The ''complexe sonore'' is an octatonic chord consisting of

minor third In music theory, a minor third is a interval (music), musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval (music)#Number, interval numb ...

relations. Taruskin, Richard (1996). ''Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works through Mavra'', p.937 and 1394. . More precisely, the ''complexe sonore'' is

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

's use of

diatonic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair ...

and

whole tone In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more deta ...

motifs, and scales, against an octatonic background, rotated by

s. Stravinsky "considered them to be in a perpetual state of potential symmetrical rotation by

s under which the octatonic background scale is invariant."

Dmitri Tymoczko Dmitri Tymoczko (born 1969) is an American music theorist and composer. As a theorist, he has published more than two dozen articles dealing with topics related to contemporary tonality, including scales, voice leading, and functional harmonic n ...

argues that Stravinsky's octatonicism results "from two other compositional techniques: modal use of non-diatonic minor scales, and superimposition of elements belonging to different scales."

References

{{Chords Chords

See also

Further reading

References