Studies in the relationship between music and literature: Stravinsky's "Divertimento"

At first glance, the ambiguity of the phrase "Inspired by Tschaikovsky's Muse" printed on the title page of Stravinsky's "Divertimento" for violin and piano creates a feeling of disassociation in the reader. Taking this phrase as a point of departure, the purpose of this thesis is to examine the unusual characteristics of that work. The first chapter lays the groundwork for this task by considering issues such as the communication of symbolic meaning in literate cultures, the role of mimetic representation in works of art and intertextual relations in printed literary and musical sources. After examining Stravinsky's characteristic uses of the past, the remainder of the second chapter is spent in analyzing "Divertimento's" source works from their beginnings in 19th century texts to their full realization in the ballet production "Le Baiser de la fee," and the evolutionary processes which eventually lead to the final violin-piano transcription. First, the libretto of the ballet from which "Divertimento" is transcribed, an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's short story, "Iisjomfruen," is carefully examined. Then the various melodic quotations from Tchaikovsky's piano and vocal works of which "Le Baiser" is composed are scrutinized. Finally, the cathartic processes of transformation which "Le Baiser" undergoes as it becomes a violin-piano transcription are examined. As a result, more than simply being a ballet shorn of its choreography, stage decor and costumes, "Divertimento" is found to be the structure in which lies a collection of artistic representational ideas which, by reflecting one another, acquire multiple layers of meaning.