At the End of the Text Following the Index Will Be

AL L RIGHT S RE SE RVE D

Co ri ht 193 6 b Simon and chuster py g , , y S , F 3 86 ourth Avenue , New York

Printed in the United States by

Strat ord ress nc New Yor I . k f P , , At the end of the text following the Index will b e und m t t h fo so e por raits and pho ograp s of Igor Stravinsky

FOREWORD

The aim this v lume is to set d wn a ew recol of o o f

li e It eri d m . lections connected with vario us p o s of y f is equally intended for those interested in my music

i m l ather there re than a bi ra h and n se . R y f , fo , og p y

it will be simle acc unt im rtant events side a p o of po b side with acts min r c nse uence : b th how y f of o o q o , e ver have a certain si ni icance or me * and I wish , g f f ,

to relate themacc rdin to the dictates m mem o g of y

ory .

Naturally I shall not be able to keep within the

b unds b ar te As I all rec lle ti ns e sta ment . m o of c y o c o

to mind I shall necessaril be bli ed to s ea k m , y o g p of y

inions m tastes m re ere nces and m abh r op , y , y p f , y o

renees.

I amb ut too well w re h m th l a a of ow uch ese fee ' in s var in the course time This i wh I hall g y of . s y s take great care not to confuse my present reactions

with th se ex erienced at ther ta e o p o s g s in my life .

J F O R E WO RD

There are still further reasons which induce me to write thi b In numer u i e vie ave s ook . o s nt r ws I h

iven m th u hts m w rds and even acts have g , y o g , y o , f

ten b een dis ured to the extent bec min ab of fig of o g solutel unrec nizable y og .

I therefore undertake this task today in order to

resent to the reader a true icture msel and to p p of y f, dissi ate the accumulati n misunderstandin s p o of g that has gathered abo ut both my work and my per

8 072 .

IGO R STRAVIN SK Y

s M E M O RY th e fi reaches back along the vista of years , the increasing distance adds to the difficul ty of see

ing clearly and choosing between those incidents

which make a deep impression and those which ,

u tho gh perhaps more important in themselves , leave

’ no u . trace , and in no way infl ence one s development

u of o u Th s , one my earliest mem ries of so nd will

seem somewhat odd .

u It was in the co ntry, where my parents , like

u most people of their class , spent the s mmer with I see . their children . can it now An enormou s peas

on u f a u ant seated the st mp o a tree . The sh rp resino s

of - cut tang fresh wood in my nostrils . The peasant simply clad in a short red shirt . His bare legs cov

a ered with reddish hair, on his feet birch sand ls , on his head a mop of h air as thick and as red as his — a an be rd not a white hair , yet old man .

um b ut of He was d b , he had a way clicking his S TRA VIN SK Y

u i of tong e very noisily, and the ch ldren were afraid

So . But u u to u him . was I c riosity sed tri mph over

. ul un . fear The children wo d gather ro d him Then ,

u ul . to am se them , he wo d begin to sing This song

of was composed two syllables, the only ones he

of could pronounce . They were devoid any mean

but ing, he made them alternate with incredible

u to accom dexterity in a very rapid tempo . He sed pany this clucking in the following way : pressing

of h l s i u the palm r ght hand nder his left armpit, he

ul his wo d work left arm with a rapid movement, F making it press on the right hand . rom beneath the red shirt he extracted a succession of soun ds which

u u but an d were somewhat d bio s very rhythmic, which might be euphemistically described as re

u u so nding kisses . This am sed me beyond words , and at home I set myself with zeal to imitate this music

-so often and so successfully that I was forbidden to ul u ind ge in s ch an indecent accompaniment . The tw o dul l syllables which alone remained thus lost all their attraction for me . Another memory which often comes back is the singing of the women of the neighboring village .

eat sman of ul There were a gr y them, and reg arly S TRA VI N SK Y every evening they sang in unison on their way

’ To I re home after the day s work . this day clearly

u member the t ne , and the way they sang it, and h ow u n , when I sed to si g it at home , imitating their

e on u of manner, I was compliment d the tr eness my ear . This praise made me very happy .

odd hi u 5 And it is an thing that t s occ rrence, tri

lin u h as al a f g tho gh it seems , a speci signific nce for

u th e of u me, beca se it marks dawn my conscio sness of myself in the réle of musician .

I will confine myself to those two impressions of

u s u e s mmer, which was alway associated with a pict r of un of the co try, and all the things to be seen and heard there . — w as u Winter q ite another story town . My memories of that do not go so far back as those of sum

e was mer, and I date them from the tim when I l u o d . its u of abo t three years Winter, with c rtailing

u u liberty and am sements, with its rigoro s discipline

to en and interminable length, was not likely make

ur d ing impressions . My parents were not specially concerned with

u un ue my m sical development til I was nine . It is tr

u u that there was m sic in the ho se, my father being the

[ 5 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

leading bass singer of the Imperial Opera in St .

P t u b ut u e ersb rg, I heard all this m sic only at a dis — tance from the nursery to which my brothers and

I were relegated . When I was nine my parents gave me a piano

u k a u mistress . I very q ic ly learned to re d m sic, and,

th e ul of im as res t reading, soon had a longing to

rovise u u p , a p rs it to which I devoted myself, and

u which for a long time was my favorite occ pation . There cannot have been anything very interesting

s u u re in these improvisation , beca se I was freq ently

proach ed for wasting my time in that way instead

of b ut of practicing properly, I was definitely a dif

ferent a opinion, and the repro ches vexed me con

ide abl u a u a s r y . Altho gh tod y I nderst nd and admit

of or the need of this discipline for a child nine ten ,

I mu st say that my constant work at improvisation

u u was not absol tely fr itless , for, on the one hand, it

t u con rib ted to my better knowledge of the piano , and u a , on the other, it sowed the seed of m sic l ideas .

u u Apropos of this , I sho ld like to q ote a remark of

’ Rimsky- Korsakov s that he made later on when I

a became his pupil . I sked him whether I was right “ S in always composing at the piano . ome compose

[ 6 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

at a u . the pi no , he replied, and some witho t a piano ”

ou ou . As for y , y will compose at the piano As a matter of fact, I do compose at the piano and I do

u t u not regret it . I go f r her , I think it is a tho sand times better to compose in direct contact with the physical medium of sound than to work in the ab

’ u stract medium prod ced by one s imagination . — Apart from my improvisation and piano prao

u u tice , I fo nd immense pleas re in reading the opera

’ — scores of which my father s library consisted all

the more so becau se I was able to read with great

M u facility . y mother also had that gift, and I m st

a have inherited it from her . Im gine my j oy, there

fore, when for the first time I was taken to the thea tre where they were giving an opera with which as

l A i e or a pianist I was already fami iar . It was L f f the Tsar , and it was then I heard an orchestra for

t — ’ the first time . And what an orches ra Glink a s !

b ut u The impression was indelible , it m st not be

supposed that this was du e solely to the fact that it

c a was the first or hestr I ever heard . To this day, not

’ Glinka s u b ut only m sic in itself, his orchestration

um u as well , remains a perfect mon ent of m sical art

-so so intelligent is his balance of tone , distin S TRA VINSK Y guish ed an d delicate his instrumentation , an d by the latter I mean hi s choice of instruments and his way of w as combining them . I indeed fortun ate in hap

’ pening on a chef d oeuvre for my first contact with

u great m sic . That is why my attitu de towards

nk h as al one un Gli a ways been of unbo ded gratitude. I remember having heard another lyrical work

n but of that same wi ter, it was by a composer the — — second rank Alexan der Serov and on that occa

sion I was impressed only by the dramatic action .

My father had the leading part, a role in which he

was particul arly admired by the Petersbur g public .

- He was a very well known artist in his day . He

u ul am u had a bea tif voice and an azing techniq e, acquired in stu dying by the Italian method at the

P u C St . etersb rg onservatoire , in addition to great — dramatic tal ent a rare attribute among opera sin

gers at that time .

’ About the same time I heard Glinka s second

R uslan and udmilla opera, L , at a gala performance

given to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary . My father

Farlaf one took the part of , which was of the best in

his repertoire . It was a memorable eveningfor me . Besides the excitement I felt at hearing this music

[ 8 ]

S TRA V I N SK Y admiration has continu ed to grow with the develop ment of my mu sical consciou sness . I think that the beginning of my consciou s life as artist and musician dates from this time . WNW/“Vs

I PI C TU RE the first years of my adolescence as a series of irksome duties and the perpetu al frustra

tion of all my desires and aspirations . The constraint

of th e school to which I had j ust gone filled me with

a a but aversion . I h ted the cl sses and tasks , and I was

a u u n to very poor p pil , my lack of ind stry givi g rise reproaches which only increased my dislike for the

a school and its lessons . Nor did I find any compens tion for all this unpleasantness in those school friend

ur ships which might have made things easier . D ing

all my school life , I never came across anyone who h ad t a al any real at r ction for me , something essenti

a a a l i . u s m being lw ys bsent Was it my fa t, or was it ply bad lu ck ? I cannot say , b ut the resul t was that I

t u u u fel very lonely . Altho gh I was bro ght p with

un r t my yo ger b o her, of whom I was very fond, I

a u was never ble to open my heart to him , beca se, in

s a as at a u the fir t pl ce , my pir ions were too v g e to be

[ 1 1 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

ul inn form ated, and, secondly, in my ermost being I

our u ual feared, notwithstanding m t affection, that there woul d be misunderstandings whi ch woul d

u i have deeply wo nded my pr de . The only place where my budding ambition had any encouragement w as in the house of my un

’ Ielatchitch -in- cle , my mother s brother law . Both he

his u and children were fervent m sic lovers , with a

to a general tendency ch mpion very advanced work,

u un or what was then considered to be s ch . My cle belonged to the class of society then predominating

- St . P u of to in etersb rg , which was composed well

f of do landowners , of icials the higher ranks , magis trates , barristers, and the like . They all prided

on themselves their liberalism, extolled progress ,

“ and considered it the thing to profess so- called ad ” in all vanced opinions politics , art, and branches

can see of social life . The reader easily from this what their mentality was like : a compul sory ath e “ a s R of ism , omewhat bold affirmation of the ights

” “ ” u of l Man , an attit de opposition to tyrannica

ul of government, the c t materialistic science, and,

his at the same time, admiration for Tolstoy and S amateur Christianizing . pecial artistic tastes went

[ 12 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

is see with this mentality, and it easy to what they

a u u looked for nd appreciated in m sic . Obvio sly nat u ralism of u to was the order the day, p shed the

of point realistic expression and accompanied, as was

u to be expected, by pop lar and nationalistic tenden

on u _ cies and admiration for folklore . And it was s ch l groun ds that these sincere mu sic lovers believed that — they must j ustify their enthusiasm quick and — spontaneou s though it w as for the works of a Moussorgsky !

u u It wo ld, however, be nfair to imply that this set h ad no appreciation of symphonic mu sic ,

e u Brahms was admired, and a little lat r Br ckner

of was discovered, and a special transcription Wag

’ u ner s tetralogy was played as a pianoforte d et . Was

Glazounov son of F it , adopted the ive , with his

or r heavy German academic symphonies , the ly ical

of or s mh o symphonies Tchaikovsky, the epic y p

of or of R nies Borodin , the symphonic poems imsky

u u it Korsakov, that imb ed this gro p with s taste for s mh onism? sa ? But y p Who can y , however that may be , all these ardently devoted themselves to that

u type of m sic .

It w as thanks to this environment that I got to

[ 15 ] S TRA VI NSK Y

V/ know the great German composers . As for the / V F rench moderns , they had not yet penetrated into h \fthis circle , and it was only later t at I had a chance

;to hear them .

so u In far as school life permitted, I sed to go to symphony concerts and to recitals by famou s

Ru or ssian foreign pianists , and in this way I heard

u Josef Hofmann, whose serio s, precise , and finished

playing filled me with such enthu siasm that I re

u u do bled my zeal in st dying the piano . Among

P u other celebrities who appeared in St . etersb rg at

’ b S M u d Al the time , I remem er ophie enter, E gen

R u u our own u bert, eisena er, and s ch of famo s vir

tu osi t Essi ova as the pianist Annet e p , the wife of

h etitzk u Lesc . y, and the violinist, Leopold A er There were also great symphonic concerts — given by two important societies the Imperial

Musical Society and the Ru ssian Symphony Con — u Mitro h an t certs fo nded by p Belaieff, hat great

patron and publisher of music . The concerts of the Imperial Society were

u N a a often cond cted by apr vnik, whom I alre dy

u a w knew thro gh the Imperi l Opera, of which he as

a u u for m ny years the disting ished cond ctor . It

[ 14 ] S T RA VIN SK Y

seems to me that in spite of his au stere conservatism

he w as the type of condu ctor which even today I / prefer to all oth ersl Certainty and unbending rigor

in the exercise of his art , complete contempt for all

affectation and showy effects alike in the presenta

tion of the work and in gesticul ation ; not the slight

u to est concession to the p blic , and added that, iron

i of disc pline, mastery the first order, an infallible

nd ul ear a memory, and, as a res t, perfect clarity

ob iy it and j ect y in the rendering . What better

one ? R u can imagine :Hans ichter, a m ch better

u known and more celebrated cond ctor, whom I

P u heard a little later when he came to St . etersb rg

u u to cond ct the Wagner operas , had the same q ali ties . He also belonged to that rare type of conductor whose sole ambition is to penetrate the spirit and the

of to u l aim the composer, and s bmerge himse f in the score . I used to go also to the Belaieff Symphony C oncerts . Belaieff had formed a group of musicians whom he helped in every way : giving them mate

u rial assistance, p blishing their works and having them performed at his concerts . The leading fig ures in this group were Rimsky- Korsakov and Gla

[ 15 ] S TRA VI NSK Y zoun ov on , who were j oined by Liadov and, later ,

u S Tcherepnin, the brothers Bl menfeld, okolov, and

u of R - u other p pils imsky Korsakov . This gro p ,

u f n of F tho gh the o fspri g the ive , rapidly changed,

u al and, perhaps witho t re izing it, developed a new

l Con school, ittle by little taking possession of the servatoire in place of the old academicians wh o had di rected it since its foundation by An ton Rubin stein .

When I got into touch with some of the mem

of u its bers this gro p , transformation into a new

so school had already been accomplished, that I foun d myself confronted by an academy whose aes thetics and dogmas were well established, and had to be accepted or rej ected as a whole . — I was then of an age the age of early ap — prenticeship when the critical facul ty is generally

one dl u u lacking, and blin y accepts tr ths propo nded

u u by those whose prestige is nanimo sly recognized, especially when this prestige is concerned with the

of u of sav ir a re mastery techniq e and the art o f i .

u u u Th s I accepted their dogmas q ite spontaneo sly, and all the more readi ly because at that time I was

a fervent admirer of Rimsky- Korsakov and Glazou

[ 16 ]

’ S TRA VIN SK Y

w as familiar with those pages of Faust and Carmen

one w b ut w as which heard every here, it chiefly the

fact that I was always hearing them that had pre

v ented me from consciouslyforming an Opinion of

t u on hese m sicians . It was only looking into their

works with Pokrovsky that I discovered in them a

u u u a m sical lang age which was nfamili r to me , and

which differed noticeably from that of the Belaieff

un group and its kind . I fo d in them a different type o f u m sical writing, different harmonic methods, a d ifferent melodic conception, a freer and fresher

f . u eeling for form This gave rise to do bts, as yet b a a a h ad u rely perceptible, with reg rd to wh t p till

then seemed un assailable dogma . That is why I am e ternally grateful to Pokrovsky , for from my di s eu ssions with him dates my gradu al emancipation

u u from the infl ence that, all nknown to myself, the

academicism of the time was exercising over me . I

u sa a in m st y, however, that for m ny years to come , s of t of u pite everything, the domina ion this gro p

a w s still noticeable in me .

u Indeed, I often ndertook to defend the prin c i les u p of the gro p , and in a most peremptory man n er a u t u , when I c me p against the an iq ated opinions

[ 18 ] S T R A VI NSKY

of those who did not re alize that they themselves

u h ad long since been left behind . Th s I had to

a u b ttle with my second piano mistress, a p pil and

h e admirer of Anton Rubinstein . S was an excellent

a u b ut ob pi nist and a good m sician , completely

s a a u u se sed by her dor tion for her ill strio s master ,

l h ad whose views she blind y accepted, and I great

difficulty in making - her accept the scores of — Rimsky- Korsakov or of Wagner which at that

u But u period I was fervently st dying . here I m st

sa a n our ff of y th t, notwithsta ding di erences opin

u a ion, this excellent m sician man ged to give a new impetu s to my piano playing and to the develop m f ent o my techniqu e . At that moment the qu es tion of my vocation had not been raised in any defi

a or nite form either by my p rents by myself . And how coul d one in fact foretell the hazardou s cou rse ’ ? M of a composer s career y parents , like the maj or

u all ity of their class , therefore , tho ght above of giving me the edu cation necessary to enable me to

t e ob ain a post, administrative or oth rwise, which

u u . as wo ld ass re me a livelihood That is why, soon

a u a as I had m tric lated , they considered it advis ble

ul u e that I sho d st dy law at the University of St . P

[ 19 ] S TRA VINSK Y tersbur g. As for my inclinations and my predilec

for u tions m sic, they regarded them as mere ama teurism u u u , to be enco raged p to a point, witho t in the least taking into consideration the degree to

u which my aptit des might be developed . This now

u u seems to me q ite nat ral .

matricu The next few years , in which I had to l as ate and then to work at the University, were , ma a y well be im gined, by no means attractive from

of u my point view, beca se my interests all lay else

at u u where . However, my rgent req est, my parents agreed to give me a teacher of harmony . I therefore

u of but began the st dy harmony, , contrary to all

un expectation, I fo d no satisfaction in it, perhaps owing to the pedagogical incompetence of my

u teacher, perhaps to the method sed, and perhaps — —and this is most likely to my inherent aversion

to u . a any dry st dy Let me make myself clear . I l ways did, and still do , prefer to achieve my aims and to solve any problems which confront me in the

u own co rse of my work solely by my efforts , with out having recourse to est ablished processes which

is u a but u do , it tr e , facilitate the t sk, which m st first be learned and then remembered . To learn and re

[ 2 0 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

u u ul member s ch things , however sef they might

a ul be, alw ys seemed to me d l and boring , I was too

of lazy for that sort work, especially as I had little faith in my memory . If that had been better, I

ul u n sho d certainly have fo nd more i terest, and pos

sibl u . on y even pleas re , in it I insist the word

“ ” u u too pleas re , tho gh some people might find it light a word for the scope and significan ce of the feeling that I am trying to indicate .

But I can experience this feeling of pleasure

of in the very process work, and in looking forward to the joy that any find or discovery may bring .

And I admit that I am not sorry that this shoul d

so u ul of have been , beca se perfect facility wo d,

striv necessity, have diminished my eagerness in

“ ” of u oul ing, and the satisfaction having fo nd w d not have been complete .

u On the other hand, I was m ch drawn to the

u of un u con st dy co terpoint, tho gh that is generally sidered u u u a dry s bj ect, sef l only for pedagogical purposes . From about the age of eighteen I began

u to st dy it alone , with no other help than an ordi

u . u nary man al The work am sed me , even thrilled

w as me , and I never tired of it . This first contact

[ 9 1 ] S TRA VI N SK Y with the science of counterpoint opened up at once

a far vaster and more fertile field in the domain of mu sical composition than anything that harmony

so set could offer me . And I myself with heart and soul to the task of solving the many problems it

u u b ut w as contains . This am sed me tremendo sly, it only later that I realized to what an extent those exercises had helped to develop my j u dgment and

ul a a my taste in music . They stim ated my im gin tion and my desire to compose , they laid the foun d of u u u ation all my f t re techniq e, prepared me

u u thoro ghly for the st dy of form, of orchestration , and of instrumentation which later I took up with

- Rimsky Korsakov .

I have now reached the period at which I ' made the acqu aintance of that illu striou s com

u s poser . When I went to the University I fo nd hi

u son an d w as on yo ngest there , very soon the best

f a o terms with him . At that time his f ther hardly knew of my existence .

In 19 02 Rimsky- Korsakov took his whole family to spend the summer vacation at Heidel

one u berg, where of his sons was a st dent at the

University . At the same time my mother and I had

[ 22 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

un gone to Bad Wild gen with my father, who was

F u already seriou sly ill . rom there I r shed over to Heidelberg to see my fellow stu dent and also to con

sult his father about my vocation . I told him of my

a ad ambition to become a composer , and sked his

of . vice . He made me play some my first attempts Alas ! the way in which he received them was far

S u h ad . from what I hoped eeing how pset I was ,

u u a and evidently anxio s not to disco r ge me , he

a ul a . so sked if I co d pl y anything else I did , of

u and co rse , it was only then that he gave his opin

ion .

He told me that before anything else I mu st

continu e my stu dies in h armony and counterpoint

with one or other of his pupils in order to acquire

complete mastery in the schooling of craftsman

but a t a ship , at the s me time he s rongly dvised me not t to en er the Conservatoire . He considered that

s tu w as the atmosphere of that in ti tion , in which he

s u t him elf a professor , was not s i ed to me , for I

u w and su sho ld be over helmed with work, he g

gested I might as well go on with my University

u . w as a co rse Moreover, as I twenty he feared th t I might find myself backward in comparison with

[ 2 5 l S TRA VINSK Y

u my contemporaries, and that this might disco rage

u me . He f rther considered it necessary that my work

ul u sho d be systematically s pervised, and that this could be achieved only by private lessons . He fin ish ed by adding that I coul d always go to him for

vi u ad ce, and that he was q ite willing to take me in hand when I h ad acquired the necessary founda tion . Although in my ingenu ou sness I was some what downcast over the lack of enthusiasm that the

‘master had shown for my first attempts at composi

u tion , I fo nd some comfort in the fact that he had

vi u u nevertheless ad sed me to contin e my st dies , and so demonstrated his opinion that I had sufficient

u ability to devote myself to a m sical career . This comforted me all the more because everyone knew the rigor and frankness of his j u dgment when his verdict as to the mu sical vocation of a beginner w as required : he ful ly realized the personal responsibil

u ity attaching to his great a thority . The story w as told of a young doctor who came to show him his compositions and ask for advice . Having learned — “ R : Ex that he was a doctor, imsky Korsakov said ” ll n u C . ce e t . ontin e to practice medicine

[ 24 ]

S T RA VI N SK Y

Art and was organizing his exhibitions of pictures .

Pokrovsk u At the same time my friends y, No vel ,

and Nurok founded an interesting mu sical society

which they called Soirees of Contemporary Music . It is needless to speak of the importance of these two

u u a u gro ps in my artistic and intellect l evol tion , and how mu ch they strengthened the development of

my creative facul ty . Here I mu st break the thread of my story in

order to acqu aint the reader with the antagonism which was inevitably to arise between opinion in

academic circles an d the new trend in art which

n these two societies stood for . I will not expatiate o the aggressive hostility with which the reactionary

and conservative set in the Academy and the Im perial Society for the Encouragement of Art met

Dia hileff ul re the activities of g , and partic arly his — Mir Iskoustva en view, and God knows what he

dured in that struggle ! I will tou ch here only on the

musicians and their attitu de towards th e whole of

t this new movement . Certainly h e majority of the

C a u ac onservatoire ped gog es were against it, and

cu sed it u u , of co rse , of corr pting the taste of the

a Bu s u . t u sa u yo nger gener tion I m t y, in j stice to S T RA VI N SK Y

R - and a t at a imsky Korsakov Li dov, h , notwithst nding

t a u u heir dis pproval , they had s fficient co rage and

finesse not to m ake a sweeping condemnation of

everything seriou s and appreciable that modern art

had to offer . The following is illu strative of the attitu de of

the old master towards D ebu ssy . At a concert where

’ one of the latter s works was on the program I asked

— an Rimsky Kors akov what he thought of it . He

“ sw ered in these very words : Better not listen to

him u u , one r ns the risk of getting acc stomed to him ” But u and on e would end by liking him . s ch was not — the attitu de of his disciples they were more royal

ist than the King . The rare exceptions discoverable M among them served only to prove the rule . y rec

a a ollection of Liadov is a ple s nt one . His head looked

u a u very m ch like that of a K lm ck woman , and he

a u had a gentle , greeable, and kindly nat re . Bent on

and ul u clear metic o s writing, he was very strict with

u his p pils and with himself, composing very little

and w un working slo ly, and, so to speak, der a micro

u scope . He read m ch, and, considering the atmos

h ere C w as p of the onservatoire where he a professor,

w as a — he f irly broad minded .

[ 2 7 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

It was at this period that I became acqu ainted

’ of C F V d Ind with the works ésar ranck, incent y,

F u e P ul Du D u of a r , a kas , and eb ssy, whose names I

ur had hardly heard . O Academy pretended to know nothing of all these French composers of widespread

u ro fame , and never incl ded their works in the p m grams of the big sy phony concerts . As the Soirees of Contemporary Music had not the wherewithal for giving orchestral performances , we were at that time able to hear only the chamber music of these

. of composers It was not till later, at the concerts

Siloti of u our u and those Ko ssevitzky, that p blic had

t u a chance o hear their symphonic prod ctions .

The impressions I formed of the work of these

so composers , different from each other, were nat i urally varied . My feelings were already beginn ng to crystallize on the subj ect of César Franck and his

’ u V d Ind academic tho ght, incent y and his scholastic

a a on one yet W gneri n mentality, the hand, and

D u eb ssy on the other, with his extraordinary free dom and a freshness of techniqu e that was really

N C a quite new for his period . ext to him habrier p —k pealed most to me , notwithstanding his well nown

Wagnerianism (to my mind a purely superficial and

[ 2 8 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

outward aspect of him) and my taste for his mu sic has increased with time . It must not be imagined that my inclination to

of u wards the new tendencies , which I have j st

u spoken , meant any dimin tion in my adoration for

u my old masters , beca se all the appreciations ex pressed above were then only sub conscmu sly germi

u nating, while conscio sly I felt an imperative need

u to get a foothold in my profession . I co ld achieve that only by submitting to the discipline of these masters , and, by implication, to their aesthetics . This di u scipline , while of the tmost rigor, was at the same

u time most prod ctive , and it was in no way responsi ble for the number of mediocrities of the Prix de

Rome type to which our Academy gave birth every

But . u to year , as I have said, in s bmitting their dis ci line p I was confronted by their aesthetics , from

u which it co ld not be divorced . Indeed, every doc

ut trine of aesthetics , when p into practice , demands

u —in a partic lar mode of expression fact, a tech

u of o n for u niq e its w , , in art, s ch a thing as a tech

u u —in niq e fo nded on no given basis short, a tech — niqu e in the void woul d be u tterly inconceivable , and it would be still more difficult to imagine when

[ 2 9 ] S T RA V I N SK Y

u or u a . a whole gro p , school , is nder consider tion I cannot, therefore , reproach my teachers for having clung to their own aesthetics , they coul d not have t done otherwise , and, as a mat er of fact, it was no

. a hindrance to me On the other h nd, the technical

u knowledge that I acq ired, thanks to them, gave me

u a u u a fo ndation of inc lc lable val e in its solidity, on which I was able later to establish and develop my

a u own cr ftsmanship . No matter what the s bj ect may

u for be, there is only one co rse the beginner , he must at first accept a discipline imposed from with out b ut as a , only the me ns of obtaining freedom for, and strengthening himself in , his own method of expression . — About this time I composed a full sized sonata

a t for the pi ano . In this work I was const n ly con

f ul a in a fronted by many di fic ties , especi lly m tters of

u u a u form, the mastery of which is s lly acq ired only

u su after prolonged st dy, and my perplexities g — gested the idea of my consul ting Rimsky Korsakov

u at again . I went to see him in the co ntry the end of

u 1 9 05 t u the s mmer of , and stayed wi h him for abo t

a a fortnight . He made me compose the first p rt of a

a u u in sonatin nder his s pervision , after having

[ 50 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

structed me in the principles of the allegro of a

u sonata . He explained these principles with a l cidity

so remarkable as to show me at once what a gre at

u teacher he was . At the same time he ta ght me the

compass and the registers of the different instru

u a ments sed in contemporary symphonic orchestr s ,

an d the first elements of the art of orchestration . He

adopted the plan of tea ching form and orchestration

u side by side , beca se in his view the more highly de veloped musical forms foun d their ful lest expression in the complexity of the orchestra .

I worked with him in this w ay : he woul d give me some pages of the piano score of a new opera he 1 u had j st finished, which I was to orchestrate . When

ul I had orchestrated a section, he wo d show me his

u of own instr mentation the same passage . I had to

ul compare them, and then he wo d ask me to explain why he had done it differently . Whenever I was un

so . u es able to do , it was he who explained Th s was tablish ed ou r u association as teacher and p pil , which ,

ul u u with the beginning of reg ar lessons in the a t mn,

' u u contin ed for abo t three years .

u Altho gh he was giving me lessons , he never

1 Pa n Vow o da .

[ 51 ] S TRA VIN SK Y th eless wanted me still to continu e my stu dies of

u f one co nterpoint with my ormer teacher, who was of u But for his p pils . I think that he only insisted

’ les conscience sake , and that he realized that these sons woul d not take me far . Shortly afterwards I

u u gave them p, tho gh that did not prevent me from

u u contin ing alone the co nterpoint exercises , in

ur which I took more and more interest, and d ing that period I filled a thick volume with them . Alas !

u u Ru it was left in my co ntry ho se in ssia , where ,

dur together with my whole library, it disappeared ing the Revolution . My work with Rimsky- Korsakov consisted of

of u his giving me pieces classical m sic to orchestrate .

I remember that they were chiefly parts of Bee

’ ’ th oven s of S u u sonatas , and ch bert s q artets and marches . Once a week I took my work to him and he

neces criticized and corrected it, giving me all the sary explanations , and at the same time he made me

u u a analyze the form and str ct re of classic l works .

A year and a half later I began the composition of a

n symphony . As soon as I finished o e part of a move

u him ment I sed to show it to , so that my whole

[ 52 ]

AF TER M Y marriage I continu ed my lessons with

R - a of imsky Kors kov, the work consisting mainly my

showing him my compositions and discu ssing them — t D u th e of 19 06 19 07 fin wi h him . ring season , I

ish e a d my symphony and dedic ted it to him . I com

t u Fa une posed also a li tle s ite for voice and orchestra,

‘ e t Ber ere t Pu g , on hree poems by shkin in the man

- of P arn . R ner y imsky Korsakov, who had closely

th e of followed composition these two works , wish

u of ing to give me the opport nity hearing them ,

arranged with the Cou rt orchestra to have them performed in the spring of 19 07 at a private au di

t u of u u a u ion nder the direction its s l cond ctor,

H . Wahrlich .

— ‘ 19 07 19 08 Fa une et Ber ere In the season of , g

w as u of f given in p blic at one the Belaie f concerts ,

u t F x u cond c ed, if I remember rightly, by eli Bl men

at a feld . I had two important works in hand the s me

[ 54 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

time : the Scherzo Fantastique and the first act of my

L e R ssi n l opera, o g o , the libretto of which I had writ

s ten in collaboration with my friend Mitou sov . It

w as based on a story by Hans Andersen . This work

a u to was gre tly enco raged by my master, and this

day I remember with pleasure his approval of the preliminary sketches of these compositions . It grieves me much that he was never to hear them in their

ul finished form , for I think that he wo d have liked

. C u t them onc rren ly with this important work, I was composing two vocal settings for the words of a

Ru t k u Gorode s . one yo ng ssian poet, y He was of a

u u gro p of a thors who , by their talent and their

ut our freshness , were destined to p new life into

old— somewhat fashioned poetry . These two songs were later called in French La N ovice and Sainte

' se e P ast r l R . a e u o They and o , a song witho t words , S 1 were given at the oirees in the winter of 9 08 .

