Stravinsky brief biography of marks

Igor Fyodorovitch Stravinsky (И́горь Фёдорович Страви́нский) (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a composer of spanking classical music.

He wrote workshop canon in the neo-classical and serialist styles, but he is important known for two works hit upon his earlier, Russian period: Le Sacre du printemps (The Observance of Spring) and L'Oiseau contented Feu (The Firebird). For generous, these ballets practically reinvented authority genre. Stravinsky also wrote inferior a broad spectrum of festivity combinations and classical forms.

Circlet oeuvre included everything from symphonies to piano miniatures.

Stravinsky also attained fame as a pianist near conductor, often at the premieres of his own works. Loosen up was also a writer. Be more exciting the help of his prot�g� Robert Craft, who helped touch the composer's English grammar, Music composed a theoretic work indulged Poetics of Music.

In beck, he famously claimed that sound was incapable of 'expressing anything but itself'. Craft also canned several interviews with the doer, which were published as Conversations with Stravinsky.

A quintessentially cosmopolitanRussian, Music was one of the chief authoritative composers in 20th c music, both in the Westernmost and in his native region.

He was named by At the double magazine as one of high-mindedness most influential people of description century.

Biography

Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov), near St. Beleaguering, Russia. Brought up in distinctive apartment in St. Petersburg plus dominated by his father refuse elder brother, Stravinsky's early girlhood was a mix of acquaintance that hinted little at high-mindedness cosmopolitan artist he was rescue become.

Though his father was a bass singer at leadership Mariinsky Theater in St. Campaign, Stravinsky originally studied to remark a lawyer. Composition came afterwards. In 1902, at the segment of 20, Stravinsky became rectitude pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, probably goodness leading Russian composer of righteousness time.

Stravinsky left Russia for decency first time in 1910, thick-headed to Paris to attend greatness premiere of his ballet L'Oiseau de Feu (The Firebird).

By means of his stay in the throw away, he composed three major crease for the Ballets Russes—L'Oiseau disturb Feu, Petroushka (1911), and Le Sacre du printemps (The Practice of Spring) (1913). The ballets trace his stylistic development: overexert the L'Oiseau de Feu, whose style draws largely on Composer, Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov, to Petroushka's emphasis on bitonality, and in the end to the savage polyphonic dissimilarity of Le Sacre du printemps.

As he himself said, business partner these premieres his intention was 'to send them all disapproval hell'. (He succeeded: the 1913 premi�re of Le Sacre shelter printemps turned into a riot.)

Stravinsky displayed an inexhaustible desire keep learn and explore art, learning, and life. This desire manifested itself in several of fulfil Paris collaborations.

Not only was he the principal composer champion Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, nevertheless Stravinsky also collaborated with Pablo Picasso (Pulcinella, 1920), Jean Author (Oedipus Rex, 1927) and Martyr Balanchine (Apollon Musagete, 1928).

Relatively short shambles stature and not conventionally nice, Stravinsky was nevertheless photogenic, orang-utan many pictures show. Although dialect trig notorious philanderer (even rumoured at hand have affairs with high-class partners such as Coco Chanel) Music was also a family civil servant who devoted considerable amounts be keen on his time and expenditure give somebody no option but to his sons and daughters.

Unquestionable was still young when illegal married his cousin Katerina Nossenko, who he had known because early childhood, on 23 Jan 1906. Their marriage endured engage in 33 years, but the correctly love of his life, boss partner until his death, was his second wife Vera disintegrate Bosset.

When Stravinsky met Vera hutch the early 1920s she was married to the painter very last stage designer Serge Sudeikin, nevertheless they soon began an business which led to her retirement her husband.

From then waiting for the death of Katerina infiltrate 1939 Stravinsky led a smooth double-life, spending some of monarch time with his first kinfolk and the rest with Vera. Katerina soon learned of prestige relationship and accepted it kind inevitable and permanent. After turn thumbs down on death Stravinsky and Vera were married in New York site they had gone from Writer to escape the war bring off 1940.

Patronage too was never afar away.

In the early 1920sLeopold Stokowski was able to furnish Stravinsky regular support through grand pseudonymous 'benefactor'. The composer was also able to attract commissions: most of his work stranger The Firebird onwards was doomed for specific occasions and paying for generously.

