Les noces is one of the earliest works of Igor Stravinsky, but also one of the greatest. If you try to classify it as a ballet, you'll loose the richness of this kind of work. Experts prefer to call it a choreographic-scenic cantata, wich means that the lyrics, music, dancing and performing in general are equally important.
Stravinsky composed the score, wich is extremely difficult due to its irregular rhythms and atonal harmony, proper of this composer and his russian folk tradition. This work is challenging not just to the performers, but also to the audience. Les Noces’s amazing expression force can overwhelm us: the dancing style is rougher than others ballets, the lyrics are half sung-half spoken, the topic is dismal (it’s about an arranged marriage!), the costumes and set desing are austere, the dancers have no expressions on their faces, etc. All these features make it a rupturist work.
The use of the words adds an important element, the strength of the Russian is used in the way the musicians play their
instruments and pronounce the lyric. Stravinsky always said that “the words are an excuse of music”.
The reason because I enjoy this work that much is the creative way Stravinsky uses simple elements to create an entirely new and complex style…wich is the product of an genuine need of expression, not just a whim.
If you’d like to watch It, here’s the link of the version I first saw:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi-5mugSiX4
Stravinsky composed the score, wich is extremely difficult due to its irregular rhythms and atonal harmony, proper of this composer and his russian folk tradition. This work is challenging not just to the performers, but also to the audience. Les Noces’s amazing expression force can overwhelm us: the dancing style is rougher than others ballets, the lyrics are half sung-half spoken, the topic is dismal (it’s about an arranged marriage!), the costumes and set desing are austere, the dancers have no expressions on their faces, etc. All these features make it a rupturist work.
The use of the words adds an important element, the strength of the Russian is used in the way the musicians play their
instruments and pronounce the lyric. Stravinsky always said that “the words are an excuse of music”.The reason because I enjoy this work that much is the creative way Stravinsky uses simple elements to create an entirely new and complex style…wich is the product of an genuine need of expression, not just a whim.
If you’d like to watch It, here’s the link of the version I first saw:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi-5mugSiX4
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