Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky: biography and work of the composer

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Biography and work of Stravinsky

Fire dances, pagan rhythms, echoes of folk tunes, fairy tales and urban romances. All this was fancifully intertwined and embodied in his works by the greatest composer.

Environment and training

He was born on June 17, 1882 into a family closely associated with art. Parents, soloist of the Mariinsky Theater Fyodor Stravinsky and mother, accompanist Anna Kholodovskaya, lived near St. Petersburg. The Stravinsky mansion in Oranienbaum often hosted prominent guests such as Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

From an early age, the boy had the happy opportunity to take lessons from the best pianists. He continued to do this even when he became a student at the Faculty of Law at St. Petersburg University. His musical mentors were Rimsky-Korsakov and Kalafati.

First masterpieces

At the age of 24, the musician creates independent works. In particular, “Faun and the Shepherdess” – a suite, which was praised by the subtle connoisseur Sergei Diaghilev. This was followed by a symphony in E flat major and a scherzo called “fantastic” …

Diaghilev contributed to Stravinsky’s ascent to world heights. By his order, the composer created The Firebird, then Petrushka and, finally, The Sacred Spring. All three ballets were included in Russian Seasons, Diaghilev’s famous European repertory.

Visits to Paris connected with the premiere of ballets brought Stravinsky creatively useful acquaintances. For example, he became friends with Claude Debussy.

French Stravinsky

The Stravinsky family was in Switzerland when the 1914-18 war broke out. This was the reason that he never returned to Russia. At first he lived and worked in Lausanne, and from 1920 he settled in Paris.

This creative stage saw the appearance of The Nightingale and The Story of a Soldier, inspired by the tales of Andersen and Afanasyev, and the ballet Pulcinella. Until the second war, Igor Fedorovich remained in Europe.

In France, he created a large number of works – symphonies, cantatas, concerts, oratorios, musical melodramas, choreographic scenes, songs. The composer boldly combined stylistics, mixed techniques, thanks to which his compositions shocked with novelty and temperament.

At the same time, the music composer acted several times as a conductor and pianist. He wrote a memoir that was published in 1935. Nevertheless, he later called the Parisian segment of his biography “the most unhappy”. Indeed, during 1938-39. he buried his daughter Lyudmila, who died of tuberculosis, his wife and mother.

American Stravinsky

In 1936 the composer toured New York. Here his opera “Playing Cards” was staged with great success, the concert “Dumbarton Oaks” was created.

History repeated itself. The outbreak of the war caught Stravinsky in the States when he lectured on aesthetics to Harvard students. He had to buy a home in San Francisco, but he soon moved to Los Angeles.

His works of the American cycle – and this is the opera “The Adventures of a Rake”, and the ballet “Orpheus”, and symphonies, and concerts for a jazz orchestra – are marked by the powerful influence of neoclassicism.

From the beginning of the 50s, the maestro completely switched to dodecaphony and the serial principle. The technique involves the use of rows of non-repeating sounds and a system of 12 octave tones that form a series. Its superiority is that it provides the writer with the widest opportunities for self-expression.

Return and departure

In times of peace, he tours a lot, “wandering” between the continents. He acts as a conductor, makes audio recordings of his compositions, which still serve as a standard of performance and interpretation for musicians.

Only in 1962 he triumphantly returned to his homeland. In the fall, he performed as a conductor of his own works in the capital and in Leningrad. The delight of the public and critics knew no bounds …

The last work of the great innovator was a chamber interpretation of songs by the Austrian composer Hugo Wolff. But judging by the unfinished works and musical sketches, Igor Fedorovich devoted himself to intense creative work until the end of his days.

Died I.F. Stravinsky due to heart failure on April 6, 1971. They buried him near Diaghilev’s grave in one of the Venetian cemeteries. Joseph Brodsky is also buried there.

Personal life of Igor Stravinsky

At 24, Stravinsky was married to his cousin Ekaterina Nosenko. From this union, sons Fyodor and Svyatoslav were born (the elder became a portrait painter, the younger – a pianist and music teacher). And also daughters Lyudmila and Milena.

After the death of Catherine, Igor Fedorovich married a film star, artist Vera Sudeikina-Boss. They had known each other since 1921. The couple did not part until Stravinsky’s death: they went on tour together, together they visited the Soviet Union.

Vera outlived her spouse by 11 years and managed to publish several books about him. Buried next to her husband. And the great-granddaughter of the composer Maria created and headed the Foundation named after him.

It’s no secret that Coco Chanel was involved in costumes for the ballets “Russian Seasons”. It is still rumored that there was a love affair between Coco and the composer. But this story of the famous couple is covered with a ghostly veil of unsolved mystery.

Forever Russian Stravinsky

Why is the composer, who spent almost his entire life abroad, called a truly Russian?

Despite the fact that the maestro constantly experimented, used different genres and themes, Russian motives were evident in his works. And even in their neoclassical, polyphonic period, echoes of folk melos, the intonation of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky were heard in them.

“I speak and think in Russian,” the composer confessed to journalists, “and this is inherent in the nature of my music.” At the end of his journey, yearning for his homeland, Igor Stravinsky did return to his origins, to the musical traditions of the Russian past. After all, the place of birth, in his own words, is the most important factor in a person’s life.

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