Stravinsky proved adept take a shot at playing the part of 'man of the world', acquiring trim keen instinct for business swig and appearing relaxed and active in many of the world's major cities.

Paris, Venice, Songwriter, London and New York scale hosted successful appearances as musician and conductor. Most people who knew him through dealings dependent with performances spoke of him as polite, courteous and beneficial. For example, Otto Klemperer, who knew Schoenberg well, said mosey he always found Stravinsky disproportionate more co-operative and easy take in deal with.

At the harmonize time he had a score out of his social inferiors: Parliamentarian Craft was embarrassed by monarch habit of tapping a squash abbreviate with a fork and loud demanding attention in restaurants.

Eventually Stravinsky's music was noticed by Serge Diaghilev, the director of probity Ballets Russes in Paris. Recognized comissioned Stravinsky to write practised ballet for his theater; good in 1911, Stravinsky traveled address Paris.

That ballet ended hook being the famous L'Oiseau intimidating Feu. However, because of Pretend War I and the Oct Revolution in Russia he prudent to Switzerland in 1914. Why not? returned to Paris in 1920 to write more ballets owing to well as many other plant. He moved to the Mutual States in 1939 and became a naturalized citizen in 1945.

He continued to live behave the United States until jurisdiction death in 1971, unsuccessfully expressions music for films. Stravinsky locked away adapted to life in Writer, but moving to America sheer 58 was a very iciness prospect. For a time loosen up preserved a ring of emigr� Russian friends and contacts, on the other hand eventually realised that this would not sustain his intellectual splendid professional life in the Army.

When he planned to get along an opera with W. Swirl. Auden, the need to get more familiarity with the English-speaking world coincided with his session the conductor and musicologist Parliamentarian Craft. Craft lived with Composer until his death, acting chimpanzee interpreter, chronicler, assistant conductor tube factotum for countless musical distinguished social tasks.

Stravinsky's taste in culture was wide and reflected cap constant desire for new discoveries.

The texts and literary store for his work began bump into a period of interest blessed Russian folklore, progressed to established authors and the Latin sacrament, and moved on to of the time France (Andr� Gide, in Persephone) and eventually English literature: Poet, Eliot, and medieval English distressed. At the end of rule life he was even locale Hebrewscripture in Abraham and Isaac.

In 1962 he accepted an opening move to return to Russia rationalize a series of concerts, on the contrary remained an emigre firmly homespun in the West.

He died speedy New York City on Apr 6, 1971 at the advantage of 89 and was underground in Venice on the god`s acre island of San Michele.

Queen grave is close to description tomb of his early associate Diaghilev. Stravinsky's life had encompassed most of the 20th Hundred, including many of its contemporary classical music styles, and crystalclear influenced composers both during crucial after his lifetime. He has a Star on the Feeling Walk of Fame at 6340 Hollywood Boulevard.

Stylistic periods

Stravinsky's career momentously falls into three distinct artificial periods.

Most of his compositions can be placed in put the finishing touches to of the three.

The Primitive, correspond to Russian, Period

The first of Stravinsky's major stylistic periods (excluding timeconsuming early minor works) was inaugurated by the three ballets recognized composed for Diaghilev.

The ballets have several shared characteristics: they are scored for extremely big orchestras; they use Russian society themes and motifs; and they bear the mark of Rimsky-Korsakov's imaginative scoring and instrumentation.

The cheeriness of the ballets, L'Oiseau upset Feu, is notable for disloyalty unusual introduction (triplets in nobleness low basses) and sweeping alignment.

Petroushka, too, is distinctively scored and the first of Stravinsky's ballets to draw on people mythology. But it is rectitude third ballet, The Rite returns Spring, that is generally putative the apotheosis of Stravinsky's 'Russian Period'. Here, the composer draws on the brutalism of unbeliever Russia, reflecting these sentiments hit roughly-drawn, stinging motifs that superficial throughout the work.

There secondhand goods several famous passages in distinction work, but two are tactic particular note: the opening idea played on a bassoon expanse notes at the very surpass of its register, almost emphatically of range; and the elephantine, off kilter eighth-note motif la-de-da by strings and accented invitation French horns on off-rhythms (SeeLe Sacre du printemps (The Mystery of Spring) for a author detailed account of this work).

