Suite italienne

The Suite italienne derives from Stravinsky’s score for the ballet Pulcinella, which itself derives from an epoch-making idea by Sergei Diaghilev and a collection of scores by (or attributed to) Giambattista Pergolesi. Though not quite the first work of its kind - Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes had already performed The Good-Humoured Ladies by Tommasini out of Scarlatti and La boutique fantasque by Respighi out of Rossini - Pulcinella is now recognised as a definitive example of neo-classicism. A stylish and witty compilation of bits and pieces by Pergolesi (and others) and first performed in Paris in 1920, it is a classic case of eighteenth century material presented in an unmistakably modern and distinctive way.

The most popular version of the score is the orchestral suite compiled by Stravinsky in 1922. The two rather shorter Suites italiennes arranged ten years later - one for violin and piano in collaboration with Samuel Dushkin, the other for cello and piano in collaboration with Gregor Piatigorsky - are based on not quite the same material. The Introduzione, corresponding to the Overture to the ballet, and the Serenata, a charming Neapolitan serenade from Pergolesi’s opera Il Flaminio, are much the same in the two Suites italiennes and both are familiar items in the orchestral suite. The Aria, on the other hand, is peculiar to the cello suite. A bass aria in Pergolesi’s Il Flaminio and in Stravinsky’s ballet, it is particularly well suited to the cello both for its playfully aggressive opening section and its expressive second half. It ends with a brief reference back to the Serenata.

Common to both Suites italiennes (and the orchestral suite too), the Tarantella is a frantic study in moto perpetuo and a challenge to the virtuosity of whatever string instrumentalist, cellist or violinist, is involved alongside the hard-pressed pianist. The Minuetto e Finale are the last two movements not only of the three suites but also of the ballet itself, where the rather solemn minuet is inflated to such a size, in terms of dynamics and texture, that it eventually explodes with so much energy as to sustain a brilliantly conclusively (and peculiarly Spanish-coloured) Molto vivace.

arranged for violin and cello by Katherine Rife

Introduuzione: allegro moderato

Serenata: larghetto

Aria: allegro alla breve

Tarantella: vivace

Gavotta (con due variazioni)

Menuetto e Finale: moderato - molto vivace

The Suite italienne derives from Stravinsky’s score for the ballet Pulcinella, which itself derives from an epoch-making idea by Sergei Diaghilev and a collection of scores by Giambattista Pergolesi. Though not quite the first work of its kind - Diaghilev’s company. the Ballets Russes, had already performed The Good-Humoured Ladies to a score by Vincenzo Tommasini out of Domenico Scarlatti - Pulcinella is now recognised as a classic of neo-classicism. A stylish and witty compilation of Pergolesi bits and pieces, first performed in Paris in 1920, it is a definitive example of eighteenth century material presented in an unmistakably modern and distinctive way.

The score has become familiar to most people from the orchestral suite of 1922. The two Suites italiennes - one for cello and piano, one for violin and piano - were arranged by Stravinsky in collaboration with, respectively, Gregor Piatigorsky in 1932 and Samuel Dushkin in 1933. The piano part is not at all elaborate and it is quite possible, as Katherine Rife has done here, to transfer most of the harmonic and textural interest to a violin and cello duo. The four or five-not chords in the pompous little ritornello of the Introduzione are well within the capabilities of the two instruments, and the Serenata - originally a tenor aria - requires little more than a melodic line and a regular siciliano-style rhythmic accompaniment. Though originally a bass solo, the Aria (which Stravinsky included in the cllo version but not the violin version of the Suite italienne) is not as simple as the Serenata and requires some resourceful scoring from the arranger. the Tarantella, however, is basically two instrumental voices in common pursuit of its tireless 6/8 rhythms.

The comparatively full harmonies of the Gavotta in the violin and piano version are not particularly troublesome in a violin and cello context, still less the economical first variation and least of all the almost exclusively two-part writing of the second variation. If Stravinsky’s contrapuntal treatment of the Menuetto called for a special effort of the arranger’s imagination, the mainly chordal textures of the Finale lose little of their brilliance on double-stopped violin and cello strings.