Sviatoslav Igorevich Soulima Stravinsky
/ref> (23 September 191028 November 1994) was a Swiss-American pianist, composer, and

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

. 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 and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

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

Biography

Soulima Stravinsky was born in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland, in 1910, the second son and third child of Igor and Yekaterina Stravinsky. He was the grandson of

Fyodor Stravinsky Fyodor Ignatyevich Stravinsky () (, estate Novy Dvor (Aleksichi), Rechitsky Uyezd, Minsk Governorate ) was a Russian bass opera singer and actor. He was the father of Igor Stravinsky and the grandfather of Théodore Strawinsky and Soulima Stra ...

. He studied piano with

Isidor Philipp Isidor Edmond Philipp (first name sometimes spelled Isidore) (2 September 1863 – 20 February 1958) was a French pianist, composer, and pedagogue of Jewish Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris. Biography Isidor Philipp ...

as well as theory and composition with

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

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

Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra The Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra was written by Igor Stravinsky in Nice between 1926 and 1929. The score was revised in 1949. Stravinsky designed the Capriccio to be a virtuosic vehicle which would allow him to earn a living from playing the ...

and the Concerto for Two Pianos. He recorded these works with his father in 1938. He played in London at the 1937 season of the Proms. 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 is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

and his New York debut with the

CBS Symphony Orchestra CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an Television in the United States, American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, telev ...

. 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 (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, 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", orch ...

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 resonance, sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. The term ''labrosone'', from Latin elements meani ...

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 Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

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 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

'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''.

Notes

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 Musicians 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 American male classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century Swiss composers