A Manual, a Model, and a Sketch:

Renaissance Dance Rhythms in Stravinsky's Ballet Agon

Mark Richardson, East Carolina State University

Called the 'IBM ballet' by George Balanchine for its precise movement and organization, Stravinsky's ballet Agon has long been admired by musicians and investigated by theorists for the wonders held within its pitch organization. Equally remarkable, however, is the ballet's rhythmic organization, particularly those movements that draw upon characteristics of Renaissance dance rhythms refashioned by the composer's unique musical style. While composing the work, Stravinsky studied a newly translated edition of a sixteenth-century dance manual by F. De Lauze entitled Apologie de la Danse, and he incorporated many of the specific dance rhythms within his like-named dance movements. The following paper explores how Stravinsky's annotations in his copy of the De Lauze dance manual and on sketch drafts offer clues to his use of 'authentic' dance rhythms as models for selected movements of Agon, and the manner in which these rhythms may be at work not only within the surface rhythms, but also at the phrase and formal levels as well. Exploring the rhythmic details of each dance from the sketches to the final score and their relationship to corresponding Renaissance dance rhythms is the first step toward understanding Agon's rhythmic organization.