The New Grove Stravinsky
by Stephen Walsh
The New Grove Stravinsky by Stephen Walsh |
Period: Early 20th
Century
Born: Saturday, June 17, 1882 in Oranienbaum (near St.
Petersburg), Russia
Died: Tuesday, April 6, 1971 in New York, New York
(USA)
Nation of Origin: Russia
Major Works:
Firebird Suite
Petrushka Suite
The Rite of Spring
Pulcinella
Other Information:
Igor Fydorovich Stravinsky was born on 17 June 1882 at Oranienbaum
on the Gulf of Finland opposite Kronstadt and near St Petersburg,
Russia. He was a son of Fyodor Ignatyevich Stravinsky (1843 - 1902)
a principal bass at the Imerial Opera in St. Petersburg who made
over 1200 appearances in 64 roles during his career. Igor
Stravinsky took his first piano lessons when he was 9 years old.
Very soon he spent his time at piano improvising and not practicing
his piano exercises. He also spent a lot of time reading and
memorizing opera scores that he was able to find in his father's
huge library. Perhaps his first contact with live music was when
his father took him to the opera. Later in life, Stravinsky
mentioned this first contact, but credited his sudden interest in
music to a performance of Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony
("Symphonie Patéthique") which was performed in
memory of Tchaikovsky who had died recently in 1893.
Since his parents did not want Igor to study music and wanted him
to enter a profession, Stravinsky studied law at the University of
St Petersburg. To satisfy his need for music, he still had piano
lessons and went to concerts. Meeting Rimsky-Korsakov's son gave
him an opportunity to be a frequent guest at the world-famous
composer's house. Rimsky-Korsakov saw a great talent of his guest,
and in 1903 he offered to give Stravinsky private lessons - an
offer Stravinsky did not decline.
Rimsky-Korsakov organized concerts in St Petersburg at which his
students' works were performed. In 1909, at one of these concerts,
Stravinsky's first mature compositions "Scherzo
fantastique" (written 1907-08) and "Fireworks" (written
1908) had their premieres. It was a good fortune for Stravinsky
that Serge Diaghilev attended this very performance. Diaghilev
earlier that year formed his famous dance troupe "Ballet
Russe" gathering great names of that period like russian dancer
Vaclav Nijinski and choreographer Mikhail Fokine. Diaghilev asked
Stravinsky to write for his troupe a ballet on a legend of
"The Firebird" because Anatoly Lyadov, the composer from
whom Diaghilev first commissioned the score, failed to meet the
deadline. "The Firebird", ballet in 1 act and 3 scenes, was
written during 1909 and 1910 and first performed in 1910 in Paris
with choreography by Fokine. It was a tremendous success and made
Stravinsky world-famous overnight. Diaghilev was delighted and for
the next season Stravinsky wrote "Petrushka" (1910-11)
another ballet for Diaghilev's troupe. "Petrushka" was
first performed before an audience in Paris on June 13, 1911, with
Nijinsky in the title role. While working on the score for
"The Firebird", Stravinsky "had a fleeting
vision..." as he later recounted. It was a vision of a solemn pagan
rite of sacrifice of a young girl to please the god of spring. In
1911, after the successful performance of "Petrushka"
Stravinsky got an opportunity to make his vision come true. From
1911 till the beginning of 1913 he was working on a score for
"The Rite of Spring" ("Le Sacre du Printemps")
subtitled "Scenes of Pagan Russia" - the new ballet for
"Ballet Russe" troupe.
Date: May 29, 1913, place: Thétre des Champs-Elysées,
Paris; event: the most notorious world premiere in the history of
music - the world premiere of "The Rite of Spring".
Things went wrong at the very beginning - during the playing of the
opening bars famous french composer Camille Saint-Saens walked out
complaining loudly for misuse of the bassoon in a very high
register. Soon other loud complaints were heard which gradually
turned into a riot. The audience was so loud that the dancers were
unable to hear the music played by the orchestra beneath them.
Debussy and Ravel tried in vain to calm the audience. By this event
modernism came into world of music and Stravinsky became the prince
of the avant-garde. But the music was not the only problem. Many
thought that Nijinsky's choreography reflected Stravinsky's denial
of all "rules" in music. Also, the tale, music and
choreography called for controversial clan scenes and
cosmography.
When World War I began, Stravinsky moved with his family to
Switzerland where he continued to compose. Wartime conditions
forced Stravinsky to write pieces for smaller groups. Two of his
most popular pieces dating from this "Switzerland period"
are "Les Noces" ("The Wedding", 1914-17) and
"L'histoire du soldat" ("The Soldier's Tale",
1918). "Les Noces", subtitled "Choreographic Scenes
with song and music", describes a typical Russian ritualistic
wedding. The text, arranged in 4 scenes, was adapted by the
composer from Russian folk songs. After trying with several
accompaniments for predominantly vocal parts (4 soloists and mixed
choir), Stravinsky decided to employ 4 pianos and 17 percussion
instruments. "L'histoire du soldat", theater piece in two
parts, is mixture of music for 12 instruments, 2 spoken roles and 2
danced parts (no singers). Stravinsky wrote it in collaboration
with C.F. Ramuz in 1918 on a Russian folk tale about a Soldier who
makes a pact with the Devil. Despite its Russian background, the
music for "L'histoire" is not nationalistic but shows
contemporary and cosmopolitan influences like American jazz and
ragtime. Stravinsky himself said this piece was his "final
break with the Russian orchestral school."
