Exiles from Revolution Stravinsky the nationalist Welcome to the new look Soviet Music @ Lewes U3A This term we are going to explore how Soviet music reacted to Russian composers living abroad. Our five sessions will explore: One: Stravinsky the nationalist Two: Prokofiev and machine music Three: Stravinsky’s middle period Four: Rakhmaninov reclaimed Five: Stravinsky’s homecoming and his late period music Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) was already living in the west in 1917, and didn’t visit Russia again until 1962. Sergei Rakhmaninov (1873-1943) emigrated soon after the Bolsheviks took power, and never returned. Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) negotiated a leave of absence from revolutionary turmoil, returning in 1936. © 2020 Terry Metheringham [email protected] +44 7528 835 422 Soviet Music: Exiles from Revolution Session 1: Stravinsky the nationalist 2 Introduction: Stravinsky the nationalist Today we will be focusing on Stravinsky’s 1911 ballet Petrushka. We will use it as a launch pad for exploring how Stravinsky’s brand of nationalism was received in the USSR from the early years of the revolution through to the 1960s. We will also hear music by Soviet composers echoing aspects of Petrushka: Prokofiev Russian Overture (1936) Popov Second Symphony “Motherland” (1944) Shchedrin Concerto for Orchestra No. 1 “Naughty Limericks” (1963) The total length of the music in this session is 95 minutes (with an option to reduce that to 70 minutes by only listening to one movement of Popov). © 2020 Terry Metheringham [email protected] +44 7528 835 422 Soviet Music: Exiles from Revolution Session 1: Stravinsky the nationalist 3 Stravinsky background Igor Stravinsky was born into a musical family. His father was a leading bass in the Imperial Opera. The family resisted Igor’s musical ambitions, so he compromised and studied law. At the University of Saint Petersburg he met Vladimir Rimsky Korsakov, one of the sons of Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov, the celebrated composer and teacher of composition. Stravinsky became a family friend of the Rimsky Korsakovs. By the time Stravinsky had gained his law diploma, his father had died, opening the path to a musical career. Rimsky Korsakov looked over Stravinsky’s adolescent compositions, and took him on as a private pupil. He taught Stravinsky from 1906 to his death in 1908. Stravinsky tells us that he looked up to Rimsky Korsakov as a father-figure. Rimsky Korsakov’s assessment of Stravinsky’s potential is interesting; he thought his son-in-law, Maximilian Steinberg, was a far greater talent. In February 1909 Stravinsky managed to have two compositions performed at a public concert: Scherzo fantastique op 3 and Feu d'artifice op 4. Sergei Diaghilev was in the audience. He was looking for a jobbing-composer to join his new company – Ballets Russes. © 2020 Terry Metheringham [email protected] +44 7528 835 422 Soviet Music: Exiles from Revolution Session 1: Stravinsky the nationalist 4 Diaghilev and Ballets Russes Sergei Diaghilev is a fascinating character. He came from an arts-loving family whose fortune was based on distilling vodka. It soon became clear that Sergei had a voracious appetite for the arts, and a persuasive organizational flair; a perfect combination for an impresario. Diaghilev targeted western European audiences, presenting an exotic vision of Russia; a vigorous blend of history, folklore and oriental mystery. In 1906 he mounted a huge art exhibition in Paris. In 1908 he organised a series of Russian Operas in Paris; including the western premiere of Boris Godunov, for which he persuaded Rimsky Korsakov to lengthen and enhance the Coronation Scene. In 1909 Ballets Russes was launched. Diaghilev realised a greater profit could be made on ballet. Operas were still programmed… Prince Igor was given its western premiere in 1909, but in later seasons it gradually shrank to little more than the Plovotsian dances. © 2020 Terry Metheringham [email protected] +44 7528 835 422 Soviet Music: Exiles from Revolution Session 1: Stravinsky the nationalist 5 Firebird Stravinsky was hired as the Ballets Russes musical odd-job man. Based in Paris, he started by orchestrating extracts from Chopin. Then he had an amazing stroke of luck! Diaghilev’s first great commission for Ballets Russes was Firebird. Choice of subject was no accident; it resonated for two contemporary streams of Russian art: the symbolists and the neo-nationalists. Benois and Fokine created the scenario, and Diaghilev searched for a composer. Rimsky-Korsakov would have been ideal… but sadly mortality had intervened, so Diaghilev approached some of his most talented disciples: Tcherepnin, Liadov, Glazunov, and possibly even Sokolov. [Maes, p 219] No takers. Only then did Diaghilev ask Stravinsky. Stravinsky’s Firebird score was a huge triumph, and a wonderful tribute to Rimsky Korsakov. Actually Firebird includes several borrowings from Rimsky