Although Stravinsky frequently emphasizes his familiarity with the sources of folk songs and the influence of folk music upon his works, he claims to have quoted only one folk tune (Ne veselaia da kampan'itsa) in his ballet Les Noces. What characterizes Les Noces as typically Russian is not the quotation of this song, however, but the use of melodic idioms, called popevki.Popevki playing an important role in Stravinsky's ballet are listed in the appendix of the essay. According to Stravinsky, Les Noces is also a product of the Russian church, which is shown with a passage entirely derived from the Fifth Tone (glas) of the Znamennyi Chant. The main point of the article is, however, that Stravinsky's ballet is strongly influenced by the Russian folk weddings in terms of "poly-layered texture," the function of rhythmic and melodic ostinato, the recurrences of certain melodic phrases, as well as conceptual and structural ideas.

Works: Kastalsky: Kartiny narodnykh prazdnovanii na Rusi (Scenes of Folk Festivals in Old Russia) (112-14); Stravinsky: Les Noces.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Andreas Giger