’ It w as during that winter that my poor master s

a a a F u he lth beg n to f il . req ent attacks of angina gave warning that it w as only too likely that the end

a . see was ne r I often went to him , apart from my

and lessons , he seemed to like my visits . He had my

a n u a deep ffectio , and I was gen inely att ched to him .

[ 55 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

but It seems that these sentiments were reciprocated,

w as so it only later that I learned from his family .

His characteristic reserve had never allowed him to

of a of make any sort displ y his feelings .

u Before starting for the co ntry, where I gen

erall sa y spent my vacation, my wife and I went to y

- saw good by to him . That was the last time I him . In my talk with him I told him about a short orches

’ al Feu d Arti ice tr fantasy, called f , that I contem plated . He seemed interested, and told me to send it

set a to himas soon as it was ready . I to work s soon

Oustilou our V olh nia as I arrived at g, estate in y , with the intention of sending the score to him for

’ u to his da ghter s wedding, which was shortly take

six off to place . I finished it in weeks and sent it the country place where he w as spending the sum mer . A few days later a telegram informed me of his a death, and shortly afterw rds my registered

“ packet was returned to me : Not delivered on ao coun t of death of addressee . I j oined his family at

u once in order to attend the f neral , which took place

P u . in St . etersb rg The service was held in the chapel

of C . Novodievitch the onservatoire His tomb , in the y

C of emetery, is near that my father .

[ 56 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

u u to On ret rning to the co ntry, and wishing

u pay some trib te to the memory of my master, I

‘ Chant Funebre composed a , which was performed

u um F um u th e in the a t n , elix Bl enfeld cond cting, at

to th e first Belaieff concert, which was dedicated

u of memory of the great m sician . The score this work unfortun ately disappeared in Russia during

R u the evol tion, along with many other things which

I had left there . I can no longer remember the

u but of its m sic, I can remember the idea at the root

Was all u conception, which that the solo instr ments of th e orchestra filed past the tomb of the master in

u i own as its s ccession , each lay ng down its melody wreath against a deep background of tremolo mur murings simul ating the vibrations of bass voices

u on ub singing in chor s . The impression made the p

on but lic, as well as myself, was marked, how far it was du e to the atmosphere of mourning and how far to the merits of the composition itself I am no

u longer able to j dge .

The presentation of the Scherzo Fantastique

’ an d Fe u d Artifice at the Sileti concerts in the winter marks a date of importance for the whole future of

u my m sical career . It was at this point that I began

[ 57 ] S TRA VIN SK Y the close relations with Diaghileff which lasted for

u twenty years , right p to his death, and developed into a deep friendship based on a reciprocal affec tion that was proof against the difference of views or tastes which coul d not but arise from time to time

u a two in s ch a long period . H ving heard the com

u positions j st mentioned, he commissioned me,

Ru to among certain other ssian composers, orches

C Les S l trate two pieces by hopin for the ballet, y

hides P 19 09 p , to be given in aris in the spring of .

They were the N o cturne with which the dancing begins and the Valse Brillante with which the ballet

. u not so w as closes I co ld go abroad that year, that it not until twelve months afterwards that I first heard my music in Paris .

of These compositions , together with the death

R - u on th e imsky Korsakov, had interr pted my work

of L e R ssi n l . u first act my opera , o g o In the s mmer of 1 9 09 I returned to it with the firm intention of

. u finishing it There were to be three acts . B t cir cumstances once again proved too strong for me . By th e end of the summer the orchestration of the first

on u to act was finished, and, ret rning town, I meant

n But t to go o with the rest . a telegram hen arrived

[ 58 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

Dia hileff h ad u u t . to pse all my plans g , who j st

P u u St . reached etersb rg, asked me to write the m sic

’ for L Oiseau de Fe u for the Russian Ballet se ason at the Paris Opera House in the spring of 19 10. Al

! though alarmed by the fact that this was a commis

for ul sion a fixed date, and afraid lest I sho d fail to — complete th e work in time I was still unaware of — my own capabilities I accepted the order . It was highly flattering to be chosen from among the musi cians of to my generation , and to be allowed col lab orate in so important an enterprise side by side with personages who were generally recognized as masters in their own Spheres . Here I mu st interrupt the chronological se quence of my story in order to give the reader a short account of the place which the ballet and bal let music occupied in intellectu al circles and among

“ ” so- called seriou s musicians in the period immedi ately preceding the appearance of the Diaghileff

u . u ou r gro p Altho gh ballet shone then , as always ,

of it a u by reason s technic l perfection , and altho gh l th it fil ed the eatre , it was only rarely that these

a u circles were represented mong the a dience . They

of considered this form art as an inferior one , espe

[ 59 ] S TRA VINSK Y ciall u mis y as compared with opera , which , tho gh handled and turned into mu sical drama (which is not at all the same thing) still retained its own pres

ul tige . This was partic arly the point of view in re

u of gard to the m sic the classical ballet, which contemporary opin ion considered to be unworthy of

u u a serio s composer . These poor so ls had forgotten

Glin ka an d his splendid dances in the Italian style

n in Ruslan a d Ludmilla . It is true that Rimsky — or Korsakov appreciated them , rather, forgave

in for -b ut his um u Gl ka them he himself, in n ero s operas , definitely gave the preference to character

u not or national dances . We m st forget that it was these very pages of Glinka which inspired the great

Ru u ssian composer, who was the first to bring abo t the seriou s recognition of ballet music in general

I refer to Tchaikovsky . In the early eighties he had had the au dacity to compose a b al let for the Grand

M Le Lac des C nes Theatre in oscow, yg , and he had to pay for his au dacity by complete failure with the

u u dm mu ignorant p blic, which wo ld only a it ballet sic as subsidiary and un important . His lack of suc

D of cess , however, did not prevent the irector the — a V sevolo sk a en Imperial The tres , Ivan j y very

[ 4 0 ]

S T RA VI N SK Y

produced by su ch ballets as L es D ances d u P rince

’ I r or Carnaval Fokine s u go , the only two of prod c

fa tions that I had so r seen . All this greatly tempted

u a me , and impelled me to break thro gh the p le and

eagerly seize this opportunity of making close con

tact with that group of advanced and active artists

Dia hileff u of which g was the so l , and which had

long attracted me . Throughout the winter I worked strenu ously

u at my ballet, and that bro ght me into constant

hile F touch with Diag ff and his collaborators . okine

’ created the choreography of L Oiseau de Fe u section

u at by section , as the m sic was handed to him . I

tended every rehearsal with the company, and after

Dia hileff rehearsals g , Nijinsky (who was , however,

. not dancing in the ballet) , and myself generally

ended the day with a fine dinner, washed down with

good claret . I then had an opportunity of observing Nijin

at u . sky close q arters He spoke little , and, when he

did speak , gave the impression of being a very back

u undevel ward yo th , whose intelligence was very

. But u Dia oped for his age , whenever this occ rred,

hileff u g , who was always beside him , wo ld intervene

[ 42 ] S TRA VI N SK Y and correct him so tactfully that no one noticed his

u t emb arrassing defects . I shall have f r her occasion to speak of Nijinsky when describing the part he

a or took in my other b llets , either as dancer chore

ra er og ph .

u sa of Dia hileff u Here I m st y more g , beca se the close association I had with him during this first collaboration revealed the very essence of his great

a u w as of personality . Wh t str ck me most the degree endurance and tenacity that he displayed in pursuit

His so ex of his ends . strength in this direction was ce tion al p that it was always somewhat terrifying ,

u u tho gh at the same time reass ring, to work with

w as u w as him . It terrifying beca se whenever there a divergence of opinion it was arduous and ex

in u But u h aust g to str ggle with him . it was reass ring to know that the go al was certain to be reached when

our once differences had been overcome .

The qu ality of his intelligence and mentality

t . ul also a tracted me He had a wonderf flair, a mar velou s facul ty for seizing at a glance the novelty and

u freshness of an idea , s rrendering himself to it with

out au a out p sing to re son it . I do not mean to imply

w as at that he all lacking in reasoning power . On the

[ 45 ] S TRA VINSK Y

un contrary, his reasoning powers were erring, and

u fre he had a most rational mind ; and, tho gh he

u or w as b e q ently made mistakes acted foolishly, it cause he had been carried away by passion or tem — perament the tw o forces predominant in him . He had at the same time a broad and generou s

u u u of al ul nat re , s ally incapable c c ation, and, when

ul nl was he did calc ate, it meant o y that he himself

w as u . s penniless On the other hand, when he in f nd

odd he spent lavishl y on himself and on others . An trait in his character was his strange indifference to wards the somewhat dubious honesty of some of — those wh o were in touch with him even when they — victimized him so long as their dishonesty was off

e u s t by other q alities . What he most detested were

of sav ir aire : the commonplace , incapacity, a lack o f

S u he hated and despised a fool . trangely eno gh, in

e this highly intelligent man, efficiency and shr wd ness were accompanied by a certain childish ingenu

ous ess. u n He never bore a gr dge . When anyone

n but ul swi dled him, he was not angry, wo d remark

’ of ? simply, Well , what it He s looking after him ” self .

’ But u of L Oisea u de Feu to ret rn to my score ,

[ 44 ] S TRA VINSK Y

u u on I worked stren o sly at it, and when I finished it time I felt the need of a rest in the country before

P w as . going to aris , which I to visit for the first time

Dia hileff g , with his company and collabora

so re tors, preceded me , that when I j oined them

ul h earsals were in f l swing . Fokine elaborated the scenario , having worked at his choreography with

u so u b rning devotion, the more beca se he had fallen in love with the Ru ssian fairy story . The casting

. P was not what I had intended avlova , with her slim

ul u e to ang ar fig re , had s emed me infinitely better

u of n s ited to the role the fairy bird than Karsavi a ,

for with her gentle feminine charm , whom I had

of u intended the part the captive princess . Tho gh circumstances had decided otherwise than I had

n u plan ed, I had no ca se for complaint, since Karsa

’ ’ of vina s rendering the bird s part was perfect, and that beautiful and graciou s a rtist had a brilliant

u s ccess in it .

The performance was warmly applau ded by

P a ublicxl of u u the ris p am, co rse, far from attrib t ing this su ccess solely to the score , it was equ ally du e to the spectacle on the stage in the painter Golo

’ vin s magnificent setting, the brilliant interpretation

[ 4 5 ] S T RA VI N SK Y

’ Dia hileff s th e by g artists , and talent of the chore h o ra er . u ch oreo g p I m st admit, however, that the g raphy of this ballet always seemed to me to be

u t complicated and overb rdened wi h plastic detail ,

so and t that the artists felt, s ill feel even now, great,

difficulty in coordinating their steps and gestures

t th e u t t un t wi h m sic , and his of en led to an pleasan discordance between the movements of the dance

and the imperative demands that the measure of the music imposed . Although the evolution of the classical dance

u and its problems now seem m ch more real to me , and touch me more closely than the distant aesthetics F of okine , I still consider that I have a right to form

and express the opinion that in the sphere of chore o ra h g p y I prefer, for example , the vigor of the

D ances du P rince I or - cut g , with their clear and posi tive lines , to the somewhat detached designs of

’

L Oisea u de Fe u .

R u u it et rning for a moment to the m sic , gives me mu ch pleasure to pay grateful tribute to the mas tery with which the eminent Gabriel Pierné con

ducted my work .

While I was in Paris I had the opportunity of

[ 4 6 ] S T RA VI N SK Y

meeting several persons of import ance in the world

of u u as D u R F t S m sic , s ch eb ssy, avel , loren chmitt,

u Fa t . and Man el de lla , who were here at that time

I recal l that on the first night D ebu ssy c ame on to

the stage and complimented me on my score . That

w as th e beginning of friendl y relations which lasted

to the end of his life .

, and a a The approbation , even dmir tion , ex tended to me by the artistic and musical world in

b ut u general , more partic larly by representatives of

u a t the yo nger gener tion, greatly s rengthened me in

regard to the pl ans which I had in mind for the — u u I u a of P etroushka f t re am thinking in partic l r ,

a a of which I sh ll have more to s y later . (One day?! when I w as finishing the last pages

’ of L iseau de Feu t P u I fleet O in S . etersb rg ( had a “1 ' mg Vision wh l ch came to me as a complete surprise, my mind at the moment being ful l of other things?

I saw in im agination a solemn p agan rite : sage eld

t u ers , sea ed in a circle , watched a yo ng girl dance herself to death They were sacrificing her to pro

/ itiate od of Su p the g spring . ch was the theme of the

Sacre d u P rintems u p . I m st confess that this vision made a deep impression on me] nd I at once de

[ 4 7 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

i to R scr bed it my friend, Nicholas oerich , he being

wh o u a painter had specialized in pagan s bj ects . He

u b e welcomed my inspiration with enth siasm, and hi P came my collaborator in t s creation . In aris I told

Dia hileff u g abo t it, and he was at once carried away

u its l by the idea, tho gh rea ization was delayed by the following events .

At the end of the Paris season I had a short rest

sea two to Ver at the , in which I composed songs

’ of u u to laine s words, and at the end A g st I went S witzerland with my family .

Sacre du Printems Before tackling the p , which

ul l di ul re wo d be a ong and ffic t task, I wanted to fresh myself by composing an orchestral piece in which the piano woul d play the most important part

' -a of Konzertstuck n u sort ! In composi g the m sic, , t u of u sud I had in my mind a distinc pict re a p ppet, denl x y endowed with life, e asperating the patience of the orchestra with di abolical cascades of arpeg gios) The orchestra in turn retaliates with menacing

u trumpet blasts . The o tcome is a terrific noise which

“ reaches its climax and ends in th e sorrowful and

u qu erul ous collapse of the poor p ppet . Having fin ish ed u u il this bizarre piece , I str ggled for ho rs, wh e

[ 4 8 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y

’ ka s death . I began at once to compose the first scene of ul u the ballet, which I finished at Bea ie , where I

fre spent the winter with my family . While there, I

u ia hil saw D eff C . q ently g , who was at Monte arlo

u u Dia hileff u By m t al agreement, g entr sted the

’ dec r whole o of the ballet, both the scenery and the

Dia hileff ff um t en i . o B o s o St . cost es, g soon went to

P u C etersb rg, whence he wrote at hristmas , asking

for me to j oin him there a few days , bringing my music so that Benois and his other collaborators

sud might see it . I went in some trepidation . The denness of the transition from the sunny warmth of

Beaulieu to the fog and snow of my native city

u str ck me with great force . As soon as I arrived I let my friends hear what — so Petroushka I had far composed for namely, the

of first tw o scenes and the beginning the third .

Benois m i mediately began work, and in the spring

us C Dia hileff he j oined at Monte arlo , whither g and

I had returned . I little thou ght th—en that I had seen my native P u th e for St . of town the last time etersb rg, town P St . P eter, dedicated by eter the Great to his great

not w as u su patron saint and to himself, as do btless p

[ 50 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

of u posed by the ignorant inventors the abs rd name ,

Petrograd .

u to u u u When I ret rned Bea lie , I res med work

but u on . my score, its progress was interr pted I be

u came serio sly ill with nicotine poisoning, and was

of u of at the point death, this illness ca sing a month

u u enforced idleness . I was terribly anxio s abo t the

of Petro ushka fate , which had at all costs to be ready f F un or Paris in the spring . ort ately I recovered my strength sufficiently to enable me to finish my work in the ten weeks which remained before the begin ning of the season . Towards the end of April I set out for R Dia hileff ome , where g was giving perform au ces at the Costanzi Theatre during the Interna tiona x P etroushka l . w as E hibition There rehearsed, and there I finished its last pages . I shall always remember with particul ar pleas ure R for that spring in ome, which I was seeing the

’ first time . I stayed at the Albergo d Italia with

Benois Ru S and the ssian painter, erov, to whom I

u u became greatly a ttached . In spite of my stren o s

u to u work, we fo nd time make vario s expeditions

u Benois which were very instr ctive for me , as was a learned connoisseur in matters of art and history

[ 51 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

a so and had a talent for making the p st live , that these expeditions provided a veritable edu cation in which I delighted .

our P a u On arrival in aris , rehears ls started nder

of P u w as sev the direction ierre Monte x , who for

a F eral years the condu ctor of the Ru ssian B llet . rom

’ an instrumentalist in Colonne s orchestra he had at tain u ed the rank of assistant cond ctor . He knew his

u so sur j ob thoro ghly, and was familiar with the roundings from which he had risen that he knew — how to get on with his musicians a great asset for

u u a cond ctor . Th s he was able to achieve a very clean and finished execution of my score . I ask no

u for u his more of a cond ctor, any other attit de on

u inter retati n in part immediately t rns into p o , a th g

f inter reter of I have a horror o . The p necessity can

of but inter retati n u think nothing p o , and th s takes on tradutt re - tradit re the garb of a translator, o o ,

u u this is an abs rdity in m sic, and for the interpreter it is a source of vanity inevitably leading to the most

ul u i Du ridic o s megaloman a . ring the rehearsals I had the great satisfaction of seeing that all my in tentions with regard to soun d effects were amply confirmed . S TRA VIN SK Y

C a to At the dress rehearsal at the h telet, which

the Press and the elite of the artistic world had been

P etroushka u im invited, I remember that prod ced an

mediate effect on everyone in the au dience with the — exception of a few hypercritics . One of them it is — tru e that he was a literary critic actu ally went up

“ to Diaghileff and said : And it was to hear this that

” “ ” ou vi us ! ia hi D leff . y in ted Exactly, replied g It is

nl a on o y f ir to add that later the celebrated critic ,

to u to j dge by his praise , seemed have forgotten this

sal ly .

I shoul d like at this point to pay heartfelt h om

’ age to Vaslav Nijinsky s unsurpassed rendering of

of Petrou h the role s ka . The perfection with which he became the very incarnation of this charac

ter w as all the more remarkable becau se the

purely saltatory work in which he u su al ly excelled was in this case definitely dominated by dramatic

u u a f . u o action, m sic , and gest re The be ty the ballet

was greatly enhanced by the richness of the artistic

Be ois ul setting that n had created for it . My faithf

n to sh e u i terpreter, Karsavina , swore me that wo ld

u sh e never relinq ish her part as the dancer, which

But adored . it was a pity that the movements of the

[ 55 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

crowd had been neglected . I mean that they were left to the arbitrary improvisation of the performers instead of being choreographically regul ated in ao cordance with the clearly defined exigencies of the

u d nses music . I regret it all the more beca se the a

’ d ensemble of u u the coachmen, n rses, and m mmers

’ and the solo dances must be regarded as Fokine s finest creations .

As for my present opinion of the mu sic of

Petroushka , I think it will be best to refer the reader to the pages that I shall devote later to my own ren

of il dering my works, which w l necessarily lead me t f o speak o them .

now for Sacre d u Printems And the p .

As I have already said, when I conceived the

’ L Oiseau de Feu idea, immediately after , I became so mu ch absorbed in the composition of Petroushka that I had no chance even to sketch preliminary out lines .

P u to Ou stilou After the aris season , I ret rned g, our Ru to estate in ssia , to devote myself entirely the

Sacre du P rintems. u to com p I fo nd time , however, pose two melodies to the words of the Russian poet

’ Balmont . Besides that, also to Balmont s words , I

[ 54 ] S TRA VIIVSK Y

an t i Zvez composed a c ta a for cho r and orchestra,

doliki The Kin the Stars hi di c g of ) , w ch I de ated to w diffi C u D u . n la de eb ssy O i g , however, to inherent

cul ti es involved in th e execution of thi s very short

its t r n piece , with impor ant orchest al conti gent and

the complexity of its choral writing as regar ds in

e . tonation, it has never b en performed

Although I had conceived th e subj ect of the

Sacre d a P rintems u a p witho t any plot, some pl n had F to be designed for the sacrifici al acti on . or thi s it was necessary that I shoul d see Roerich . He was

a T al achkino t st ying at the moment at , the es ate of

i va P ces T en ch e Ru . rin s , a great patron of ssian art I j oined him, and it was there that we settled the vis u al embodiment of th e Sacre an d the defini te se

u n q e ce of its di fferent episodes . I began the score on

u ni Oustil ou hr u ret r ng to g, and worked at it t o gh

n the wi ter at Clarens .

Diaghil eff made up hi s mind that year that he woul d spare no effort to mak e a choreographer of

Nijinsky . I do not know whether he really beli eved

hi s o hi i u in chore grap c g fts , or whether he tho ght t his al n u hi in hat t ented danci g, abo t w ch he raved, dicated that he woul d show equ al t al ent as a ballet

[ 55 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

master . However that may be , his idea was to make

un his own r u Nijinsky compose , der st ict s pervision , a sort of antiqu e tableau conj uring up the erotic

u gambols of a faun importuning nymphs . At the s g

of gestion Bakst, who was obsessed by ancient

u Greece , this tablea was to be presented as an ani

- u . mated bas relief, with the fig res in profile Bakst dominated this production . Besides creating the dec orative u ul u in setting and the bea tif cost mes , he spired the choreography even to the slightest move

ul u ments . Nothing better co d be fo nd for this ballet

u D u h ow than the impressionist m sic of eb ssy, who ,

u Dia ever, evinced little enth siasm for the proj ect .

hileff of u g nevertheless, by dint his persistence , wr ng

- an d a half hearted consent from him , , after repeated

u a set and laborio s rehears ls , the ballet was afoot and

a was produ ced in P ris in the spring . The scandal

u of but which it prod ced is a matter history, that

scandal w as in nowise du e to the so- called novelty

of b ut u u u the performance , to a gest re, too a dacio s

n u and too intimate , which Niji sky made, do btless

thinking that anything was permissible with an

erotic subj ect and perhaps wishing thereby to en

f u hance the e fect of the prod ction . I mention this

[ 56 ]

S T RA VINSK Y

b ox C u in his at the Opéra omiq e , that I heard for

F P elleas et the first time another great rench work,

’

M elisande . D u I was seeing a good deal of eb ssy, and

w as deeply touched by his sympathetic attitude to

u u wards me and my m sic . I was str ck by the deli

of u to cacy his appreciation , and was gratef l him ,

so among other things , for having observed what — few had then noticed the mu sical importance of the pages which precede the j u ggling tricks in P e troushka immediately before the final dance of the

u marionettes in the first act . Deb ssy often invited

u on me to his ho se , and one occasion I met there

S . l Erik atie , whom I already knew by name I iked

u - him at once . He was a q ick witted fellow, shrewd, clever, and mordant . Of his compositions I prefer

S crate hi Parade above all his o and certain pages of s .

From Paris I went as usu al to Oustilou g for the

um u u on s mer, and there I q ietly contin ed my work

a re u ul the S c . I was ro sed from that peacef existence by an invitation from Diaghileff to j oin him at

u a P arsi al Bayre th to he r f in its hallowed setting . I

P arsi al had never seen f on the stage . The proposal

t u was tempting , and I accepted it wi h pleas re . On — the way I stopped at Nuremberg for twenty four

[ 58 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

u u u . a ho rs and visited the m se m Next day my de r, portly friend met me at the Bayreuth station and told me that we were in danger of having to sleep

to in the open, as all the hotels were filled overflow

ul to ing . We managed, however, with great diffic ty,

’ find two servants rooms . The performance that I saw ul there wo d not tempt me today, even if I were offered a room gratis / Th e very atmosphere of the

u u u . theatre, its design and its setting, seemed l g brio s

u old— It was like a crematori m, and a very fashioned one one see at that, and expected to the gentleman in black who had been entrusted with the task of

t singing the praises of the departed . The order o de vote oneself to contemplation was given by a blast f o u . sat um but tr mpets I h ble and motionless, at the

of u of u ul n end a q arter an ho r I co d bear o more .

My limbs were numb and I had to change my posi tion . Crack ! Now I had done it ! My chair had made a noise which drew down on me the furiou s scowls of u f a h ndred pairs o eyes . Once more I withdrew

but u of one into myself, I co ld think only thing, and that was the end of the act which woul d put an end to my martyrdom . At last the intermission arrived, and I was rewarded by two s au sages and a glass of

[ 59 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

But beer . hardly had I had time to light a cigarette

u u n when the tr mpet blast so nded again , dema ding

to another period of contemplation . Another act be

u u a got thro gh, when all my tho ghts were conc n trated on of my cigarette , which I had had barely a f whi f . I managed to bear the second act . Then there

u r um were more sa sages , more bee , another tr pet

of blast, another period contemplation , another act finis ! I do not want to discuss the music of Parsifal

or the music of Wagner in general . At thi s date it

is too remote from me . What I find revolting in the

whole affair is the underlying conception which dic — tated it the principle of putting a work of art on the same level as the sacred and symbolic ritu al

u u . which constit tes a religio s service And, indeed, is

not of u ul u all this comedy Bayre th , with its ridic o s

un u of formalities , simply an conscio s aping a reli

gious rite ?

Perhaps someone may cite the mysteries of the

But Middl es Ages in contravention of this view . those performances had religion as their basis and

faith as their source . The spirit of the mystery plays

did not venture beyond the bosom of the Church

[ 6 0 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

u which patronized them . They were religio s cere

on u monies bordering the canonical rites , and s ch aesthetic qu alities as they might contain were

u merely accessory and nintentional , and in no way

u Su due affected their s bstance . ch ceremonies were to the imperious desire of the faithful to see the ob j ects of their faith incarnate and in palpable form the same desire as that which created statu es and

u ikons in the ch rches .

ut It is high time to p an end, once and for all , to this unseemly and sacrilegiou s conception of art as religion and the theatre as a temple . The follow ing argument will readily show the absurdity of such pitiful aesthetics : one cannot imagine a b e liever adopting a critical attitu de towards a religiou s

ul service . That wo d be a contradiction in terms ; the

’ u of believer would cease to be a believer . The attit de an au dience is exactly the opposite . It is not depend ent upon faith or blind submission . At a perform — on n ance e admires or o e rej ects . One accepts only

e u l one after having pass d j dgment, however ittle

al u may be aware of it . The critic fac lty plays an es

en ia un of s t l part . To confo d these two distinct lines

thought is to give proof of a complete lack of dis

[ 6 1 ] S TRA VI N SK Y I

cernment nl of i . But s , and certai y bad taste it at all surprising that su ch confu sion shoul d arise at a time l u ike the present, when the openly irreligio s masses in their degradation of spiritu al valu es and debase ment of human thought necessarily lead u s to utter

u ? P u br talization eople are , however, apparently f lly aware of the sort of monster to which the world is

u abo t to give birth, and perceive with annoyance

u that man cannot live witho t some kind of cul t . An

ff is u old u e ort therefore made to ref rbish c lts,

u dragged from some revol tionary arsenal , where

to u with enter into competition with the Ch rch .

But t u a re To o ret rn to the S c . be perfectly

u sa of frank, I m st y here and now that the idea i work ng with Nijinsky filled me with misgiving, notwithstanding our friendliness an d my great ad

irati n i m o for his talent as dancer and mime . His g norance of the most elementary notions of music

u . was flagrant . The poor boy knew nothing of m sic

ul nor u He co d neither read it play any instr ment, and his reactions to mu sic were expressed in ban al phrases or the repetition of what he had heard others

one un u say . As was able to discover any individ al

one to u . impressions, began do bt whether he had any

[ 62 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

a u ae u These l c n were so serio s that his plastic vision ,

of u ul often great bea ty, co d not compensate for

il u t them . My apprehensions can be read y nders ood,

Fokine di but I had no choice in the matter . had sso

ciated Dia hileff an himself from g , and in y case , con

siderin ul u g his aesthetic tendencies , he wo d do btless

u Sacre R a have ref sed to work at the , om nov was

' ’ u F S m Salome n b sy with lorent ch itt s , only Niji sky

Dia hileff t ul of remained, and g , s ill hopef making a

of u ut on ballet master him, insisted that he sho ld p

n ’ both the Sacre a d D ebussy s Jeux . Nijinsky began by demanding su ch a fantastic number of rehearsals that it w as physical ly impos

t sible o give them to him . It will not be difficul t to un so sa derstand why he wanted many, when I y that in trying to explain to him the construction of my work in general outline an d in detail I discovered that I shoul d achieve nothing until I had taught him — th e very rudiments of music : valu es semibreve — , u . t minim , crochet, q aver, etc bars , rhy hm , tempo ,

so on and . He had the greatest difficulty in remem

n f o . . lis beri gany this Nor was that all When, in

u w as tening to m sic, he contemplated movements , it always necessary to remind him that he must make

[ 6 5 ] S TRA V INSK Y

lu . them accord with the tempo , its divisions and va es

It was an exasperating task, and we advanced at a

’ a snail s pace . It w s all the more trying becau se Ni jinsky complicated and encumbered his dances be

u fi ul yond all reason, th s creating dif c ties for the dancers that were sometimes impossible to over

u come . This was d e as mu ch to his lack of experience as to the complexity of a task with which he was un familiar . Under these conditions I did not want to leave

u of him to his own devices , partly beca se my kindly feeling for him but partly on account of my work and considerations as to its fate . I therefore traveled a great deal so as to attend the rehears als of the com

u u pany, which, thro gho t that winter, took place in the different towns in which Diaghileff was giving performances . The atmosphere was always heavy

and stormy . It was evident that the poor boy had

dl a been sad ed with a task beyond his c pacity .

He appeared to be quite unconsciou s both of his

inadequ acy and of the fact that he had been given a

ut of role which, to p it shortly, he was incapable fill ing in so serious an undertaking as the Ru ssian Bal let . Seeing that he was losing prestige wi th the com

[ 64 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y the time from telling Nijinsky what I thought of his efforts as a ballet master . I did not like to do so . I had

his - at to spare self respect, and I knew in advance th his mentality and character woul d make any such

ul u conversation alike painf and seless . On the other

a u h nd, I had no hesitation in often talking abo t it to

Dia hile ff . u g He , however, persisted in p shing Nijin sk u h e y along that path , either beca se regarded the gift of plastic vision as the most important factor in c or u on horeographic art, beca se he kept hoping that the qu alities which seemed lacking in Nijinsky would one day or another su ddenly manifest them selves .

I worked continuou sly at the score of the Sacre — C u u of 19 12 19 15 at larens thro gho t the winter , my work being interrupted only by interviews with Di a hileff g , who invited me to the first performances of

’ L Oiseau de Fe u and P etroushka in the different towns of central Europe where the Ru ssian Ballet

on u was to r .

u re My first j o rney was to Berlin . I very well Kai member the performance before the Kaiser, the

u of serin, and their s ite . The program consisted

et o h ur Cléopdtre and P r us ka . The Kaiser nat ally

[ 6 6 ] S TRA VINSK Y

’ to Cleo dtre gave preference p , and, in complimenting

Dia hileff ul his E g , told him that he wo d send gyp

‘ a tologists to see the b llet and take a lesson from it .

’ He apparently thou ght that Bakst s fantastic color

u ul u al u ing was a scr p o sly historic reprod ction , and that the potpourri of the score was a revelation of

u . ancient Egyptian m sic At another performance ,

’ L Oiseau de Feu ac when was given , I made the

u of R S u on q aintance ichard tra ss , who came to the

a st ge and expressed great interest in the mu sic .

A e u mong oth r things , he said something which m ch

“ amused me : You make a mistake in beginning your piece pianissimo the public will not listen . Y ou shoul d astonish them by a su dden crash at the very start . After that they will follow you and you can ” do whatever you like . It was on that visit to Berlin that I first met

S to u of chonberg, who invited me an a dition his

P e i rrot Lunaire . I did not feel the slightest enth u siasm u of a abo t the aesthetics the work, which p peared to me to b e a retrogression to the out- of- date

u . But on Beardsley c lt , the other hand, I consider that the merits of the instrumentation are beyond

s u di p te .

[ 6 7 ] S TRA VINSK Y

u B dapest, the next town we visited, made a

n very agreeable impression o me . Its inhabitants are

- very open hearted, warm, and kindly . Everything

’ L Oiseau de Feu went well there , and my ballets ,

P etroushka u u . and , had an enormo s s ccess When I visited the town many years later I was greatly moved at being received by the public as an old

ui V of friend . It was q te the reverse in ienna , which l I retain a somewhat bitter memory . The hosti ity with which the orchestra received the mu sic of P e troushka at rehearsals greatly astonished me . I had n ot come across anything like it in any country . I admit that at that time an orchestra as conservative as that in Vienna might have failed to grasp parts of u b ut its my m sic, I was far from expecting that hostil ity woul d be carried to the length of open sabo tage at rehearsals and the au dible utterance of such

“ ” 1 en coarse remarks as schmutzige M usik . The

on w as tire administration shared this aversi , which aimed particul arly at the Prussian comptroller of th e

Dia hileff Hofoper, for it was he who had engaged g and his company and thereby roused the furiou s

u to j ealousy of the Imperial Ball et of Vienna . I o ght

1 Dirt music y .

[ 68 ] S TRA VINSK Y

add that Russians were not very popul ar in Au stria j ust then by reason of the somewhat strained polit f — a u . S o ic l sit ation till, in spite the old fashioned V tastes and habits of the iennese , the performance of P etroushka u passed witho t protest, and even had

w as a certain success . I astonished to find a comforter in the person of a workman whose job it was to lower

u S u and raise the c rtain . eeing that I was pset by my

u dl old b e tro ble with the orchestra , this frien y man ,

of F whiskered in the style ranz Joseph , patted my

“ ’ ’ shoul der kindly and said : Don t let s be down

’ ’ for —i it s hearted . I ve been here fifty f ve years , and not the first time that things of that sort have hap ”

u Tristan . pened . It was j st the same with I shall

to sa u V but have something more y abo t ienna later,

u u t for the moment let s ret rn o Clarens .

While puttmg the finishing touches to the or ch estration Sacre u of the , I was b sy with another composition which was very close to my heart . In the summer I had read a little anthology of Japanese lyr — of ics short poems a few lines each , selected from l Th the o d poets . e impression which they made on me was exactly like that made by Japanese paintings

u and engravings . The graphic sol tion of problems of

[ 6 9 ] S TRA VIN SK Y perspective an d space shown by their art incited me to n u find somethi g analogo s in music . Nothing coul d have lent itself better to this than the Russian

of version the Japanese poems, owing to the well known fact that Ru ssian verse allows the tonic accent

u u only . I gave myself p to the task, and s cceeded by a metrical and rhythmic process too complex to be explained here .

of Dia hileff Towards the end the winter, g gave

to me another commission . He had decided give

’ Mou ssorgsky s Khovanstchina in the next Paris sea

son . not This opera, as everybody knows , had been

ui Dia hileff q te finished by the composer, and g asked

R - me to take it in hand . imsky Korsakov had al ready

w as his arranged it in his own manner, and it in ver sion that it had been published and performed in

Russia .

Diaghileff w as not satisfied with Rimsky-Kor

’ ’ sakov s of Mou ssor sk s general treatment g y work, and began to stu dy the original manuscript of Kho

st hin to van c a with a view making a new version . He asked me to undertake the orchestration of such

u parts as had not been orchestrated by the a thor, and

u u to compose a chor s for the finale , for which Mo s

[ 7 0 ] S TRA VIN SK Y — sorgsky had indicated only the theme an authentic

Russian song .

saw u When I how m ch there was to be done ,

of Sacre and still having to finish the score the , I asked Diaghileff to divide the work between myself R R . and avel He willingly consented to this , and avel j oined me at Clarens so that we might work to

ul gether . We agreed that I sho d orchestrate two

of u parts the opera and write the final chor s , while

’ Dia hileff s he undertook the rest . According to g

our plan , work was to be amalgamated with the rest

but u u u of the score, nfort nately it made the mixt re even more incongruou sly heterogeneou s than Rim

’ sk - Korsakov s y version , which had been retained in

u all essentials , the only difference being a few c ts , a

of sub sti change in the order certain scenes , and the

u tution of my chor s for his. Apart from the work mentioned above , I had no share in the arrangement

al of this version . I have ways been sincerely opposed to the rearrangement by anyone other than the au

of thor himself work already created, and my oppo sition is onl y strengthened when the original author is an artist as consciou s and certain of what he was doing as Moussorgsky . To my mind that principle is

[ 7 1 ] S TRA VINSK Y as badly violated in the Diaghileff compilation as it

’ w as in Ri msky- Korsakov s Meyerb eerization of Boris

d u Go o nov . While Ravel was at Clarens I played him my

u u Japanese poems . An epic re and connoisse r of in strumental u di u j ewelry, and q ick to scern the s btle

of ties writing, he grasped the idea at once and de cided to do something similar . Soon afterwards he ll played me hi s deliciou s P oémes de Ma armé .

I have now come to the spring season of 19 15

P Ru l u u in aris , when the ssian Ba let ina g rated the

ea des —E e b e opening of the Th tre Champs lys es . It

’ al of L Oiseau de Feu Sacre gan with a reviv , and the du Printemps w as given on May 2 8 at the evening

of performance . The complexity my score had de manded u of al a great n mber rehears s, which Mon teux had conducted with his usual skill and atten

As u al tion . for the act performance , I am not in a

to u u um position j dge, as I left the a ditori at the first

of u bars the prel de, which had at once evoked deri

u . u . sive la ghter I was disg sted These demonstrations, at first isolated, soon became general , provoking coun ter- demonstrations and very qui ckly develop

D u ing into a terrific uproar . ring the whole per

[ 7 2 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y t u ch oreo hen, and still strikes me most, abo t the g

’ ra h w as is of u p y, and Nijinsky s lack conscio sness of what he was doing in creating it . He showed therein his complete inability to accept and assimilate those revolutionary ideas which Diaghileff had made his

u u in creed, and obstinately and ind strio sly strove to cul cate . What the choreography expressed w as a very labored and barren effort rather than a plastic realization flowing simply and naturally from what

u the m sic demanded . How far it all was from what I had desired !

In composing the Sacre I had imagined the spectacular part of the performance as a series of rhythmic mass movements of the greatest simplicity which woul d have an instantaneous effect on the au dience u u u or , with no s perfl o s details complications

u such as woul d s ggest effort . The only solo was to be the sacrificial dance at the end of the piece . The

u of m sic that dance , clear and well defined, de — mandad a corresponding choreography simple and

l u un . But a easy to derstand there again, tho gh he

of had grasped the dramatic significance the dance ,

Nijinsky w as incapable of giving intelligible form to u its essence , and complicated it either by cl msiness

[ 7 4 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

For is un or lack of understandi ng . it deniably clumsy to slow down the tempo of the music in or der to compose complicated steps which cannot be

ch oreo ra danced in the tempo prescribed . Many g

h ers u but p have that fa lt, I have never known any who erred in that respect to the same degree as Ni

insk j y .

ri u Sacre In reading what I have w tten abo t the , the reader will perhaps be astonished to notice h ow

u little I have said about the m sic . The omission is

of deliberate . It is impossible, after the lapse twenty

to all years, rec what were the feelings which ani

or mated me in composing it . One can recollect facts

or u b ut one incidents with more less exactit de , can not reconstitute feelings without the risk of distort ing them under the influ ence of the many changes

one hi u u that has meanw le ndergone . Any acco nt I

to give today of what my feelings were at that time might prove as inexact an d arbitrary as if someone else were interpreting them . It woul d be something like an interview with me unwarrantably — i ne m e d h as ! g with y nam something which , alas happened only too often . One su ch incident comes to my mind in con

[ 7 5 ] S T RA VINSK Y n i t ect on wi h this very production . Among the most assiduou s onlookers at the rehearsals had been a cer

R Canu edo to tain icciotto , a charming man , devoted

u everything advanced an d p to date . He was at that

u al nt ie time p blishing a review c led M o fo . When he

for asked me an interview, I very willingly granted

f r . un o o it Unfort ately, it appeared in the form a p nouncement on Sacre u the , at once grandiloq ent and

i to na ve , and, my great astonishment, signed with

ul ni my name . I co d not recog ze myself, and was much disturbed by this distortion of my language

of al u and even my ideas , especi ly as the prono nce

a s u ment was generally regarded a thentic , and the scandal over the Sacre had noticeably increased the

But sale of the review . I was too ill at the time to be able to set things right .

I did not see the subsequ ent performances of

Sacre ul see Kh ovanstchina b e the , nor co d I go to cau se a few days after the notoriou s first night I fell ill with typhoid and spent six weeks in a nursing home .

’ As D u Ie ux for eb ssy s , I clearly remember hav

b ut n u ing seen it, I ca not be s re whether at the dress

u e rehearsal or on the first night . I very m ch lik d the

[ 7 6 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

u D u to on m sic , which eb ssy had already played me ! the piano . How well that man played The anima tion and vivacity of the score merited a warmer re

u is ception than it got from the p blic . My mind a complete blank with regard to its choreography .

Du of w as ring the long weeks my illness , I the subj ect of the most lively and tou ching solicitu de on

D e F R of . D u the part my friends eb ssy, alla , avel ,

F S C to see fre lorent chmitt, and asella all came me

u Dia hileff u q ently . g called nearly every day, tho gh

so he never came into my room , great was his fear of w as contagion . This fear almost pathological , and his u u D e friends often chaffed himabo t it . Ma rice

w as lage was with me constantly . I greatly attracted

his u di u by b oyant sposition, and I m ch appreciated

of his u the delicacy and penetration m sical feeling, — to which his compositions alas ! far too few in — u w as al n mber bear witness . He so gifted in many

so w as other ways , that he very good company .

u n Oustilou On ret r ing to g after my illness , I did not feel strongenough to undertake any impor

but so u not tant work , , that I sho ld be completely

dl u of i e, am sed myself with the composition several small things . I recall writing during the summer

[ 7 7 ] S T RA VIN SK Y

Sou three short pieces for voice and piano , called venirs de mon E n ance to f , which I dedicated my children . They were melodies that I had invented and had taken as themes for improvisation to amuse my companions in earlier years . I had always meant

d of to give them a efinite form, and took advantage

u S 1 2 my leis re to do so . ome years ago ( 9 5) I made another version of them for a small orchestral en semble, amplifying them here and there in accord ance with the orchestral requirements .

dl to C inten Har y had I got back larens, with the

of u u al tion spending the winter there as s , when I received from the newly founded Theatre Libre of

Moscow a requ est to complete the composition of my l Le R ssi n . . P u opera , o g o I hesitated Only the rolog e — — to I . n that is say, Act was in existence It had bee

u u a u written fo r years earlier, and my m sic l lang age d had been appreciably modified since then . I feare that in view of my new manner the subsequ ent scenes woul d clash with that Prologu e . I informed

of ea of the directors the Th tre Libre my misgivings , and suggested that they shoul d be content with the

P u rolog e alone , presenting it as an independent little

[ 7 8 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

But in u lyrical scene . they sisted pon the entire opera

u . in three acts , and ended by pers ading me

un As there is no action til the second act, I told myself that it would not be unreasonable if the music of the Prologu e bore a somewhat different

t of . character from hat the rest And, indeed, the

t n al u u of forest, wi h its nighti g e , the p re so l the chil d who falls in love with its song all this gen

’ tle poetry of Hans Andersen s coul d not be expressed in the same way as the baroqu e luxury of the Chi

C u u al nese o rt, with its bizarre etiq ette, its p ace fetes ,

u of its tho sands little bells and lanterns , and the gro tesqu e humming of the mechanical Japanese night

u ingale in short, all this exotic fantasy obvio sly f demanded a dif erent musical idiom .

set but I to work, and it took me all the winter, even before I had finished the score the news reached me that the whole enterprise of the Theatre Libre of l f . u o Moscow had collapsed I co d, therefore , dispose

Dia hileff the opera as I liked, and g , who had been

see me chagrined to working for another theatre ,

u ut on his j mped at the chance , and decided to p it in

P a u next season at the ris Opera Ho se . It was all the

[ 7 9 ] S TRA VINSK Y more easy for himbecau se he w as to produce Rim

’ ’ sk -Korsakov s Le Co d Or y q , and therefore already

Ben i had the necessary singers . o s created sumptu ou s

u c u u scenery and cost mes , and, ond cted by Monte x ,

w as u the opera performed with the tmost perfection .

I must go back a little to mention something of great importance to me that happened before the

as Paris opera season . I think that it w in the month of 19 14 Sacre Petroushka April, , that both the and

for P were played the first time at a concert in aris ,

as Monteux being the condu ctor . It w a brilliant re nascence of the Sacre after the Theatre des Champs

e . u Elys es scandal . The hall was crowded The a di

to ence, with no scenery distract them , listened with concentrated attention and applau ded with an eu thusiasmI had been far from expecting and which

C u d greatly moved me . ertain critics who had cens re the Sacre the year before now openly admitted

u of u u their mistake . This conq est the p blic nat rally gave me intense and lasting satisfaction . About this time I made the acqu aintance of

Ansermet cond11ctor of Ernest , , the orchestra at

u C u . Montre x, who lived at larens , q ite close to me

u u u s A friendship q ickly sprang p between , and I

E 8 0 l

S TRA V I NSK I’

a ex night later war w s declared . As I had been

w as for empted from military service, there no need

ur Ru u me to ret n to ssia, which, tho gh I had no ink

f a o see s . ling it, I was never to again I had known it WVWW /VM gVMWM M M M N

MY RO F O U N D of P emotion on reading the news war, which roused patriotic feelings and a sense of sad

e at so un u n ss being distant from my co try, fo nd some alleviation in the delight with which I steeped myself in Russian folk poems .

What fascinated me in this verse w as not so

u u or m ch the stories , which were often cr de , the

u so u unex pict res and metaphors , always delicio sly

ected u of p , as the seq ence the words and syllables ,

u and the cadence they create , which prod ces an

’ effect on one s sensibilities very closely akin to that

For u is of u . m sic I consider that m sic , by its very na

u ex ress t t re , essentially powerless to p any hing at all,

u eof s ch olo whether a feeling, an attit d mind, a p y g

u Ex ical mood, a phenomenon of nat re , etc . pression has never been an inherent property of

u m sic . That is by no means the purpose of its exist

. u ence If, as is nearly always the case , m sic appears

[ 8 5 ] S TRA VIN SK Y to an u not express something, this is only ill sion and

. u a reality It is simply an additional attrib te which, b y tacit and inveterate agreement, we have lent it,

u u —in thr st pon it, as a label , a convention short, an

u u of aspect which, nconscio sly or by force habit, we

u t have come to conf se with its essen ial being .

Mu sic is the sole domain in which man realizes

resent B of u the p Ey the imperfection his nat re, man — is doomed to submit to the passage of time to its — categories of past and future without ever being

u l able to give s bstance , and therefore stabi ity, to the category of the present .

The phenomenon of music is given to u s with

‘ u the sole p rpose of establishing an order in things ,

u ul o b e incl ding, and partic arly, the co rdination

man time T o ut in tween and J be p into practice , its dispensable and single requirement is constru ction .

C u h as at onstr ction once completed, this order been

tained to . , and there is nothing more be said It

ul u for l wo d be f tile to look , or expect anything e se

u from it . It is precisely this constr ction , this achieved order)which produ ces in u s a un iqu e emotion hav ing nothing in common with our ordi nary sensa tions and our responses to the impressions of daily

[ 8 4 ] S TRA VIN SK Y life! One could not better define the sensation pro duced by music than by saying that it is identical with that evoked by contemplation of the interplay

u u of architectural forms . Goethe thoro ghly nder stood that when he called architecture petrified music

to After this digression , which I felt it wise — interpolate at this point but which far fromex h austs u my reflections on the s bj ect, into which I — shall have occasion to go more deeply I come back

u ul u u to the R ssian folk poems . I c led a bo q et from a u mong them all, which I distrib ted in three dif ferent one compositions that I wrote after the other,

Le N o elaborating my material for s ces. They were

Pribaoutki (translated by Ramu z un der the title

Chans ns Plaisantes for accoma o ) voice , with the p niment of a small orchestra ; then Les Berceuses da

Chat C , also for voice , accompanied by three larinets ;

’ a u us and, l stly, fo r little chor es for women s voices a capella . In the autumn I returned to Clarens where — — , Ansermet who had moved to Lau s anne sublet to

u u me the little ho se that he had j st left, and there I — t of 1 9 14 19 15 passed the win er . I was working at

[ 8 5 ] S TRA VINSK Y

Les N oces t the whole time . Confined o Switzerland

of t after the declaration war, I formed there a lit le

of f o C. F. circle friends , the chief whom were

R mu R u h . t e a z, the painter A berj onois , brothers

C Cin ria An Alexandre and harles Albert g , Ernest

R Fernant sermet, the brothers Jean and ené Mora, C f havennes, and Henri Bischo f .

Our V u l for removal to the a d, where I ived six years , began an important period, to which my

R u S uvenirs great friend am z has devoted a book, o

insk t sur I r Strav . u o go y This vol me , which I refer

of to those interested in that part my life , testifies our for deep affection each other, to those feelings

of u s u to which each fo nd echoed in the other, the attachment that we both had for his dear Vaud

un u u s to his co try that had bro ght together, and deep and understanding sympathy . Hardly had I settled at Clarens when I received a pressing appeal from Diaghileff to pay him a visit

F . u at lorence He , like myself, was going thro gh a Th ul . u very diffic t time e war had pset all his plans .

of his The greater part company had dispersed, and it was necessary for him to arrange regroupings to

to on u enable him carry and s pport himself . In that

[ 8 6 ] S TRA VINSK Y painful situ ation he felt the need for having a friend

u at hand to console him, to enco rage him , and to help him with advice .

My own situ ation was no better . I had to make

’ all the arrangements for my mother s safe return to — — Ru ssia sh e had spent the summer with u s and for supplying the needs of my wife and four chil

d u one dren , and, with the slen er reso rces which

ul Ru of co d get from ssia , the maintenance the fam

f ul ily became more and more di fic t .

F as Nevertheless , I went to lorence , for I was anxious as my friend to share the gloomy thou ghts

u which obsessed s both . After spending a fortnight

u But u to C . of there, I ret rned larens in the co rse the

’ winter, my wife s health , which had been greatly

to tried by her recent confinement, decided me get

u our u her into mo ntain air, and, after closing ho se

’ C u to C a u d O ex at larens , we betook o rselves h tea for

u abo t two months . My stay there was broken by another j ou rney

' to R I u to ome , which ndertook in response a new

Dia hileff u appeal from g . It was j st at the time of

u re ercu s the terrible earthq ake at Avezzano , the p

’ of C a u d ex sions which we felt even at h tea O . In

[ 8 7 ] S TRA VINSK Y these circumstances I was a little perturbed at the

u of al tho ght leaving my family to go into It y, where everyone was still overshadowed by the catas

f u tro h e o . p , and apprehensive f rther shocks All the

u same , I decided to make the j o rney .

Diaghileff had taken a furnished apartment in

R . ome for the winter, and I j oined him there In my lu ggage I had three little pieces for piano du ets

u (with easy second part) which I had j st composed,

dedicating them respectively as follows : the March to Alfredo Casella , the Valse to Erik Satie , and the

ia h l Polka to D g i eff . I got him to play the second

of t P part hese pieces , and when we reached the olka

I told him that in composing it I h ad thou ght of him

u as a circ s ringmaster in evening dress and top hat,

u on w as cracking his whip and rging a rider . He

un a u disco ten nced, not q ite knowing whether he

u b ut u o ght to be offended, we had a good la gh over

it together in the end .

Diaghileff w as j ust then th ecenter of an exten

u sive circle in Rome . Among the new acq aintances

I made I may mention Gerald Tyrwhitt, who later

became Lord Berners . A great lover of art and a cul

u a u u t r d m sician, he became in s ccession a composer

[ 8 8 ]

S T RA VIN SK Y

u so u any heating apparat s , was ac te that the piano

u u F strings had s cc mbed to it . or two days I tried to

fur work there in overcoat, cap , and snowboots , with

oul n ru . But o a g over my knees I c d not go like that .

Finally I found in the village a spaciou s and com fortable room in a hou se b el ongmg to lower middle class folk who were out all day . I had a piano in

ul to stalled there , and at last co d devote myself my

w as u : work . I b sy at the time with two compositions

L es N oces and the first sketches of a piece which he

Renard u Ru con came the s ite . The ssian folklore tinu ed to entice me , and its inspirational ideas were

Renard Le u . s N oces far from exha sted , like and the

its vocal pieces already mentioned, had origin in

of u these folk poems , and many pages this m sic were

on composed the original texts . The work made

u C good progress , and I ret rned to larens well satis fied with having brought L es Noces to the point which I had wanted to reach before the spring .

set u Once there, I had at once to abo t finding some place in which I could definitely settle myself

of with my family . I searched the neighborhood

u u La sanne , and my choice fell pon Morges , a little

[ 9 0 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

on of of town the banks the Lake Geneva , and there

i of . I passed f ve years my l—ife u is of Abo t the same time that , in the spring — 19 15 Dia hileff a to see S g c me me in witzerland,

to and, my delight, established himself near me and

un . stayed til the winter He took Bellerive , a prop a u x rty at O chy, and I hoped and e pected that we

n a u h ow u see o e . sho ld often nother Unfort nately,

un u ever, my yo ger da ghter fell ill with measles soon

his after arrival , and this prevented me from visit

u ing him for several weeks , beca se, as I have already

of u . explained, his fear contagion was notorio s At

u u u u u O chy, he was s rro nded by a little gro p , incl d ing the dancer Massine , the painters Larionov, Mme

Goncharova, and Bakst, who often came over from

u old C Geneva , the famo s dancing master ecchetti,

Massme who was working with ; Ansermet, whom

Diaghileff had selected as conductor of the orches

u of tra , and a little tro pe artists he had managed to collect . Everybody was getting ready for the ap

roachin S p g season in the United tates, for which

Dia hileff g was then negotiating .

When all danger of contagion had at length

[ 9 1 ] S T RA VIN SK Y

Dia hileff u u vanished , g , tho gh not witho t misgiving,

to . to at last Opened his door me Then , recompense

him for the long delay, I played him the first two

f L es N ce u o s . so tablea x o He was moved, and his

u u u enth siasm seemed so gen ine and to ching, that

ul but I co d not dedicate the work to him .

Diaghileff had decided that before starting for

America he woul d give a grand gala performance

in the P aris Opera Hou se for the benefit of the Red

C . a in ross Among other ballets , the progr m was to

’ clu de my Oisea u de Fe u and Massine s first choreo

L e S leil de Minuit u on graphic creation , o , fo nded

’ t R - Korsakov s Sne our selec ions from imsky opera , g

h ia hile o tc ka . D g ff had also been asked to give a per

formance Red C for the ross at Geneva , and he decided to make the occasion a sort of dress rehearsal

o P of t . his new ballet, before going aris He organ

izad a festival of music and dance at the Geneva

Fe Litvinne Theatre , and lia lent her aid and opened

th e matinee by singing the Ru ssian National An

u u them . I was to cond ct, for the first time in p blic,

’ selections from L Oisea u de Fe u in the form of a

u u Carnaval symphonic s ite , and the program incl ded i and Soleil de Minu t conducted by Ernest Ansermet .

[ 92 ]

S T RA VI NSK Y

u to Before ret rning Morges , I stayed a few

P see days more in aris to some of my friends , nota P P bly rincess Edmond de olignac , who always

u h e showed me m ch kindness . S took advantage of

P u my presence in aris to disc ss , among other things , a little piece for drawing- room presentation which sh e proposed to put on at her hou se as soon as the d . u Renar war was over I s ggested to her, which , as

out C a u I have already said, I had sketched at h tea

’ d O ex . Sh e u was m ch pleased with the idea , and I set on to work it as soon as I got back to Morges . I had a visit shortly afterwards from Nijinsky and his wife , whom I had not met before . They had j u st been released from their internment in Hun

w u gary, here the war had ca ght them, and were in

Switzerland on their way to j oin the Ru ssian B allet

Dia hile in New York . g ff had been working a long time for their liberation , and it had at last been

of u u achieved, in spite inn merable diffic lties which had been overcome only by the energy and extraor

n di ary persistence of my late friend .

Greatly upset at having no news from Amer

w ar a u of ica , the h ving landed me in a sit ation

v u f u gra e pec niary di fic lties , I asked Nijinsky, on

[ 94 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

on reaching New York, to insist my engagement being definitely settled . I was at that time in great

u u need, and in my ingen o sness even begged Nijin sky to make his own participation in the perform

ances u . sa depend pon my engagement Needless to y,

u of whatever co rse was taken , nothing came it . As

Dia hileff u for g , I learned later that he was m ch dis tressed at being unable to get the Metropolitan to

as un u engage me, he had confidently co ted pon it,

no and it was less important to him than to me .

So u I stayed q ietly at Morges , working at

Renard set L es , for which I had temporarily aside

e N oc s. There was at that time in Geneva a little res taurant of u with a small orchestra string instr ments ,

u on R ex incl ding a cymbalon , which Aladar acz

a u celled . He is H ngarian , and has since become rec o nized u in g as a virt oso . I was captivated by the

um its ul str ent, which delighted me by rich , f l tone and by the player ’ s direct contact with the strings

u d thro gh the little sticks hel between his fingers ,

. one and even by its trapezoid shape I wanted to get , and begged Racz to help me by making my wish known among his associates in Geneva , and, in fact, he did tell me of an old Hungarian who sold me one

[ 9 5 ] S TRA VINSK Y of u these instr ments . I carried it off to Morges in

u glee , and very soon learned to play it well eno gh to enable me to compose a p art for cymbalon which

u O Renard I introd ced into the little rchestra of .

saw R u as I a great deal of am z at this time , we were working together at the French translation of

Ru P ribaoutki Berce uses du the ssian text of my ,

Chat Re r and na d . I initiated him into the pecul iari

u t Ru u ties and s b le shades of the ssian lang age , and

f u the dif ic lties presented by its tonic accent . I was

u astonished at his insight, his int itive ability, and his gift for transferring the spirit and poesy of the Ru ssian folk poems to a langu age so remote and dif

ferent as French .

I was very mu ch wrapped up in this collabora

tion which cemented still more firmly the bonds of

our friendship and af finity of mind .

’ I awaited Diaghileff s return from America

with impatience and excitement . He sent me word M a S in arch of his arriv l in pain , and I at once took

t train o j oin him . He told me of the terrible fears which he had experienced in crossing by an Italian

u c ship , laden with m nitions of war, whi h had con

stantly had to change its cou rse by reason of warn

[ 9 6 ]

S T RA VIN SK Y change from the monotony of the impressions gen erally received in passing from one European coun

un of u try to another, for the co tries E rope differ far less among themselves than all of them together do

our from this land on the edge of continent, where

one u already is in to ch with Africa .

“ for ou I have been waiting y like a brother,

’ An d Dia hileff s . were g first words , indeed, I felt all

u the pleas re he was experiencing in seeing me again , for I w as a friend upon whose feelings he coul d rely and with whom he coul d let himself go after his

ia hileff u long loneliness . D g and the new acq aint ances I made in Madrid made my stay there very

u of agreeable . I treas re my recollections it all the more because it was then that I met Mme Eugenia

Errazuris C al de , a hilean lady who had preserved most intact marks of great beauty and perfect dis

sh e e our en tinction . The sympathy show d at first

un un co ter, and which later developed into failing

u friendship , to ched me deeply, and I enj oyed her subtle and un rivaled un derstanding of an art which

of was not that her generation .

M Dia hil eff w as While I was in adrid, g pro du cin R g his ballets at the oyal Theatre , where

[ 9 8 ] S T RA VIN SK Y

’ L oiseau de Feu and P etroushka were among those

h ad of given , and where I the honor being presented to the King and the two ! u eens . I mu st record the tremendous impression made

ex on me by Toledo and the Escorial . My two short

cursions to them showed me a Spain for which I

should have se arched in vain in historic treatises .

My glimpses of these two places evoked in me vi

sions not so much of the horrors of the Inquisition

or the cru elties of the days of tyranny as a revela

tion of the profoundly religiou s temperament of the

and of C people the mystic fervor their atholicism , so closely akin in its essentials to the religiou s feel

ing and spirit of Russia . I specially noticed the dif

ference which exists between the Catholicism of

S of R pain and that ome , which impresses all ob

u u servers by the impassive grande r of its a thority .

I found a logical explanation of that difference in

a C of R the consider tion that the atholicism ome , as

of C the metropolis and center Western hristianity,

mu st necess arily wear a more au stere and immuta

ble aspect than the Catholicism of the outlying coun

tries .

D o not be astonished if I say nothing about

[ 9 9 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

a u ts Sp nish folk mu51c . I do not disp te i distinctive

but . character, for me there was no revelation in it

u That, however, did not prevent me from freq ent ing taverns to spend whole evenings in listening to the endless preliminary chords of guitar pl aying — and to a deep voiced singer with un ending breath trolling forth her long Arab ballad with a wealth of

riture fio . Throughout the whole summer and autumn I was busied in finishing the music of Renard and in

’ Ramu z s F adapting rench translation s to the nota

a tion . At the s me time I wrote some little pieces for

u u piano d ets , with an easy right hand, for amate rs

u se u little practiced in the of the instr ment, the whole burden of the composition being concen

— a trated in the left hand p rt . I enjoyed solving this

a little problem , which served as a pend nt to the

Trois Pieces Faciles P V al (March , olka , and alse)

in ready mentioned, which I had done exactly the opposite , making the left hand easy . These little

‘ a Cin Pieces Faciles An compositions I c lled q ( dante,

’ ’ a E s a nola i sub se Napolitan , p g , Balala ka , Galop) I

u q ently orchestrated them and the three earlier ones ,

’ and, after some years interval , they appeared in

[ 100 ]

S TRA VINSK Y

Just before Christmas I had to interrupt every thing I was doing . I suffered excru ciating pain from

of u a severe attack intercostal ne ralgia, and there

r were moments when I could scarcely breathe . D .

D emieville u u , a professor at La sanne , p lled me

u thro gh, and at the New Year I began to live again , but n the convalescence was a long o e . My legs were

a nost u of h paralyzed as the res lt my illness, and I ul u u co d not move witho t assistance . I sh dder even

u of u now at the tho ght what I had to end re .

h ad u Dia hileff Before I f lly recovered, g , hav ing heard that I was ill , came to see me . In the

u of ou r ul ut co rse talks , he proposed that he sho d p

on L e R ssi n l o g o in ballet form , as he had already

’ d u L e Co Or . done with q I rejoined with . a co nter

s m proposition . I had been thinking of making a y phonic poem for the orchestra by combining the

u of of L e R ssi n l m sic the second and third acts o g o ,

u Dia hileff which were homogeneo s , and I told g that

I would place that at his disposal if he cared to make

a of . u ballet it He warmly welcomed the s ggestion , and I adapted a scenario from Andersen ’ s fairy

t u set s ory to serve the p rpose . I at once myself to

u the arrangement of this poem, witho t altogether

[ 102 ] S TRA V IN SK Y

t n a L es N oces hi u a set i g side , w ch I had taken p ag in

with the expectation of finishing it very soon .

Dia h ileff R g had gone to ome , where he was to

Ru al have a ssian B let season , and begged me to j oin

’ ’ him u L Oisea u de Fe u an d Feu d Arti ice to cond ct f ,

for the latter of which he had commissioned the

al u u ll a decor It ian f t rist, Ba a , to prep re a special with

ff R in lighting e ects . When I reached ome March I

found in the apartment Diaghil eff had rented qui te a large assembly gathered roun d his lavishly hos

itable . P p table There were Ansermet, Bakst, icasso ,

m C u a whom I then met for the first ti e , octea , Ball ,

M and Lord Berners , assine , many others . The sea

son at the Costanzi Theatre opened with a gala per

forman ce Red C for the Italian ross , at which I con

’ ’ du cted L Oisea u de Fe u an d Feu d Artifi ce with the

Balla setting .

The Febru ary Revolution h ad j u st taken place

Ru th e a P vi al in ssia, Tsar had bdicated, and a ro sion

Government was in power . In normal times a Ru s

sian gal a performance woul d have begun with the

N t b ut hi ul ational An hem, at that date not ng co d have been more inept than to sing God Save th e

Tsar . i u u It was necessary to f nd some s bstit te for it,

[ 105 ] S TRA VIN SK Y and the idea of opening the performance with a

Ru u Dia hileff ssian folk song s ggested itself to g , l who chose the famou s Vo ga Boat Song . But the or ch estra u no in wo ld have to play it, and there was strumentation Dia hileff ; it had not been scored . g

u u k beso ght me to get on with it as q ic ly as possible , so u u I had to sacrifice myself, and thro gho t the whole night preceding the gala I sat at the piano in

’ Lord Berners apartment instrumenting and scoring the song for the orchestra , dictating it chord by

wh o chord, note by note , to Ansermet, wrote it

u down . The orchestra parts were then q ickly copied

out own in . , and in that way I was able to hear my strumentation u , cond cted by Ansermet, at the next i ’ morn ng s rehearsal of the evening program . The performance in th e evening began with the Italian

t Boat S n National An hem, followed by the o g, in

’ ’ u L isea u de Fe place of Russia s . I cond cted O u and

’ Fe u d Arti ice t decor f wi h its , with special lighting effects .

I can still recall the big reception that Diaghi leff gave in the Grand Hotel in the course of my

u P etroushka stay, at which I cond cted parts of , and

[ 104 ]

S T RA V I NSK Y

d a hours there . We ha both been greatly t ken by the

old Neapolitan water colors and fairly combed all the little shops and dealers ’ establishments in the

course of ou r frequ ent expeditions .

F a R rom N ples I went back to ome , where I

had a delightful week with Lord Berners . I shall

’ never forget the adventure which later b efell me in

crossing the frontier at Chiasso on my return to

a P s S . witzerl nd I was taking my portrait, which ica so had j ust drawn at Rome and given to me . When the military authorities examined my lu ggage they

u u fo nd this drawing, and nothing in the world wo ld indu ce them to let it pass . They asked me what it

and represented, when I told them that it was my

u ut portrait, drawn by a disting ished artist, they

terl u to . b ut y ref sed believe me It is not a portrait,

” “

. a but of a plan , they said Yes , the plan of my f ce , ” f . But to nothing else , I replied all my e forts failed

h ad convince them , and I to send the portrait, in

’ t a Lord Berners name , to the Bri ish Ambass dor in

R a Pa ome , who l ter forwarded it to ris in the dip lomatic b ag . The altercation made me miss my con

i n a nect o C . , and I had to stay at hi sso till next day

Alas ! a cru el and unexpected blow w as to over

[ 1 06 ] S TR A VI N SK Y

whelm me with sorrow j ust after I reached home .

’ u An old friend of o rs , who had entered my parents service before I was born and had looked after me

a in my earliest d ys , a friend to whom I was closely

as w as attached and whom I loved a second mother, th an u s as living with at Morges , I had made her

‘ come to us at the beginning of the war . Not long

u un R u his u after my ret rn , I l ched with am z at ho se in Lausanne and on returning home in his company

I noticed a stranger in tail coat and top h at in my

“

Su . garden . rprised, I asked him what he wanted It ” u appears that there has been a death in the ho se , he said . That was how I learned of the loss that had

u befallen me . In the space of a few short ho rs the bursting of a blood vessel had carried Off my old

Bertha . There had not even been time to warn me

u at La sanne . Several weeks went by in sorrow before I coul d

u C of u res me my work . hange scene p t me on my — feet again w e went into the mountains for the

u D e . But s mmer, to iabl rets I had scarcely got back

had to work when I the shock of a new grief . A tele

Ru gram from ssia informed me that my brother, in

R u a u su c the army on the o mani n front, had j st

[ 1 07 ] S TRA VINSK Y cumb ed to u no fo typh s . I had t seen him r a long

as Ru time , he had been living in ssia and I abroad, but u our , tho gh lives had been very diverse , I had

to of remained deeply attached him , and the news his u u death bro ght me ac te grief .

During this difficul t time I w as fortunately able to find some distraction in the frequent vi sits of u as R u Dia hileff s ch friends am z, Berners , g , and

u l of Ansermet . I contin ed working at the ast scene

Les N oces u u d ring the s mmer, and I finished a piece

of u for the pianola . Many the m sicians wh o had

S on u preceded me in visiting pain had, their ret rn, put their impressions on record in works devoted to

u the m sic they had heard there , Glinka having far outshone the rest with his incomparable La Iota

e i d i Aragonaise and Un N u t Madr d . It was probably

to u too in order to conform this c stom that I , , paid

o u tribute to it . The whimsicalities f the nexpected

melodies of the mechanical pianos an d rattletrap or

ch estrinas of the Madrid streets and the little night

as taverns served theme for this piece , which I wrote

u expressly for the pianola, and which was p blished

o e Sub se as a roll by the London li n Company .

[ 1 08 ]

WW W M W M

H IS RIO D 19 1 7 T PE , the end of , was one of the hard est I have ever experienced?) Overwhelmed by the

u a uf s ccessive bereavements th t I had s fered, I was now also in a position Of the utmost pecuniary dif

R u u ficul t . C u y The omm nist evol tion , which had j st

u Ru of re tri mphed in ssia , deprived me the last sources which had still from time to time been reach

u u so ing me from my co ntry, and I fo nd myself, to

Speak, face to face with nothing, in a foreign land

a and right in the middl e of the w r .

It was imperative to find some way of ensuring a tolerable existence for my family . My only con solation was to see that I was not alone in suffering

u M R u An from these circ mstances . y friends am z ,

and u sermet, many others were all in eq ally strait

u ened circumstances . We Often met and so ght fever ishly for some me ans of escape from this alarming

as u situ ation . It w in these talks that Ram z and I got 5\ ‘ [ 1 10 ] S T RA VIN SK Y hold of the idea of creating a sort of little traveling

t thea re , easy to transport from place to place and to

show in even small localities But for that we h ad to

lackin DWe a u a u h ve f nds, and these were bsol tely g

u mad disc ssed this enterprise with Ansermet, who

h u was to become its orc estra leader, and with A ber

onois decor j , whose province was to be the and cos

a . our tum s We elaborated proj ect to the last detail ,

of u on even to the itinerary the to r, and all this

a or empty pockets . We had to find a we lthy patron a group who coul d be persu aded to interest them

a ! . in our . selves scheme It was , al s no easy matter

R u b ut ef sals not always polite , always categoric,

u s . greeted every time At last, however, we had the good fortune to meet someone who not only prom

th e eu but ised to collect r q isite capital , entered into our plan with cordiality and sympathetic encourage M . R u ment It was . Werner einhart of Winterth r , famou s for his b road intellectu al cul ture and the generou s support that he and his brothers extended to the arts and to artists .

at a set u Under this p ron ge , we o rselves to work .

’ Afa nas ev s m mu of Ru a y “ m M fa o ms collection ssian t les , in w as t which I then deeply absorbed, provided me wi h

[ 1 1 1 ] S TRA VINSK Y the subj ect of our performancei l introdu ced them to R u wh o w as Ru am z , very responsive to ssian folk

u For lore , and immediately shared my enth siasm . the purpose of our theatre we were particul arly drawn to the cycle of legends dealing with the ad ventures of the soldier who deserted and the D evil

to off ul who inexorably comes carry his so . This cycle w as based on folk stories of a cru el period of

ui u enforced recr tment nder Nicholas I, a period which also produced many songs known as Rekrout skia on , which expatiate in verse the tears and lam entations of women robbed of their sons or sweet hearts .

Al though the character of their subj ect is spe cificall Ru u y ssian , these songs depict sit ations and sentimentsand un fold a moral so common to the human race as to make an international appeal . It was this essentially human aspect of the tragic story of the soldier destined to become the prey of the

a u D evil that attr cted Ram z and myself .

So our a re we worked at t sk with great zest, minding ourselves frequ ently of the modest means

at our disposal to carry it to completion . I knew only

too well that so far as the mu sic was concerned I

[ 1 12 ]

S TRA VI NSK Y

um brass , tr pet and trombone, and, finally, the per

cussion ul one u manip ated by only m sician , the f o u u u . con whole , co rse , nder a cond ctor Another

sideration which made this idea particularly attrac tive to me was the interest afforded to the spectator

by being able to see these instrumentalists each play

ing his own part in the ensemble . I have always had

a u u horror of listening to m sic with my eyes sh t,

of es with nothing for them to do . The sight the g

t ures and movements of the variou s parts of the

body producing the music is fundamentally neces

u sary if it is to be grasped in all its ful lness . All m sic

created or composed demands some exteriorization

w ords it for the perception of the listener . In other , l fi

mu u . b em st have an intermediary, an exec tant That g

u u an essential condition , witho t which m sic cannot

u s to or to wholly reach , why wish ignore it, try do — ( so why shut the eyes to this fact which is inherent

in the very nature of mu sical art ? Obviou sly one

’ u u or freq ently prefers to t rn away one s eyes , even

’ su erfluit of close them , when the p y the player s ges

’ t icul ations prevents the concentration of one s facul

’ u ties of hearing . B t if the player s movements are

e of u voked solely by the exigencies the m sic, and do

[ 1 14 ] S TRA VIN SK Y not tend to make an impression on the listener by

u extram sical devices , why not follow with the eye

u u s ch movements as those of the dr mmer, the violin

’ au ist, or the trombonist, which facilitate one s ditory

? of perceptions As a matter fact, those who maintain that they only enjoy mu sic to the full with their eyes shut do not hear better than when they have

b ut u en them open , the absence of vis al distractions ables them to abandon themselves to the reveries in du ced u u is by the l llaby of its so nds , and that really what they prefer to the mu sic itself These ideas indu ced me to have my little or

’ ch estra well in evidence when planning L Histoire

’ d un ld t S a . one of o It was to be on side the stage , and a small dais for the reader on the other . This arrangement established the connection between the three elements of the piece which by their close co

a un : e oper tion were to form a ity in the c nter, the

one u stage and the actors , on side of them the m sic,

on t . Our and, the o her, the reader idea was that the three elements shoul d sometimes take turns as solo ists m and someti es combine as an ensemble .

’ ’ ‘ We worked hard at L Histoire d un Soldat dur

all a 19 18 ing the e rly part of , as we intended to pro

[ 1 15 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

M u u duce it in the summer . y ninterr pted collabora tion with Ramu z was the more preciou s to me

u our beca se friendship , growing closer and closer, helped me to bear the difficult times throu gh which

I was living, sickened and, as a patriot, desperately

u u P of h miliated, as I was by the , monstro s eace

- Brest Litovsk . When we had finished writing the

Soldat a u u . , a lively and m sing time ens ed We had to arrange for its staging, and for that we had first

u of all to find actors . By good l ck it happened that George and Lu dmila Pito eff were at Geneva j ust t u s u hen , and lent their val able assistance ; he as the

D a sh e P . evil in his d ncing scenes , and as the rincess — Two more actors were needed for the rOle of the

Soldier and of the Devil where he was only acting .

u u We req ired also a reader, and we fo nd all three l among the Lau sanne University stu dents . Gabrie

R of th e S V ossel took the part oldier, Jean illard that

D u E of the evil , and the yo ng geologist, lie Gagne

bin , became the reader .

After a great many rehearsals for the actors ,

’ u P for the m sicians , and for the rincess dances ,

P t e’ f which Mme i o f and I evolved together, we reached the moment to which we had so eagerly

[ 1 16 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y

u h the few isolated renderings I had heard, good tho g t not u hey were , had been s fficient to show me what

u h ow an admirable cond ctor he was to become , and faithfully he could transmit my musical thou ght to

u u or the p blic, witho t ever falsifying it by personal

F r . o arbitrary interpretation , as I have already said,

u ul b e m sic sho d be transmitted and not interpreted, cau se interpretation reveals the personality of the

a u interpreter rather th n that of the a thor, and who can guarantee that such an executant will reflect

’ th e author s Vision without distortion ?

’ An executant s talent lies precisely in his fac ul t for u y seeingwhat is act ally in the score , and cer tainly not in a determination to find there what he

’ Ansermet s would like to find . This is greatest and

u u u most precio s q ality, and it partic larly revealed

ld t itself while we were stu dying the score of the So a . From that moment dates an intellectu al understand ing between u s which time has only increased and strengthened .

His reputation as a perfect executant of my

but works is well established, I have always been

ul u astonished that many apparently c t red people ,

u of u who admire his exec tion contemporary m sic,

[ 1 18 ] S TRA VI NSK Y

do not pay enough attention to the way in which he

n renders the works of days gone by . Ansermet is o e of the conductors who emphatically confirm my

long- standing conviction as to the relationship b e tween past and present music,the conviction that it

is impossible for an yone to grasp fully the art of a

to a bygone period, penetrate bene th the obsolete

’ form and discern the author s meaning in a lan

u u comreh en g age no longer spoken , nless he has a p

and for u sive lively feeling the present, and nless he consciously participates in the life around him .

For it is onl y those who are essentially alive who can discover the real life of those who are

“ ” dead . That is why, even from a pedagogical point of vi ul ew, I think that it wo d be wiser to begin the education of a pupil by first giving him a knowledge

is of what , and only then tracing history backward, step by step , to what has been .

F but rankly, I have little confidence in those who pose as refined connoisseurs and passionate ad — mirers of the great pontiffs of art honored by sev

th e ui u u eral stars in g debooks or by a portrait, s ally

u u u q ite nrecognizable , in ill strated encyclopedias but t of of own who know no hing the art their times .

[ 1 19 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

Shoul d any consideration at all be given to those who go into raptures over great names but whose

tt u a it de , when confronted with contemporary works ,

of f or of is one bored indif erence , the display a marked preference for the mediocre and the com monplace ?

’ Ansermet s merit lies precisely in his ability to reveal the relationship b etween the music Of today

f u u al and that o the past by p rely m sic methods .

u Knowing, as he does to perfection , the m sical lan

u of our g age own times , and, on the other hand,

u of h e playing a large n mber old, classical scores , soon perceived that the authors of all periods were

u confronted by the sol tion of problems which were,

u a . above all , specifically m sic l That is his rare merit, and that explains his vital contact with the mu sical literature of the most diverse periods .

With regard to techniqu e in the tru e sense of

of S ldat w as the word, to give a rendering the o a brilliant opportunity for Ansermet to display his

For of u mastery . with an orchestra only seven m si cians ul no u , all playing as soloists, there co d be q es tion of fooling the public by the dyn amic effects with which we are all familiar and which are all too

[ 12 0 ]

S TRA VI N SK Y

inten As I have already indicated, we had no

of S ldat one tion restricting the o to performance .

u to We had m ch more extensive plans , and meant

go further afield in Switzerland with our traveling

But . ! u theatre , alas we had reckoned witho t the Spanish influ enza which was raging all over Europe

u s at that time and did not spare . One after another

our il we all fell victims to it , we , fam ies , and even

the agents who were to have taken charge of our

u . our u ul to r All bea tif dreams faded away .

Before talking of my return to life after this

u long and depressing illness , I m st go back a little to mention a work which I composed directly after fin

l at ishing the score of the So d . Its dimensions are

b ut of modest, it is indicative the passion I felt at

u u that time for j azz , which b rst into life so s ddenly

. u of when the war ended At my req est, a whole pile

u its this m sic was sent to me , enchanting me by

u u tr ly pop lar appeal , its freshness , and the novel

so a it ne ro rhythm which distinctly reve led s g origin .

These impressions su ggested the idea of creating a

of u composite portrait this new dance m sic , giving the creation the importance of a concert piece, as, in the past, the composers of their periods had done for

[ 129 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

u u . So the min et, the waltz , the maz rka , etc I com

Ra time u posed my g for eleven instr ments , wind,

u u . string, perc ssion , and a H ngarian cymbalon

S u ome years later, I cond cted it myself at its first

’ audition at one of Koussevitzky s concerts at the

Paris Opera Hou se .

I felt so weak after my long bout with influ enza that I found it ' impossible at the moment to u u ndertake anything at all fatig ing, and I therefore occupied myself with work that I imagined woul d not overtax my strength . I had long toyed with the

’ idea of arranging certain fragments of L Oiseau de

Fe u of u but u in the form a s ite , for a m ch smaller

to ~ facilitate u orchestra, in order its prod ction by the

a u many orchestr l societies which, tho gh wishing to

u u incl de that work in their programs , were freq ently

f u f u deterred by dif ic lties o a p rely material nature .

u In the earlier s ite , which I had arranged shortly

of after the composition the ballet, I had retained an

of al orchestra the same size as the origin , and the various societies which organized concerts rarely had

u s ch large ensembles at their disposal . In this second version I added certain portions and cut out others which had been in the first, and I considerably de

[ 12 5 ] S TRA VIN SK Y creased the orchestra without upsetting the equilib riumof u u so as u the instr mental gro ps , to red ce the number needed for its performance to about

u sixty m sicians .

saw As the work progressed, I that my task was

so by no means simple as I had imagined, and it took

ix s months to complete it .

During the winter I made the acqu aintance of

C S -P wh o a roat singer, Mme Maj a de trozzi ecic,

u ul Sh e had a bea tif Soprano voice . asked me to write

F ur Russian something for her, and I composed o

S n s on R u o g folk poems that am z translated for me .

I went to Paris in the early spring on a short

Dia hileff visit, and there I met g , whom I had not seen for more than a year .

P of - as The eace Brest Litovsk had placed him ,

so of it did many his compatriots , in a very awk

u ward position . It had fo nd him and his company in

S a so u u b e p in , and there they were , to speak, sh t p,

u w Ru one re ca se every here ssians were , and all,

u u f ul garded as ndesirable , and inn merable di fic ties were m ade whenever they wished to travel from one coun try to another .

Having made an engagement with the London

1241

S TRA VI NSK Y

Soldat of the arose , and a certain coolness between u s u but ens ed, it did not last long .

P Dia hileff u While I was in aris , g sed all his — so diplomatic talents to entice me the lost sheep , — u to speak back into the fold of the R ssian Ballet .

u u S ldat In order to distract me from the nfort nate o , he talked with exaggerated enthusiasm about his

ut L e Chant d a R ssi n l plan to p on o g o , with scenery and costumes by Henri Matisse and choreography

M But w as no b . t e by assine I taken with the idea ,

u a u of collab orat ca se , despite the f ct that the tho ght ing with a great artist like Matisse and su ch a chore o ra h er u g p as Massine was very all ring, I had destined L e Chant d u Rossignol for the concert plat form , and a choreographic rendering seemed to me

u u u ul u to be q ite nnecessary . Its s btle and metic o s writing and its somewhat static character woul d not have lent themselves to stage action and the move

u Dia hi ments of dancing . B t another proposal by g leff did very greatly tempt me .

u The Go d - humred adies The s ccess of o o L , with

’ D S u u omenico carlatti s m sic, had s ggested the idea of producing something to the music of another

u u P ill strio s Italian , ergolesi , whom , as he knew, I

[ 12 6 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

his to liked and admired immensely . In visits Italy,

Diaghileff had gone through a number of this mas

’ ter s unfinished manu scripts that he discovered in

a u of v rio s Italian conservatoires , copies which he had had made for him . He later completed the col lection with what he foun d in the libraries of Lon

un of don . There was a very considerable amo t ma terial Dia hileff to u , which g showed me , rging that I should seek my inspiration in it and compose the

u u of m sic for a ballet, the s bj ect which was to be taken from a collection containing variou s versions of u u Pul the amoro s advent res of cinella .

’ I have always been enchanted by P ergolesi s

u Neapolitan m sic, so entirely of the people and yet so exotic in its Spanish character . The proposal that

ul P wh o to do I sho d work with icasso , was the scenery and costumes and whose art was particul arly

of our to near and dear to me , recollections walks

a gether and the impressions of N ples we had shared,

’ th e great ple asure I had experienced from Massine s — choreography in The Good - h umored Ladies all

d u F r this combine to overcome my rel ctance . o it was a delicate task to breathe new life into scattered fragments and to create a whole from the isolated

[ 12 7 ] S TRA VIN SK Y p ages of a mu sician for whom I felt a special liking and tenderness .

so u u Before attempting a task ard o s , I had to find an answer to a qu estion of the greatest impor

u ul tance by which I fo nd myself faced . Sho d my line of action with regard to Pergolesi be dominated by my love or by my respect for his music ? Is it love or respect that urges u s to possess a woman ? Is it not by love alone that we succeed in penetrating to the

? But very essence of a being , then , does love dimin ish ? R respect espect alone remains barren, and can never serve as a productive or creative factor . In

to u order create there m st be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love ? To me it seems that to ask the qu estion is to answer it .

I do not want the reader to think that in writ ing this I am trying to exonerate myself from the absurd accu sations of sacrilege leveled against me . I am only too familiar with the mentality of those curators and archivists of mu sic who j ealously guard the intangibility of relics at which they never so

u m ch as look, while resenting any attempt on the part of others to resuscitate these treasures which

they themselves regard as dead and sacrosanct . Not

[ 12 8 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y

me with j oy . The m aterial I had at my disposal numerou s fragments and shreds of compositions

u u either nfinished or merely o tlined, which by good fortune had elu ded filtering academic editors made me appreciate more and more the tru e nature o f Pergolesi while discerning ever more clearly the c loseness of my mental and, so to speak, sensory k inship with him .

F u Dia hileff P req ent conferences with g , icasso , and Massine were necessitated by the task before me

- i a which was to wr te a b llet for a definite scenario , with scenes differing in character b ut following each

u other in ordered seq ence . I therefore had to go to Paris from time to time in order to settle every de

ur tail . O conferences were very often far from peace

a u our ble , freq ent disagreements arose , and meet

ings occasionally ended in stormy scenes .

Sometimes the costumes failed to come up to

’ Diaghileff s expectations , sometimes my orchestra M tion dis appointed him . assine composed his chore

ography from a piano arrangement made from the orchestral score and sent piecemeal to him by me

As ul as d a . I finishe e ch part a res t of this , it often happened that when I was shown certain steps and

[ 150 ] S T RA VIN SK Y

movements that had been decided upon I saw to my

horror that in character and importance they in n o wise corresponded to the very modest possibilities of

a a my sm ll chamber orchestr . They had wanted, and

u ff looked for, something q ite di erent from my score ,

u something it co ld not give . The choreography had,

a u therefore , to be altered and ad pted to the vol me

u u of my m sic, and that ca sed them no little annoy

u w as ance , tho gh they realized that there no other

solution .

u u R In the a t mn , Werner einhart was good

u L au eno gh to organize some concerts in Geneva ,

Zii rich S u sanne , and to let the wiss p blic hear some

’ of u u u L His thing my chamber m sic, s ch as the s ite

’ toire d un S ldat o for piano , violin , and clarinet , the three solo pieces for clarinet only , the two small

u Berce uses d a Chat P ribao utki gro ps of songs and ,

Ra time Pian Ra M usic g , arranged as a piano solo o g ,

n u M and, fi ally, the eight easy d ets for the piano . y

u a M T atianova exec t nts were lle , vocalist , José

u P It rbi, pianist , José orta , violinist , and Edmond

i . u u Allegra , clar net It rbi and I played the d ets . I ought to mention here a concert which had a certain importance for me in view of my new or

[ 151 ] S TRA VI N SK Y ch t a es r l experiments . On D ecember 6 a first per formance of Le Chant d a Rossignol w as given at

Geneva at one of the subscription concerts of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under the direction

of . sa u Ernest Ansermet I y new experiment beca se ,

of in this symphonic poem, written for an orchestra ordinary size, I treated the latter more as a chamber

c ncertante orchestra , and laid stress on the o side,

of u u b ut not only the vario s solo instr ments, also

a rOle t u of u g ve this o whole gro ps instr ments . This orchestral treatment was well adapted to music ful l of of cadenzas , vocalises, and melismata all kinds,

tutti and in which were the exception . I enjoyed the

ul performance greatly, for the rendering was caref

u — and highly finished . I reached the concl sion very

ul u regretf ly, since I was the a thor of many works — for the theatre that a perfect rendering can only

u be achieved in the concert hall , beca se the stage presents a combination of several elements upon

u to so which the m sic has often depend, that it can not rely upon the exclu sive consideration which it receives at a concert . I was confirmed in this view

u di of when, two months later, nder the rection the

u L e Chant du R ssi n l same cond ctor, Ansermet, o g o

[ 152 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y

f ul to worked miracles , and I find it di fic t decide — what was most enchanting the coloring, the de

or sign, the amazing inventiveness of this remark able man .

I had expected a hostile reception from those who have constituted themselves the custodians of

not scholastic tradition , and was astonished by their

of reprobation . I had formed the habit disregarding this equivocal musical group whose authority was

u more than doubtful . All the more precio s was the attitu de of those who were able to discern in my score something better than a more or less adroit

- s i h eighteenth century pa t c e .

u of u its As , with the ret rn peace , life res med

of u ul activities in the whole E rope , partic arly in

F a l ul no r nce, I rea ized that I co d longer remain in the involuntary isolation to which the war had con

t fined me . I therefore resolved o take my lares and

F ul penates to rance, where , at the moment, the p se of the world was throbbing most strongly . It was with a ful l heart that I felt constrained to bid adieu

V u u to the a d co ntry, which had endeared itself to

u un me by the precio s friendships fo d in it, and

[ 154 ] S TRA VIN SK Y which had helped me bear the severe trials that I had had to undergo during the war years . I shall

always keep in my heart a feeling of affection for it . In June I left Morges with my family and

u . settled in France . We spent the s mmer in Brittany

It was an important moment in my life , for it closed

u one period of it . The ens ing period takes on a

t wider aspect, hanks to the fact that, while still con tinui n al execu g my creative work, I became so the k tant of my own music . I shall have occasion to spea

new of this activity, and the reflections to which it

chr ni ue gives rise, in the second part of my o q , where I shall record my life from the time when I F settled in rance, which has become my second

motherland .

[ 155 ]

WHEN I left Switzerland to settle in France I

brought away some sketches of an idea su ggested by

re P of Flonzale S M . Alf d ochon , leader the y tring

Flonzal e u of u u u . V ! artet The y, a gro p a dois m si

cians , taking their name from that canton, per

in S formed the United tates for a considerable time .

P u M . ochon wished to introd ce a contemporary work

in u to their almost excl sively classical repertoire ,

and asked me to write them an ensemble piece, in

of own form and length my choosing, to appear in

a u u u the progr ms of their n mero s to rs .

So it was for them that I composed my Con

certino , a piece in one single movement, treated in th e form of a free sonata al legro with a definitely

c ncerta nte on ac o part for the first violin , and this ,

un of co t its limited dimensions , led me to give it the

u : Concertin icc l c ncert dimin tive title o ( p o o o o) .

Du a C ring my st y at arantec, in Brittany, I

[ 159 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

e on was also ngaged another work, which originated as follows :

The Revue Musicale proposed to issu e a num

of D u ber devoted to the memory eb ssy, containing

of u for several pages m sic, each specially written

’ the occasion by one of the great man s surviving ad mirers to u , and I was among those asked contrib te .

of e The composition this page , however, mad me feel boun d to give rein to the development of a new phase of mu sical thought conceived under the influ ence Of the work itself and the solemnity of the circumstances that had led to it .

I began at the end, and wrote a choral piece which later on became the final section of my Sym

h nies our Instruments 21 Vent to p o p , dedicated the

u u to memory of Cla de Achille D eb ssy . This I gave the Revue M usicale in a version arranged for the pianoforte . a l t was while still in Switzerland that I heard of

’ a a w as Debu ssy s de th . When I had l st seen him he

al u already very weak, and I re ized that he m st soon

u u reassur leave u s. S bseq ently I had received more

u of so of a ing acco nts him , that the news his de th came upon me rather unexpectedly .

[ 14 0 ]

S T RA VI N SK Y

m u re ained foreign to him , was far from disco raging me .

i a in Accord ng to my idea , the hom ge that I tended to pay to the memory of the great mu sician ought not to be inspired by his musical thought , on the contrary, I desired rather to express myself in a

u h c ~ h oul lang age w i h s d be essentially my own . — It is in the nature of things and it is this which determines the uninterrupted march of evolu tion in art quite as much as in other branches of hu — man activity that epochs which immediately pre cede us are temporarily farther away from us than others which are more remote in time . That is why I do not think that at the moment of writing ( 1955)

ul u u is I co d form a j st appreciation of Deb ssy . It

u clear that his aesthetic, and that of his period, co ld not nowadays stimulate my appetite or provide food

u u u for my m sical tho ght, tho gh that in nowise pre vents me from recognizing his outstanding person ality or from drawing a distinction between him and

u u his n mero s satellites .

S mh onies I finished these y p at Garches , where 192 0—192 1 I spent the winter of . At the same time I wrote a group of little pieces for children which

[ 142 ] S TRA VI N SK Y were published under the title Les Cinq D oigts. In

th e these eight pieces , which are very easy, five

of on fingers the right hand, once the keys , remain in the same place sometimes even for the whole

of length the piece , while the left hand, which is

a x u destined to accomp ny the melody, e ec tes a pat

or u of th eu tern, either harmonic contrap ntal , tmost

S u u implicity . I fo nd it rather am sing, with these

u very m ch restricted means, to try to awaken in the child a taste for melodic design in its combinations

u with a r dimentary accompaniment .

Diaghileff was j ust then giving a new produc tion of Le Sacre du P rintemps at the Theatre des

- Champs Elysees .

’ — Nijinsky s absence h e had been interned for — some years and the impossibility of remembering

u u his overb rdened, complicated, and conf sed chore

o ra h u s re- g p y, gave the idea of creating it in a more

u e living form , and the work was entr sted to L onide M assine .

The young b allet master accomplished his task

i with unqu est onable talent .

