CANTATA 1952: STRAVINSKY AND LIMINALITY

The opening fanfare of “A Lyke-WakeDirge” initially operates as a parting of the curtain, inviting the audience to pass through the doorway, suspend belief, and enter another realm. Stravinsky stops the audience short to merely observe from the doorway and remain emotionally detached from the presentation of three vignettes within a musical frame: the Cantata (1952). In contrast to typical audience emotional investment in a staged work, Stravinsky creates a twenty-minute space for alienated observance of rituals surrounding different expressions of love. The three main movements of the Cantata each fit a stage of Arnold van Gennep’s rites of passage theory (1909). In Ricercar I, the maiden’s preparation for her marriage ceremony is a rite of separation. Ricercar II, the liminal stage, meets necessary criteria for strictly ritualized procedures on its 11-tone row. The duet of ‘Westron Wind’, in the third main movement, is the postliminal stage, and it takes incorporation literally—the soloists finally perform a love duet together. Stravinsky’s compositional genius and influence on twentieth century music are well-documented and discussed. However, Cantata (1952) is largely overlooked, perhaps even ignored, for its apparent simplicity, obviousness, or its perceived aesthetic failure. Upon close investigation, using this lens of liminality from van Gennep, the complexity of the Cantata (1952)’s craft may be revealed. Cantata (1952) is a transitional artifact of Stravinsky’s generative compositional strategy, from neoclassicism to serial music. Despite Stravinsky’s recognizable austere and detached compositional voice remaining consistent throughout his life, the compositional resources he used to achieve such are stylistically distinct before and after the Cantata. These resources uniquely coexist within the Cantata, making a smooth yet definitive transition within his oeuvre. Considering the Cantata in isolation, Stravinsky not only produces a narrative and commentary on the liminal experience, it is a liminal moment in Stravinsky’s compositional output. Stravinsky indicates the impossibility to immerse oneself in the attitudes of 1952, therefore I will limit the scope for the of this paper to the 2024 perception of the Cantata. This thesis will help artistic directors today better understand the implications of programming this piece.