An Autobiography: Igor Stravinsky
“The uninitiated imagine that one must await inspiration in order to create. That is a mistake. I am far from saying that there is no such thing as inspiration; quite the opposite. It is found as a driving force in every kind of human activity, and is in no wise peculiar to artists. But that force is only brought into action by an effort, and that effort is work.”
“I live neither in the past nor in the future. I am the present. I cannot know what tomorrow will bring forth. I can only know what the truth is for me today. That is what I am called upon to serve, and serve it in all my lucidity.”
“I live neither in the past nor in the future. I am the present. I cannot know what tomorrow will bring forth. I can only know what the truth is for me today. That is what I am called upon to serve, and serve it in all my lucidity.”
Foreward
“The aim of
this volume is to set down a few recollections connected with various periods
of my life.”
Part One: Development of the Composer
“Music is the sole domain in which man realizes the present. By the imperfection of his nature, man is doomed to submit to the passage of time – to its categories of past and future – without ever being able to give substance, and therefore stability, to the category of the present.”
I
“As memory
reaches back along the vista of the years, the increasing distance adds to the
difficulty of seeing clearly and choosing between those incidents which make a
deep impression, and those, which, though perhaps more important in themselves,
leave no trace, and in no way influence one’s development.”
The dawn of his consciousness of himself as a musician: imitating women singing and being complimented on his trueness of ear.
At 9 years old:
“I must say that my constant work at improvisation was not absolutely fruitless; for on the one hand, it contributed to my better knowledge of the piano, and, on the other, it sowed the seed of musical ideas.”
The dawn of his consciousness of himself as a musician: imitating women singing and being complimented on his trueness of ear.
At 9 years old:
- First piano
mistress.
- learned to read music and improvise.
“I must say that my constant work at improvisation was not absolutely fruitless; for on the one hand, it contributed to my better knowledge of the piano, and, on the other, it sowed the seed of musical ideas.”
II
Adolescence:
He attended several concerts.
He was drawn to:
Entered the university
“I always did, and still do, prefer to achieve my aims and to solve any problems which confront me in the course of my work solely by my own efforts, without having recourse to established processes which do, it is true, facilitate the task, but which must first be learned and then remembered.”
Study of counterpoint:
“From about the age of eighteen I began to study it alone, with no other help than an ordinary manual.”
Counterpoint opened to him a vaster and more fertile field in the domain of musical composition.
“It was only later that I realized to what extent those exercises had helped me to develop my judgment and my taste in music. They stimulated my imagination and my desire to compose; they laid the foundation of all my future technique, prepared me thoroughly for the study of form, of orchestration and of instrument, which later I took up with Rimsky-Korsakov.”
He was influenced by:
He later on made acquaintance with Rimsky-Korsakov through his son.
1903- he composed a full sized sonata, which he tool to Korsakov and there on became his pupil.
1905 - finished the university
1906 - got married
He attended several concerts.
He was drawn to:
- Rimsky –
Korsakov: by his melodic and harmonic inspiration.
- Glazounov: by his feeling of symphonic form.
Entered the university
“I always did, and still do, prefer to achieve my aims and to solve any problems which confront me in the course of my work solely by my own efforts, without having recourse to established processes which do, it is true, facilitate the task, but which must first be learned and then remembered.”
Study of counterpoint:
“From about the age of eighteen I began to study it alone, with no other help than an ordinary manual.”
Counterpoint opened to him a vaster and more fertile field in the domain of musical composition.
“It was only later that I realized to what extent those exercises had helped me to develop my judgment and my taste in music. They stimulated my imagination and my desire to compose; they laid the foundation of all my future technique, prepared me thoroughly for the study of form, of orchestration and of instrument, which later I took up with Rimsky-Korsakov.”
He was influenced by:
- Tchaikovsky
- Glazounov
- Rimsky-Korsakov
- Liadov
- Debussy
- Cesar Franck
- Vincent D’indy
- Chabier
- Wagner
He later on made acquaintance with Rimsky-Korsakov through his son.
1903- he composed a full sized sonata, which he tool to Korsakov and there on became his pupil.
1905 - finished the university
1906 - got married
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III
1907 – His first
pieces were performed.
1908 – Last time he was Korsakov.
“The score of this work unfortunately disappeared in Russia during the revolution.”
1909 – Heard his music in Paris.
