CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Double Canon (Stravinsky)

short composition for string quartet by Igor Stravinsky,

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionOct 23, 2024
Entity authorityQ1960193 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Double Canon (Raoul Dufy in Memoriam) is a short composition for string quartet by Igor Stravinsky, composed in 1959. It lasts only about a minute and a quarter in performance.

History

Although it is a memorial piece for the painter Raoul Dufy, who had died on 23 March 1953, the Double Canon is not a personal tribute, for the two men had never met. The work originated as a duet for flute and clarinet, composed in Venice in September 1959 as a souvenir piece in response to a request for an autograph. Later expanded for string quartet, it had its first performance at a Stravinsky festival in New York, either on 20 December 1959, or else on 10 January 1960 in a concert also featuring the premiere of the Movements for piano and orchestra.

Analysis

The Double Canon is exceptional in Stravinsky's twelve-tone compositions in that it uses transposed forms of the row. Stravinsky's habitual practice was to use only untransposed row forms.

The first five notes of Stravinsky's series for the Double Canon are equivalent to the five-note set of In Memoriam Dylan Thomas, and also are closely related to sets used in Agon, Epitaphium, and A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer. It is representative of the earliest phase of Stravinsky's serial practice, when he had not yet developed the technique of hexachordal rotation that characterizes his music written from the Movements onward.

References

Sources

Douw, André.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Double Canon (Stravinsky)” is short composition for string quartet by Igor Stravinsky,. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Double, Canon and Stravinsky, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1959, 1953, 1960—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1959. For this dossier, Double, Canon and Stravinsky is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “short composition for string quartet by Igor Stravinsky,” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 23, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q1960193. VIAF identifies the subject as 183276500. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1959, 1953 and 1960.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Double Canon (Stravinsky)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Double Canon (Stravinsky) primary sources, Double Canon (Stravinsky) archive and Double research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Double Canon (Stravinsky)”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Double Canon (Stravinsky)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.