The Flood is a musical play for tenor solo, two bass soloists, chorus, speaking parts, and large orchestra. It is a large-scale piece, though extremely concise, as it was written for television. Subtitled a "dance drama," Stravinsky began composing The Flood after a request from CBS Television in 1959. The text of the work is derived from a number of sources, including mediaeval pageants and Genesis. It was Stravinsky's intention to represent the divine power of God, manifested in the flood, rather than dramatizing the life of Noah. For Stravinsky, "Noah is mere history," while the flood, replete with contemporary allusions, is "the Eternal Catastrophe...[it] is also The Bomb." Though the staging is quite complex, and the musical forces quite large, the work is nonetheless extremely concise, taking only a half an hour to perform. The short duration is a reflection of Stravinsky's desire to reach and please a television audience.

Stravinsky used different music and techniques to represent the different characters in this work. While no one character is represented specifically by one singer, Stravinsky does differentiate between the supernatural and mortal characters. God is represented by two basses, while the mortal characters utilize speaking parts. The work is divided into six parts: Prelude, The Building of the Ark, The Catalogue of the Animals, The Comedy, The Flood, and The Covenant of the Rainbow. The Building of the Ark and The Flood are choreographed sections, with pantomime and dancing. The other sections are divided into subsections, with singing juxtaposed with spoken narration.

The Flood is a serial work, and shows a particularly relaxed approach to serial composition, with the tone-rows effectively interrupted. Eric Walter White has noted that in certain sections notes are repeated, as Stravinsky disrupts the integrity of the row in order to suggest chant. It is also, as White points out, a work that is strongly based on harmony, or vertical organization, rather than melody, or horizontal considerations. This is important to note, as most of Stravinsky¹s oeuvre is remarkable for its contrapuntal texture.



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