Stravinsky's Games of Chance: The Use of Card Games to Navigate Between Two Worlds in "histoire du soldat," "the Rake's Progress," and "jeu de Cartes"
Open Access
Author:
Bargstadt, Wendy J
Graduate Program:
Musicology
Degree:
Master of Arts
Document Type:
Master Thesis
Date of Defense:
None
Committee Members:
Maureen Ann Carr, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Charles Dowell Youmans, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Marica Susan Tacconi, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Keywords:
Stravinsky Histoire du soldat Rake's Progress Jeu de Cartes
Abstract:
Abstract
This thesis examines how Igor Stravinsky and his collaborators used card games to represent two different and distinct worlds in three of their pieces: Histoire du soldat, The Rake’s Progress, and Jeu de Cartes. Stravinsky worked with librettist Charles Ferdinand Ramuz on Histoire, librettists W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman on Rake, and writer Nikita Malayev on the scenario for Jeu. Throughout the course of writing these works, these musicians and writers chose to represent the real world of the main characters and the evil world of the devil in many different ways. One feature that is present in all three works included in this thesis is the musical and literary representation of a card game. The fate of the main character is decided by the outcome of the game. Each of these pieces is discussed in turn, with musical examples.
