Development in Three Stravinsky Works

Development in Three Stravinsky Works

Development in Three Stravinsky Works
While the first movements of the Symphony in C, the Symphony in Three Movements, and the Concerto for Two Pianos all develop material extensively, only the Symphony in C has a section that can be labeled a development along “traditional” lines.   Although certain elements in the other two works resemble those in a traditional “sonata form,” it is only the opening movement of the Symphony in C that makes reference to this form throughout.   There are of course many irregularities, but this is to be expected when dealing with a form in which regularities are difficult to come by.
The main materials in the opening of the Concerto for Two Pianos are an arpeggiated dotted-rhythm melody in something like e minor, the only real theme in the movement, and a scalar figure (bar 3).   These two elements dominate the first section of the piece (through the change to 12/16), and are developed as it plays out.   The long pedal D beginning in measure 42 would seem to precipitate the arrival of new material, but instead it drops to C, becoming the bass for an untransposed restatement of the main theme, now with it a new, brighter tonal character.   This brilliant treatment, complete with an intensified version of the scalar material above, closes the first section of the piece.   This theme has been present, in variation but clearly, at intervals throughout the exposition (bar 1, 11, 32, and 74) preventing the rise of any well defined secondary material.   In the place where a development section “should” occur, there is a new section in Bb which is in fact less developmental than the previous music.   It is much more harmonically stable (holding on to Bb pedal for the entirety its outer portions), and puts forward its own new material.   It is written in a kind of binary form, making use of a clever tempo modulation to relax in tempo.   Because of the formal repetition built into this section, it lacks the unsettled character of a...