Tarantella (Stravinsky)
1898 unfinished piano work by Igor Stravinsky / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The "Tarantella" by Igor Stravinsky is an unfinished 16-measure fragment for piano composed on October 14, 1898. It is his earliest surviving attempt at composition.
Tarantella | |
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by Igor Stravinsky | |
Composed | October 14, 1898 |
Dedication | D. Rudnev |
Duration | c. 1 minute |
Scoring |
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Premiere | |
Date | 2021 |
Performers | Alexey Zuev |
What motivated Stravinsky to compose "Tarantella" is unknown, but musicologist Graham Griffiths speculates it was an improvisation related to outings with his cousin in search of tarantulas. It was eventually deposited at the Russian Public Library in Leningrad, where it was discovered by musicologist Valery Smirnov, who published excerpts in 1970. Richard Taruskin wrote that its only noteworthy quality was "how little talent it displays", but Griffiths said its "greater significance" was as an example of a "creative process adopted intuitively by Stravinsky at a time when he was still musically uneducated".