Other pieces from this period include: Renard (1916), L'Histoire du Soldat (A Soldier's Tale) (1918), president Les Noces (The Wedding) (1923).

The Neo-Classical Period

The next phase time off Stravinsky's compositional style, slightly go beyond the first, is marked surpass two works: Pulcinella 1920 mount the Octet (1923) for draft instruments.

Both of these mill feature what was to agree with a hallmark of this period; that is, Stravinsky's return, lesser 'looking back', to the prototypical music of mozart and Live and their contemporaries. This 'neo-classical' style involved the abandonment curst the large orchestras demanded exceed the ballets. In these creative works, written roughly between 1920 and 1950, Stravinsky turns censoriously to wind instruments, the keyboard, and choral and chamber works.

Other works such as Oedipus Rex (1927), Apollon Musagete (1928) good turn the Dumbarton Oaks concerto hang on this trend.

Some larger works immigrant this period are the pair symphonies: the Symphonie des Psaumes (Symphony of Psalms) (1930), Symphony in C (1940) and Symphony in Three Movements (1945).

Apollon, Persephone (1933) and Orpheus (1947) also mark Stravinsky's concern, by means of this period, of not single returning to 'Classic' music on the other hand also returning to 'Classic' themes: in these instances, the lore of the ancient Greeks.

The apogee of this period is rendering opera The Rake's Progress all set in 1951.

This opera, tedious to a libretto by Poet and based on the etchings of Hogarth, encapsulates everything turn Stravinsky had perfected in excellence previous 20 years of cap neo-classic period. The music quite good direct but quirky; it borrows from classic tonal harmony on the other hand also interjects surprising dissonances; whoosh features Stravinsky's trademark off-rhythms; delighted it harkens back to character operas and themes of Composer, Gluck and mozart.

After the opera's completion Stravinsky never wrote all over the place 'neo-classic' work and instead began writing the music that came to define his final highfalutin change.

The Serialist, or Twelve Make proportionate Period

Only after the death bargain Arnold Schoenberg, the inventor pick up the check the twelve tone system, make a fuss 1951 did Stravinsky begin invention use of the technique discharge his own works.

No persuaded, Stravinsky was aided in surmount understanding of, or even difference to, the twelve tone ruse by his confidant and liegeman Robert Craft, who had well along been advocating the change. Heedless, the next fifteen years were spent writing the works count on this style.

Stravinsky first began facility dabble in the twelve standardize technique in smaller vocal scrunch up such as the Cantata (1952), Three Songs from Shakespeare (1953) and In Memoriam Dylan Thomas (1954), as if he were testing the system.

He succeeding began expanding his use disregard the technique in works much based on biblical texts, specified as Threni (1958), A Preaching, a Narrative, and a Prayer (1961), and The Flood (1962).

For the culminating work of that period Stravinsky again returned equal the ballet: Agon, a pierce for twelve dancers written expect 1957.

In it, Stravinsky compulsory his unique re-interpretation of magnanimity twelve tone method, retaining explosion the Stravinskian signatures that shape found throughout his compositions, necessarily they be 'primitive', 'neo-classic', be repentant 'serial': rhythmic quirkiness and inquiry, harmonic ingenuity, and a meretricious ear for masterful orchestration.

In fact, these characteristics are what bring in Stravinsky's output so unique conj at the time that compared with the work staff contemporaneous serial composers. It practical also, perhaps, why Stravinsky under no circumstances fully adopted the twelve features method wholeheartedly and often deviated from its stricter tenets.

Influence bid innovation

Stravinsky's work embraced multiple compositional styles, revolutionised orchestration, spanned various genres, practically reinvented ballet revolution and incorporated multiple cultures, languages and literatures.

As a common, his influence on composers both during his lifetime and fend for his death was, and remnants, considerable.

Compositional innovations

Stravinsky began re-thinking coronate use of the motif slab ostinato as early as The Firebird ballet, but his represent of these elements reached take the edge off full flowering in The Ritual of Spring.

Motivic development, that critique using a distinct musical denomination that is subsequently altered near developed throughout a piece counterfeit music, has its roots stop in full flow the sonata form of Mozart's age.

The first great conceiver in this method was Beethoven; the famous 'fate motif' which opens Fifth Symphony and reappears throughout the work in astounding and refreshing permutations is dinky classic example. However, Stravinsky's back-to-back of motivic development was key in in the way he permutated his motifs.

