The influence of Igor Stravinsky on the compositional style of Aaron Copland's Piano Variations

Deposited with permission of the author. © 2008 Amanda Louise HodderThis thesis, The Influence of Igor Stravinsky on the Compositional Style of Aaron Copland’s Piano Variations, examines the relationship between the two composers when they were both living in Paris in the early to mid-1920s. The study examines the possibility that Stravinsky’s approach to using melodic, rhythmic and harmonic devices (with the Serenade en La, composed in 1924, serving as the point of reference) may have affected the substantial shift in compositional style that occurred in Copland’s music around this time, as demonstrated in his Piano Variations (1930). Copland’s extensive body of writings about Stravinsky from this period are juxtaposed against Stravinsky’s reflections upon himself and his compositional style. The cultural Diaspora in Paris in the 1920s, the influence of Igor Stravinsky on Nadia Boulanger, Boulanger’s influence upon the young Aaron Copland, and the influence of American jazz upon the compositional styles of both Copland and Stravinsky are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the impact of the jazz idiom, noting that Copland commandeered its rhythmic and harmonic devices as salutes to his home country’s musical identity, thus claiming it as his own. Detailed analyses of both works were undertaken. Nine properties were identified with which to dissect and understand each piece, including rhythm, harmony, melody, form, texture, dynamic tension, the introduction of contrasting music (i.e. Secondary Themes), the evolution of the musical ideas, and pianism. Each variation of Piano Variations was studied individually, while in Serenade en La, individual movements were treated as separate entities. Data collected through the analyses was evaluated in a parallel study of the various elements and aspects of the two works in which similarities and differences were noted and discussed. It became evident that Stravinsky’s influence on Copland’s burgeoning career may have been, in fact, based more on aesthetic and philosophical properties than on specific, discernable compositional devices and processes