description Igor Stravinsky: Pulcinella Overview
Pulcinella is a one-act ballet by Igor Stravinsky, premiered in Paris in 1920 by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with choreography by Léonide Massine and designs by Pablo Picasso. Based on commedia dell'arte characters and scenarios, its score reworks music then attributed largely to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Written for singers and a chamber-sized orchestra, it became an important early expression of Stravinsky's neoclassical approach.
help Igor Stravinsky: Pulcinella FAQ
Did Stravinsky really base Pulcinella on music by Pergolesi?
Pulcinella was presented as an arrangement of music attributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, but later scholarship reassigned several source pieces to other 18th-century composers. Stravinsky reshaped the borrowed melodies through modern harmony, rhythm, and orchestration.
Who created the original Pulcinella ballet?
The Ballets Russes production brought together Stravinsky's music, choreography by Léonide Massine, and designs by Pablo Picasso. It premiered in Paris in 1920 under impresario Sergei Diaghilev.
What is the plot of Pulcinella?
Pulcinella stages a comic series of disguises, jealous lovers, apparent deaths, and reconciliations drawn from commedia dell'arte. The title character survives attacks by rivals and ultimately helps arrange marriages, including his own to Pimpinella.
Why is Pulcinella considered the start of Stravinsky's neoclassical period?
Stravinsky turned deliberately toward 18th-century forms and melodies after the large, explosive ballets The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring. Pulcinella preserves old outlines while making them sound unmistakably modern through displaced accents and unexpected harmonies.
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