Editing Ostinato (section)

===Twentieth century===
[[Debussy]] featured an ostinato pattern throughout his Piano Prelude "[[Des pas sur la neige]]". Here, the ostinato pattern stays in the middle register of the piano&nbsp;– it is never used as a bass. "Remark that the footfall ostinato remains nearly throughout on the same notes, at the same pitch level... this piece is an appeal to the basic loneliness of all human beings, oft-forgotten perhaps, but, like the ostinato, forming a basic undercurrent of our history."<ref>Schmitz, E. R. (1950, pp.&nbsp;145–7) the Piano Works of Claude Debussy. New York, Dover.</ref> [[File:Debussy, Des pas sur la neige.png|thumb|center|500px|Debussy, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eym3nCRxev0 Des pas sur la neige]]] Of all the major classical composers of the 20th century, [[Stravinsky]] is possibly the one most associated with the practice of ostinato. In conversation with the composer, his friend and colleague [[Robert Craft]] remarked "Your music always has an element of repetition, of ostinato. What is the function of ostinato?"  Stravinsky replied; "It is static&nbsp;– that is, anti-development; and sometimes we need a contradiction to development."<ref>Stravinsky, I. and Craft R. (1959, p.42) ''Conversations with Igor Stravinsky''. London, Faber.</ref> Stravinsky was particularly skilled at using ostinatos to confound rather than confirm rhythmic expectations. In the first of his [[Three Pieces for String Quartet (Stravinsky)|''Three Pieces for String Quartet'']], Stravinsky sets up three repeated patterns, which overlap one another and never [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUepDjGgUnc coincide]. "Here a rigid pattern of (3+2+2/4) bars is laid over a strictly recurring 23-beat tune (the bars being marked by a cello ostinato), so that their changing relationship is governed primarily by the pre-compositional scheme."<ref>Walsh, S. (1988, p57) The Music of Stravinsky. London, Routledge.</ref> "The rhythmical current running through the music is what binds together these curious mosaic-like pieces."<ref>Vlad, R (1978, p52) ''Stravinsky''. Oxford University Press.</ref>

A subtler metrical conflict can be found in the final section of Stravinsky's ''[[Symphony of Psalms]]''. The choir sing a melody in triple time, while the bass instruments in the orchestra play a 4-beat ostinato against this. "This is built up over an ostinato bass (harp, two pianos and timpani) moving in fourths like a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqWZGUO_eoc&t=15m39s pendulum]."<ref>White, E.W. (1979, p.365) Stravinsky: the Composer and his Works. London, Faber.</ref>