In his 1957 neoclassical ballet Agon, Igor Stravinsky borrows from the Bransle Simple, Bransle Gay, and Bransle Double in Joan Wildeblood’s 1952 English edition of François de Lauze’s 1623 Apologie de la danse and imbeds their intrinsic characteristics within its own dances. Wildeblood’s edition contains not only de Lauze’s French text and its translation, but also complementary descriptions of court dances from Thoinot Arbeau and Marin Mersenne. The text she included from Mersenne’s Harmonie universelle (1636-37) contains musical examples, descriptions of dance steps, and dance rhythms in poetic notation for several types of dances, including three Bransle dances Stravinsky chose for Agon. The melodic contour and cadential figures of Stravinsky’s Bransle Simple movement resembles Mersenne’s example, and the phrase rhythm of the movement corresponds with Mersenne’s description of the dance rhythm. This demonstrates both a superficial borrowing of Mersenne’s dance and a deeper incorporation of the dance rhythm at the phrase level. Similarly, in Stravinsky’s Bransle Gay, Mersenne’s characteristic rhythm is incorporated in the castanet ostinato as well as in the movement’s structure. Stravinsky’s Bransle Double combines the three remaining Mersenne examples: the Bransle de Poitou, the Bransle Double de Poitou, and the Bransle de Montirande. While the rhythmic organization is less clear in the final score, Stravinsky’s sketches do show his reliance on Mersenne’s musical examples and descriptions of the Bransle rhythms. Taken as a whole, Stravinsky’s annotations of Wildeblood’s edition of Apologie de la danse, his sketches for Agon, and his multilevel incorporation of Mersenne’s dance examples in the final score for Agon demonstrate Stravinsky’s approach to musical borrowing.

Works: Igor Stravinsky: Agon (317-47)

Sources: Marin Mersenne, Eduardo M. Torner (transcriber): Excerpts from Harmonie universelle (317-47)

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet