''Pribaoutki'' () is a cycle of four songs composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1914 to Russian texts by

Alexander Afanasyev Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev (Afanasief, Afanasiev or Afanas'ev, russian: link=no, Александр Николаевич Афанасьев) ( — ) was a Russian Slavist and ethnographer who published nearly 600 Russian fairy and folk ta ...

. Its Russian title has no direct English equivalent, although

Richard Taruskin Richard Filler Taruskin (April 2, 1945 – July 1, 2022) was an American musicologist and music critic who was among the leading and most prominent music historians of his generation. The breadth of his scrutiny into source material as well as ...

suggests "nonsense rhymes" or "jingles." (The French subtitle appearing in the score, ', is descriptive, not a translation.) ''Pribaoutki'' takes about four minutes to perform.

Songs

The titles of the four songs are: # "Kornílo" ("Uncle Kornilo") # "Natashka" ("Little Natalie") # "Polkovnik" ("The Colonel") # "Starets i zayats" ("The Old Man and the Hare")

Instrumentation

''Pribaoutki'' is written for low voice and instrumental ensemble. Stravinsky is said to have preferred a male singer, although the work is commonly performed by mezzo-soprano or

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typica ...

. The eight-member ensemble consists of: flute,

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

(doubling English horn), clarinet, bassoon,

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

, and

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

History

''Pribaoutki'' was composed between June and September 1914, just as

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

was breaking out. During this time, Stravinsky was living in Switzerland: at Salvan during the summer, and Clarens in September. Walsh, Stephen. ''Stravinsky: A Creative Spring: Russia and France, 1882–1934.'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 2000), pp. 238, 244.

Premières

''Pribaoutki'' was first heard in Paris (Salle des Agriculteurs) on November 20, 1918, in a program that also included the ''

Berceuses du chat The ''Berceuses du chat'' (Russian: ''Kolibelniye'', English: ''Cat Lullabies'') is a cycle of four songs for contralto and three clarinetists composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1915. The work is usually referred to by its French title. Although it is ...

''; both works were accompanied by piano in this performance. The first performance with instrumental ensemble was given in Vienna on June 6, 1919, at a concert of Arnold Schoenberg's

Society for Private Musical Performances The Society for Private Musical Performances (in German, the ) was an organization founded in Vienna in the Autumn of 1918 by Arnold Schoenberg with the intention of making carefully rehearsed and comprehensible performances of newly composed mus ...

(Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen). Again, the program also included the ''Berceuses du chat''.

References

External links

* Full score. (Geneva: Ad. Henn, 1917). * {{Portal bar, Classical music Compositions by Igor Stravinsky Classical song cycles 1914 compositions