Fanfare for a New Theatre

Fanfare for a New Theatre is a 1964 composition for two trumpets by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was premiered on April 19, 1964,^[1] and published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Composition and premiere

This composition was written for the opening ceremony of the New York State Theater, as a part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.^[1][2] The two trumpets were meant to be placed at either side of the balcony, right at the entrance of the hall.^[2] Stravinsky dedicated it "To Lincoln and George",^[3] "Lincoln" being the company's administrator, Lincoln Kirstein, and "George" fellow entrepreneur and choreographer George Balanchine.^[2]

Analysis

The composition takes approximately 40 seconds to perform^[2] and is one of Stravinsky's major miniatures.^[1] The textures are canonic and recall Stravinsky's late twelve-tone technique. It is widely based on rhythmic patterns and the intervals between the two trumpets are brisk, atonal and uneven. The work consists of only one measure bar after the first unison motive. After this bar, the work is measured by systems.

The main form of the row of the melodic line, according to the twelve-tone technique, is played by both trumpets, but not simultaneously. This row works in a symmetrical way, given that both the four first and the four last intervals are the same, but in reversed order. The work shows a thorough usage of all inverted, retrograde, and retrograde-inverted rows.^[4]

References

1. Stevenson, Joseph (2013). "Igor Stravinsky - Fanfare for a New Theater, for 2 trumpets". Rovi Corp. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
2. Heninger, Barbara (June 8, 2008). "Igor Stravinsky - Fanfare for a New Theatre". Retrieved February 11, 2013.
3. Stravinsky, Igor (1964). "Fanfare for a New Theatre". Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
4. Kuster, Andrew (2000). "Simple Application of Stravinsky's Method in His Short Works". Stravinsky's Topology. University of Colorado. Retrieved February 11, 2013.

Further reading

• O’Laughlin, Niall. 1968. "Modern Brass". The Musical Times 109, no. 1509 (November): 1050
• Smyth, David. 1999. "Stravinsky's Second Crisis: Reading the Early Serial Sketches". Perspectives of New Music 37, no. 2 (Summer): 117–46.
• Straus, Joseph N. 2001. Stravinsky's Late Music. Cambridge Studies in Music Theory and Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-60288-2.
• White, Eric Walter. 1979. Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works, second edition. Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03985-8.

External links

• Full score hosted at Boosey & Hawkes website