Sviatoslav Soulima Stravinsky
/ref> () (23 September 191028 November 1994) was a Swiss-American pianist, composer, and musicologist. As a pianist, he was considered an important interpreter of the works of his father,

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

,Zoo of Dreams
/ref> but as a composer he was overshadowed by his father.

Biography

Soulima Stravinsky was born in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

, Switzerland, in 1910, the second son and third child of

and Katherine Nossenko, and the grandson of Fyodor Stravinsky. He studied piano with Isidor Philipp as well as theory and composition with

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

. He appeared in Paris in 1934 playing his father's Concerto for Piano and Winds, Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra and the

Concerto for Two Pianos The Concerto for Two Pianos (sometimes also referred to as Concerto for Two Solo Pianos or rather as its Italian original name, Concerto per due pianoforti soli) is a composition by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was finished on November 9, ...

. He recorded these works with his father in 1938. He played in London at the 1937 season of the

Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

. Igor Stravinsky moved to the United States in 1939, but Soulima joined the French army and remained in Europe for nine more years. He moved to the United States in 1948, making his American debut that year at the Red Rocks Festival in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and his New York debut with the

CBS Symphony Orchestra The Columbia Symphony Orchestra was an orchestra formed by Columbia Records strictly for the purpose of making recordings. In the 1950s, it provided a vehicle for some of Columbia's better known conductors and recording artists to record using o ...

. In 1950, Soulima Stravinsky was appointed to the piano faculty of the School of Music of the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, where he remained until 1978. He continued his concerto solo career and began distinguishing himself as a composer, transcriber and editor. In addition to his many musical compositions, he wrote books on

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...

and the orchestra. His book on orchestration contains an excellent section on

brass instrument A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin a ...

s including many unusual instruments. In 1974, Stravinsky was awarded the "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" by the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs. He died in Sarasota,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in 1994. About nine months after his death, his widow Francoise found a previously unknown work amongst Soulima's papers—a ''Lamento'' for cello and piano. It was in incomplete form, but it was edited and performed for the first time before Francoise herself died.

Works

*''Etudes Pittoresques'' (20), for piano *''The Art of Scales'' (24 Preludes), for piano *''The Art of Fingering'' (12 Preludes), for piano *''6 Sonatinas for Young Pianists'', for piano (or harpsichord) *''Piano Suite for the Right Hand'' *''Music Alphabet'', for piano *''Piano Music for Children'', Volume 1 (19 pieces) *''Suite for Viola Solo'' (1975) *''Sonata for Cello and Piano'' (1990) *''Lamento'', cello and piano (posth.) *Three string quartets (recorded on CD, label Polymnie) *Cadenzas (18) and lead-ins (4) to

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's piano concerti: ** No. 6 in B flat, K. 238 ** No. 8 in C, K. 246 ** Double Concerto in E flat, K. 365 ** No. 11 in F, K. 413 ** No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 ** No. 21 in C, K. 467 ''Elvira Madigan'' ** No. 22 in E flat, K. 482 ** No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 ** No. 25 in C, K. 503, and ** No. 26 in D, K. 537 ''Coronation''.

References

External links

The Soulima Stravinsky papers
in th
Music Division
o
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stravinsky, Soulima 1910 births 1994 deaths Swiss classical composers Swiss male classical composers Swiss classical pianists 20th-century classical composers Igor Stravinsky American people of Russian descent American people of Ukrainian descent Swiss people of Ukrainian descent Swiss emigrants to the United States People from Lausanne University of Illinois faculty Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Pupils of Isidor Philipp 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century American composers Male classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century Swiss composers