enables a smooth transition into the Bransle double,
since it too begins with a complete statement of this twelve-note series. Click for Sound
Example 4.

Not only is the Bransle double the most complex of the three movements, but it can also
be viewed as a culmination of the three. Its complexity stems from extensive use of
counterpoint, greater interaction between the instruments and an increase in the length of
the movement. It is summative in that it includes both the duple and triple meter of the
previous Bransles, it includes all of the instruments used in the Bransles up until this
point (except the castanets) and all of the various permutations of H1 as well as the
complete twelve-tone row, not to mention several rhythmic motives which were heard
previously (such as the grace-note rhythm from the Bransle gay).

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The Bransle double is opposite the Bransle gay in that the first section presents the row in
a linear fashion, rather than a vertical one. The two violins are paired and play the row
P10 in octaves/unison (mm.336-339), followed by the row RI10 (mm.340-343). During
these presentations of the complete row, the trumpet and trombone are playing the
second hexachord of P1. Each instrument plays a trichord with repetitions. For example,
the trombone plays Bb-B-Db and the trumpet plays D-E-A. Click for Sound Example 5.

The recurrence of repeated notes and ties unifies all three of the movements. Hearing a
trichord or two trichords repeated so many times against a twelve-tone row is almost the
same as having a castanet ostinato.

In the middle section of the Bransle double movement, beginning in m.352, Stravinsky
juxtaposes subsets of both hexachords of the row. The positioning of the pitches is much
more chordal than the opening. Through instrumental texture and layering, Stravinsky
emphasizes the first hexachord (H1) more heavily than its complement (H2) (see figure
5). In one case, he uses mirror image to surround the H1 statement on either side with
statements of H2 (see mm.356-360). The complementary hexachord (H2) is understated
by the lower stringed instruments using single pitches. The statements of the first
hexachord (H1), on the other hand, are quite dense in terms of sound. This is due
partially to the abundance of instruments playing these pitches, but also because of
Stravinsky's thicker voicing. The only instance in which H2 grabs the listener's attention
is in mm.302-304, where it is stated by many instruments. This passage, which can be
likened to a cadential six-four chord preceding a cadenza, heralds the return of the
opening section (the linear statement of P10 follows in the next measure).

It is not surprising that Stravinsky's use of the twelve-tone system within the Bransles of
Agon point toward his model, Anton Webern. His use of paired instruments, his
propensity for miniature-sized movements, and his experimentation with permutations
resulting in mirror image all illustrate that Stravinsky admired the work of Webern.
Several years would pass before he would comfortably synthesize the technique of
twelve-tone writing into his own personal composing style. However, even amidst this
time of transition and compositional refinement, Stravinsky's music boasted a distinct
sound of its own, particularly in terms of its rhythm and instrumentation.

Bibliography

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