Stravinsky Igor Free Sheet Music, Program Notes, Recordings and Biography

The Chameleon of Modern Music

The evening of May 29, 1913, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, began like any other premiere. But as the curtain rose on the new ballet, Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), and the orchestra began to play Igor Stravinsky’s strange, high-pitched bassoon solo followed by jarring, dissonant chords, the elegant audience began to stir. The dancers, with their pigeon-toed, convulsive movements, added to the sense of outrage. Soon, catcalls and jeers erupted, escalating into a full-blown riot. Supporters and detractors began shouting and fighting in the aisles. The choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky, had to stand on a chair in the wings, screaming out the complex rhythms to the dancers, who could no longer hear the music over the din. This chaotic premiere is the most famous scandal in music history, and it instantly cemented Stravinsky’s reputation as a fearless revolutionary, a composer whose "barbaric" new sound had detonated a bomb under the old world of classical music.

A Law Student in Rimsky-Korsakov's Shadow

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was born near Saint Petersburg, the son of a leading bass singer at the Imperial Opera. Despite his musical household, his parents pushed him to study law. Stravinsky was a dutiful but unenthusiastic law student, his true passion lying elsewhere. A pivotal moment came when he showed some of his early compositions to the great Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the master of Russian orchestration. Recognizing his raw talent, Rimsky-Korsakov agreed to take Stravinsky on as a private pupil. He was Stravinsky’s only major teacher, and from him, he learned the brilliant, colorful orchestral technique that would characterize his early work.

The Ballets Russes and a Parisian Riot

In 1909, Stravinsky's life changed forever. The brilliant and visionary ballet impresario, Sergei Diaghilev, heard two of Stravinsky’s early orchestral pieces and was immensely impressed. Diaghilev was the creator of the Ballets Russes, a groundbreaking company that was taking Paris by storm with its exotic blend of Russian art, music, and dance. He commissioned the young, relatively unknown Stravinsky to write a full-length ballet score.

The result was The Firebird (1910), a lush, magical score based on a Russian fairy tale. It was a spectacular success and made Stravinsky an overnight sensation. He followed it a year later with Petrushka (1911), a story of three puppets brought to life, which featured a more modern, bitonal sound. Then, in 1913, came the explosive The Rite of Spring. Subtitled "Pictures of Pagan Russia," it depicted a series of ancient, brutal fertility rituals. Its complex, shifting rhythms, polytonal harmonies, and sheer percussive force were unlike anything ever heard before. The riot it caused at its premiere marked a turning point in music history, the moment modernism truly began.

Exile and the Turn to Neoclassicism

The outbreak of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917 cut Stravinsky off from his homeland forever. He spent the war years as an exile in Switzerland. Unable to call upon the massive orchestras required for his early ballets, he began writing for smaller, leaner ensembles. This change in circumstance, combined with a growing desire for order and objectivity, led to a major stylistic shift.

In the 1920s, Stravinsky turned his back on the lush Russian romanticism of his youth and embraced what became known as Neoclassicism. He began to draw inspiration from the forms and styles of the 18th century, filtering them through his own modern, rhythmic sensibility. The ballet Pulcinella (1920), which was based on music thought to be by the Baroque composer Pergolesi, marked the beginning of this long and fruitful period. Other major neoclassical works include his Symphony of Psalms and the opera The Rake's Progress.

An American Citizen

With the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939, Stravinsky emigrated to the United States. He eventually settled in West Hollywood, California, becoming an American citizen in 1945. He lived just a few miles away from his great contemporary and stylistic rival, Arnold Schoenberg, the creator of the twelve-tone system of composition. The two giants of modern music, leaders of opposing musical philosophies, famously disliked each other and almost never interacted. Stravinsky continued to compose and conduct, his fame growing as he became a revered, if sometimes intimidating, figure in American cultural life.

The Final Reinvention: The Serial Period

After Schoenberg died in 1951, Stravinsky, then in his 70s, did the one thing no one expected. Encouraged by his devoted assistant and conductor, Robert Craft, he began to study and adopt the twelve-tone serial techniques of his deceased rival. For a composer who had been the standard-bearer for neoclassicism for over thirty years, this was a shocking and radical change. This final stylistic period produced a series of concise, complex, and often religious works, such as the ballet Agon and the Canticum Sacrum. It was the final transformation for a composer who never stopped evolving.

Igor Stravinsky died in New York City in 1971 at the age of 88. He was buried in Venice, Italy, on the cemetery island of San Michele, near the grave of his great collaborator, Sergei Diaghilev. He was perhaps the most influential composer of the 20th century, a true revolutionary whose work constantly redefined the very definition of music. His career, spanning three distinct stylistic periods and three nationalities, remains a testament to a restless, brilliant, and ever-changing creative spirit.

Section 4: References and Further Reading

References and Further Reading

• Walsh, Stephen. Stravinsky: A Creative Spring: Russia and France, 1882–1934. University of California Press, 2003.

• Walsh, Stephen. Stravinsky: The Second Exile: France and America, 1934–1971. University of California Press, 2008.

• Stravinsky, Igor. An Autobiography. W. W. Norton & Company, 1962.

• Craft, Robert. Stravinsky: Chronicle of a Friendship. Vanderbilt University Press, 1994.