Abstract
The position of Stravinsky’s oeuvre in the twentieth-century music is considered in the article on the basis of the paradigms of the art of music both in the past and today. Three general paradigms of music are highlighted: the first one is originated from speech, the second one from nature and universe, and the third one from rite and gesture. A number of citations both by and about Stravinsky allow to assume that both rite and gesture underlie his oeuvre, so its position among other representatives of the neo-classical trend and its role in renovating an entire Western-European music culture are qualified thereby.