Korsakov: Infernal Dance from Mlada Round Dance from Sinfonietta melodic material for the Firebird is reminiscent of The Snow Maiden melodic material for Kashchei is reminiscent of (Rimsky Korsakov’s) Kashchei the Immortal Stravinsky was the new star of Ballets Russes, and spoken of in the same breath as Debussy. © 2020 Terry Metheringham [email protected] +44 7528 835 422 Soviet Music: Exiles from Revolution Session 1: Stravinsky the nationalist 6 Petrushka Stravinsky tells us that just as he was finishing the score for Firebird I had a fleeting vision… I saw in my imagination a solemn pagan rite: sage elders, seated in a circle, watched a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring. [Stravinsky p 31] Diaghilev set Stravinsky to work on Rite of Spring. Later that summer, Diaghilev visited Stravinsky, who was holidaying in Clarens. To his astonishment Stravinsky had gone off at a tangent. He was now working on something completely different, a “Konzertstück” for piano and orchestra. I had in my mind a distinct picture of a puppet, suddenly endowed with life… The outcome is a terrific noise which reaches its climax and ends in the sorrowful and querulous collapse of the poor puppet. [Stravinsky p 31] Diaghilev was enthusiastic about the music he heard, and the pair quickly sketched a scenario for what became Petrushka. © 2020 Terry Metheringham [email protected] +44 7528 835 422 Soviet Music: Exiles from Revolution Session 1: Stravinsky the nationalist 7 LISTENING NOTES: Igor Stravinsky Petrushka Ballet written 1910-11 First performance: 13 June 1911 by Ballets Russes, at Théâtre du Châtelet Paris Conductor Pierre Monteaux, choreography Fokine, sets Benois, Petrushka danced by Nizhinsky Setting is a Shrovetide Fair in Admiralty Square, St Petersburg in the 1830s. The story weaves a magical story of puppets coming to life in an archetypal Russian scene. There are four tableaux. First Tableau – The Shrove Fair General revelry is interrupted by a Master of Ceremonies, who announces two dancing girls: the first dances to a Russian tune accompanied by triangle, the second to a celesta playing a French music hall song, Une jambe en bois, making fun of Sarah Bernhardt’s limp. General revelry resumes. Drum rolls introduce a magician standing outside his puppet theatre. He plays his flute and brings three puppets to life: an elegant Moor, a ballerina en pointe, and Petrushka (the Russian equivalent of Pulcinella / Punch). As they dance it is clear that Petrushka loves the ballerina, but the ballerina loves the Moor. © 2020 Terry Metheringham [email protected] +44 7528 835 422 Soviet Music: Exiles from Revolution Session 1: Stravinsky the nationalist 8 Second Tableau – Petrushka’s Room After the public performance the puppet Petrushka is thrown into his dark room. He gradually returns to life – a miserable existence of unrequited love and hatred for the magician. The ballerina enters. When Petrushka notices her he begins an athletic dance which scares her away. Petrushka returns to his misery and anger. Petrushka’s Room is the scene which grew out of the initial “Konzertstück”. A concept which haunted Stravinsky was a musician separately rolling objects over the white keys and then the black keys of the piano. This developed into the bitonal effect of the white note C major arpeggio and the black note F-sharp major arpeggio which is prominent in this scene, and which throughout the ballet underlines the conflicting sides of Petrushka’s character. Third Tableau – The Moor’s Room The Moor is relaxing in his richly decorated room, playing with a coconut. His exotic character brings an opportunity for Russian school orientalism. The ballerina enters, and proceeds to seduce the Moor by dancing and playing a toy trumpet. The Moor responds – the couple dance a waltz. Petrushka breaks into the room in a fit of jealousy and attacks the Moor. The Moor is too powerful for Petrushka, and chases him from the room. © 2020 Terry Metheringham [email protected] +44 7528 835 422 Soviet Music: Exiles from Revolution Session 1: Stravinsky the nationalist 9 Fourth Tableau – The Shrove Fair (towards evening) Back to the bustle of the fair; there’s a sequence of dances: nursemaids, a dancing bear, a rakish merchant tossing bank notes into the crowd, and groomsmen who are eventually joined by the nursemaids. Dancing is interrupted by a mummers’ play. Dancing resumes, but shrieks from the puppet theatre silence the crowd. Petrushka rushes out followed by the Moor and the ballerina. The Moor catches up with Petrushka and kills him with one stroke of his scimitar. A policeman finds the magician, who reassures the crowd that Petrushka is just a puppet. The crowd disperses, until the magician is alone on stage. A trumpet calls – Petrushka’s ghost is on the roof of the puppet theatre, jeering at the magician. The fair scene gives Stravinsky an opportunity to bring together a mix of Russian folk music, moulded by powerful rhythmical invention.