Les_cinq_doigts

<i>Les cinq doigts</i>

Les cinq doigts

1921 piano composition by Igor Stravinsky


Les cinq doigts is a 1921 piano composition by Igor Stravinsky. Subtitled 8 mélodies très faciles sur 5 notes (8 very easy melodies on 5 notes), the work comprises eight short pieces in which the right hand generally plays only five notes, remaining in essentially the same position at the keyboard throughout the work. The movements of the work have these tempo markings:

  1. Andantino
  2. Allegro
  3. Allegretto
  4. Larghetto
  5. Moderato
  6. Lento
  7. Vivo
  8. Pesante

Richard Taruskin has noted that the third section, the "Allegretto", is an arrangement of the Russian folk melody "Kamarinskaya".[1]

Stravinsky made a recording of Les cinq doigts for Brunswick Records as part of his first recording contract, signed in 1925.[2]

In 1962, the composer orchestrated the pieces, adding a few counter-melodies and imitations, yielding the chamber work, Eight Miniatures for Fifteen Players.

The Moderato movement is featured in the movie Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky.[citation needed]


References

  1. Taruskin, Richard (Spring 1993). "Back to Whom? Neoclassicism as Ideology". 19th-Century Music. 16 (3): 286–302. doi:10.2307/746396. JSTOR 746396.
  2. Walsh, Stephen (September 1989). "First Rites for Stravinsky". The Musical Times. 130 (1759): 538–539. doi:10.2307/1193520. JSTOR 1193520.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Les_cinq_doigts, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.