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"I hold that it was a mistake to consider me a revolutionary. If one only need break habit in order to be labeled a revolutionary, then every artist who has something to say and who in order to say it steps outside the bounds of established convention could be considered revolutionary."

Key Points

  • Russian composer Igor Stravinsky experimented boldly with rhythm and new instrumental combinations.
  • Stravinsky's musical language also explores the percussive use of dissonance, as well as polyrhythms and polytonality.
  • Stravinsky's early works, including his ballets The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring, are strongly nationalistic; the last of these re-creates rites of ancient Russia.
  • Stravinsky's Neoclassical compositions include the theater work The Soldier's Tale; in his later years, he explored serial (twelve-tone) techniques.

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