Fantastic piece! It is really a theatrical work with music scored for seven instruments, and is essentially the story of Faust (in this case, a deserting soldier) and his pact with the devil. To understand the "jazz influence", and as always, it's all about context.
When the work was composed (1918?) jazz was just beginning to take shape in America. Stravinsky had never actually heard any jazz but was given some written scores of "jazz" music brought from America by his friend Ernest Ansermet who also conducted the premier of "L'Histoire". Like most serious composers in any genre open to influences from unexpected sources he was intrigued by some of what he "saw" in the written scores without really fully understanding what it actually sounded like. What I am talking about is different from, for instance, the idea of Beethoven being able to "hear" in his head what his music would sound like even though he was deaf. In this case I refer to one of THE biggest challenges for composers and orchestrators and one which continues to the present time: how to notate the FEELING of jazz syncopation. Truth is, it really can't be done. The classic swing feel of jazz can only be approximated when notating jazz and is ultimately left up to the performer to realize it in a credible way. For the geeks, this is what it's about; all others skip to the end :-) :
-Imagine simple, slow tempo (one beat per second), four beats to the measure music: "one, two, three, four" "one, two, three, four" (repeat several times while tapping your foot to that beat).
-Now, while tapping that same beat, subdivide each beat into four equal subdivisions: "ONE (two, three, four), TWO (two, three, four), THREE (two, three, four), FOUR (two, three, four)". Repeat several times.
-Now the fun part: do the same thing, but emphasize FOUR:
"one (two, three, FOUR), two (two, three, FOUR), three (two, three, FOUR), four (two, three, FOUR)"
That emphasized FOUR is the most basic way to describe classic jazz syncopation. The problem for composers trying to notate this is that "FOUR" is too close to the next beat, and if notated this way would sound very "square" (white dude on the dance floor square :-) )
-Now, think Frank Sinatra (same tempo as before) :
"shoo BY doo BY doo (four, one) EX chang ING glan CE s stran GERS in THE night". Note that the emphasized subdivision has a different feeling than the previous example. In this case it is closer to when each beat is subdivided into threes (triplets) with the emphasis on the third subdivision:
"one (two, THREE), two (two, THREE), three (two, THREE), four (two, THREE).
Closer, but still not right; now the emphasis is a little too far from the next downbeat. That's the dilemma; you need something in between the two examples. So, most smart jazz composers often don't bother at all and notate the music with a simple duplet (in twos) subdivision and leave it up to the performer to find the correct feeling. Back to Stravinsky:
In "L'Histoire" there are three "Dances", one of which Stravinsky titled "Ragtime". Ragtime, as we all know, was one of the earliest forms of "jazz". Listen to Stravinsky's "Ragtime" and you will note, besides the constantly changing time signatures (odd meter) and syncopation, a recurring musical figure like the above example of subdivision in fours, but this time in a much faster tempo:
"da TA da TA da"
First heard in the bassoon about thirty seconds into the "Ragtime". I guess one could say that was Stravinsky's idea of swinging his ass off :-)
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