“Inside Masterworks” bringing music to life March 2018
Masterworks #6: Stravinsky & Swan Lake | March 9-11, 2018 Stravinsky, well known for The Firebird and other breathtaking ballet scores, overcame resistance from established music circles who believed ballet was “only for dirty old men who bring binoculars to performances.”1
Igor Stravinsky, one of the most famous Russian Fyodor Stravinsky, achieved significant acclaim composers of the 20th century, spent less than 30 in the late 1800s in Russia for his magnificent years living in his home country. Having already voice and powerful stage presence.5 Igor grew up moved to Montreux in 1910, he was effectively attending his father’s performances and meeting stranded in Switzerland (where he routinely all the stars of the music scene in St. Petersburg.6 wintered) upon the outbreak of World War I. The Despite an early interest in music, Igor’s parents Russian Revolution of October 1917 extinguished insisted he study law. At the University of Saint any hope of returning to his homeland.2 In 1920, Petersburg, Stravinsky befriended his classmate, Stravinsky permanently relocated his family to Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov, whose father, Nikolai, France, but, by the mid-1930s, the looming presence was a celebrated composer.7 Igor sought out of Nazism throughout Europe prompted yet another Rimsky-Korsakov for private composition lessons, move, this time to the United States. He became but it was only upon the death of his father in 1902 an American citizen in 1946 and lived the rest of that the young composer was able to pursue his his life in the United States, ultimately dying in chosen artistic career.8 his newly-purchased Manhattan apartment at 920 Fifth Avenue. 3 In 1906, he married his cousin, Katya (Katerina) Nossenko, and, struggling to overcome taboos Igor Stravinsky was born on June 17, 1882 near St. against marriage between first cousins, Igor lied Petersburg, in the final decades of Tsarist Russia.4 about their familial relationship to the village priest Like many of the great composers, he came from a who married them.9 Sergei Diaghilev, a friend, musical family; his father, the great bass-baritone invited Stravinsky to compose a new ballet for the Ballets Russes. The result, The Firebird, turned Stravinsky into a household name upon the Paris premiere in 1910.10
The Ballets Russes, based in Paris, was a cross- cultural collaboration. Created by Russian- born Sergei Diaghilev, the Ballets Russes, was complemented by the music of Stravinsky, the set designs of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse and the costumes of Coco Chanel, representing an increasingly international world of art that arose in the 20th century.11 “Inside Masterworks” Masterworks #6: Stravinsky & Swan Lake | March 9-11, 2018
The instant acclaim The death of Stravinsky’s mother in June of 1939 Stravinsky received left the composer overwhelmed by loss.20 When from The Firebird did not he was invited to deliver a series of lectures at assure future success: Harvard, Igor and Vera left for Boston, where the riots accompanying the city embraced them. They were married in the first performance of Bedford, MA on March 9, 1940: as she was still his new ballet, The Rite of married, Vera lied to the judge, insisting she had Spring, on May 29, 1913 divorced her first husband in 1920.21 In 1944, at were terrifying. Problems the height of World War II, the Boston Symphony The Firebird were evident during mounted a concert for television. As a show of rehearsals: dancers had difficulty understanding devotion to his new home, Stravinsky decided new steps that turned their feet in (instead of to rewrite the “Star-Spangled Banner” for the out), and the orchestra was not much better, concert, to make it sound “more democratic.”22 struggling through a complex score.12 Word had His efforts backfired; BSO fans hated it, the media gotten out that the new ballet was “difficult,” circulated stories of his disrespect for the anthem, but none could have anticipated the violent and Boston Police Commissioner Thomas Sullivan audience response to the premier. People nearly arrested him, claiming that Massachusetts began hissing, then booing, then shouting, law prohibited the rearranging of the anthem.23 then screaming and fighting.13 Stravinsky fled Stravinsky hastily opted for a traditional version backstage to find Nijinsky (the choreographer) for his next concert. standing on a chair, trying to shout the beats to the dancers.14 The theater manager Vera and Igor remained went onstage between the first and second in the United States, movements to urge calm, to no avail. The becoming American police had to be called. The next night was a bit citizens in 1946, and better – at least the music could be heard – but Igor went on to enjoy Stravinsky was not in the audience. He had been enormous success with admitted to the hospital with severe abdominal operas such as The pains, ultimately diagnosed as typhoid.15 Rake’s Progress in 1951.24 Upon Stravinsky’s death As Stravinsky recovered from his illness, his in 1971 at the age of 88, wife was diagnosed with tuberculosis, requiring Pierre Boulez, named as the new Music Director extensive and costly treatments.16 By this time, of the New York Philharmonic, offered a fitting World War I isolated the Stravinskys from their tribute: “Something radically new, even foreign to family in Russia and, with the Bolshevik takeover, Western tradition, had to be found for music to Stravinsky moved his family to southern France. survive and to enter our contemporary era. The Igor spent most of his time in Paris, where he fell glory of Stravinsky was to have belonged to this in love with a Russian émigré, Vera Sudeykin.17 extremely gifted generation and to be one of the The fact that Vera was also married was not seen most creative of them all.”25 as an impediment by the infatuated couple, and from that time forward, Stravinsky spent half of each year with Katya and the children, and the other half with Vera, either in Paris or on tour.18 Please join the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for When Stravinsky’s daughter, Milène, contracted Stravinsky & Swan Lake, March 9-11, 2018, and tuberculosis, mother and daughter spent months enjoy Stravinsky’s genius that “gave music a shock in a sanitorium. Both grew increasingly frail, at the beginning of the (20th) century, bringing 26 and died within four months of one another in about the real departure from Romanticism.” November 1938 and February 1939.19 “Inside Masterworks” Masterworks #6: Stravinsky & Swan Lake | March 9-11, 2018
Wondering How the Music Will Sound? Try HSO’S LISTENING GUIDE below, with links to the pieces you’ll hear on our concert stage!