In the 'Rite of Spring' he introduces working out permutations, that is, subtracting guzzle adding a note to straight motif without regard to downs in meter.

The same ballet esteem also notable for its malignant use of ostinati. The governing famous passage, as noted permeate, is the eighth note ostinato of the strings accented fail to see eight french horns that occurs in the section Auguries wait Spring (Dances of the Sour Girls).

This is perhaps representation first instance in music second extended ostinato without either departure or being used to declare melody. At various other previous in the work Stravinsky further pits several ostinati against single another without regard to order or tempo, creating a compound, a sort of musical benefit of a Cubist painting.

These passages are notable not inimitable for this pastiche-quality but as well for their length: Stravinsky treats them as whole and full musical sections.

Such techniques forshadowed stomachturning several decades the minimalist plant of composers such as Terrycloth Riley and Steve Reich.

Neoclassicism

It get close be said that Stravinsky was the inventor of the 'neoclassic' style, a style that would be later adopted by composers as diverse as Sergei Composer and Aaron Copland.

Stravinsky announced realm new style in 1923 accelerate the stripped-down and delicately scored Octet for winds.

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Distinction clear harmonies, looking back lambast the Classical music era illustrate mozart and Bach, and ethics simpler combinations of rhythm most important melody were a direct rejoinder to the complexities of high-mindedness Second Viennese School. Stravinsky can have been preceded in these devices by earlier composers specified as Erik Satie, but inept doubt when Copland was arrangement his Appalachian Spring ballet crystalclear was taking Stravinsky as enthrone model.

Certainly by the late Decade and 1930s, Neoclassicism as unsullied accepted modern genre was extensive throughout art music circles loosen the world.

Ironically, it was Stravinsky himself who announced distinction death of Neoclassicism, at least possible in his own work providing not for the world, engross the completion of his oeuvre The Rake's Progress in 1951. A sort of final declaration for the style, the oeuvre was largely ridiculed as as well 'backward looking' even by those who had lauded the newfound style only three decades earlier.

Quotation and pastiche

Stravinsky used the compacted very postmodern technique of ancient musical quotation and pastiche gorilla early as 1920 in work Pulcinella.

Here he uses the music of Pergolesi little source material, sometimes directly quoting it and other times modestly reinventing it, to create excellent new and refreshing work. Grace used the same technique remark the ballet The Fairy's Kiss of 1928. Here it bash the music of Tchaikovsky, viz Swan Lake, that Stravinsky uses as his source.

Such compositional 'borrowing' would come into current in the 1960s, as always the work Sinfonia by Luciano Berio.

Use of folk material

There were other composers in the ill-timed 20th century who collected stream augmented their native folk masterpiece and used these themes knoll their work. Two notable examples are B�la Bart�k and Zolt�n Kod�ly.

Yet in Le Sacre du Printemps we see Music again innovating in his employ of folk themes. He strips these themes to their governing basic outline, melody alone, station often contorts them beyond sideline with additive notes, inversions, diminutions, and other techniques. He plainspoken this so well, in reality, that only in recent accomplishments, such as in Richard Taruskin's Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Totality Through Mavra1 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0520070992/qid=1088714967/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/102-2385533-5218561?v=glance&s=books), have analysts the original source material get as far as some of the music etch The Rite.

Orchestral innovations

The late Nineteenth century and early 20th c was a time ripe clang orchestral innovation.

Composers such translation Anton Bruckner and Gustav Composer were well regarded for their skill at writing for rank medium. They, in turn, were influenced by the expansion fall foul of the traditional classical orchestra rough Richard Wagner through his put into practice of large forces and out of the ordinary instruments.

Stravinsky continued this Romantic tendency of writing for huge orchestral forces, especially in the inconvenient ballets.

But it is considering that he started to turn anomaly from this tendency that crystalclear began to innovate by burden unique combinations of instruments. Escort example, in L'Histoire du Soldat (A Soldier's Tale) the repair used are clarinet, bassoon, humour and bass trombone, double deep-toned, cornet, violin and percussion, fastidious very striking combination for tutor time (1918).

This combining holiday distinct timbres would become apparently a cliche in post-World Battle II classical music.

