Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)

Pulcinella

Composed 1919-20

When Pulcinella premiered in Paris in 1920, audiences expected something bold from Igor Stravinsky. Only seven years earlier, he had shaken the musical world with The Rite of Spring, and listeners were primed for another shock. What they encountered instead was music that sounded strikingly rooted in the 18th century. Based on works attributed at the time to Giovanni Pergolesi, Pulcinella was unlike anything Stravinsky had previously composed. Its elegance, clarity, and wit were not a retreat from modernism, but the beginning of a new artistic direction that would profoundly shape the next phase of his career.

The project originated with Sergei Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes and one of Stravinsky’s closest collaborators. In the aftermath of World War I, Diaghilev sought ballets of smaller scale and lighter character, works that could appeal to audiences weary of spectacle and excess. His search led him to a collection of baroque manuscripts preserved at the Naples Conservatory, many of which were then believed to be by Pergolesi, though later scholarship revealed a more complicated authorship. From this material emerged a ballet inspired by commedia dell’arte, centered on Pulcinella, the mischievous and quick-witted Neapolitan trickster.

Stravinsky approached the idea with some hesitation, uncertain whether he could engage convincingly with such historical material. Curiosity soon replaced reluctance. Rather than rewriting the music wholesale, he retained its melodic contours and harmonic foundations, filtering them through his own modern sensibility. Scored for a compact ensemble and three vocal soloists, the music sparkles with unexpected instrumental colors, rhythmic bite, and subtle harmonic shifts. What appears simple and graceful on the surface is quietly transformed into something vivid, ironic, and unmistakably Stravinskian.

Stravinsky later described Pulcinella as an epiphany—the moment he discovered that the past could serve not as a constraint, but as a source of creative freedom. This realization marked the beginning of his neoclassical period, a stylistic path he would continue to explore for decades. The ballet, choreographed by Léonide Massine with sets and costumes by Pablo Picasso, became a fully integrated artistic statement. Its playful reimagining of the 18th century through a modern lens was greeted at its premiere as both unexpected and invigorating.

This performance presents Pulcinella in its complete original form, as conceived for the ballet stage in 1920. All of the instrumental movements are included, along with the vocal numbers for soprano, tenor, and bass that play a central role in shaping the work’s character and dramatic continuity. Two years after the ballet’s premiere, Stravinsky arranged portions of the score into a concert suite, selecting eight movements that have since become familiar in the symphonic repertoire. Heard complete, however, Pulcinella reveals a broader expressive range and a more continuous theatrical design than the suite alone can convey.

One of the defining features of Pulcinella is its sense of musical disguise. Just as the characters of commedia dell’arte appear behind literal masks, Stravinsky cloaks his modern musical language in the dress of the 18th century. Beneath the surface charm lie rhythmic surprises, asymmetrical phrasing, and harmonic twists that quietly undermine expectations. These moments of imbalance and wit expose the composer’s contemporary voice peeking through the historical veneer.

More than a clever reworking of old material, Pulcinella played a decisive role in reshaping musical aesthetics in the early 20th century. Its approach to form, balance, and reinvention influenced composers such as Prokofiev, Ravel, and Hindemith, and offered Stravinsky a new way forward after the radical experiments of his earlier years. With Pulcinella, Stravinsky did not merely borrow from the past—he transformed it, revealing how tradition itself could become a vehicle for innovation.

Instrumentation – two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, one trumpet, one trombone, strings, solo string quintet, solo soprano, solo tenor, solo bass

Duration – 40 minutes

~ Kenneth Bean 
Georg and Joyce Albers-Schonberg Assistant Conductor
Princeton Symphony Orchestra