He certainly put order and understanding into

his dance compositions . There were even moments

[ 145 ] S TRA VIN SK Y of great beauty in the group movements when the plastic expression w as in perfect accord with the

u all n so m sic, and, above , in the sacrificial da ce bril liantly executed by Lydia Sokolova that it still lives f o saw . u sa in the memory everyone who it I m st y,

u however, that, notwithstanding its striking q alities and the fact that the new produ ction flowed out of

u w as im the m sic and not, as the first had been ,

’ on M posed it, assine s composition had in places

an d something forced artificial about it . This defect

u of cut freq ently arises , as choreographers are fond ting up a rhythmic episode of the mu sic into frag

u c ments , of working p ea h fragment separately, and

m of then sticking the frag ents together . By reason

u this dissection , the choreographic line , which Sho ld

u so coincide with that of the m sic, rarely does , and the resul ts are deplorable , the choreographer can

never by such methods obtain a plastic rendering of

u the mu sical phrase . In p tting together these small u u nits (choreographical bars) he obtains , it is tr e , a total which agrees with the length of a given

u but m sical fragment, he achieves nothing more , and the mu sic is not adequ ately represented by a

sumb ut mere addition , demands from choreography

[ 144 ]

S TRA VI N SK Y

an of me impression freshness and real originality .

P arade confirmed me still further in my conviction of Satie ’ s merit in the part he had played in French music by opposing to the vagu eness of a decrepit impressionism a precise and firm language stripped

al of l pictorial embellishments .

In the Spring of 192 1 a Paris music hall asked me if I woul d let them have a few pages of inci

u of dental m sic for a little Sketch , within the range

u their au dience . It am sed me to try my hand at that

of u sort thing, and I therefore orchestrated fo r pieces

E as et taken from my collection of y D u s . Although my orchestra was more than modest, the composi tion as I wrote it was given only at the first few per formances see . When I went to the sketch again a month later I found that there was but little left of

as what I had written . Everything w completely muddl ed , some instruments were lacking or had

u as exe been replaced by others , and the m sic itself cuted by this pitiful band had become un recogniza

u en ble . It was a good lesson . One m st never risk tru sting honest work to that sort of establishment in which mu sic is certain to be mutilated to suit the

Show and its patrons .

[ 146 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

Diaghileff was engaged for a season at the

R al oy Theatre , Madrid, in the spring, and asked me

’ o to u P etroushka to g with him cond ct , the King s

u to favorite ballet . Alfonso and the two ! eens came

as u u . all the performances , and, s al , enjoyed them They were present also at an informal party that the management of the Royal Theatre gave in our

of our honor, and to which some of the artists com

Dia hil eff to pany were also invited . g and I decided

Séville a u spend Easter at , with its f mo s processions ’ o la emana anta u u f S S . Thro gho t those seven days we mingled with the crowds . It is astonishing that

C con these fetes, half pagan, half hristian , and

e of secr ted by time, have lost nothing their fresh — ness and vitality notwithstanding the travel agen cies and all the guides who are beyond price but have to be paid , and notwithstanding, moreover, the particular kind of publicity which has been their fate .

' The Spring and summer of 192 1 were very

’ mu ch disturb edfi First there was Diaghileff s Paris

u of Le Sacre season , with the new prod ction and the

’ of Bou on Ch ut P creation fi ( o ) , rokofiev s master

u u piece , which nfort nately one never hears now in

[ 14 7 ] S T RA VI NSK Y

u u e cond cted by E g ne Goossens and, later, at the

Dia hileff theatre by the g company . Though it was terribly hot in London that

u ul w as s mmer, the town was very f l , and I con stantly surroun ded by friends and newly made ac

intan u a ces. one u u u u q It was contin o s ro nd of l nches ,

me no teas, receptions , and weekends which left time to myself . I cann ot pass over in Silence an event in thi s

London visit which caused me a good deal of dis

u w as tress . Ko ssevitzky giving a concert, and asked

me to entru st him with the first performance of my

’ ' Symphonies d Instruments a Vent a la Me moire de

b us ul n t u on D e s . o y I did not, and indeed I co d , co nt

of any immediate su ccess for this work . It is devoid

all the elements which infallibly appe al to the ordi

nary listener and to which he is accustomed . It

woul d be futile to look in it for any passionate im

u ual pulse or dynamic brilliance . It is an a stere rit

which is unfolded in terms of short litanies between

u um different groups of homogeneo s instr ents .

‘ I fully anticipated that the cantilene of clari

[ 14 8 ]

S TRA VI NSK Y

of e ing in front an empty space , with all the mor

f u so w as e fort beca se the players were far away,

T u somewhat disturbing . o cond ct or control a group of instruments at su ch a distance is an exceedingly

a ul arduous task . It w s partic arly arduou s on this

as of u occasion, the character my m sic demanded the most delicate care to attain the ear of the public

u to and to tame the a dience it . Both my work and Kou ssevitzky himself were thu s victimized by unto ward circumstances in which no conductor in th e

ul world co d have made good .

The su ccess of his season of the B al let Ru sse made Diaghileff eager to realize a long- cherished

’ proj ect for the revival of the chef d oeuvre of our

— ’ lee in ea ut classical ballet Tchaikovsky s S p g B y .

Knowing my great admiration for the composer,

Dia hileff and that I entirely approved his idea, g

out his w as asked me to help him to carry plan . It

of necessary to examine the score the ballet, which

u f ul had been Obtained with the tmost di fic ty, as it w as u out , I believe , the only copy extant in E rope

u w as side R ssia . It not even engraved . Certain parts

cut u t which had been at its first prod ction in S .

P u Dia hileff u etersb rg, and which g wanted to incl de,

[ 1 50 ] S TRA VINSK Y

b ut to were not in the orchestral score , were be

foun d onl y in the pianoforte arrangement . I under

Dia hil eff took to orchestrate them, and, as g had

u um himself reversed the order of vario s n bers , he asked me also to arrange the harmonic and orches tral connections needed .

During this same London visit Diaghileff and I conceived another plan that I had very mu ch at

to our heart . What gave rise it was common love

for our Pu hk and admiration great poet s in , who for

a ! but foreigners, las is a name in an encyclopedia, but whose genius in all its versatility and universal ity was not only particul arly dear and precious to

b ut u s of u . , represented a whole school tho ght By

u Pu his nat re , his mentality, and his ideology shkin was the most perfect representative of that wonder ful line which began with Peter the Great an d

un u which, by a fort ate alloy, has nited the most characteristically Ru ssian elements with the spiritu al riches of the West .

’ Diaghil eff unqu estionably belonged to this line

and all his activities have only confirmed the au th enticit of . al y that origin As for myself, I had ways been aware that I h ad in me the germs of this

[ 151 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

di an d same mentality only nee ng development, I

u u ul s bseq ently deliberately c tivated them . Was not the difference between this mentality and a of F so dl the ment lity the ive , which had rapi y become academic and concentrated in the Belaieff circle un der the domination of Ri msky- Korsakov

Glazounov cos and , that the former was , as it were , m0 olitan w as u l p , whereas the latter p rely nationa ist ? The national element occupies a prominent place with Pushkin as well as with Glinka and Tch aikov sk But u y . with them it flows Spontaneo sly from their

u a national is very nat re , where s with the others the tic tendency was a doctrinaire catechism they wished

hi al aes to impose . This nationalistic, ethnograp c thetic which they persisted in cul tivating w as not in reality far removed from the spirit which inspired those films one sees of the old Ru ssia of the ts ars

and . SO u boyars What is obvio s in them, as indeed

“ S n in the modern pa ish folklorists , whether paint

or u i b ut u ers m sicians , is that na ve dangero s tend

ency which prompts them to remake an art that h as already been created instinctively by the genius ?! of i the people It is a sterile tendency, and an ev l

from which many talented artists suffer .

[ 152 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y

I were in complete agreement, I asserted my atti tu de towards the two trends of Ru ssian thought b e

u tween which I have j st differentiated . On the musi

’ cal plane this poem of Pushkin s led me straight to

u u Glinka and Tchaikovsky, and I resol tely took p my position beside them . I thu s clearly defined my

con tastes and predilections , my opposition to the trar u y aesthetic, and ass med once more the good tradition established by these masters . Moreover, I

of Pu dedicated my work to the memory shkin ,

Glinka, and Tchaikovsky . At the end of the summer I left London and

to il . went Anglet, near Biarritz, to rej oin my fam y — There I began a task which enthralled me a tran scription for the piano which I called Three Move

h to ro ments fromP etrous ka . I wanted with this p vide piano virtuosi with a piece having sufficient scope to enable them to add to their modern reper

a u tory and displ y their techniq e . After that I be

of Mavra gan the composition , for which a libretto in verse after Pushkin was being written by a young

Ru . ssian poet, Boris Kochno He sent me his text bit

. u by bit as he wrote it I liked his verse very m ch, and I appreciated his intelligence and his literary

[ 154 ] S T RA V INSK Y gifts and greatly enj oyed my work with him . Later

’ he became one of Diaghileff s active collaborators .

With the approach of autumn I had temporar ily to interrupt the work in order to devote myself

The Slee in Beaut w as u to p g y, which to be prod ced

to Lon very soon . When that was finished I went don .

saw as Dia hileff There I , presented by g , that

’ re P ia hi chef d ce uv of Tchaikovsky and etipa . D g

f vi le f had worked at it passionately and lo ngly, and once more displayed his profound knowledge of the

u all ul his of . t art the ballet He p his so , all strength ,

an d for into it, in the most disinterested way, there was here no question of enhancing his reputation as a pioneer or appeal ing to the curiosity of the public by new forms . In presenting something classical and dignified he demonstrated the greatness and free dom of his mentality together with a capacity to ap preciate not onl y the valu es of today and of remote

but - is periods, also and this an extremely rare — qu al ity the values of the period immediately pre

our ceding own . It was a real joy to me to take part in this crea

b ut b e tion , not only for love of Tchaikovsky also

[ 1 55 ] S T RA VIN SK Y

u of u for ca se my profo nd admiration classical ballet,

its u of or which, in very essence , by the bea ty its l donnance u and the aristocratic a sterity of its forms ,

So of [ closely corresponds with my conception art . “ F i see u of or here, in classical danc ng, I the tri mph

u u of ul st died conception over vag eness , the r e over

the arbitrary, of order over the haphazard . I am

thu s brought face to face with the eternal conflict in

art between the Apollonian and the Dionysian prin

u to al ciples. The latter ass mes ecstasy be the final go — — a to sa of th t is y, the losing oneself whereas art demands above all the full consciou sness of the art

ist . u There can , therefore , be no do bt as to my choice

th e hl between two . And if I appreciate so hig y the

u of of val e classical ballet, it is not Simply a matter

on a b ut u see taste my p rt, beca se I exactly in it the

i in i perfect expression of the Apollon an p c l. r e T

OfT Slee in Beaut The first performances p g y, the lavish setting of which had been created by

u u Leon Bakst, had a brilliant s ccess , and the p blic

u u u thronged to it . Unfort nately, the enormo s s ms invested in the undertaking compelled the theatrical

n t t u its run u ma agemen to con in e for months , ntil at last there were not enou gh people left to fill the

[ 1 55 ]

AF TER T HE first few performances I returned to

and 'wh ere Biarritz, where I settled with my family f we stayed or the next three years . There I worked

a all the winter at M ura .

It w as at this time that my connection with the

P u leyel Company began . They had s ggested that I should make a transcription of my works for their

Ple el y a mechanical piano .

My interest in the work was twofold . In order to prevent the distortion of my compositions by

u u u f t re interpreters , I had always been anxio s to find a means of imposing some restriction on the no toriou s liberty, especially widespread today, which prevents the public from obtaining a correct idea of

’ now the author s intentions . This possibility was

f of af orded by the rolls the mechanical piano , and, a little later, by gramophone records .

The means enabled me to determine for the

[ 158 1 S TRA VIN SK Y future the relationships of the movements ( tempi) and the nu ances in accordance with my wishes . It is

u u tr e that this g aranteed nothing, and in the ten ! years which have since elapsed I have , alas had ample opportunity of seeing how ineffective it has

But proved in practice . these transcriptions never th eless enabled me to create a lasting document which shoul d be of service to those executants wh o woul d rather know and follow my intentions than stray into irresponsible interpretations of my mu si cal text . There was a second direction in which this

w as i work gave me satisfaction . This not S mply the redu ction of an orchestral work to the limitations of

of a piano of seven octaves . It was the process adap tation um on one to an instr ent which had, the hand, unl of imited possibilities precision, velocity, and

but on polyphony, which, the other hand, constantly presented serious difficul ties in establishing dynamic relationships . These tasks developed and exercised my imagination by. constantly presenting new prob lems of an instrumental nature closely connected

u of u r with the q estions aco stics, harmony, and pa t writing .

[ 159 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

for It was a restless winter me , as I had to M ’ travel a good deal . y work at Pleyel s entailed fre

u s P to q ent vi its to aris , and I had attend the re h earsals of Maura Renard u o and , which were j st g ing to be produ ced by Diaghileff at the Paris Opera

u u f P Ho se , thanks to the genero s help o rincess Ed P mond de olignac . C This necessitated several visits to Monte arlo , where the choreography of Renard was being cre

Bronislava Ni inska of u ated by j , sister the famo s dancer and herself an excellent dancer endowed with

u dl u a a profo n y artistic nat re , and , in contr st to her l brother, gifted with a rea talent for choreographic

creation .

Diaghileff and I also confided to her the direc

tion of the artists acting in Mavra as regards plastic

h e u . S and movement had marvelo s ideas , which

were unfortunately balked by the inability of the singers to subj ect themselves to a techniqu e and dis

t cipline in the prac ice of which they were unversed .

It was quite different with Renard . I still deeply

u w regret that the prod ction , hich gave me the great est satisfaction both mu sically (the music was under

the direction of Ansermet) and scenically (the soen

[ 1 6 0 ]

S TRA VI N SK Y

Mavra out of . u pieces , especially , seem place Tho gh very conscientiou sly executed by the Polish conduc tor Fitelb er g, alternating at that time with Anser

a Ru Mavra met in the repertory of the B llet sse , was

of regarded as a disconcerting freak mine , and a

u u of downright failure . S ch was also the attit de all

- of . the critics , notably those the pre war left They condemned the whole thing then and there , attach

as un ing no importance to it, and regarding it

f nl u s worthy o closer examination . O y a few m sician o f u Mavra and the yo nger generation appreciated , realized that it marked a turning point in the evolu t of u u ion my m sical tho ght .

For own see my part, I was glad to that I had c u u al ompletely s cceeded in realizing my m sic ideas , and w as therefore encouraged to develop them fur t — her this time in the domain of symphony . I began t o ctu r ur strum t a V nt compose my O o po In en s e . I began to write this music without knowing — u um ul b e is sa what its so nd medi wo d that to y,

u ul what instr mental form it wo d take . I only de c ided that point after finishing the first part, when

I saw clearly what ensemble w as demanded by the

[ 162 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

u u u contrap ntal material, the character, and str ct re

of what I had composed .

My special interest in wind instruments in various combinations had been roused when I was

’ S mh nies a la Me moire de D eb uss composing y p o y, and this interest had continu ed to grow during the

u . u S m ens ing period Th s, after I had, in these y

h nies u a p o , sed the ordin ry wind orchestra (wood and brass) I added in Maura double basses and violon

cellos and, episodically, a little trio of two violins

and viola . Having again u sed a wind ensemble for cham

u Octu r un ber m sic in the o , I later dertook the com

of Concerto position my , which , as regards color, is — yet another combination that of piano with a wind

u orchestra reinforced by do ble basses and timbals .

But in speaking of the Concerto I have deliber ately somewhat overstepped the chronological order

of my narrative to let the re ader see the line of in vesti ation u u g that I was p rs ing at that period, which ,

now looking back after many years , seems to have constituted a marked epoch in my creative activity

This preoccupation with the subj ect of tone

[ 16 6 ] S T RA VIN SK Y materi al manifested itself also in my instrumenta

L es N oces d a w as tion of , which, after long el ys , at

u e last to be prod ced by Diaghil ff .

While still at Morges I had tried out variou s

t u t all a a or forms of ins r men ation, first of for l rge

ch estra u a at of , which I gave p lmost once in View

th e el aborate app aratu s that th e complexity of that

a u u form dem nded . I next so ght for a sol tion in a

a u sm ller ensemble . I began a score which req ired

m assed polyphonic effects : a mechanical piano and

a u of an electrically driven h rmoni m, a section per

c i b alons uss on t u t u a a c m . ins r men s , and two H ng ri n y

But w as a s a a there I b lked by a fresh ob t cle , n mely,

th e great difficulty for the conductor of synch roniz

ing the p arts executed by instrumentalists and sing

ers with those rendered by the mechanical players .

w as t u a t a a al I h s compelled to ab ndon his ide lso ,

though I had already orchestrated th e first two

in t w a h ad scenes tha y, work which demanded a

t a t and b ut grea de l of streng h patience , which was

all pure loss .

I did n ot touch L es N oces again for nearly four

a so u s w as u ye rs , b y I with more rgent matters , and

Diaghileff put off its produ ction from year to year .

[ 164 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y thing from folk music with the exception of the theme of a factory song which I used several times

“ t f in the las scene , with di ferent words ( I have gold

” “ that hangs down to my waist ; The beautiful well ” u ul u All made bed, the bea tif sq are bed ) the other

of own inven themes, airs , and melodies were my tion .

I set myself to work on the instrumentation at

of il the end the winter, wh e still at Biarritz, and I

u sa finished it on April 6 at Monaco . I m st y that

u Les N oces u u the stage prod ction of , tho gh obvio sly one of talent, did not correspond with my original

u to u di f plan . I had pict red myself something q ite

f erent .

to u According my idea, the spectacle sho ld have

divertissement been a , and that is what I wanted

not to u to call it . It was my intention reprod ce the

u of rit al peasant weddings , and I paid little heed to

com ethnographical considerations . My idea was to

of u pose a sort scenic ceremony, sing as I liked those ritu alistic elements so abun dantly provided by vil lage cu stoms which had been established for cen

Ru tu ries in the celebration of ssian marriages . I took

u but to my inspirations from those c stoms, reserved

[ 166 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

myself the right to u se them with absolute freedom .

’ ’ Inspired by the s ame reasons as in L Histoire d un

Soldat al l um u , I wanted my instr ental apparat s to

n be visible side by side with the actors or da cers ,

so making it, to speak, a participant in the whole

For theatrical action . this reason , I wished to place

on a the orchestra the st ge itself, letting the actors

move on the space remaining free . The fact that the artists in the scene woul d uniforml y wear costumes of a Russian character while the mu sicians woul d be in evening dress not only did not embarrass me , but on n , the contrary, was perfectly in keepi g with

of divertissement u my idea a of the masq erade type .

But Diaghileff had no sympathy with my

. vi out wishes And when , to con nce him , I pointed

’ ’ how su ccessful the plan h ad been in L Histoire d un

S ldat ul u u b e o , I only stim ated his f rio s resistance

’ u ul a L istoir ca se he co d not be r H e .

So f i all my e forts in that direction were va n , and as I did not feel that I had a right to j eopardize ' l the performance since , after all , the scenic rea iza

w u tion did not compromise my ork, I very rel ctantly

’ Dia hileff s consented to g staging .

The first performance of Les N oces was given

[ 16 7 ] S T RA VI N SK Y on u 15 19 2 5 ea la G aité u J ne , , at the Th tre de Lyriq e P a s. a u in ri It was dmirably cond cted by Ansermet, and became one of the most remarkable triumphs of

u his cond cting .

The framework of th e décor w as composed ex

clu sivel a u s y of b ckcloths , with j t a few details of a

Ru a t a ssian peas nt co t ge interior, and both coloring

u a a and lighting were very s ccessful . N t lie Gon

w as it charova responsible for , and also for the cos

tumes very ingeniou sly simplified and made uni

form .

The first night of L es N oces had been preceded

by a private au dition in concert form at th e house

P P a of rincess Edmond de olign c , who never missed

an opportunity of showing me her affection and

at . An t u a u u symp hy excellen m sici n , of wide c lt re ,

a un a a en painter endowed with deni ble t lent, she

w as th e a a t couraged and p tron of rtis s and the arts .

I shall always gratefully remember th e evenings at

her hou se where I played several of my new crea

— — ’ ’ u L es N oces L Histoire d un tions , s ch as beside

S lda t Co ncerto m an Sonate o , my , y pi o (which is

to CEdi us Rex and t . dedicated her) p , so for h

In Au gu st of that same year I went on a short

[ 16 8 ]

S TRA VI NSK Y

so might mistake me for a vagrant . It was dark that

to I had abandon the idea and stay at the station,

7 A . M . counting the hours till dawn . It was not till

u of that, g ided by a child, and after a tramp half an

u - ho r along rain soaked roads, I finally reached the shelter of the tram which took me to the central sta

of F u . tion rankfort, where I fo nd a train to Weimar

articu I have retained one memory, which is p

‘ larl of at VVeimar y dear to me , my short stay , where the Soldat was very warmly received by the pub li u f Ferru cci u e . o o I made the acq aintance B soni, whom I had never met before and who had always been described to me as an irreconcilable opponent of u u my m sic . I was therefore very m ch impressed by the sincere emotion that I saw he was feeling

u while my m sic was being played, which was con firmed by him that same evening . I was all the more

u to ched by this appreciation , since it came from a

u very great m sician , whose work and mentality

u f were f ndamentally opposed to the spirit o my art .

It was my first and last sight of him , he died a year later .

u Octuor I m st come back now to my , the com position of which had been interrupted while I w as

[ 1 7 0 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

192 Les N oces. 5 orchestrating I finished it in May, , and conducted it myself on October 18 of that year

r t in the P aris Opera Hou se at a Koussevitzky conce . I remember what an effort it cost me to estab

of u for lish an ensemble eight wind instr ments, they

’ coul d not strike the listener s ear with a great dis

‘ a u ul pl y of tone . In order that this m sic sho d reach the ear of the public it was necessary to emphasize

of um u the entries the several instr ents , to introd ce breathing sp aces between the phrases (rests) to pay

ul u partic ar care to the intonation, the instr mental — u in to or prosody, the accent ation short, establish der and discipline in the purely sonorou s scheme to which I always give precedence over elements of an

ul emotional character . It was all the more diffic t b e

u w as u ca se at that time , when I only j st beginning

u ot neces my career as a cond ctor, I had not yet g the

u u sary techniq e , which I acq ired later only with

a . u al pr ctice And, for that matter, the instr ment ists themselves were un accu stomed to this method of

a u tre ting the art of playing beca se , all told, very

u few cond ctors employ it .

a u in In J n ary I went to Antwerp , having been vited by La Société des Nouveau x Concerts to con

[ 1 7 1 ] S T RA VI N SK Y

F t du ct a program of my earlier works . rom here I

to u s s Pro t S or went Br s el , where the Ar e ociety had

ganized a concert of my mu sic . The celebrated

— n ! u artet known under that n ame (MM . A . O — Maa t P e t R . nou . a u . , L H lle x , G r vos , and s) wi h its u su al m asterly seriousness pl ayed my Concertina and Tr is P etites Pieces ur uatu r a C rdes my o po ! o o ,

u Octu r La Suite de while I myself cond cted my o ,

P ulcinella and a Maura a , my oper , , the vocal p rts of which had been carefully stu died and prepared by th e singers before my arrival with the help of that

u s a a u P u C a . enth i stic Belgi n m sician , a l oll er I give

all the se details becau se I retain a grateful memory

th e Pro u of Arte gro p for this concert, organized in

a a highly artistic f shion , which enabled me to pre

s M avra u sent my work, e pecially , nder conditions

s which I could not have wi hed better .

In this connection I mu st mention here th e first

a Ma ur a a concert perform nce of a a ye r e rlier . Jean

n h ad at t at t a n a s Wie er , who h ime rra ged serie of

au t a u P a D e di ions of contempor ry m sic in ris , on cemb er 2 6 19 22 a n s t u , , g ve a co cert con is ing excl

sivel u s u S mh onies our y of my m ic , incl ding my y p p

Instrume nts aVent and M avra u , cond cted by Anser

[ 17 2 ]

S TRA V I N SK Y

’ ' Secret Maria e un P hile mn et au i g and Go od s o B c s. In hearing this latter opera I once again experienced the charm which emanates from the intimate aroma

’ of u u Dia hileff u Go nod s m sic . g was as m ch in love

a u s of with it as I was , and this g ve the idea looking through his works in the hope of finding forgotten pieces . We thus discovered the short but deliciou s

L a Colombe comic Opera , , written for the theatre at

- Baden Baden in the reign of Napoleon III, and we

’ ' un L e Medecin Mal re fo d also that little masterpiece , g

’ Dia hileff run L Edu L ui . g also happened to across

’ ati n Man uee c i C . o q , a charming p ece by habrier His great importance is still not fully appreciated by his own compatriots , who persist in treating him with

dl u kin y ind lgence , seeing in him nothing more than

an amusing and lively amateur . It is clear that ears

u corr pted by emotional and sentimental verbiage ,

u h ow and inoc lated with academic doctrine (which ,

u but ever, is less serio s) cannot remain deaf to the

’ ’ qu ality of su ch a real pearl as L e Medecin Malgre

L ui u , which has against it the misfort ne of being

u purely m sic .

of see As I said before , I had not had a chance

I [ 1 7 4 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

ing the Goun od operas which Diaghileff was pro

u ducing at Monte Carlo . I know only that the p blic had proved indifferent to those performances and

’ had not appreciated my friend s gesture . In their

uncul tured snobbishness the greatest fear of these

people w as lest they should appear to be behind the

times if they showed enj oyment for mu sic stupidl y

condemned by the publicity- mongers of what w as

of once the advance gu ard . I was myself a witness

this foolish attitu de of the public at the first per

’ ’ formance of L Education Manquee during the

- Russian Ballet season at the Champs Elysees . The

w as u com title ironic, for the a dience displayed a plete lack of edu cation . Being accu stomed to see

’ b ut Dia hileff s r nothing ballets at g perfo mances , they considered that they were swindl ed in having to see an opera , however short, and indicated their

“ u of D impatience by interr ptions and cries ance , ”

. u i dance It was na seating . It s only fair to say that these interruptions came for the most part from out

u siders , who were easily recognized as s ch by their

n foreign accent . A d to think that this same au di ence listens devoutly and with angelic patience to the edi fyin g harangu es of King Mark endlessly reiterated

[ 1 7 6 ] S T RA V I N SK Y at official gala performances under the baton of some star conductor !

S Dia hileff ide by side with forgotten works , g h ad wan ted to present in that season the mu sic of

th e u F composers belonging to yo ng rench school , by giving ballets which he had commissioned from

’ u u L es Fdche ux them . These incl ded Georges A ric s ,

u u u the m sic of which is f ll of verve and p ngency, with the unforgettable scenery and costumes by

’ Georges Braqu e , Francis P oulenc s youthful and

Riches e tender , in the delicate framework d signed

M au a Le Train Bleu by arie L rencin ; and, fin lly, by

D u M u its s a ari s ilha d, with lively porting p ce . The admirably su ccessful choreography of these three

’ ballets came from Bronisl ava Nijinska s inexh au sti

t a a ble lent . The performance was brilli nt, and it gives me great pleasure to mention here such ad

u a V Nemtchinova mirable exec t nts as era , Leon k k D Woizi ovs . y, and Anton olin

[ 1 7 6 ]

S TRA VI N SK Y

of for and as, also , the prospect creating my work

u myself, and th s establishing the manner in which

I wished it to be played, greatly attracted me , these

u t u u infl ences combined o ind ce me to ndertake it .

ni of I began , therefore , the loose ng my fingers

lot of C not by playing a zerny exercises , which was

u ul b u only very sef t gave me keen musical pleasure . C I have always admired zerny, not only as a re markable teacher but also as a thoroughbred musi o ian .

While learning by heart the piano part of my

Concert u u u l o , I had sim ltaneo sly to acc stom myse f to keep in mind and hear the variou s parts of the or ch estra so ul not , that my attention sho d be distracted

For while I was playing . a novice like myself this

u was hard work, to which I had to devote many ho rs e very day .

My first public performance of the Concerto took place at the Paris Opéra on May 22 at a Kousse vitzk y concert, after I had played it a week earlier to an intimate gathering at the Princess de Poli

’ nac s accomani g , with Jean Wiener playing the p ment on a piano .

At the beginning of my career as a piano solo

[ 1 7 8 ] S T R A VI N SK Y

atu u a ist I n rally s ffered from st ge fright, and for a

long time I had a good deal Of difficul ty in over

and u f coming it . It was only by habit s stained ef ort

that I managed, in time , to master my nerves and

so to withstand one of the most distressing sensa

u of tions that I know . In analyzing the ca se this

u stage fright, I have come to the concl sion that it is

chiefly du e to fear O f -a lapse of memory or of some

distraction , however trifling, which might have ir

a u For repar ble conseq ences . the slightest gap , even

a mere wavering , risks giving rise to a fatal discord ance between the piano and the orchestral body,

u a u which obvio sly c nnot, in any circ mstances , hold

of own u the movement its part in s spense . I remem ber at my first debut being seized by j u st such a

u u lapse of memory, tho gh it fort nately had no dire

ul res ts . Having finished the first part of my Con cert u o , j st before beginning the Largo which Opens

u en with a piano solo , I s ddenly realized that I had tirel y forgotten how it started . I whispered this to

u H Ko ssevitzky . e glanced at the score and whispered the first notes . That was enough to restore my bal ance and enable me to attack the Largo .

u Incidentally, I m st mention a flying visit that

[ 1 7 9 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

to C u ul sum I paid openhagen, s ch a cheerf town in

al al mer, which I went to sever times later, and

u C ncerto ways with the same pleas re . I played my o at the Tivoli at one of the summer season symphony concerts .

When I returned to Biarritz I had to arrange our to removal to Nice , where I had decided live ,

au bec se the Atlantic gales got on my nerves , espe ciall of y in winter . The last few months my stay at

Biarritz were devoted to the composition of my

S nate ur Pian o po o .

Octu r C ncert After the o and the o o , my inter est was completely and continu ously absorbed in

' u of u u u tho ghts instr mental m sic p re and simple,

re untrammeled by any scenic consideration . The cent task of writing the piano parts of my Concerto and N oces had greatly stimul ated my keenness for

t that instrument . I therefore decided o compose a

a piece for pi noforte solo in several movements . This

w as S nate . u h ow my o I gave it that name witho t,

it u ever, giving the classical form s ch as we find it

C dn M as in lementi, Hay , ozart, which, everyone

kn . u ows , is conditioned by the allegro I sed the — term sonata in its original meaning deriving from

[ 18 0 ]

S T RA VI N SK Y

in aspect for me . Above all I recognized in him the

disputable monarch of the instrument . It is the in strument that inspires his thou ght and determines its

l of u substance . The re ations a composer to his so nd

for u of . S medi m may be two kinds ome , example ,

compose music for the piano ; others compose piano

music . Beethoven is clearly in the second category .

“ instru In all his immense pianistic work, it is the ” mental side which is characteristic of him and makes him infinitely preciou s to me . It is the giant

u is instr mentalist that predominates in him , and it thanks to that qu ality that he cannot fail to reach

any ear that is Open to mu sic .

