Pulcinella

Pulcinella began as a ballet score and is now most often heard as an orchestral suite, since full stagings are rare on symphony programs. Stravinsky took melodies then attributed to the eighteenth century composer Pergolesi and dressed them in his own harmonies and rhythms, so familiar tunes keep arriving slightly off balance, with unexpected accents and biting instrumental pairings.

The suite opens with a bright Sinfonia, a short overture built on crisp string chords and a tune that bounces between instruments like a question passed around a room. A Serenata follows, slower and more lyrical, often carried by oboe or another solo woodwind singing above plucked strings. Later movements bring dance rhythms, a Tarantella with a quick spinning pulse, and a Gavotte with variations that let solo instruments show off in turn.

Listen for the trombone and double bass duet near the end, a deliberately comic, almost vulgar exchange that pokes fun at old-fashioned opera. Throughout, small groups of instruments, sometimes just a handful, step forward and then dissolve back into the full orchestra, giving the piece a chamber-music intimacy inside its orchestral frame.

Sergei Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes, asked Stravinsky to arrange music then believed to be by the eighteenth century composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi into a new ballet score. Stravinsky agreed, orchestrating and reworking the material rather than simply arranging it, and the result surprised listeners who expected a straightforward pastiche. The ballet Pulcinella premiered in Paris in 1920, choreographed by Léonide Massine with designs by Pablo Picasso, and Stravinsky later drew orchestral suites from it for the concert hall. The piece marked a turning point in his career, opening the neoclassical period in which he looked back to earlier musical styles while keeping his own rhythmic bite and harmonic surprise. It remains one of his most frequently performed works, valued for its wit, color, and the puzzle of old tunes made new.