Diaghileff:
Igor’s opinion of him: “What struck me the most was the degree of endurance and tenacity that he displayed in pursuit of his ends.”
After performing in Paris, he made friends with Debussy.
1908 – Last time he was Korsakov.
“The score of this work unfortunately disappeared in Russia during the revolution.”
1909 – Heard his music in Paris.
Diaghileff:
Igor’s opinion of him: “What struck me the most was the degree of endurance and tenacity that he displayed in pursuit of his ends.”
After performing in Paris, he made friends with Debussy.
IV
The war
broke out.
“For I consider that music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all, whether a feeling, an attitude of mind, a psychological mood, a phenomenon of nature, etc…. expression has never been an inherent property of music,”
“Music is the sole domain in which man realizes the present. By the imperfection of his nature, man is doomed to submit to the passage of time – to its categories of past and future – without ever being able to give substance, and therefore stability, to the category of the present.”
“The phenomenon of music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the coordination between time and man.”
Russian Revolution
“For I consider that music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all, whether a feeling, an attitude of mind, a psychological mood, a phenomenon of nature, etc…. expression has never been an inherent property of music,”
“Music is the sole domain in which man realizes the present. By the imperfection of his nature, man is doomed to submit to the passage of time – to its categories of past and future – without ever being able to give substance, and therefore stability, to the category of the present.”
“The phenomenon of music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the coordination between time and man.”
Russian Revolution
V
1917 –
Creation of the moving theater.
“Music should be transmitted and not interpreted, because interpretation reveals the personality of the interpreter rather than that of the author.”
“An executant’s talent lies in his faculty for seeing what is actually in the score, and certainly not in a determination to find there what he would like to find.”
“It is impossible for anyone to grasp fully the art of a bygone period, to penetrate beneath the obsolete form and discern the authors meaning in a language no longer spoken, unless he has a comprehensive and lively feeling for the present, and unless he consciously participates in the life around him.”
“For it is only those who are essentially alive who can discover the real life of those who are ‘dead’. That is why, even from a pedagogical view, I think that it would be wiser to begin the education of a pupil by first giving him a knowledge of what is, and only then tracing history backwards, step by step, to what has been.”
“Fingers are not to be despised: they are great inspirers, and in contact with a musical instrument, after give birth to subconscious ideas which might otherwise never come to life.”
“Music should be transmitted and not interpreted, because interpretation reveals the personality of the interpreter rather than that of the author.”
“An executant’s talent lies in his faculty for seeing what is actually in the score, and certainly not in a determination to find there what he would like to find.”
“It is impossible for anyone to grasp fully the art of a bygone period, to penetrate beneath the obsolete form and discern the authors meaning in a language no longer spoken, unless he has a comprehensive and lively feeling for the present, and unless he consciously participates in the life around him.”
“For it is only those who are essentially alive who can discover the real life of those who are ‘dead’. That is why, even from a pedagogical view, I think that it would be wiser to begin the education of a pupil by first giving him a knowledge of what is, and only then tracing history backwards, step by step, to what has been.”
“Fingers are not to be despised: they are great inspirers, and in contact with a musical instrument, after give birth to subconscious ideas which might otherwise never come to life.”
Part Two: Composer and Performer
“I much
preferred tiring myself at the beginning to being hurried at the end.”
VI
VII
1923 - The beginning of his career as a conductor.
VIII
“But as I
am by nature always tempted by anything needing prolonged effort, and prone to persist
in overcoming difficulties, and, as, also, the prospect of creating work for
myself, and thus establishing the manner in which I wished it to be played,
greatly attracted me.”
This was the beginning of his career as a piano soloist.
On Beethoven:
“It is in the quality of his musical material and not in the nature of his ideas that his true greatness lies.”
Signed a contract for a tour in the states. It was his first time crossing the Atlantic.
He also noticed that there was real taste for the art of music in the US.
This was the beginning of his career as a piano soloist.
On Beethoven:
“It is in the quality of his musical material and not in the nature of his ideas that his true greatness lies.”
Signed a contract for a tour in the states. It was his first time crossing the Atlantic.
He also noticed that there was real taste for the art of music in the US.
IX
“I much
preferred tiring myself at the beginning to being hurried at the end.” He was
loath to waste time.
1928-29: contract with Columbia gramophone records to record his work as a pianist and conductor.
