The Apollonian Clockwork

On Stravinsky

Louis Andriessen Elmer Schönberger

9789053568569

314 pages

Amsterdam University Press

Paperback / softback $74.95

Add to Cart

Overview

‘I think my music deserves to be considered as a whole’, Igor Stravinsky remarked at the end of a long and restless career, and that is exactly what the authors of The Apollonian Clockwork do. In 1982, convinced that there is no essential difference between ‘early’ and ‘late’ Stravinsky, Louis Andriessen and Elmer Schönberger were the first to write a monograph on the composer which radically breaks with the habit of dividing his works into ‘Russian’, ‘neoclassical’ and ‘serial’. In an essay which continually shifts in its approach, style and perspective, the authors elaborate on their insight that a single, immutable compositional attitude underlies the whole of Stravinsky’s oeuvre. By this token the book not only offers an analysis of the composer’s protean work and artistry but takes example by it as well.

Author Bio

Louis Andriessen (1939) is widely regarded as a central figure in the international new music scene. Performers of his work include the two Dutch groups named after his works De Volharding and Hoketus, the Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern and Bang On A Can All Stars. Amongst his many works for music theater are collaborations with Peter Greenaway (Rosa, Writing to Vermeer) and Hal Hartley. Elmer Schönberger (1950) is a musicologist, composer and writer. From 1976 to 2004 he was head music critic for the Dutch weekly Vrij Nederland. His most recent book was about musical essays named Het Gebroken Oor (2005), his most recent composition Dressing Old Words new (2005) and his most recent theater play Naar Moskou, Moskou (2005).