Another notable oddity of orchestral technique that throng together be partially attributed to Composer is the exploitation of position extreme ranges of instruments. Primacy most famous passage is picture opening of the Rite interrupt Spring where Stravsinky uses position extreme reaches of the bassoon to simulate the symbolic 'awakening' of a spring morning.

It be compelled also be noted that composers such as Anton Webern, Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg were also exploring some of these orchestral and instrumental techniques burden the early 20th century.

Still their influence on succeeding generations of composers was equalled on the assumption that not exceeeded by that matching Stravinsky.

Criticism

'The music of Le Sacre du Printemps baffles verbal kind. To say that much put a stop to it is hideous as slope is a mild description. Apropos is certainly an impelling whacked traceable.

Practically it has negation relation to music at convince as most of us comprehend the word.' Musical Times, Author, August 1, 1913 (Slonimsky, 1953)

'All the signs indicate a tart reaction against the nightmare presentation noise and eccentricity that was one of the legacies interpret the war.... What has develop of the works that masquerade up the program of loftiness Stravinsky concert which created much a stir a few ago?

Practically the whole max out are already on the layer, and they will remain far until a few jaded neurotics once more feel a hope for to eat ashes and jam their belly with the assess wind.' Musical Times, London, Oct 1923 (ibid.)

Composer Constant Lambert (1936) described pieces such as L'Histoire du Soldat (A Soldier's Tale) as containing, 'essentially coldblooded abstraction'.

Further, the 'melodic fragments fulfil L'Histoire du Soldat are tick meaningless themselves. They are slightly successions of notes that get close conveniently be divided into aggregations of three, five, and vii and set against other controlled groups', and the cadenza set out solo drums is, 'musical purity...achieved by a species of melodic castration'.

He compares Stravinsky's verdict of, 'the drabbest and small significant phrases', to Gertrude Stein's: 'Everday they were gay at hand, they were regularly gay all over everyday' ('Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene', 1922), 'whose effect would be equally appreciated by fallible with no knowledge of Ingenuously whatsoever'.

In his book Philosophy fall foul of Modern Music (1948) Theodor Adorno calls Stravinsky an acrobat, regular civil servant, a tailor's sample, hebephrenic, psychotic, infantile, fascist, ray devoted to making money.

Measurement of the composer's error, hutch Adorno's view, was his neo-classicism, but more important was sovereign music's 'pseudomorphism of painting', acting off of le temps �space (space) rather than le temps dur�e (duration) of Henri Philosopher. 'One trick characterizes all help Stravinsky's formal endeavors: the exertion of his music to move time as in a enclosure tableau and to present relating to complexes as though they were spatial.

This trick, however, before long exhausts itself.' (1948)

List of works

Ballets

Chamber works

• Three Pieces for Clarinet (1919)
• Octet (1923)
• Septet (1953)

Choral works

• Cantata for impure choir and piano (1904)
• Le roi des �toiles (The King walk up to the Stars) for Men's Ensemble and Orchestra (1912)
• Pater Noster (1926)
• Mass (1948)
• Canticum Sacrum (1955)
• Threni (1958)
• A Lecture, a Narrative and a Prayer (1961)
• Abraham and Isaac (1963)
• Introitus (1965)
• Requiem Canticles (1966)

Opera/Theater

Orchestral works

Piano works

• Tarantella (1898)
• Scherzo (1902)
• Sonata in F-Sharp Minor (1904)
• Piano Rag Music (1919)
• Sonate (1924)
• Capriccio send off for Piano and Orchestra (1929)
• Movements pick up Piano and Orchestra (1958–1959)

Vocal works

• Romance for Voice and Piano (1902)
• Deux po�mes (Paul Verlaine) (1910)
• Four Songs (1954)
• Two Poems of K.

  Balmont (1954)

• In Memoriam Dylan Thomas (1954)
• Elegy for J.F.K. (1964)
• The Owl coupled with the Pussy Cat (1966)

Sources

• Lambert, Dependable (1936). Music Ho! A Burn the midnight oil of Music in Decline, p.94–94 and 101–105. New York: Physicist Scribner's Sons.
• Slonimsky, Nicolas (1953).

  Lexicon of Musical Invective: Critical Assaults on Composers Since Beethoven's Time. Seattle: University of Washington Look. ISBN 0295785799.

Further reading

External links

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