Analysis of Excerpts of Representative Composers In 1930 Igor Stravinsky wrote the piece Symphony of Psalms, which he intended to be of great contrapuntal development. Three movements comprise the work, each one including some polyphonic writing. Undoubtedly the second movement is the most highly contrapuntal; it is set as a double fugue. Figure 2.8 shows an excerpt that pertains to the exposition of the second movement of Symphony of Psalms, measures 1-19. Although some scholars argue that the formal aspects of this movement are not strictly fugal, the exposition follows the traditional procedure of a fugue. The four subject entries are spaced evenly with the exception of the third one, which appears two measures later. The first answer appears on the dominant key accompanied by the countersubject in measures 6–10 followed by two measures of new material, developed motivically from the last two bars of the subject. In measure 13 the second answer appears on the original key with a variation of the countersubject on flute 1, and new contrapuntal material on the oboe. Finally the third answer is exposed in measure 18, …show more content…
This phase spanned from 1908 to 1923, until he made public his twelve-tone technique. Figure 2.11 shows an excerpt pertaining to measures 26-29 of Schoenberg’s Three Piano Pieces Op. 11, No. 1, where he writes a three-voice counterpoint. Schoenberg’s atonal writing was profoundly based on polyphonic procedures as became obvious with dodecaphony; a big part of his method was based on the baroque techniques of inversion, retrograde, and retrograde-inversion. The passage makes free use of chromaticism, with the traditional devices of repetition and imitation. Vertical intervals are mostly concealed, and have an even distribution between consonance and