Stravinsky’s Jeu de Cartes, by the London Symphony conducted by Claudio Abbado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj4bdWzTMCk
For a truly unique experience, check out this recording of Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements, and try following along with the score! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB-NzpYwC3Y
See the entirety of Swan Lake, performed by the Kirov Ballet, with the Kirov Orchestra performing the glorious music of Tchaikovsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rJoB7y6Ncs
And for extra fun:
Honor the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein by watching him conduct Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9M2oTHa3GM Masterworks Series Sponsor View a brief clip of the San Francisco Ballet performing Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, which caused riots at its 1913 premiere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPpq44uEyXo
Masterworks Pre-Concert Talk Sponsor Enjoy another brief clip of the San Francisco Ballet performing The Firebird: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3G2kitXwSY
Did you borrow this Prelude? Get your own free copy! Whether you’re a ticket buyer, donor, curious about the music, or know someone who is, just send an email to [email protected]. We’ll make sure you receive Prelude by email, in advance of each HSO Masterworks concert! “Inside Masterworks” Masterworks #6: Stravinsky & Swan Lake | March 9-11, 2018
Want the best recordings of the pieces you’ll experience on the concert program?
Coleman Casey, HSO’s dear friend, Director Emeritus and beloved in-house audiophile, offers the following recommendations for recordings of selections featured on our upcoming Masterworks Concert:
Stravinsky’s clever, complex and tuneful Jeu de Cartes is ideally interpreted by Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra (DG); every strand of the music is clearly audible, yet the long line is also preserved.
The same composer’s magnificent Symphony in Three Movements, one of his most powerful yet melodic works, is beautifully interpreted by that master of twentieth century music, Michael Gielen, with the SWR Symphony Orchestra (HANSSLER); the digital sound is absolutely stunning.
The soaring ballet Swan Lake is one of Tchaikovksy’s greatest masterpieces, and who better to perform it than Charles Dutoit with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, with the typical resplendent sound (DECCA).
1 Lunday, Elizabeth, The Secret Lives of Great Composers, Quirk Books, 13 Ibid Philadelphia, 2009 14 Ibid 2 https://www.biography.com/people/igor-fyodorovich-stravinsky-9497118 15 Ibid 3 Ibid; https://www.britannica.com/biography/Igor-Stravinsky 16 Ibid 4 Taruskin, Richard, and Eric Walter White. “Igor Stravinsky.” Encyclopædia 17 Ibid Britannica. April 27, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Igor-Stravinsky 18 Ibid 5 Lunday, Elizabeth, The Secret Lives of Great Composers, Quirk Books, 19 Ibid Philadelphia, 2009 20 Ibid 6 Ibid 21 Ibid 7 https://www.biography.com/people/igor-fyodorovich-stravinsky-9497118 22 Fox, Abe. “Did the Star-Spangled Banner land Stravinsky in jail? .” BostonGlobe.com. 8 Ibid July 01, 2016. https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2016/06/30/stravinsky/ 9 Lunday, Elizabeth, The Secret Lives of Great Composers, Quirk Books, rfnaZtqjCQXZAobdv7kVkI/story.html Philadelphia, 2009 23 Ibid 10 https://www.biography.com/people/igor-fyodorovich-stravinsky-9497118 24 https://www.biography.com/people/igor-fyodorovich-stravinsky-9497118 11 Taruskin, Richard, and Eric Walter White. “Igor Stravinsky.” Encyclopædia 25 http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0617.html Britannica. April 27, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Igor-Stravinsky 26 Ibid, quoting Pierre Boulez. 12 Lunday, Elizabeth, The Secret Lives of Great Composers, Quirk Books, Philadelphia, 2009