Abstract

Addressed here is the psychological complexity of meter, notated and heard, in The Firebird and Part II of The Rite of Spring. Of concern from the standpoint of the listener are the competing forces of meter, displacement, and parallelism; how these forces take precedence, with melody and harmony falling into place accordingly. Duly supplanted is the motivicism of the Classical style, as Theodor Adorno observed some time ago. Also of consequence here are octatonic harmony and the strict performance style favored by the composer on a life-time basis.