stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky 

Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский
 Igorʹ Fëdorovič Stravinskij
(17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971)



This Russian, French, and American composer once said,
"My music is best understood by children and animals." Stravinsky grew up in the Russian capitol of St. Petersburg, where his father was a famous opera singer.  He spent a lot of time at the opera house and developed a great love of music.  Seeing Tchaikovsky's ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty' had a profound effect on him.   Despite his intense interest in music, his family pushed him to study law at the University of Saint Petersburg.  One of his fellow students was the son of composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who agreed to give the young law student private lessons in composition.   Once he established himself as a composer, he travelled throughout Europe, settling in Switzerland and later becoming a French citizen.  When the second world war broke out, he moved to the Los Angeles, where he lived for most of the rest of his life.  He became a US citizen in 1945.  Stravinsky wrote music of diverse forms and styles, ranging from Russian folk music to traditional classical music to opera to modern music to religious music.  He collaborated with many famous artists and intellectuals and was a devout member of the Russian Orthodox Church.  He said:  "Music praises God. Music is well or better able to praise him than the building of the church and all its decoration; it is the Church's greatest ornament".  Stravinsky died of heart failure in 1971 after a long life of international renown and controversy.





Russian period (from about 1908 to 1919)

'The Firebird' was Stravinsky's breakthrough, establishing him as a star composer when it premiered in 1910.  




'Petrushka' is a ballet based on a Russian folktale about a puppet that comes to life.  




'The Rite of Spring'  is about a pagan ritual in ancient Russia It caused a riot when it premiered in Paris in 1913.









Neoclassical period (from about 1920 to 1954)



'The Rake's Progress' is an opera based on the eight paintings and engravings of William Hogarth about the decline of Tom Rakewell, who is led by the Devil to the madhouse:  "For idle hearts and hands and minds the Devil finds a work to do."












Serial period (from 1954 to 1968)



'The Flood' is a musical play about the bibilical story of Noah commissioned by CBS television.  It was not well received by the press when it premiered in 1962; but it went on to win a Grammy for  Best Classical Composition by a Contemporary Composer.


The Flood By Igor Stravinsky from Papaya Mamaya on Vimeo.