Scott E. Hartley

Each summer Wednesday the Boston Landmarks Orchestra performs on the Esplanade, along the crepuscular sunset shores of the Charles.  Last night the symphony brought Stravinsky into my ears and thoughts, and reminded me of a quote that successful music requires a core of repetition supplemented with innovation. Stravinsky pioneered what came to be known as “Motivic Development,” the repetition of a melodic phrase, around which the piece centers. “I know that the twelve notes in each octave and the variety of rhythm offer me opportunities that all of human genius will never exhaust.” The constituent elements of the Internet are static, like the notes. But it is the syncopation and the style with which they are assembled that allow for new-found genius. Each deviation is small, but the aggregated change we witness online is the iterative process of consistency and deviation that is Stravinsky.