Primitivism: Bartók and Stravinsky
             Primitivism is a word that describes the condition or quality that belongs to something crude and unrefined. When this word primitivism is applied to the arts, such as the visual arts or music, it can be described as simple ideas juxtaposed with each other forming new ideas, new images, and new sounds. In music, primitivism was a reaction to the rich complexity of Romanticism and later on, Impressionism. This paper will discuss the evolution and development of primitivism, Primitivism's roots in Impressionism, and the composers that have pioneered this form of art. The paper will also discuss Primitivism in visual art and its impact on music of the early 20th century.
             In the late 19th century, composers like Debussy and Griffes were writing music that focused on obscuring tonality, rhythm, and harmony, drastically reducing the use of counterpoint. The use of both new and old scales and modes aided Impressionistic composers in their quest to obscure the melody and harmony, leaving only pedal points to identify tonality. Impressionism was moderately limited in its nature and so it seemed that it was destined to be short lived. During the last years of Debussy and following his death in 1918 a new genre of music emerged: what we now call Primitivism.
             Primitivism evolved from Impressionism and simultaneously rebelled against the ideas of Impressionism. Primitivism used many techniques and ideas that the Impressionistic revolution provided, but unlike Impressionism, the musical ideas are clear and distinct.3 Primitivism in its purest form is to combine two familiar or simple ideas together creating new sounds. Examples of this can be heard in Bartók's Mikrokosmos: #70 "Melody against Double Notes" and "Songs of the Harvest". Primitivism also regularly employs the usage of melodic and harmonic counterpoint in many different forms. In these ways i...