Being unable to return to Russia due to new Communist regime,
Stravinsky settled in Paris after the war and became a French
citizen in 1934. There he continued his collaboration with
Diaghilev and choreographer Massine writing for them
"Pulcinella" (1920), ballet in one scene with song for
soprano, tenor and bass soloists and small ensemble. The whole
music is "re-composition" of different pieces attributed to
the Italian baroque master Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. This piece
inaugurates Stravinsky's neo-classical period by which Stravinsky
(in a way) rediscovered the past in a time when avant-garde music
was flourishing all over the world. Works written in France in the
neo-classical manner include the opera-oratorio in 2 acts
"Oedipus Rex" (1927), based on Sophocle's most famous
tragedy (text arranged by Jean Cocteau and translated in Latin) and
the ballet "Apollon Musagete" ("Apollo the Leader
of the Muses, 1927) written for the festival of contemporary music
in Washington DC (choreography by Balanchine).
In late 1930s Stravinsky was tired of old Europe: another war was
imminent, his wife and one daughter had died of tuberculosis, and
French critics who violently attacked him for "Le Sacre du
printemps" (calling it "Le Massacre du printemps") were now
complaining about his new neo-classical style. In 1939 he moved to
the United States of America with his mistress Vera de Bossett and
settled in Hollywood in 1940. This was an obvious move since he had
some wealthy admirers in the USA. Serge Koussevitsky, a prominent
conductor, was already championing his works and commissioned the
"Symphony of Psalms" (1930) for the 50th anniversary of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra. After settling in the USA, Stravinsky
composed some of his best neo-classical works including
"Symphony in Three Movements" (1942-45) which Stravinsky
described as his "War Symphony" and his only full-length
opera "The Rake's Progress" (1947-51), inspired by
Hogarth's series of eight paintings presenting Tom Rakewell's
descent into madness (libretto by W. H. Auden and C. Kallman).
Hollywood was at that time a mecca for exiled European artists like
Schoenberg and other avant-garde composers but it seems that
Stravinsky avoided them. It was the young American conductor Robert
Craft who discreetly introduced Stravinsky to some key avant-garde
music. Stravinsky was most deeply impressed by the music of Anton
Webern. Gradually Stravinsky began to use the twelve-tone system
resulting in the astonishing work "Agon" (1957) (agon in
Greek means "contest") in which Stravinsky combined
tradition and modernity.
Towards the end of his life Igor Stravinsky achieved a great
celebrity being feted by Pope John Paul XXIII, the Kennedys and
even Nikita Khrushchev during his triumphant visit to his homeland
in 1962.
Igor Fydorovich Stravinsky died in New York on April 6, 1971. As he
had requested, he was buried on Venice's cemetery island San Michel
near his old companion and friend Serge Diaghilev.
Stravinsky's legacy is vast. He wrote operas, ballets, orchestral
music (symphonies and pieces for solo instrument and orchestra)
works for piano, voices and instrument, unaccompanied voices, and
chamber music. But it is his diverse style, ranging from
Russian-influenced early pieces through music for "Le sacre
du printemps" to neo-classicism and modernism, that makes him an
outstanding figure in 20th-century music.
It would not be practical to list outstanding recordings of
Stravinsky's works because there are so many of them. It is simpler
to point to conductors who have championed Stravinsky's works to
critical acclaim. They include Pierre Boulez, Esa-Pekka Salonen,
Kent Nagano, Robert Craft, and Michael Tilson-Thomas. It should be
noted that Stravinsky started his conducting career in his late
years. But since Stravinsky was not an outstanding conductor those
recordings are mainly of historical interest.
Alen Hadzovic
alenh@nupedia.com
June 2000
Used by permission of the author
Essay contributed by:
Alen Hadzovic
General Bibliography:
Kennedy, Michael, The Oxford Dictionary of
Music, Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 1997, ISBN:
0198691629
Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John; Editors, The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Groves Dictionaries, Inc.,
January 2001, ISBN: 1561592390
Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura; Editors,
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Gale Group,
December 2000, ISBN: 0028655257
Slonimsky, Nicolas, Music Since 1900,
Schirmer Books, July 1994, ISBN: 0028724186
Links to essays at other sites:
 Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction by Eric Salzman |
Please note: These links will open in a new window.
Biographical essay from the Grove Concise Dictionary of
Music
Biographical essay at the Karadar site
If the Karadar link does not work, try searching karadar.com
directly.
Biographical essay at the Naxos site
If this link does not work, try searching naxos.com directly.
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