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Stravinsky's Serial "Mistakes", Joseph N. Straus

Publications and Research

In 1952, after the completion of The Rake's Progress, Stravinsky embarked on a remarkable voyage of compositional discovery. His late works differ from his earlier ones in striking and profound ways. During the final two decades of his life, every major work was almost shockingly new, right down to original, and ever-changing, principles of structural formation. The works in this period describe a succession of compositional firsts, including his first works to use a series (Cantata [1952], Septet [ 1953], Three Songs from William Shakespeare [1954]); his first fully serial work (In Memoriam Dylan Thomas [1954]); his …