Knowra Pulcinella Pulcinella Pulcinella is a ballet by Igor Stravinsky, premiered in 1920, that transforms eighteenth-century music then attributed largely to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi through modern harmony, rhythm, and orchestration.
Neoclassicism : A modern artistic movement that revived and reworked forms and styles associated with earlier classical traditions. Pulcinella became a landmark in Stravinsky’s turn toward reimagined eighteenth-century forms.
Sergei Diaghilev : A Russian impresario who founded the Ballets Russes and commissioned works from leading composers and artists. Diaghilev proposed the ballet and brought its collaborators together.
Pulcinella (character) : A comic masked figure from commedia dell’arte, usually portrayed as a clever, unruly servant. The ballet centers on this stock character’s feigned death, disguises, and eventual marriage.
Concerto grosso : A Baroque instrumental form that contrasts a small group of soloists with a larger ensemble. Pulcinella borrows Baroque concerto-grosso gestures but recasts them in twentieth-century harmony.
Igor Stravinsky : A Russian-born composer whose works transformed twentieth-century music, including The Rite of Spring and Pulcinella. He retained source melodies while changing their harmony, rhythm, and orchestral character.
Ballets Russes : A ballet company founded by Sergei Diaghilev that shaped modern dance and stage design in the early twentieth century. The company commissioned and premiered Pulcinella in Paris.
Commedia dell’arte : A form of Italian popular theatre built around masked stock characters, improvised dialogue, and recurring plot patterns. Its characters and theatrical conventions give Pulcinella its plot and visual world.
Pulcinella source music : Eighteenth-century pieces and fragments used by Stravinsky as the basis for Pulcinella. Comparing the sources with the ballet reveals how extensively Stravinsky altered them.
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi : An Italian composer of the early eighteenth century, long credited with music later identified as having multiple authors. Music attributed to Pergolesi supplied much of Pulcinella’s source material.
Leonide Massine : A Russian choreographer and dancer who created ballets for the Ballets Russes and other companies. Massine devised Pulcinella’s choreography and staged its commedia dell’arte plot.
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