’ But is it in truth Beethoven s music which has inspired the innumerable works devoted to this pro

di iou s u g m sician by thinkers , moralists , and even

sociologists who have su ddenly become mu sicogra ph ers? In this connection I shoul d like to qu ote the following passage taken from an article in the great

S Izvestia : oviet daily, Beethoven is the friend and the contemporary

F R u ul of the rench evol tion , and he remained faithf to u acobin it even at the time when , d ring the J dic tatorshi u a p, h manitari ns with weak nerves of the

[ 18 2 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

S u chiller type t rned from it, preferring to destroy tyrants on the theatrical stage with the help of card

a . u bo rd swords Beethoven, that plebeian geni s , who

u tu pro dly rned his back on emperors , princes , and — magnates that is the Beethoven we love for his un

for assailable optimism , his virile sadness, the in

u spired pathos of his str ggle , and for his iron will

” which enabled him to seize destiny by the throat .

’ This chef d Oeuvre of penetration comes from the pen of one of the most famou s of the mu sical critics in the I shoul d like to know in what this mentality differs from the platitu des and common — place utterances O f the publicity mongers of liberal ism in all the bourgeois democracies long before the

a u u a soci l revol tion in R ssi .

I do not mean to say that everything that has been written on Beethoven in this sense is of the

u But same q ality . , in the majority of these works , do not the panegyrists b ase their adulation far more on the sources of h is inspiration than on the mu sic itself ? Coul d they have filled their fat volumes if

’ they had not been able to embroider to their hearts . content all the extramu sical elements available in

[ 18 6 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

con the Beethoven life and legend, drawing their clusions and j u dgments on the artist from them ?

What does it matter whether the Third Sym phony was inspired by the figure of Bonaparte the

Republican or Napoleon the Emperor ? It is onl y the B u . ut to u m sic that matters talk m sic is risky, and entails responsibility . Therefore some find it prefer

on u . able to seize side iss es It is easy, and enables

ou y to pass as a deep thinker .

This reminds me of the accoun t of a conversa tion between Mallarmeand D egas which I had from

e t P ul V . D as o a al ry egas , who , is well known , liked

“ one Mallarmé : dabble in poetry, day said to I can not of not manage the end my sonnet, and it is that

” “ e : t . no I am wanting in ideas Mallarm , softly It is ”

t one but . wi h ideas that makes sonnets , with words

u of SO it is with Beethoven . It is in the q ality his musical material and not in the nature of his ideas that his tru e greatness lies .

is It time that this was recognized, and Bee th oven was rescu ed from the un j ustifiable monopoly

“ ” of th e intellectu als and left to those who seek in

u but u . is m sic for nothing m sic It , however, also — — time and this is perhaps even more urgent to

[ 18 4 ]

S T RA VIN SK Y

i of The former demonstrate the r lack taste ,

their complete incompetence in this respect, and

u their narrow and mischievo s mentality . In contrast

of with the florid orchestration a Wagner, with its

’ u a lavish coloring, Beethoven s instr mentation will p

u u im pear to lack l ster . It might prod ce a similar pression if compared with the vivacious radiance of

’ u u Mozart . B t Beethoven s m sic is intimately linked u u u p with his instr mental lang age , and finds its most exact and perfect expression in the sobriety of

- that language . To regard it as poverty stricken

f u woul d merely show lack o perception . Tr e sobriety

u is a great rarity, and most diffic lt of attainment . As for those who attach no importance to Bee

’ th oven s u but of instr mentation, ascribe the whole “ — his greatness to his ideas they Obviously regard all u of instr mentation as a mere matter apparel ,

so u coloring, flavoring, and fall , tho gh following a

f . dif erent path , into the same heresy as the others

Both make the same fundamental error of re garding instrumentation as something extrinsic from the music for which it exists . This dangerou s point of view concerning in strumentation u u , co pled with the nhealthy greed

[ 18 6 ] S T RA VIN S-K Y for t a u a u orches r l op lence of tod y, has corr pted the

u of u j dgment the p blic, and they, being impressed by the immediate effect of tone color, can no longer solve the problem of whether it is intrinsic in the

“ ” b e music or simply padding . Orchestration has come a source of enj oyment independent of the

u ur ut m sic, and the time has s ely come to p things in

u of or their proper places . We have had eno gh this ch estral dappling and these thick sonorities , one is

‘ of u with timb res tired being sat rated , and wants no more Of all this overfeeding, which deforms the entity of the instrumental element by swelling it out of all proportion and giving it an existence of its

' a of e u c own . There is a great de l re d cation to be a complished in this field . All these ideas were germinating in me while I was composing my sonata and once more renew ing my contact with Beethoven . Their development

u has contin ed from that time to this , and my mind

ul is f l of them . I had hardly settled down in the Ri vi era when

un u I had to dertake a concert to r in central Europe .

I went first to Warsaw and Pragu e , then to Leipzig

C ncerto accom and Berlin , where I played my o ,

[ 1 8 7 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

anied Furtw an le p by g r . I also gave a concert at the

Bliithnersaal in Berlin , where , among other things,

u Octu r I cond cted my o . After that I went to Hol

land . I was hospitably welcomed at the Concertge

u of u bo w Amsterdam by its eminent cond ctor , Wil

lVIen elb er C ncert u lem g g, and I played my o o nder

his direction at a concert, repeated two days later at

’ u u The Hag e , and shared the cond ctor s baton with

him on another occasion . Then I went to Geneva and to Lau sanne to conduct my own compositions and to play under the

u direction of Ansermet . I finished my circ it with a

concert at Marseilles . I had to leave Europe soon afterwards for a

as comparatively long time , I had signed a contract

for a concert tour of two months in the United

States . It was my first crossing of the Atlantic . Without stopping to describe my visu al im — pressions on landing in New York skyscrapers ,

a f tr f ic , lights , negroes , cinemas , theatres , in fact all

u u that ro ses the c riosity of foreigners , and very — rightly so I want to begin by bearing witness as a

u 8101 S m an to the fact that in the United tates , side by side with a pronoun ced weakness for the freakish

[ 18 8 ]

S TRA VI N SK Y

even by critics accu stomed to new- fangled conduct

ing . I was glad that my ten years of effort in acquir ing the proficiency necessary to present my works in

the w ay I desired was rewarded by th e public un

derstanding of it . The seriou s interest of th e Ameri

u a cans in m sic is displ yed, among other ways , in the

j u dicious selection of those to whom they apply for

u f u instruction . A large n mber o yo ng people have

come to France to complete their mu sical edu cation — indeed, since the war this has become almost a — tradition and have foun d invalu able te achers in

u Nadia Bo langer and Isidore Philipp . I had the

u of u pleas re meeting a whole series of their p pils ,

some performers and some teachers themselves , all

u of u m sicians solid knowledge and nerring taste ,

on u u en who , ret rning to their own co ntry, were

gaged in spreading the excellent mu sical cul ture which they had acquired under these eminent mas

and u u u influ ters , in s ccessf lly comb ating pernicio s

ence u s and base amate rishness .

I hope some day to have an opportunity of say

a u S ing more bo t this second visit to the United tates ,

u and to express more f lly my sympathy with , and

[ 1 9 0 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

cordial attachment to , this new, hardy, naive , yet

immense coun try .

R u u 192 5 il et rning to my first to r in , I w l briefly enumerate the towns I visited . I began my P itinerary with the New York hilharmonic, where

I condu cted in several concerts and played my Con cert u of as o nder the direction Mengelberg, , later,

u u vi Chi I played in Boston nder Ko sse tzky and, in P u S . cago , nder the veteran tock Then followed hila

C D C . delphia, leveland, etroit, and incinnati

I retain a vivid and grateful memory of Chi

cago . My friend Carpenter and his now lamented

Rue wife gave me the warmest of welcomes , and ar

a ranged dinner in my honor, which was followed by a concert of chamber mu sic at the Arts Club of

c Mr . a whi h s Carpenter w s president .

As I was under an engagement to play my

C ncert P o o at the hiladelphia Orchestra, it was

u to necessary for me to ret rn that city, and in some

u u u u vi what n s al circ mstances . Ha ng been detained in un L could P u the co try, not reach hiladelphia ntil the afternoon of the very day of my concert . More

u u F R of C over, the g est cond ctor, ritz einer, incin

[ 19 1 ] S TRA VINSK Y

wh o w as e of nati, to accompany me in plac Leopold

S w as u t tokowski, who away j st hen , had barely time to rehearse the program for the evening , as he himself had arrived only that morning . Most con ductors devote several rehearsals to the preparation of C ncert but my o o , on this occasion we had barely

u . w as half an ho r . And there was a miracle There

w as u R not a single hitch . It as tho gh einer had

Su played it time and again with that orchestra . ch an extraordinary phenomenon coul d never have oc

u u u of c rred, notwithstanding the prodigio s techniq e

u u of the cond ctor and the high q ality the orchestra , if Reiner had not acquired a perfect knowledge of

u my score , which he had proc red some time before .

One coul d aptly apply to him the familiar saying he has the score in his head and not his head in the score . I have told this little story to show that in

America are to be found mu sicians of the highest

u F R u u rank, s ch as ritz einer, whose val e o ght to be

But far more highly appreciated than it is . they are

a to un releg ted the backgro d, overshadowed by the

“ ” fame and bul k of celebrated orchestral stars for

u u whom the p blic evinces herd enth siasm, failing

[ 199 ]

S T RA VIN SK Y

Ru ut on P ulcinella Chant sse, which had p and the d a R ssi n l a re o g o in a new version by M ssine , I

u um t rned to Nice for the s mer months, to rest after my many jou rneys and to devote myself afresh to composition .

In America I had arranged with a gramophone firm to make records of some of my mu sic . This suggested the idea that I shoul d compose something whose length shoul d be determined by the capac

ul 1ty of the record . I sho d in that way avoid all the

u f u tro ble o c tting and adapting . And that is how ' ' e e n my S r nade en L A po ur Pia o came to be written .

I had started it as early as April , beginning with the

u last portion, and now at Nice res med its composi

u u tion . The fo r movements constit ting the piece are

’ ’ u un Serenade of nited der the title , in imitation the

Nachtmusik of u the eighteenth cent ry, which was usually commissioned by patron princes for various

u as ui festive occasions, and incl ded, did the s tes , an indeterminate number of pieces . Whereas these compositions were written for

ensembles of instruments of greater or less impor

i num tance , I wanted to condense m ne into a small ber Of movements for one polyphonic instrument .

[ 194 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

In these pieces I represented some of the most typi

’ cal moments O f thi s kind of musical fete . I began w m ith a solemn entry, a sort of hy n , this I followed by a solo of ceremonial homage paid by the artist to

u u a the g ests , the third part, rhythmical and s st ined, took the place of the various kin ds of dance music intercalated in accordance with the manner of the serenades and suites of the period , and I ended with a sort of epilogu e which was tantamount to an ornate signature with numerou s careful ly inscribed flour

u ishes . I had a definite p rpose in calling my com

’ ’ Sere nad e en L A not t position . The title does refer o its but tonality, to the fact that I had made all the music revolve about an axis of soun d which hap

L pened to be the A .

t u Working at his did not tire me m ch , and did not prevent me from enj oying a rest which I felt

in u u u that I deserved, and which cl ded vario s am se

u R ments , mainly that of motoring abo t the iviera .

’ ’ As soon as my Sere nade was finished I felt the

un e t necessity for d r aking something big . I had in

coul d concentrate the whole attention of the au di

[ 19 5 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

u on u ence, ndistracted by the story, the m sic itself,

ul u a which wo d th s become both word and ction .

u u of With my tho ghts f ll this proj ect, I started

V t for enice , where I had been invi ed to play my

Sonate at the festival of the Société Internationale

u u a p our la M siq e Contempor ine . I took advantage o f this opportunity to make a little tour of Italy b e f M - s ore returning to Nice . y last stopping place w a

’ a and s Geno , there I happened to find in a book eller s

a f a volume by Joergensen on St . Fr ncis of Assisi o

a Wh ich I had already he rd . In reading it I was struck

by a passage which confirmed one O f my most deep

t rooted convic ions . It is common knowledge that the

a th e sa w as P but f miliar speech of int rovencal , that

on u u F . solemn occasions , s ch as prayer, he sed rench

a a u I h ve always considered that a speci l lang age ,

and u u not that of c rrent converse , was req ired for

subj ects touching on the sublime . That is why I was

trying to discover what language would be most ap

ro riate and a p p for my proj ected work, why I fin lly

a selected Latin . The choice had the gre t advantage

o f u b ut u giving me a medi m not dead, t rned to stone

and so monumentalized as to have become immune

from all risk of vulgarization .

[ 19 6 ]

S TRA VINSK Y

C u . set to octea He was delighted with my idea, and

work at once . We were in complete agreement in

( Edi us Rex a u e choosing p s the s bj ct . We kept our

to Diahileff u plans secret, wishing give g a s rprise

for the twentieth an niversary of his theatrical ac

tivities to in of , which was be celebrated the spring 2 7 19 .

C u to un Leaving octea his task, I dertook another

u of r concert to r at the beginning Novembe . I went

first to Zii rich to play my Concerto under the direc

r V Andreae . tion of D . olkmar At Basle I played it un of Su F der that the late Hermann ter . rom there

to u invi I made a lightning visit Winterth r, at the tation of R W my friend Werner einhart, at hose

u u ho se I played, among other things , my first s ite for violin and piano from P ulcinella with that ex

ll n u di ce e t . yo ng violinist, Alma Moo e

I then went to Wiesbaden to take part as solo ist in my Concerto at a symphony concert conducted

w as u by Klemperer . It there that I got into to ch for

f t u the irst ime with this eminent cond ctor, with whom later I so frequ ently had the opportunity and pleasure of working . I shall always retain a grateful

ff ou r a and a ectionate memory of rel tions, for I

[ 19 8 ] S TRA VINSK Y foun d in Klemperer not onl y a devoted propagandist of b ut ul u my work, a forcef cond ctor, with a gen erous nature and intelligence enough to real ize that

’ in closely following the author s directions there is

’ of u no danger prej dicing one s own individu ality .

After a concert of chamber mu sic in Berlin I went to Frankfort- on- Main to take part in a festival

' of two concerts devoted to my mu sic . C My last stage was at openhagen , where I was to condu ct a concert at the invitation of the great

heder D e ens N . R daily, g y As the oyal Opera in

C u P e troushka th e openhagen had j st staged , with choreography reconstru cted by Michel Fokine him

t self, the heatrical management, availing them

of u one of selves my presence , asked me to cond ct

an . u the perform ces I did so with great pleas re , leav

' ing next day for Paris .

A few days after my arrival I w as grieved to learn of the loss of a friend to whom I was sincerely

O eb er di of Les attached . This was Ernest g, rector

di i e M e u E t ons Russ s, foun ded by M . and m Ko sse

vitzk u of . y, which had p blished most my works I

of u wh o deeply deplored the loss this genero s man , had al ways had at heart an ything touchin g my in

[ 19 9 ] S TRA VI NSK Y

terests. F u for u ort nately me , he was s cceeded by his

P aitch adzé collaborator, Gabriel , who still carries on the work and in whom I have found a devoted friend . Under the influ ence of all these unexpected

u N C . events , I ret rned to ice to Spend hristmas

[ 9 00 ]

S T RA VINSK Y

What a j oy it is to compose music to a lan

u of of u g age convention , almost rit al , the very na

ture of which imposes a lofty dignity ! One no longer

al feels dominated by the phrase , the liter meaning

f C u o the words . ast in an imm table mold which

u u u adeq ately expresses their val e , they do not req ire

u u any f rther commentary . The text th s becomes

u p rely phonetic material for the composer . He can dissect it at will and concentrate all his attention on

u - sa on its primary constit ent element that is to y, the syllable . Was not this method of treating the

old u ? text that of the masters of a stere style This ,

’ u C u u too , has for cent ries been the h rch s attit de to w u ards m sic, and has prevented it from falling into

u u sentimentalism , and conseq ently into individ al

ism.

To u my great regret, I soon had to interr pt my

u work in order to make another concert to r . I went

for to Amsterdam , where , the first time , I tackled

Sacre d a P rinte ms R the p , thence to otterdam and

u V Haarlem, and a little later to B dapest, ienna , and

a w a M Z greb . On my y back to Nice I stopped at ilan to see u Le R ssi n l Toscanini , who was to cond ct o g o

P etro ushka S and , which the cala had decided to pro

[ 2 02 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

V u a . d ce th t spring While in ienna, I had read in the

newsp apers that the score of Le Rossignol had mys

’ teriou sly disappeared from Toscan ini s rehearsal

a a u of room . It ppe rs that d ring a short absence Tos

u a canini it had been taken from his m sic st nd where ,

u u a few min tes earlier, he had been st dying it .

S w as a earch immedi tely made, and it was at last

un an a u u fo d in the shop of ntiq e dealer, who had j st

u u p rchased it from some person nknown . This in

cident h ad au S a but c sed great excitement at the cal ,

u M it had already s bsided by the time I reached ilan .

Toscanini received me in the most charming

a fashion . He c lled the choruses and asked me to ao

company them on the piano in order to give them

u u s ch instr ctions as I might think necessary . I was

stru ck by the deep knowledge he had of the score in

ai ul u u of its smallest det ls , and by his metic o s st dy

u u every work which he ndertook to cond ct . This

u of u al but q ality his is nivers ly recognized, this was

the first time that I had a chance of seeing it applied to one own c of my ompositions .

Everyone knows that Toscanini always con

u d cts from memory . This is attributed to his short

. But our a um of sightedness in d ys , when the n ber

[ 2 05 ] S T RA VIN SK Y s u t u howy cond c ors has so greatly increased, tho gh in inverse ratio to their technical merits and their

ul u u wi u general c t re , cond cting an orchestra tho t th e h as score become the fashion , and is often a mat

of i . ter mere d splay There is , however, nothing marvelous about this apparent to ur de force (unless the work is complicated by changes of tempo or

u rhythm , and in s ch cases it is not done , and for very good reasons) 5one risks little and with a modi cumO f assurance and coolness a condu ctor can ea sily get away with it . It does not really prove that he

s a u knows the orche tr tion Of the score . B t there can

u be no do bt on that point in the case of Toscanini .

His memory is proverbial , there is not a detail that

a as a one a esc pes him , ttendance at of his rehears ls is enou gh to demonstrate .

I have never encountered in a conductor of

u u u of - f s ch world rep te s ch a degree self e facement,

u and . conscientio sness , artistic honesty What a pity it is that his inexhaustible energy and his marvelou s talents should almost always be wasted on su ch eter nally repeated works that no general idea can be

th e of discerned in composition his programs , and that he shoul d be so unexacting in the selection of

[ 2 04 ]

S TRA VINSK Y

R . w as best tradition by the ballet master, omanov I astounded by the high standard and rigorou s dis

ci line S p of the cala orchestra , with which a month

later I enj oyed making fresh contact when , at the

u C n of C . of i vitation o nt G icogna , president the

’ S a C u to ociet de Ente oncerti Orchestrali , I ret rned

Milan again to play my Concerto .

Durin g the rest of the summer and the follow

u um dl ing a t n and winter, I har y stirred from home, i being entirely absorbed by my work on CEd pus. The more deeply I went into the matter the more I was confronted by the problem of style ( tenue) in

u sm all its seriousness . I am not here g the word st le its b ut y in narrow sense , am giving it a larger

u an u significance , a m ch greater r ge . J st as Latin, no

u a u se longer being a lang ge in everyday , imposed a

on so u u certain style me , the lang age of the m sic itself imposed a certain convention which woul d be able to keep it within strict bounds and prevent it from overstepping them and wandering into by

u ways , in accordance with those whims of the a thor

u u which are Often so perilo s . I had s bj ected myself to this restraint when I selected a form of language

th e u bearing tradition of ages , a lang age which may

[ 2 06 ] S T RA VINSK Y

u . be called homologo s The need for restriction , for

u u deliberately s bmitting to a style , has its so rce in

of ou r u un nl the very depths nat re , and is fo d not o y

b ut u in matters of art, in every conscio s manifesta tion of human activity . It is the need for order with out ~ and u which nothing can be achieved, pon the i disappearance of which everything dis ntegrates .

ut u Now all order demands restraint . B one wo ld be m wrong to regard that as any i pediment to liberty .

th e u On the contrary, style , the restraint, contrib te

nl to its development, and o y prevent liberty from degenerating into license . At the same time , in bor rowing a form already established and consecrated, the creative artist is not in the least restricting the

of manifestation his personality . On the contrary,

out it is more detached, and stands better when it moves within the definite limits of a convention .

This it was that indu ced me to use the an odyne and impersonal formul as of a remote period and to ap

in — a GZdi us ply them largely my opera or torio , p , to the au stere and solemn character to which they spe ciall em y lent th selves . 4 2 7 1 19 . I finished the score on March , As I

C u have already said, we had decided with octea that

[ 2 07 ] S TRA VI N SK Y it u a P a sho ld be he rd in aris for the first time , mong

’ Diaghil eff s produ ctions on the occasion of the twen; tieth a a anniversary of his theatric l ctivity, which

u occ rred that spring . We, his friends , wished to commemorate the rare event in th e ann als of the theatre of an undertaking O f a purely artistic na

u u a t re , witho t the least hope of material g in , which h ad been able to continu e for so many ye ars and to

u rv so a u War s ive m ny trials , incl ding the World ,

u w and had, moreover, contin ed solely o ing to the

a one indomit ble energy, the persistent tenacity, of man passionately devoted to his work . We wanted

a u our to give him s rprise , and were able to keep

th e u secret to last moment, which wo ld have been

a Dia hi impossible in the case of a b llet, for which g

’ leff s particip ation would have been necessary from the first . As we were too short both of time and

u CEdi us Rex a f nds to present p in stage setting, it was decided to give it in concert form . And even

a a an ut a u that ent iled so l rge o l y for soloists , chor ses , and orchestra that we could never have met it if

Princess Edmond de Polignac had not once more

u a a come to o r ssist nce .

The first au dition of CEdipus took place at the

[ 2 08 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y enj oyed hearing his concerto for harpsichord or

a th e instru pi no , which he himself played on latter ment . In my opinion these two works give proof of incontestable progress in the development of his great talent . He has , in them , deliberately eman cipated himself from the folklorist influence under

u t which he was in danger of st l ifying himself . About this time I was asked by the Congres sion al Library at Washington to compose a b allet

for a festival of contemporary mu sic which was to

inclu de th e produ ction of several works Specially

t u wri ten for the occasion . The genero s American

Mrs. a S u C un patron , Eliz beth prag e oolidge , had

dertaken to defray th e expense of these artistic pro

n h ad u w as du ctio s. I a free hand as to s bj ect and n limited o ly as to length , which was not to exceed

half an hou r by reason of the number of mu sicians l to be heard in the available time . This proposa

u or s ited me admirably, for, as I was more less free

u out j st then , it enabled me to carry an idea , which

u had long tempted me , to compose a ballet fo nded

on moments or episodes in Greek mythology plas

tically interpreted by dancing of the so - called classi

cal school .

[ 2 10 ] S TRA VI N SK Y — Mu a I chose as theme Apollo s getes that is ,

of Mu Apollo as the master the ses , inspiring each of them with her own art . I reduced their number to

Ca P three , selecting from among them lliope , oly h mnia and y , Terpsichore as being the most charac

Cal teristic representatives of choreographic art . lio e th e u t t p , receiving styl s and able s from Apollo , P personifies poetry and its rhythm , olyhymnia , fin

C s u e . ger on lips , r presents mime As as iodor s tells

“ u s : u Those Speaking fingers , that eloq ent Silence,

u in those narratives in gest re , are said to have been

Mu P vented by the se olyhymnia , wishing to prove that man could express his will without recourse to ” F l words . inal y, Terpsichore , combining in herself both the rhythm of poetry and the eloqu ence of ges

u a a u t re , reve ls d ncing to the world, and th s among the Mu ses takes the place of honor beside the Musa

getes.

After a series of allegorical dances , which were

to be treated in the traditional classical style of b al

’ Pas d ucti n P as de de ux Variati ns C da let o , , o , o ) ,

a u Apollo , in an apotheosis , le ds the M ses , with

P u Terpsichore at their head , to arnass s , where they

a are to live ever afterwards . I pref ced this allegory

[ 2 1 1 ] S TRA VINSK Y

u with a prolog e representing the birth of Apollo .

“ w as According to the legend, Leto with child, and,

of feeling the moment birth at hand, threw her arms about a palm tree and kn elt on the tender

u green t rf, and the earth smiled beneath her, and the child sprang forth to the light Goddesses

for washed him with limpid water, gave him swad dlin u u g clothes a white veil of fine tiss e, and bo nd dl ” it with a golden gir e .

u of When , in my admiration for the bea ty line

al of of in classic dancing, I dreamed a ballet this

u is kind, I had specially in my tho ghts what known

“ ” to as the white ballet, in which my mind the very

essence of this art reveals itself in all its purity . I found that the absence of many- colored effects and

u of all superfluities prod ced a wonderful freshness .

This inspired me to write music of an analogou s character . It seemed to me that diatonic composition

u was the most appropriate for this p rpose, and the au sterity of its style determined what my instru

' set mental ensemble must be . I at once aside the

u of its h ordinary orchestra beca se heterogeneity, wit

u of u in its gro ps string, wood, brass, and perc ssion

nt n strume s. I also discarded e sembles of wood and

[ 2 12 ]

S TRA VINSK Y writing music in which eve evolve

easure about the melodic principle . An of immersing oneself again in orous euphony of strings and m aking it penetrate even the furthest fibers of the polyphonic web ! And how coul d the unadorned design Of the classical dance be better expressed than by the flow of melody as it ex pands in the su stained psalmody of strings ? ll I began the composition of Apc o in Jul y . I w as th e completely absorbed by work, and, not wish

t all ing to be distracted, postponed till la er considera

tion of plans for the concerts which were to be given

u um in the a t n . I did, however , accept the invitation — — of my friends the Lyons father and sons direc

O f P a R tors the leyel concern , to t ke part with avel in the opening of their large new concert hall in P aris . At this ceremony, attended by the highest

a P u Suite Government offici ls of aris , I cond cted my

’ d e ZOisea u de Fe u R l u Va se . , and avel cond cted his

It was about this time that the Pleyel firm left the

Ru e R u ochecho art, where it had been domiciled for

u and nearly a cent ry, moved into new premises in

Faub our St . the g Honoré , in which they gave me a

u . M th e st dio eanwhile , all rolls of my works made

[ 2 14 ] S T RA VIN SK Y for their mechanical piano had been sold by Pleyel

th e D uo o lian C to Art ( ) ompany, which signed a new contract with me which necessitated frequ ent j ourneys to London . At the beginning Of 1 92 8 I finished composing

ll All a the mu sic of Ap o o . that now rem ined was the

t a of th e final orches r tion score , and, as this did not

u t me of occ py my whole i , I was able to give some it

t u an F to my o rs d concerts . rom among these I select for S P L e Sacre d a mention two at the alle leyel ,

P rintem ps being inclu ded in both programs . These concerts were important for me becau se it w as the first time that Paris heard the Sacre un der my di

t a rection . It is not for me o ppraise my own per formance b ut sa ex eri , I may y that, thanks to the p ence I had gained with all kinds O f orchestras on my

u u u h ad a n mero s concert to rs , I re ched a point at which I could obtain exactly what I wanted as I

a w nted it .

Sacre With regard to the , which I was tackling

t w as u u for the first ime , I partic larly anxio s in some

of of the parts (Glorification the Elect, Evocation of D C Ancestors , ance of onsecration) to give the

u u to bars their tr e metric val e, and have them played

[ 2 16 ] S TRA VINSK Y

as exactly they were written . I lay stress on this

u point, which may seem to the reader to be a p rely B . ut u professional detail with a few exceptions , s ch

u as Monte x and Ansermet, for example , most con du ctors are inclined to cope with the metric diffi cul ties of these passages in such cavalier fashion as t o distort alike my mu sic and my intentions . This is what happens : fearing to make a mistake in a se

u ence of of u u q bars varying val es , some cond ctors do not hesitate to ease their task by treating them as o u u f eq al length . By s ch methods the strong and

temi u weak p are Obvio sly displaced, and it is left to the mu sicians to perform the onerous task of re adj usting the accents in the new bars as improvised

u u by the cond ctors, a task so diffic lt that even if there is no catastrophe the listener expects one at

of any moment, and is immersed in an atmosphere intolerable strain . There are other conductors who do not even try to solve the problem confronting them , and Sim ply transcribe su ch mu sic into undecipherable non

u sense , which they try to conceal nder violent ges

ticulations. In listening to all these artistic interpreta

[ 2 16 ]

S T RA VIN SK Y

u Rosb au d mirable cond ctor, , who , by his energy,

u his taste, his experience , and devotion , s cceeded very quickly in bringing that organization to a very

t high artis ic pitch . My visits to Germany were then

u very freq ent, and I always went there with the

u same pleas re .

u tw o After cond cting concerts at Barcelona ,

Sacre u where I gave the , which p to then had not

R u been heard there, I went to ome to cond ct my

R ossi n l R th e g o at the oyal Opera , into which old

C u ostanzi Theatre had j st been transformed . The m anagement had at first intended to produce (Edipus

h ad u also . It been prod ced at the Staatsoper in Vi enna under the: direction of Schalk j u st as he was

But going to Berlin . the plan had to be abandoned by reason of the overwhelming number of new pro

n ductio s for the opening of the Royal Opera .

I then went to Amsterdam to condu ct G dipus

C u at the oncertgebo w, which was celebrating its fortieth anniversary by a series of sumptuous mu i s cal u . C u prod ctions The fine oncertgebo w orchestra, a a lways at the same high level , the m gnificent male

u R S of chor ses from the oyal Apollo ociety, soloists — the first rank among them Mme Helene Sadoven

[ 2 18 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

ui Tul der as (E di us P ul as Jocasta, Lo s van p , and a — Huf , an excellent reader and the way in which my

w as u articu work received by the p blic, have left a p l arly preciou s memory that I recall with mu ch en

mn j oy e t .

Soon afterwards I condu cted CEdipus in Lon don for the British Broadcasting Corporation . That

u instit tion, with which I had already worked for some years and with which I continu e to be on the best of terms , merits special attention . A few well — informed and cul tured men among them my C — friend of long standing, Edward lark have been able to form within this huge eclectic organization

u a small gro p which , with praiseworthy energy,

u u u u p rs es the propaganda of contemporary m sic , p

u holding its ca se with invincible tenacity . The B B C . u has s cceeded in forming a fine orchestra ,

which certainly rivals the best in the world .

I Shoul d like here to say a few words about

u t English m sicians . The fact that England has no for a long time produ ced any great creators Of mu sic has given rise to an erroneous opinion concerning

the musical gifts and aptitu des of the English in

general . It is alleged that they are not mu sical , but

[ 2 19 ] S T RA VI N SK Y

this is contrary to my experience . I have nothing but a rec151on and praise for their bility, p , honest,

u conscientio s work, as shown in all my dealings

and u with them, I have always been str ck by the sincere and spontaneou s enthu siasm which charac terizes them in spite of inept prej u dice to the con trary prevalent in other countries . I am not speak

of a t b ut of u ing merely orchestral r ists , chor ses and

. is solo singers , all alike devoted to their work It therefore not astonishing that I should always have been more than satisfied with their rendering of my

so now (Edi us works , and was with p , in which these qu alities were fully displayed .

I seize this opportunity of paying a warm trib ute a u Sir to that veter n English cond ctor , Henry

u of Wood, a m sician the first rank, whose great gifts I h ad an opportun ity of appreciating quite re — — cently in the autumn of 19 54 at a concert in

’ which I conducted P ersephone and he most perfectly

’ ’ L Oisea u de Fe u Fe u d Arti ice accom and f , and panied me with so sure a hand when I played my

ic io Capr c .