“It gives me the satisfaction of knowing that everyone who listens to my records heard my music free from any distortion of my thought, at least in its essential elements.”
“For in music, more than in any other branch of art, understanding is given only to those who make an active effort.”
“To listen to certain combinations of sound and automatically become accustomed to them does not necessarily imply that they have been understood. For one can listen without hearing, just as one can look without seeing.”
1928-29: contract with Columbia gramophone records to record his work as a pianist and conductor.
“It gives me the satisfaction of knowing that everyone who listens to my records heard my music free from any distortion of my thought, at least in its essential elements.”
“For in music, more than in any other branch of art, understanding is given only to those who make an active effort.”
“To listen to certain combinations of sound and automatically become accustomed to them does not necessarily imply that they have been understood. For one can listen without hearing, just as one can look without seeing.”
X
1929 –
Death of Diaghileff
“His loss moved me so profoundly that it dwarfs in my memory all other events of that year.”
“The main thing for them (the audience) is to know what the piece expressed and what the author had in mind when he composed it.”
“Many people like music because it gives them certain emotions, such as joy, grief, sadness, an image of nature, a subject for daydreams, or - still better – oblivion from ‘everyday life’. They want a drug – ‘dope’… Music would not be worth much if it were reduced to such an end.”
“When people have learned to love music for itself, when they listen with other ears, their enjoyment will be of a far higher and potent order, and they will be able to judge it on a higher plane and realize its intrinsic value. Obviously such an attitude presupposes a certain degree of musical development and intellectual culture… unfortunately, the teaching of music, with a few exceptions, is bad from the beginning.”
On this book:
“Where I have spoken of my tastes, my liked and my disliked, it has been only so far as was necessary to indicate what are my ideas, my convictions, and my point of view, and to describe my attitude towards other mentalities. In short, I have striven to set forth without any ambiguity what I hold to be the truth.”
“For me, as a creative musician, composition is a daily function that I feel compelled to discharge. I compose because I am made for that and cannot do otherwise.”
“Just as an organ atrophies unless kept in a state of constant activity, so the faculty of composition becomes enfeebled and dulled unless kept up by effort and practice.”
“The uninitiated imagine that one must await inspiration in order to create. That is a mistake. I am far from saying that there is no such thing as inspiration; quite the opposite. It is found as a driving force in every kind of human activity, and is in no wise peculiar to artists. But that force is only brought into action by an effort, and that effort is work.”
“I live neither in the past nor in the future. I am the present. I cannot know what tomorrow will bring forth. I can only know what the truth is for me today. That is what I am called upon to serve, and serve it in all my lucidity.”
“His loss moved me so profoundly that it dwarfs in my memory all other events of that year.”
“The main thing for them (the audience) is to know what the piece expressed and what the author had in mind when he composed it.”
“Many people like music because it gives them certain emotions, such as joy, grief, sadness, an image of nature, a subject for daydreams, or - still better – oblivion from ‘everyday life’. They want a drug – ‘dope’… Music would not be worth much if it were reduced to such an end.”
“When people have learned to love music for itself, when they listen with other ears, their enjoyment will be of a far higher and potent order, and they will be able to judge it on a higher plane and realize its intrinsic value. Obviously such an attitude presupposes a certain degree of musical development and intellectual culture… unfortunately, the teaching of music, with a few exceptions, is bad from the beginning.”
On this book:
“Where I have spoken of my tastes, my liked and my disliked, it has been only so far as was necessary to indicate what are my ideas, my convictions, and my point of view, and to describe my attitude towards other mentalities. In short, I have striven to set forth without any ambiguity what I hold to be the truth.”
“For me, as a creative musician, composition is a daily function that I feel compelled to discharge. I compose because I am made for that and cannot do otherwise.”
“Just as an organ atrophies unless kept in a state of constant activity, so the faculty of composition becomes enfeebled and dulled unless kept up by effort and practice.”
“The uninitiated imagine that one must await inspiration in order to create. That is a mistake. I am far from saying that there is no such thing as inspiration; quite the opposite. It is found as a driving force in every kind of human activity, and is in no wise peculiar to artists. But that force is only brought into action by an effort, and that effort is work.”
“I live neither in the past nor in the future. I am the present. I cannot know what tomorrow will bring forth. I can only know what the truth is for me today. That is what I am called upon to serve, and serve it in all my lucidity.”