On my return to Paris I played my Concerto on May 19 under the excellent direction of Bruno

[ 22 0 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y

L e Sacre L es N oces L e S ldat Le other works , , , o ,

’ Baiser de la Fee P erse h ne , and my latest creation, p o ,

u have not yet seen the footlights in R ssia . From this I conclu de that a change of régime cannot change the truth of the old adage that no man is a prophet in his own country . One has only to recall the

S . United tates to Show this There , in the space of a

Le Sacre Les N oces CEdi us few years , , , and p have

u u u S been s ccessf lly prod ced by Leopold tokowski, under the au spices of the Leagu e of Composers , Pe troushka an d Rossignol at the Metropolitan Opera

u Mavra Ho se , New York , and, still more recently, ,

P a u in hiladelphi , nder the direction of Alexander

Smallens .

M A ll M usa etes in y ballet, po o g , was given 2 7 Washington for the first time on April , with

’ AS Adolphe Bolms choreography . I was not there I

me cannot say anything about it . What interested

far more was its first performance in Paris at Dia

’ hileff s a u u g theatre , in sm ch as I was myself to cond ct

M so the music . y orchestra was small that I was able

a without difficulty to have four rehe rsals . This gave me a chance to make a close study of the score with the mu sicians recruited from the great symphonic

[ 222 ] S TRA VI NSK Y

of P fre orchestras aris , whom I knew well , as I had qu ently worked with them . A ll As I have already mentioned, po o was com

u posed for a string orchestra . My m sic demanded six u u u u gro ps instead of the q artet, as it is s ally

“ ” but u called, , to be more exact, q intet, of the ordi

of sec nary orchestra , which is composed first and

ond u . violins , violas , violoncellos , and do ble bass I therefore added to the regular ensemble a sixth

u to of vi . u gro p , which was be second oloncellos I th s

um u formed an instr ental sextet, each gro p of which

u had a strictly defined part . This req ired the estab lishment of a well - proportioned gradation in the

of u of um u matter the n mber instr ents for each gro p . The importance of these proportions for the clarity and plasticity of the mu sical line was very clearly shown at a rehearsal of Apollo conducted by F Klemperer in Berlin . rom the very first pages I was struck by both the confu sion of sound and the exces

Far sive resonance . from standing out in the ensem

u u ble, the vario s parts merged in it to s ch an extent that everything seemed drowned in an indistinct bu zzing . And this happened notwithstanding the

u fact that the cond ctor knew the score perfectly, and

[ 225 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

u u u u scr p lo sly Observed my movements and n ances .

It was simply a matter of the proportions of which

u i not I have j st been speaking, and wh ch had been

’ foreseen . I drew Klemperer s attention to it imme diatel u y, and the necessary adj stments were made .

His ensemble had consisted of Sixteen first and four

u an d u teen second violins , ten violas , fo r first fo r

ix u s . second violoncellos , and do ble basses The new arrangement was eight first and eight second violins ,

u u Six violas , fo r first and fo r second violoncellos ,

u u and fo r do ble basses . The alteration immediately

u prod ced the desired effect . Everything became sharp and clear .

How Often we composers are at the mercy of

of so things that sort, which seem insignificant at first sight ! How Often it is j ust they that determine the impression made on the listener and decide the very su ccess of the piece ! Naturally the public does not u u nderstand, and j dges the piece by the way in C l which it is presented . omposers may wel envy the

ul lot of painters , sc ptors , and writers , who com municate directly with their public without having recourse to intermediaries .

On Jun e 12 I condu cted the first produ ction of

[ 224 ]

S TRA VINSK Y

u of di al c stodians the best classical tra tions ; fin ly,

S ui un u erge Lifar, then still q te yo g, conscientio s ,

u u ul of u u nat ral, spontaneo s , and f l serio s enth siasm — for his art all these formed an un forgettable com

Bu pany . t my satisfaction was less complete in the

of u dé c r not see matter cost me and o , in which I did

to ia hile wi D ff . eye eye th g As I have already said, I had pictured it to myself as danced in Short white ballet Skirts in a severely conventionalized theatrical l andscape devoid of all fantastic embellishment su ch as woul d have been out of keeping with my primary

But Dia hil eff of x conception . g , afraid the e treme

of on l u simplicity my idea, and always the ooko t for s ectacu something new, wished to enhance the p

u u to lar side , and entr sted scenery and cost mes a

al to P u p—rovinci painter, little known the aris p blic An Bauch ant his in dré , who , in remote village, dulged in a genre of painting somewhat in the style

u of the do uanier Rou sseau . What he prod ced was

b ut as in no interesting, , I had expected, it way

u s ited my ideas .

w as its suc My work very well received, and

n cess was greater that I had expected, seei g that the

[ 22 6 ] S TRA VI N SK Y music of Apollo lacked those elements which evoke the enthusiasm of the public at a first hearing .

Directly after the Paris perform ance of Apollo

I went to conduct it at its first London appearance .

Ru en As always in England, where the ssian Ballet

u ul j oys established and nwavering pop arity, the

u b ut u piece was a great s ccess, it wo ld be impossible

sa du e u u to y in what degree this was to m sic , a thor,

a u t or . dancers , choreogr phy, s bj ec , scenery

There was no rest for me that summer . I spent

on it at Echarvines , the Lake of Annecy, where I

’ had taken a room in a mason s cottage off the main

road, and there I had installed a piano . I can never concentrate on my work if I am where I can be over

so i heard, that it was imposs ble for me to settle down with my piano in the boarding hou se in which I was

staying with my family . I therefore chose this iso

u lated place in the hope of finding peace and solit de ,

u free from all importunate neighbors . I was cr elly

h ad deceived . The workman who let the room to me occupied the rest of the house with his wife and

ll u l . out a chi d He went in the morning, and was q iet

sat till he returned at noon . The family then down

[ 22 7 ] S T RA VI N SK Y

at to dinner . An acrid and nause ing smell of garlic and rancid oil came throu gh th e chinks of the parti

t and tion which separated me from hem , made me

an a t feel sick . After exch nge of bit er words , the mason would lose his temper and begin to swear at

and his wife child, terrifying them with his threats .

u a s and u The wife wo ld start by n wering , then , b rst

u u a ing into sobs , wo ld pick p the scre ming infant

u out n u . and r sh , followed by her h sba d This was

a u a so repe ted every day with hopeless reg l rity, that

’ th e last hour of my morning s work was always

t a F u filled wi h gonizing apprehension . ort nately there was no need for me to return to the house in

a the afternoon , as I devoted th t to work for which

I did not require a piano .

t One evening, when my sons and I were si ting

u ou r u q ietly on the verandah of boarding ho se , the silence of th e night was su ddenly shattered by piero ing shrieks for help . I at once recognized the voice

’ th e u of mason s wife , and my sons and I h rried across th e little meadow which separated u s from

u th e hou se from which th e cries were coming . B t

' otste s h a all was quiet , evidently ou r fo p d been heard .

N at th e u th e our ext day, req est of proprietor of

[ 2 28 ]

S TRA VI N SK Y

As I was free to choose both the subj ect and

of to for t scenario the ballet, I began search hem ,

’ in view of the characteristic trend of Tchaikovsky s

u u of u m sic, in the literat re the nineteenth cent ry .

tu to With that aim, I rned a great poet with a

ul gentle, sensitive so whose imaginative mind was

ul wonderf ly akin to that of the mu sician . I refer to

a C re H ns hristian Andersen , with whom in this

u T re spect Tchaikovsky had so m ch in common . o

a La Belle a u B is D rmant Casse N isette Le c ll o o , o ,

L ac des C nes Pi ue D ame of yg , q , and many pieces his symphonic work is enough to Show the extent of

for his fondness the fantastic .

u r of In t rning ove the pages Andersen, with

w as which I fairly familiar, I came across a story

u as b e I had completely forgotten, which str ck me ing the very thing for the idea that I wanted to ex

It u ul us as press . was the very bea tif story known to h T e Ice Ada iden . as I chose that my theme , and worked out the story on the following lines . A fairy imprints her magic kiss on a child at birth and parts it from its mother . Twenty years later, when the youth h as attained the very zenith of his good for

u sh e off t ne , repeats the fatal kiss and carries him to

[ 2 6 0 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

live in supreme happiness with her ever afterwards .

As my Obj ect was to commemorate the work of

u Tchaikovsky, this s bj ect seemed to me to be par ticul arl u y appropriate as an allegory, the m se hav ing similarly branded Tchaikovsky with her fatal kiss, and the magic imprint has made itself felt in al u l the m sical creations of this great artist .

Althou gh I gave full liberty to painter an d

th e n choreographer in stagi g of my composition , my innermost desire was that it should be presented ll of A . in classical form, after the manner po o I pic tured all the fantastic roles as danced in white ballet

u S skirts , and the r stic scenes as taking place in a wiss

t landscape, wi h some of the performers dressed in the manner of early tourists and mingling with the friendl y villagers in the good old the atrical tradi tion .

’ As the date of Mme Rubinstein s performances

far off a u was not , I b rely left home all that s mmer

at S except for a concert cheveningen , for I had not too mu ch time in which to execute so complicated a

. u w as piece of work As I hate being h rried, and a of u t fraid nforeseen Obstacles owards the finish , I seized every hour I coul d to go ahead with my com

[ 251 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

t u n position, h s leavi g as little as possible to the last

u at b moments . I m ch preferred tiring myself the e

n u ginni g to being h rried at the end . The following incident indicates how loath I

da n t was to waste time . The y o which I went o Paris

on N un a u my way back to ice , I fo d , on w king p in

a t a u u P a the tr in, h t we were not in the s b rbs of ris ,

but u t u out in some wholly nexpec ed spot . It t rned

that on account of the great number of extras put on

by the railway to cope with the congestion caused by

th e end of th e holidays our train h ad been shunted

N t a to a siding at evers , and I discovered h t we

Far should be four hours late in reaching Paris. — from a station and on an empty stomach not even — a scrap of bread was available I was nevertheless

u u s u n npert rbed by this mi hap , and t r ed it to profit

by working in my comp artment du ring those four

hours .

To finish and orchestrate my music in the

short time available was so heavy a task that I was

u Bronisl ava Ni inska nable to follow the work of j ,

who was composing the choreography in Paris bit

by bit as I sent the parts from Ech arvines as com

leted . w as u t u t p Owing to this , it not n il j s before

[ 2 52 ]

S TRA VINSK Y

every rehearsal . At that moment the soloist rises ,

u on thanks the cond ctor, and informs him that the

of day the concert he will, to his great regret, have

to u send a dep ty .

u P I cond cted this ballet twice at the aris Opéra ,

on 2 7 D 4 Ru November and ecember , at Mme bin

’ stein s performances . It was also given once at the

/ ea l\Ionnaie u Th tre de la at Br ssels , and once at

Monte Carlo . On both these last occasions it w as ad mirably condu cted , in Brussels by Corneil de Tho

M C u Cloez . ran , and at onte arlo by G stave A final performance was given at the Scala at Milan about

Mme Ru re the same time , and after that binstein

it moved from her repertory . A few years later,

Bronisl ava Nijinska produ ced it again at the Teatro

ColOn u sh e at B enos Aires , where had already given

Les N oces , and where both these works had a great

u . s ccess . Nor was this an isolated incident In the course of the last eight years most of my symphonic

and stage compositions have been frequ ently played

’ u Ansermet s u t at B enos Aires , and , thanks to cond c

u h as a ing, the p blic been ble to get a good idea of

them . ] As with my other ballets , I made an orchestra

[ 254 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

’ u t u Le Baiser de la Fe e s i e from the m sic of , which

can be played without mu ch difficul ty by reason of

t u the restric ed size of the orchestra req ired . I Often

u u so all cond ct this s ite myself, and I like doing , the more because in it I tried a style of writing and or

ch estration to an d w as one which was new me , by means of which the mu sic could be appreciated at the first hearing . — At the beginning of the 1928 192 9 season a

a t new org nization came in o being, known as the

S u P or Orchestre ymphoniq e de aris, created

u . by Ansermet, who became its principal cond ctor

u At its invitation, I cond cted two concerts at the

ea C - E e u Th tre des hamps lys es with this new gro p ,

and it w as a j oy to work with these young mu si

cians so ul of , who were so well disciplined and f l

to u goodwill , and who were forbidden ind lge the

u of u u odio s habit dep tizing, of which all cond ctors

complain and from which I suffered so mu ch at the

’ a of L e Baiser de la Fee rehe rsals . About this time I signed a contract for several

years with the great Columbia Gramophone Com

w as u pany, for which I excl sively to record my work

t a s and u t a a . bo h as pi ni t cond c or, ye r by ye r This

[ 2 55 ] S T RA VI N SK Y

me work greatly interested , for here , far better than

a w as a to minten with pi no rolls , I ble express all y

t a tions wi h re l exactitu de .

C u t u ul onseq en ly these records , very s ccessf

a from a technical point of view, h ve the importance

of documents which can serve as guides to all execu

du c a u . u con t nts of my m sic Unfort nately, very few

n tors avail themselves O f them . Some do not even i

u u D u q ire whether s ch records exist . o btless their

t ul dignity preven s others from cons ting them , espe

cially since if once they knew the record they could

t u not wi h a clear conscience cond ct as they liked .

t a our u Is it not amazing h t in times , when a s re

a u me ns , which is accessible to all , has been fo nd of learning exactly how the author demands his work

to ut u be exec ed, there sho ld still be those who will

u b ut in not take any notice of s ch means , persist in serting concoctions of their own vintage ?

u re Unfort nately, therefore, the rendering

corded by the author fails to achieve its most im — portant obj ect that of s afegu arding his work by establishing the manner in which it ought to be

all played . This is the more regrettable Since it is not

[ 2 56 ]

S TRA VIN SKY

u SO u u of so m ch labor will be little sed, even as a doc

ul in ment, by the very persons who sho d be most terested? One cannot even pretend that the easygoing fashion in which “ interpreters ” treat their contem poraries is becau se they feel that these contempo

uf i u a raries have not s f cient rep tation to m tter . The old u u a masters , the classics , are s bj ected to j st the s me

u treatment notwithstanding all their a thority . It is enough to cite Beethoven and to take as an illu stra S tion his Eighth ymphony, which bears the com

’ u poser s own precise metronomic directions . B t are they heeded ? There are as many different render

“ ings as there are conductors ! Have you heard my ” F m ? - b e ifth , y Eighth that is a phrase that has

u u u u come q ite s al in the mo ths of these gentlemen,

and their mentality coul d not be better exemplified .

But , no matter how disappointing the work is

t of not when regarded from his point view, I do for

a moment regret the time and effort spent on it . It gives me the satisfaction of knowing that everyone

who listens to my records he ars my mu sic free from

of u t any distortion my tho ght, at least in its essen ial

t . elemen s Moreover, the work did a good deal to de

[ 258 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

u u velop my techniq e as a conductor . The freq ent

of a or of repetition a fr gment even an entire piece ,

th e sustained effort to allow not the slightest detail

to ma of escape attention , as y happen for lack time

of Ob serv at any ordinary rehearsal , the necessity ing absolute precision of movement as strictly de — termin ed by the timing all this is a hard school in which a mu sician obtains very valu able training and

t u ul learns mu ch that is ex remely sef . In the domain of mu sic the importance and in

fluence of i al its disseminat on by mechanic means , — su ch as the record and the radio those redoubtable triumphs of modern science which will probably un — dergo still further development make them worthy of the closest investigation . The facilities that they offer to composers and executants alike for reaching

r u of u g eat n mbers listeners , and the opport nities that they give to those listeners of acqu ainting them

a not u selves with works they h ve heard, are obvio sly

u Bu n indisp table advantages . t o e mu st not overlook the fact that su ch ' advantages are attended by seri

’ ous n In da ger . John Sebastian Bach s days it was necessary for him to walk ten mil es to a neighbor

u u ing town to hear B xteh de play his works . Today

[ 2 59 ] S T RA VI N SK Y

h as u anyone , living no matter where , only to t rn a

knob or put on a record to hear what he likes . In

u of deed, it is in j st this incredible facility, this lack

t so - necessity for any effort, that the evil of his called

For u l n an progress lies . in m sic , more than y other

u t branch of art, nders anding is given only to those

P t who make an active effort . assive recep ivity is not

u enough . To listen to certain combinations of so nd

and automatic ally become accu stomed to them does not necessarily imply that they have been heard and

u . For u u nderstood one can listen witho t hearing, j st

as one can look without seeing . The absence of ac

tive effort and the liking acquired for this facility

neces make for laziness . The radio has got rid of the

’ sity which existed in B ach s day for getting out of

’ Nor i one s armchair . are listeners any longer m

elled p to play themselves , or to spend time on learn ing an instrument in order to acquire a knowledge

f a u o music l literat re . The wireless and the gramo

phone do all that . And thus the active faculties of lis teners u u , witho t which one cannot assimilate m sic ,

u of u se grad ally become atrophied from lack . This

i u u creeping paralysis entails very ser o s conseq ences .

’ u a u blase Oversat r ted with so nds , even before com

[ 24 0 ]

S T RA VI N SK Y c hanged, and sometimes distorted, timbres spoils the e ar so u en , that it grad ally loses all capacity for j oying natural mu sical soun ds. All these considerations may seem un expected

one h as so u in coming from who worked m ch, and is still working, in this field . I think that I have

“ sufficiently stressed the instructional valu e that I un reservedl y ascribe to this means of musical repro du ction , but that does not prevent me from seeing its n u egative sides, and I anxio sly ask myself whether they are sufficiently outweighed by the positive ad vantages to enable one to face them with impunity .

[ 242 ] I HAV E now brought my chronicle up to the year

192 9 u , a year overshadowed by a great and grievo s

— hil ff on Au event the passing of Diag e . He died

u 19 but u a g st , his loss moved me so profo ndly th t it dwarfs in my memory all the other events Of that year . I shall , therefore , somewhat anticipate the chronology of my narrative in order to Speak here of my late friend .

At the beginning of my career he was the first

out u to single me for enco ragement, and he gave

u t me real and val able assis ance . Not only did he like

u b ut my m sic and believe in my development, he

u a did his tmost to m ke the public appreciate me . He was genuinely attracted by what I was then writ

l u u ing, and it gave him rea pleas re to prod ce my

d u work, and, in eed , to force it on the more rebellio s

of my listeners , as , for example , in the case of the

acre d a P rint ms S e . p These feelings of his , and the

[ 245 ] S TRA VI NSK Y

u zeal which characterized them, nat rally evoked in

u me a reciprocal sense of gratit de, deep attachment, and admiration for his sensitive comprehension , his

u ardent enth siasm , and the indomitable fire with which he put things into practice .

Our friendship , which lasted for almost twenty ! years , was , alas marked from time to time by con

flicts du e which, as I have already said, were to his

u u extreme j ealo sy . It is obvio s that my relations with Diaghileff coul d not but undergo a certain change in the later years in view Of the broadening

Of the field of my personal and independent activi

of c ties , and the fa t that my collaboration with the Ru ssian Ballet had lost the continuity it had earlier

l ur enj oyed . There was ess affinity than before in o

fre ideas and opinions, which , as time went on,

u q ently developed in divergent directions . Modern ” of ism at any price, cloaking a fear not being in the vangu ard , the search for something sensational ; — uncertainty as to what line to take these things wrapped Diaghileff in a morbid atmosphere of pain ful gropings . All this prevented me from being in

us sympathy with everything he did, and this made

[ 244 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y

s u in the neighborhood On ret rning late , we were

sat u u s sad met by my wife , who had p to give the V news which had been telegraphed from enice .

not u for I was entirely nprepared his death . I

u not knew that he had diabetes , tho gh I did know

so u as u that it was serio s to be dangero s , especially as at his age his robust constitution shoul d have en abled him to combat the disease for some years . His

u physical condition had not, therefore , ca sed me any

But of a u u alarm . , l te , in watching the s al activities of his everyday life , I had formed the impression that his moral forces were rapidly disintegrating, and I was haunted by the thought that he had

is hi of . s reached the limit his life That why death,

u u u our tho gh it ca sed me ac te grief as final parting, did not greatly surprise me .

At the moment I naturally did not give much thou ght to an estimate of the influence of Diaghi

’ of his leff s activity, indeed very life, in the world

of . u u art I gave myself p to my grief, mo rning a l u see . friend, a brother, whom I sho d never again

This separation gave rise to many feelings ,

to . is many memories, which were dear me It only

a of today, with the p ssing the years , that one begins

[ 24 6 ] S T RA VIN SK Y to realize everywhere and in everything what a ter

rible void w as created by the disappearance of this

u colossal fig re , whose greatness can only be meas ured ful ly by the fact that it is impossible to replace

u of him . The tr th the matter is that everything that

is original is irreplaceable . I recall this fine phrase

“ ” of C a Korovine : ou the painter onst ntine I thank y ,

“ h e to Dia hileff ou said one day g , I thank y for be ” ing alive .

I devoted most of 1929 to the composition of

Ca ricci h ad u C b e my p o , which I beg n the hristmas

As so fore . often happened with me , this work was

u u u several times interr pted by navoidable j o rneys .

In Febru ary I went to conduct ( Edip us at a concert

D u w as articu in the resden Opera Ho se , where I p

larly impressed by the incomparable finish of the

eh an s di us a Dresdner L rerges g verein choirs . (E p w s

the sole item on the program , and was given twice — on the same day at a public general rehears al at

noon , and at the concert itself in the evening . A little later La Société Philharmoniqu e de Paris asked me to condu ct a concert of my chamber

u . S P m sic It took place at the alle leyel on March 5.

’ ’ The program inclu ded L Histoire d un Soldat and

[ 24 7 ] S TRA VI NSK Y

ctu r S nate the O o , and I myself played my o and my

' ’ u of Serenade for the piano . I take this opport nity expressing my appreciation of that admirable group of Paris soloists wh o have for many years lent their talent and their wonderful enthu siasm to enhance f the valu e o my work, whether in concerts , in the

or u of theatre , in the fatig ing process making rec

u D arieu ords . I want partic larly to mention and

Merckel (violins) Boussagol (double bass) Moyse

u Gaudeau Dh erin (fl te) , (clarinet) and Grand

V Foveau u maison (bassoons) ignal and (tr mpets) ,

D elb os and Tu desqu e (trombones) and Morel (per cu ssion)

My visits to London stand out among the pleas

s ant memories of my j ourneys that year . London i so ul u delightf at the beginning of the s mmer, with

u ul its green lawns , the bea tif trees in the parks , the

its u u river on o tskirts gay with n mberless boats , and everywhere the frank good humor of healthy ath i let c u . u e yo th In s ch an atmosphere work is asy, and

I mu ch enj oyed playing my Concerto with that bril l u u e iant English m sician, E g ne Goossens, as con

u u A ll — d ctor, and myself cond cting po o and for the

[ 248 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y theatres woul d be worn out by their heavy work

u u thro gho t the festival season . Besides , as always

u happened when the Ballet was on to r, all that the theatres or impresarios cared about was the scenic

u u u effects , tro bling very little abo t the m sical aspect, though trying to find composers whose names would

attract the public . In this case the same conditions

so of prevailed, that, notwithstanding all the efforts

u a cond ctor like Ansermet, I expect that my absence saved me from a somewhat painful impression .

I worked at my Capriccio all summer and fin

sh e i d it at the end of September . I played it for the first time on December 6 at a Paris Symphony O r

h tra u c es d . 1 h ad so concert, Ansermet con cting often been asked in the course of the last few years to play my Concerto (this I had already done no fewer than forty times) that I thought that it was time to give the public another work for piano and orches tra . That is why I wrote another concerto , which I

Ca riccio a called p , th t name seeming to indicate best the character of the music . I had in mind the defini

ca ricci P u tion of a p o given by raetori s , the celebrated

re musical authority of the eighteenth century . He

antasia a garded it as a synonym of the f , which was

[ 2 60 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

u free form made up of f gato instrumental passages .

This form enabled me to develop my mu81c by th e j uxtaposition of episodes of variou s kinds which fol low one another and by their very nature give the piece that aspect of caprice from which it takes its name .

is There little wonder that, while working at

Ca ricci ul u my p o , I Sho d find my tho ghts dominated b of u C von y that prince m sic, arl Maria Weber, whose geniu s admirably lent itself to this manner .

Alas ! no one thou ght of calling him a prince in his lifetime ! I cannot refrain fromquoting (auth en tically) the startling opinion that the celebrated V F iennese dramatic poet, ranz Grillparzer, had of

E uryanthe and its composer , I found it in a striking anthology of classical criticisms published by Schott .

“ It runs as follows : What I had feared on the ap

‘ pearance of Freischutz seems now to be confirmed .

a nl h as but Weber cert i y a poetical mind, he is no

f of u . o m sician Not a trace melody, not merely pleas

b ut of f of ing melody any sort o melody . Tatters

u ideas held together solely by the text, witho t any

u no inherent m sical sequence . There is invention ; even th e w ay in which the libretto is handl ed is de

[ 2 51 ] S TRA V I NSK I’

void of originality . A total lack of arrangement and

u color . This m sic is horrible . This inversion of

u of u ul e phony, this violation bea ty, wo d in ancient

Greece have been punished by the state with penal sanctions . Such music is contrary to police regul a

u b tions . It wo ld give irth to monstrosities if it man ” aged to get about .

It is quite certain that no one woul d dream

’ of Fa nowadays sharing Grillparzer s indignation . r from that , those who consider themselves advanced,

not if they know Weber, and still more if they do k of now him, make a merit treating him with con

a u wh o out of tempt as m sician is too easy, date ,

u and at the best can appeal only to old fogies . S ch an attitu de might perhaps be understandable on the

of u part those who are m sically illiterate , and whose — self assurance is too Often equ aled only by their in

But for l competence . what can be said professiona mu sicians when they are capable of expressing such opinions as , for example , those I have heard from

Scriabine ? It is tru e that he was not speaking of

but S u but Weber, of ch bert, that does not alter the

Scriabine u u case . One day when with his s al em phasis was pouring out ideological verbosities con

[ 2 62 ]

S T RA V IN SK Y

Symphonic form as bequ eathed to u s by the

u t a a in nineteenth cent ry held lit le ttr ction for me , asmu ch as it had flou rished in a period the langu age and ideas of which were all the more foreign to u s because it was the period from which we emerged .

Sonate As in the case of my , I wanted to create an organic whole without conforming to the variou s

u b ut models adopted by c stom , still retaining the periodic order by which the symphony is distin

uish ed u g from the s ite , the latter being simply a

u s ccession of pieces varying in character . I also had under consideration the sound ma M terial with which to build my edifice . y idea was that my symphony should be a work with great con tra untal p development, and for that it was necessary

n to increase the media at my disposal . I fi ally de cided on a choral and instrumental ensemble in which the two elements should be on an equ al foot

of t u . ing, neither hem o tweighing the other In this

instance my point of view as to th e mutu al relation

ship of the vocal and instrumental sections coincided

t u u with hat of the masters of contrap ntal m sic , who

u u also treated them as eq als , and neither red ced the

rOle of the choruses to that of a homophonous chant

[ 2 64 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

nor the function of the instrumental ensemble to

of that an accompaniment .

u to I so ght for my words, since they were be

u for s ng, among those which had been written sing

u u ing . And q ite nat rally my first idea was to have

recourse to the Psalms . Soon after the first perform

ance of my symphony, a criticism was forwarded to

“ me in which its author asked : Has the composer — attempted to be Hebrew in his music Hebrew in

of b ut u spirit, after the manner Ernest Bloch, witho t

” too much that is reminiscent of the synagogu e ? This gentleman does not seem to know that

after two thousand years the Psalms are not nec

essaril u but y associated with the synagog e , are the m u of ain fo ndation the prayers, orisons, and chants of But C u . al or the h rch , apart from his re pretended

a not ul u u ignor nce , does the ridic o s q estion he asks reveal only too clearly a mentality that one encoun ters more and more frequently today ? Apparently people have lost all capacity to treat the Holy Scrip tures otherwise than from the point of view of eth no ra h or u u g p y, history, pict resq eness . That anyone shoul d take his inspiration from the Psalms without giving a thought to these side issu es appears to be

[ 2 55 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

to so x . incredible them, and they demand e planations

Yet it seems quite natural to them that a piece of

isun er j azz shoul d be cal led Alleluia . All these m d standings arise from the fact that people will always insist upon lookin g in mu sic for something that is n for ot there . The main thing them is to know what

u in the piece expresses, and what the a thor had mind when he composed it . They never seem to understand that music has an entity of its own apart

u from anything that it may s ggest to them . In other

u so u words , m sic interests them in far as it to ches on elements outside it while evoking sensations with which they are famil iar . Most people like mu sic becau se it gives them cer

in u ta emotions , s ch as j oy, grief, sadness , an image — of u u or nat re, a s bj ect for daydreams , still better

“ ” — u Oblivion from everyday life . They want a dr g

“ ” dope . It matters little whether this way of thinking of music is expressed directly or is wrapped

u up in a veil of artificial circumlocutions . M sic would not be worth much if it were reduced to such an end . When people have learned to love music for itself, when they listen with other ears , their enj oy m ent will be of a far higher and more potent order,

[ 2 66 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y

of on S m As always late years , my work the y

h nie des P sa umes un u p o , beg abo t the New Year , suffered many interruptions by reason of the nu merou s European concerts in which I took part either a i i t s or u . Ca r cc pianist cond ctor The p o , my lates

al u composition , was ready in demand in vario s t u t owns . I had to play it at Berlin , Leipzig, B chares ,

P a u u con r g e, and Winterth r . Moreover, I had to du Du u ct concerts at sseldorf, Br ssels , and Amster

u n at d am. B t by the begi ning of the summer I was

to of last able to devote all my time the symphony,

one . which, so far, I had finished only part I had to

so write the whole of the other two parts , and did

t t C par ly at Nice , par ly at haravines , where I Spent the latter part of the summer on the shore of the

t a ut u lit le L ke Paladru . I p the final to ches to the

u u u 15 e m sic on A g st , and was then able to con en trate quietly on the orchestration which I had begun at Nice .

M u u y peregrinations began again in the a t mn ,

u l D e u and contin ed til ecemb r . I to red all central

u n S Zu E rope , begin ing with witzerland (Basle, rich ,

u n u La sa ne, Geneva) , and ending with Br ssels and

A . in di to msterdam Besides that, and ad tion Berlin

[ 2 68 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

V a M and ienn , I visited ainz, Wiesbaden , Bremen ,

lVIun ich u F - on- , N remberg, rankfort Main , and

M Ca ricci or annheim, nearly always playing my p o

condu cting my works .

The first European au dition of the Symphonie

des Psa umes took place at the Palais des Beaux Arts

u un of . u of Br ssels , der the direction Ansermet Ko s

sevitzky gave it in Boston at the same time . The

u a Ca ricci Br ssels concert at which I pl yed my p o ,

w as a n which repe ted on the followi g day, has left

a very pleasant memory . Many friends had come P from aris to hear my new work, and I was deeply tou ched by their sympathy and the warmth of the

reception that the symphony received from the pub A lic . s u was to be expected, the exec tion was perfect ,

and the admirable choruses of the Société Philh ar

moniqu e once more lived up to the reputation for

expert proficiency which they so j ustly enj oy in

u Belgi m .

While at Mainz and Wiesbaden I frequ ently

saw Willy Strecker . He talked to me a good deal

ut u S u Du abo a yo ng violinist, am el shkin , with whom he had become very friendly and whom I had never met . In the course of our conversations he asked me

[ 2 69 ] S TRA VIN SK Y whether I shoul d care to write something for the

Du ul re violin, adding that in shkin I sho d find a

x u u markable e ec tant . I hesitated at first, beca se I

not am a violinist, and I was afraid that my slight knowledge of that . instrument woul d not be sufficient to enable me to solve the many problems which woul d necessarily arise in the course of a maj or work

But S specially composed for it . Willy trecker allayed my doubts by assuring me that Dushkin woul d place himself entirely at my disposal in order to furnish any technical details I might require . Under such

u ul conditions the plan was very all ring, partic arly as it woul d give me a chance of stu dying seriou sly the special techn iqu e of the violin . When he learned S ’ that I had in principle accepted trecker s proposal , Dushkin came to Wiesbaden to make my acquaint

u ance . I had not previo sly met him or heard him

w u vi play . All I kne was that he had st died the olin

u his and m sic in general in America , where , in

early childhood, he had been adopted by the Amer

F of dis ican composer, Blair airchild, a man great

for tinction , rare kindness, and a mind remarkable

its delicate sensibility .

From our first meeting I coul d see that Dush

[ 2 60 ]

S TRA VINSK Y — an sion abnegation that is very rare . His beautiful mastery of techn iqu e comes from the magnificent

of u u to school Leopold A er, that marvelo s teacher whose instru ction we ow e nearly all the celebrated

of . of violinists today A Jew, like the great maj ority

Du leading violinists, shkin possesses all those innate gifts which make representatives of that race the

o un qu estionable masters f the vi olin . The greatest names among these virtu osi have in fact a Jewish

l u of u . u so nd Their owners sho d be pro d them, and it is difficul t to understand why most of them per sist in prefixing Ru ssian diminutives such as are

of generally used only among intimates . Instead

Alexander they call themselves Sacha ; instead of

i . Jacob or James , Yasha , nstead of Michael, Misha

Being ignorant of the langu age and u sages of Ru s sia of u , foreigners can have no idea how s ch lack of

u ul taste j ars . It is as tho gh one spoke of J ot Mas senet or Popol Dukas !

I began the composition of the first part of my

Concerto po ur Violon early in 19 51 . I had devoted about a month to it when I was obliged to leave it

t P a for the ime being, as I had to go to ris and Lon

n P do . In aris I took part in two concerts given by

[ 2 62 ] S TRA VIN SK Y

th F u 2 0 a n . e A sermet In first, on ebr ary , I pl yed my

Ca riccio on F u a 24 u S m p , and ebr ry I cond cted my y

phonl e des P sa umes at its first Paris au dition . On

this occasion my work with the orchestra was par ticularly interesting to me becau se the Columbia

firm h ad arranged with Ansermet that records

shoul d be m ade of the symphony at the Theatre des

C - E e u hamps lys es , d ring which I was to prepare for

a ul to the concert . The perform nce co d not fail bene

u fit by this , as the rehearsals had to be cond cted

i u with that except onally min te care which , as I have

out a already pointed , is dem nded by all records .

C u u - S C It was at the o rta ld argent oncerts , on

M 5 4 Ca ricci arch and , that I played my p o for the

first time in London . These concerts bear the name l u . C ur u of their fo nder, Mrs o ta d, who , animated

conduc by the best intentions , ably seconded by the

S u tor argent, had by her energy inf sed life into a

mu sical undertaking which might well have b e

h e come still more important under her influ ence . S was the patron of youn g artists and sincerely in

terested so of in new works , that the programs her concerts were frequ ently di fferentiated by their freshness from the routine and colorless programs

[ 2 6 5 ] S TRA VIN SK Y which generally characterize the mu sical life of

u ! . of great centers , London incl ded Alas patrons her

u q ality become more and more rare , and the prema ture death of this generou s benefactor cannot be too deeply deplored . The organization survives her

but death, no longer bears the special imprint given

u its by the enth siasm of founder .

I was glad to return to Nice and be able to take up my Concerto again . The first part was completed w M t o . at the end of arch, and I began the other

u articu This took p all my time , and it was made p larly pleasant by the enthu siasm and understanding

w as with which Du shkin followed my progress . I

vi not a complete no ce in handling the violin . Apart from my pieces for the string qu artet and numerou s

P ulcinella articu passages in , I had had occasion , p

’ larl Histoire d un S ldat k y in the o , to tac le the tech

u ut niqu e of the violin as a solo instr ment . B a

concerto certainly offered a far vaster field of experi

al of in ence . To know the technic possibilities an

strument without being able to play it is one thing ,

’ to have that techniqu e in one s finger tips is quite f another . I realized the dif erence , and before begin

u d t ning the work I cons lted Hin emi h , who is a per

[ 2 64 ]

S T RA VI N SK Y

Run u u in time , as the Berlin df nk had sec red the

u of C ncert first a dition the o o , which was to be

u 2 played nder my direction on October 5.

u After cond cting concerts at Oslo , I went to

Berlin . There my new work was very well received,

F - on—M as it was also in rankfort ain , London ,

C P Du ologne , Hanover, and aris , where shkin and I

a played in November and December . In an interv l

D a between concerts at Halle and rmstadt, I spent

u SO abo t a fortnight at Wiesbaden , and was able to

hear the first performance of a new composition by

— ’ D as Una u rliche Hindemith his cantata t , given

at the centenary festival of the Mainz Liedertafel .

u This composition , large alike in size and s bstance

a f and the varied char cter of its parts , of ers an excel lent opportunity for getting into tou ch with the

’ u u a thor s individ ality, and for admiring his rich

of talent and brilliant mastery . The appearance

Hindemith in th e mu sical life of our day is very

un out fort ate , for he stands as a wholesome and

illuminating principle amid so mu ch obscurity .

Far from having exhau sted my interest in the

C ncerto violin , my o , on the contrary, impelled me to write yet another important work for that instru

[ 2 66 ] S TRA VINSK Y

f ment . I had formerly had no great liking or a com

a of but bin tion piano and strings, a deeper knowl edge of the violin and close collaboration with a technician like Dushkin had revealed possibilities I

to . to longed explore Besides , it seemed desirable open up a wider field for my mu sic by means of

“ a so u to ch mber concerts, which are m ch easier ar

as not u range, they do req ire large orchestras Of

u so so to high q ality, which are costly and rarely be

u of fo nd except in big cities . This gave me the idea writing a sort of sonata for violin and piano that I

al D uo Co ncertant c led and which , together with

of transcriptions a few of my other works, was to form the program of recitals that I proposed to give

D u u with shkin in E rope and America .

I began the D uo Concerta nt at the end of 19 51

1 com and finished it on the July 5 following . Its position is closely connected in my mind with a book which had j u st appeared and which had greatly de

P etrarch o lighted me . It was the remarkable f

C Cin ria u of harles Albert g , an a thor rare sagacity and deep originality . O ur work had a great deal in

. u u our u common The same s bj ects occ pied tho ghts ,

u a a sel and, altho gh we were now living far p rt and

[ 2 6 7 ] S TRA VIN SK Y domsaw each other, the close agreement between our our our s no views , tastes , and idea , which I had

n not ticed when we first met twe ty years before,

but to w only still existed, seemed even have gro n

o with the passing f the years .

“ ex u ul is Lyricism cannot ist witho t r es , and it essential that they shoul d be strict . Otherwise there is u for x only a fac lty lyricism , and that e ists every

w ex where . What does not exist every here is lyrical

a ren pression and composition . To achieve that, pp ” ticeship to a trade is necessary . These words of

Cingria seemed to apply with the utmost appropri ateness to the work I had in hand . My Obj ect was to

of u create a lyrical composition, a work m sical versi fication x in , and I was more than ever e perienc g the advantage of a rigorou s discipline which gives a taste for the craft and the satisfaction of being able — to apply it and more particularly in work of a lyri

ul to u cal character . It wo d be appropriate q ote in this connection the words of one who is regarded i above all as a lyrical composer . This is what Tcha

“ kovsky says in one of his letters : Since I began to

to compose I have made it my obj ect be , in my craft, what the most illustrious masters were in theirs ;

[ 2 6 8 ]

S TRA VI NSK Y

u and u Winterth r, in between I cond cted and played

KOni sb er u P u at g g, Hamb rg, Ostrava, aris , B dapest,

M u R M ilan , T rin , and ome . y visits to the Italian

ul towns left a partic arly pleasant impression . I am

u always delighted to go to Italy, a co ntry for which dm I have the deepest a iration . And this admiration is increased by the marvelou s regenerative effort which has manifested itself there for the last ten

a a direc ye rs , and is still m nifesting itself in every tion . I had proof of this in my own domain when I

u — S m cond cted my works among others , the y — phonie des P sa umes with th e orchestra of the

u R u T rin adio , a new and disting ished organization .

of 19 55 Ru At the beginning , Mme Ida bin stein had inquired whether I woul d consent to write

u the m sic for a poem by André Gide , which he had planned before the w ar and which Mme Rubinstein wished to stage . I agreed in principle , and at the end

u of Jan ary André Gide j oined me at Wiesbaden ,

his where I happened to be staying . He showed me

u poem , which was taken from the s perb Homeric

u il hymn to D emeter . The a thor expressed his w l ingness to make any modification in the text re quired by the music and under such conditions an

[ 2 7 0 ] S TRA VI N SK Y

agreement was quickly reached . A few months later I received the first part of the poem and set to work on it .

With the exception of two melodies for some

V a x of lines by erl ine , this was my first e perience

u composing m sic for French words . I had always been afraid of the difficul ties of French prosody .

Althou gh I had been living in France for twenty

and u il years , had spoken the lang age from ch dhood,

I had until now hesitated to u se it in my mu sic . I

to a an d now decided try my h nd, and was more more pleased as my work proceeded . What I most

a u F as enjoyed was syll bifying the m sic to rench , I

for Ru Les N oces for had done ssian in , and Latin in

G di us ex p R .

’ I worked at the mu sic of P ersephone from

Ma 19 55 i of . y, , till I fin shed it at the end the year

In November I gave several concerts in Spain . At

a a u t B rcelona, at festival which I cond c ed, I had the

j oy of presenting my son Sviatoslav to the public for i Ca ricc . the first time . He played my p o He made his Paris debut a year later with the symphony orches

‘ tra wh en Ca ricci Concerto , he played the p o and my

ur Pian u di po o nder my rection .

[ 2 7 1 ] S TRA VINSK Y

19 54 In March, , having finished the orches

w as u u to tral score , I able to ndertake a j o rney

C to Ca ricci for openhagen play my p o the radio , and I then made a concert tou r with Dushkin in Lithu

u to P ania and Latvia . On my ret rn aris , I took part

’ one of Sioh an s in concerts . He had recently been

al put in charge of the choru s at the Opéra . He had ready had the chorus make a careful stu dy of the

’ of Perse h ne so several parts p o , that when I started f rehearsals I found them very well prepared . As or f w as as u u o . the orchestra , it , s al , at the top its form

But as u u of u again , s al , I had no end tro ble over the

u u u fatal c stom of dep tizing . There may be some j sti fication for it when the current opera repertory is in

u but u u q estion, it is abs rd and harmf l when the

is un work not in the ordinary program , is wholly k u nl nown to the m sicians , and is to be given o y a

’ Perse h ne few times . p o was given only three times — at the Paris Opéra on April 50 and May 4 and

9 1954 . to u , My participation was limited cond ct

u ing the m sic . The scenic effects were created with

ut u u to o cons lting me . I sho ld like here express my

u J appreciation of the efforts made by K rt ooss , as master choreographer, and my regret that the poet

[ 2 7 2 ]

S TRA VINSK Y

are my ideas , my convictions, and my point of view,

and to describe my attitu de towards other mentali

t . set u ies In short, I have striven to forth witho t any

a u be u mbig ity what I hold to the tr th .

u a a s It wo ld be v in , l o , to seek in these pages

of or for any aesthetic doctrine , a philosophy art,

even a romantic description of the pangs experi

enced by the mu sician in giving birth to his crea

or of a u u tions, his r pt re when the m se brings him

For u a inspiration . me , as a creative m sici n, composi

tion is a daily function that I feel compelled to dis

au charge . I compose bec se I am made for that and

u an cannot do otherwise . J st as y organ atrophies

t of a SO ul less kept in a sta e const nt activity, the fac ty of composition becomes enfeebled and dul led unless

un i kept up by effort and practice . The initiated m

agine that one mu st await inspiration in order to

create . That is a mistake . I am far from saying that

there is no su ch thing as inspiration , quite the op

ite u of pos . It is fo nd as a driving force in every kind

u ul h man activity, and is in no wise pec iar to art

ts But u is . that force is only bro ght into action by an

t f is . u as effort, and hat e fort work J st appetite comes by eating , so work brings inspiration, if inspiration

[ 2 7 4 ] S TRA VINSK Y

But i is not discernible at the beginning . it is not si n ply inspiration that counts ; it is the resul t of inspira — tion that is , the composition .

At the beginning of my career as a composer I

u was a good deal spoiled by the public . Even s ch things as were at first received with hostility were

But dis soon afterwards acclaimed . I have a very tin ct feeling that in the course of the last fifteen years my written work has estranged me from the great mass of my listeners . They expected something

’ u of L Oiseau de different from me . Liking the m sic

Feu P etroushka Le Sacre Les N oces , , , and , and being

u u of acc stomed to the lang age those works , they are

t astonished o hear me speaking in another idiom . They cannot and will not follow me in the progress

u u of my m sical tho ght . What moves and delights

a t u me leaves them indifferent, and wh t s ill contin es to interest them holds no further at traction for me .

For that matter , I believe that there was seldom any

real communion of Spirit between u s. If it happened — -and it still happens that we liked the same

u u things , I very m ch do bt whether it was for the

ul un same reasons . Yet art post ates comm ion , and the artist has an imperative need to make others

[ 2 7 6 ] S TRA V I NSK I’

. But share the j oy which he experiences himself , in

o spite of that need, he prefers direct and frank p position to apparent agreement which is based on

u mis nderstanding .

un a un Unfort tely, perfect comm ion is rare , and the more the personality of the author is revealed the rarer that communion becomes . The more he

is u eliminates all that extraneo s, all that is not his

“ ” own or is his of conflict in him, the greater risk

of u of u ing with the expectations the b lk the p blic, wh o always receive a shock when confronted by something to which they are not accustomed .

’ The author s need for communion is al l- emb rac

b ut u u u ing, nfort nately that is only an nattainable

so ideal, that he is compelled to content himself with

wn . o something less In my case , I find that while the general public no longer gives me the enthusi astic of not reception earlier days, that does in any

um of of way prevent a large n ber listeners, mainly

u the yo ng generation , from acclaiming my work with all the Old ardor . I wonder whether, after all, it is simply a matter of the generation ? — It is very doubtful whether Rimsky Korsakov

u L e Sacre or Pe wo ld ever have accepted , even

[ 2 7 6 ]

S TRA VIN SK Y

u for to forth . I can know only what the tr th is me

am u to day . That is what I called pon serve , and I

u serve it in all l cidity .

2 7 8 * INDEX

Afanas ev Alexander 1 1 1 Au usta Victoria Kaiserin y , , g , , ’ Alb ert Eu en d 14 66 , g ,

‘ Alexander Tsar 4 1 Au usteo Concerts Rome III , , g , Alfonso X Kin of 19 5 III , g S ain 99 147 209 Auric eor es 17 6 p , , , , G g , Alle ra Edmond 151 g , , Andersen ans Christian Bach oh ann Seb astian , H , , J , 02 2 0- 251 2 240 257 269 55, 7 9 , 1 , 5 59 , , , ' Andreae V ol mar 198 Ba iser de la Fe e Le S , k , , ( ) , Ansermet Ernest 8 0 8 5 222 229 - 255 249 , , , , ,

8 6 9 1 92 - 95 105 104 Ba st L on 56 6 7 , , , , , k , é , , , 105 108 1 10- 1 1 1 1 17 105 156 , , , ,

1 19 120 152 160 162 Bal a irev Mili 9 , , , , , k , , 17 2 - 17 5 18 8 2 16 254 Balanchine eor es 225 , , , , , G g , 255 250 259 265 Balla iacomo 105 , , , , G , Anti one Cocteau 19 7 Ballet Russe 59 4 1- 42 45 g ( ) , , , ,

A ollo Musa etes S 2 1 1 46 50 51 52 54 56 57 p g ( ) , , , , , , , 12 2 1 2 2 - 6 6 6 8 - 69 7 2 - 7 4 2 - 9 5 2 , 4 , 15, 2 2 225, , , , 9 , 225- 227 229 251 2 8 94 - 9 5 9 8 105 125 26 , , , 4 , , , , , 1 , 24 155 145 1 7 148 150 9 , , 4 , , , ’ ’ A re- midi d un Fa une L 155- 156 162 195- 194 p , , , , eb uss 56 - 57 208 225- 226 227 244 (D y) , , , , - Arens Anton 4 1 249 250. ky, , Arts Club Chica o 19 1 Balmont Constantine 54 , g , , , Aub er onois Ren 8 6 1 1 1 Ba ra ba u Rieti 225 j , é , , , ( ) 1 17 Bauch ant Andr 226 , é , Auer Leo old 14 262 Ba reuth festi al 58 - 62 , p , , y v ,

orks b ra in sk r arked S W S v a m . y t y e ( )

[ 2 7 9 ] IN D E X

Beeth o en Ludwi van 52 Ca riccio S 220 247 v , g , , p ( ) , , 18 1- 18 6 18 7 258 257 250 251 258 25 , , , , , , , 9 , 265, 269 2 7 1, 27 2

Belaieff MitrO h an 14 15 Carmen Bi et , p , , , ( z ) 18 18 57 152 Ca rnaval Schumann 2 , , ( ) , 4 , Benois Alexandre , , 50, 51, 9 2

55 8 0 229 Car enter ohn Alden 19 1 , , p , J , Bérard Christian 19 7 Car enter Rue Mrs. ohn , , p , ( J Berceuse (S) 101 Alden) 19 1

Berceuses da Chat S 8 5 Casella Alfredo 7 7 ( ) , , , , , 8 8

9 6 101 151 ass , , C e Noisette (T ch aikov Berlio ector 155 sk 250 z , H , y) , Berners Lord 8 - Cassiodor , , 8 8 9 , 105, us, 2 11

104 106 108 Cecch etti Enrico 9 1 , , , , Biches L es oulenc 17 6 Ch ab rier Alexis 17 28 - 29 , (P ) , , , , , Bisch off enri 8 6 1 7 4 , H , Bi et eor es 17 Ch anel ab rielle 145 z , G g , , G , ’ Bloch E rn s Cha nson de l ur , e t , 255 O s (S) 101

Blumenfeld Felix 16 57 Chansons la isantes Ra , , , P ( BolmAdol h e 222 muz- Stra ins 8 5 , p , v ky) Boris Godounov Moussor Chant d a Rossi nol L e S ( g g , ( ) sk 7 2 126 152 - 155 194 y) , , ‘ Borodin Alexander 9 Chant Funehre S 57 , , , 15 ( )

Boston S mh on O rch es Ch a annes Fernant 8 6 y p y v , , tra 1 17 255 Ch o in Frederic 58 257 , , p , , , ‘ ou on h out Ch out see Bou fon B fi (C ) (Prokof , fj i - Cico na oun 20 ev 14 7 148 C t G . 6 ) , g , , Boulan er Nadia 19 0 Cimarosa omenico 17 5 g , , , D , Brahms oh annes 15 Cin ria Alexandre 8 6 , J , g , , Bra ue eor es 17 6 Cin ria Ch arles Alb ert 8 6 q , G g , g , , , British Broadcasting Cor 26 7 - 268 oration 209 2 19 249 Cin oi ts L es S 145 p , , , q D g , ( ) ‘ Bruc ner Anton 15 Cin ieces Fa ciles S 100 k , , q P ( ) Busoni Ferru ccio 17 0 Clar E dw ard 2 19 , , k , , Buxtehude ietrich 259 Clementi Mu io 18 0 , D , , z , Cléopdtre (Schmitt) 66 - 6 7 Canuedo Ricciotto 7 6 Cloez usta e 254 , , , G v ,

[ 2 8 0 ]

I ND E X

’ Education Man uée L oeth e oh ann olf an q , G , J W g g Ch ab rier 17 4 17 5 von 5 ( ) , , 8 E i hth mhon Beeth o oldoni Carlo 105 g Sy p y ( G , , ven 258 onch aro a Natalie 9 1 ) G v , , ,

‘ E rrazuris Mme Eu enia de 168 , g , - mored Ladies Th e 9 8 Good hu ,

E ssi ova Annette 14 Scarlatti T ommasini p , , ( ) E ur anthe 251-252 105 126 12 7 y , , , oossens E u ene 148 248 G , g , , c h eux , L es (Auric) 17 6 ounod Ch arles 17 155 G , , , , airchild Blair 260 F , , 17 4 , 17 5 Falla Manuel de 4 7 7 7 , , , , - ° rill ar er Fran 251 25 G p z , z , 209 - 2 10

Fa une et Ber ere S 54 ahn Re naldo 57 g ( ) , H , y , Fauré ab riel 28 alleux L aurent 17 2 , G , H , , Fa ust ounod 18 andel eor e Frederic (G ) , H , G g k , ’ Feu d Arti ce S 56 105 269 fi ( ) , , , 104 220 a dn ose h 18 0 269 , H y , J p , , Fitelb er r e or 162 indemith aul 169 264 g, G z g z , H , P , , Fi e th e 265 266 v , , , ’ ’ Flonzale uartet 159 Histoire d un Solda t L S y ! , , ( ) Fo ine Michel 4 1 42 45 1 12 1 15- 1 17 1 18 120 k , , , , , , , , 46 57 122 16 7 , , , ,

Four Russian Son s S 16 9 17 0 222 247 264 g ( ) , , , , , 124 ofmann osef 14 H , J , 196 Huf aul 2 19 Francis of Assisi St . , , , P , Franc C sar 28 k , , é Ice Ma iden Th e Ander ' , ( Freischutz , D ie ( eb er) W 50- 251 also see sen) , 2 ; 251 ' Baiser de la Fc c , L e Furtw an ler ilh elm 18 8 g , , W merial Mu sical Societ I p y, Ga nebin E116 1 16 Moscow 14 g , , , ide Andr 27 0- 2 7 1 2 7 2 merial Societ for th e En G , é , , I p y coura ement of Art Mos 2 7 5 g ,

l zo no lexander 1 cow 26 G a u v , A , 5, , ’ 15- 17 55 nd Vincent d 28 , , I y , , lin a Mi h ail 7 - 8 40 nternational E xhibition G k , k , , , I , Rome 51 108 , ,

[ 2 8 2 ] I N D E X

turbi os 151 Lis t Fran 155 I , J é , z , z , zvestia Moscow 18 2 - 18 5 Little House in Kolomna I , , , Th e (Pushkin) 155; see ana00 oulos Vera 19 5 Mavra J p , , , vinne Felia 2 209 Lit , , 9

Je ux ebuss 65 7 6 - 7 7 (D y) , , oer ensen oh annes 196 Machine n ernale La J g , J , I f , ooss Kurt 27 2 Cocteau 19 7 J , , ( ) , l n 18 Jota Ara onaise La lin Mac a C are ce H. 9 g , (G k y, , Madrid S 109 ka) 108 ( ) ,

Main Liedertafel 266 z , Karsa ina Th amar 4 1 45 Maison Ren 2 7 5 v , , , , , é , 55 Mallarmé St h ane 18 4 , ép , Kh ova nstchina Moussor ki aria Ch ristina ow a er ( g , D g sk 7 0 7 1 ueen of S ain 99 147 y) , , ! p , , Klemerer O tto 19 8 - 199 Massine Leonide 9 1 9 2 p , , , , , , , 20 2 1 225- 22 105 10 12 9 , 7 , 4 , 249 , 5, 6 , 127 , 150,

Kochno Boris 154 - 1 5 155- 15 1 - 1 , , 5 4 , 45 44 , 194

Korovine ons antine 24 7 Masson L ouis , C t , , , 17 5

Kousse it Ser e 28 hi atisse enri 126 v zky, g , , , H , 125 148 150 17 1 17 7 Mavra S 155- 15 158 , , , , , ( ) , 4 , , 19 1 19 9 255 160 16 1- 162 1 , , , , , 65, 17 2 , 259 2 17 , 222 ' ' Kousse it Mme Ser e Medecin Ma l re Lu i Le v zky, g , g , 199 ounod 17 4 (G ) , ' ' Medecin Ma l re L ui e g , L

La c des C nes Le Tch ai Moliere 229 yg , ( ( ) kovsk 40 250 Men elb er illem 18 8 y) , g g, W , , Lariono Mi h ail 9 1 16 1 19 1 v, k , , Laurencin Marie 17 6 Menter So hie 14 , , , p , Lea ue of Comosers New Milh au d arius 17 6 g p , , D , “ Y or 222 Mir Iskoustva Th e orld k , ( W ” Lesch etitzk Theodor 14 of Art 25- 26 y , , ) Liado Anatol 16 27 Mitoussov Ste an 25 55 v, , , , p , , Lifar Ser e 226 Moliere ean - Ba tiste de , g , , J p , Li e or th e sa r A 229 f f T , lin a 7 Molinari Bernardino 19 5 (G k ) , ,

[ 2 8 5 ] I ND E X

Monteux ierre 52 7 2 8 0 Octuor our nstruments d , P , , , , p I 2 16 Vent S 162 - 16 5 17 0 1 17 , ( ) , ,

Mont oie aris 7 6 248 j , P , oodie Alma 198 O eb er Ernest 199 M , , g, , Mora ean 8 6 E dinus Rex S 168 198 , J , / ( ) , , , Mora Ren 8 6 201- 202 206 - 209 2 17 , é , , , , Moussor s Modest 9 15 2 18 - 2 19 2 20 22 1 222 g ky, , , , , , , ,

- 7 0 7 2 24 7 , 27 1 ’ Mo art olf an Ama Oiseau de Feu L S 59 z , W g g , ( ) , , 1 0 18 6 269 42 44 - 46 47 54 66 6 7 deus, 8 , , , , , , , , 68 7 2 9 2 9 5 9 05 , , , , 9 , 1 ,

Na ol eon Emeror of th e p I , p nch 18 4 27 5 Fre ,

Na oleon Emeror of O nnou Al h onse 17 2 p III , p , p , ch 17 4 O rch estre de la Suisse o the Fren , R

Na ra ni E duard 14- 15 mande ene a 152 p v k , , , G v , Nemtchinova V era 17 6 O rch estre S mh oni ue de , , y p q New Yor hilh armonic O r aris 255 k P P , ra 1 9 19 1 ch est , 8 ,

Nich olas T sar 1 12 P aitch adzé ab riel 200 I , , , G , ' Nich olas T sar 105 P an Voivoda Rims -Kor II , , ( ky Ni inska Bronislava 160 sa o 51 j , , , k v) 16 1 165 17 6 252 - 255 a rade Satie 58 145- 146 , , , , P ( ) , 254 245 Parn E ariste Vicomte , y , v , Ni ins Vasla 4 1 42 - 45 de 54 j ky , v, , , , 55 55- 57 62 - 66 7 5- 7 5 arsi al a ner 58 - 60 , , , , P f (W g ) , 94- 9 5 145 asini Laura 205 , P , , Ni itina Alice 225 P astorale S 55 k , , ( ) Noces L es 8 8 5 8 6 9 0 P athetic S mhon T ch ai , ( ) , , , y p y ( 9 2 9 5 105 108 164 kovsk 9 , , , , y) a lo a Anna 4 1 45 P v v , , , ’ ' 225 254 27 1 27 5 elleas et Melisa nde De , , , P ( Nocturne (Ch opin) 58 bussy) 58 Nouvel alter 26 er olesi io anni 126 , W , P g , G v , a 5 128 150 Novice , L (S) , 5 ,

Nuit a Madrid Une erse hone ide 220 , P p (G ) , lin a 108 222 27 0- 2 7 1 2 7 2 - 27 5 (G k ) , ,

2 ' . 84

IN D E X

Rieti Vittorio 225 Sar ent arold Malcolm , , g , H Rims -Korsa o Ni olai atts 26 5 ky k v, k W ,

- Andre evitch 6 - 7 8 9 Satie E ri 58 8 8 145 146 y , , , , , k , , ,

- - Scarlatti omenico 126 15 15 17 19 22 25 27 , , , , , , , D

- - Sch al Fran 2 18 50 55 54 55 5 , , , , 6 , 57 , 58 , k z 40 7 0 7 1 7 2 Sch eherazade (Rims , , , , 8 0, 92 , ky 152 27 6 Korsa o ) 195 , k v herzo Fa ntasti ue S 55 Roerich Nich olas 48 55 Sc q ( ) , , , Schmitt Florent 4 7 6 5 7 7 Romano Boris 65 206 , , , , v, , , ' Sch Onb er Arnold 6 7 Rose e Sa inte S g, , , ( ) , 55 Sch ott SOhne Main 249 Rossel ab riel 1 16 , z , , G , Sch ub ert Fran 52 252 Rossi nol L e S 25 55 , z , , g , ( ) , , 255 58 7 8 - 8 0 8 1 102 0 , , , , 2 2 Sch umann Rob ert 155 205 205 2 1 22 , , , , 8 , 2 in l xan 2 2 Scriab e , A e der, 5 Rousseau enri ulien le , H J ( 255 doua nier) 226 Secret Maria e Le Cima g , ( Rubinstein Anton 16 1 , , , 9 rosa) 17 4 Rubinstein Arth ur 129 , , ' a Serén de en L A (S) , 194 Rubinstein Ida 229 251 , , , , 19 5 248 25 , 4 , 27 0, 2 7 5 S ro Alexander 8 e v, , Rundfun (Radio) Berlin k , , Serov V alentine 51 2 17 266 , , , Siloti Alexander 28 57 , , , Rusla n and L udmilla Siob an ob e t 2 7 2 , R r , ( lin a) 8 40 G k , Slee in Bea ut The p g y , Russian S mh on Con y p y T ch ai ovs 4 1 150 ( k ky) , , certs Lenin rad 14 15 , g , , , - 157 250 , 57 Smallens Alexander 222 , , Snego urotchha (Rimsky Sacre du rintems L e S P p , ( ) Korsakov) 9 2 4 7 - 48 49 54 55 57 58 ’ , , , , , , Societa de Ente Concerti 62 6 5- 64 6 6 69 7 2 - 7 6 , , , , , rch estrali Milan 206 O , , 8 0 14 1 145- 145 14 7 , , , , Société des Nouveaux Con - 148 149 202 2 15 2 16 - , , , , certs 1 1 2 , 7 17 2 18 222 249 27 5 27 6 , , , , Société Internationale pour - Sadoven elene 2 18 2 19 o mo , H , la Musique C nte p ’ lome Schmitt 6 5 raine 196 Sa ( ) ,

[ 2 8 6 ] I N D E X

Soci t hilh armoni ue de T ch ai ovs iotr l itch é é P q k ky , P I y , aris 247 9 10 15 17 55 40- 4 1 P , , , , , , , 2 55 154 155 Socrate (Satie) 58 150, 15 , 1 , , ,

Soirees of Contemorar 229 250 251 268 - 26 9 p y , , , Music Moscow 26 28 T ch ere nin Ni olai Ni o , , , , p , k k

55 laievitch , 16 , 4 1

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[ 2 8 7 ] IN D E X

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