Arthur-Vincent Lourié, born ''Naum Izrailevich Luria'' (russian: Наум Израилевич Лурья), later changed his name to ''Artur Sergeyevich Luriye'' (russian: Артур Серге́евич Лурье) (14 May 1892 in
Propoysk – 12 October 1966 in
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
) was a significant Russian composer. Lourié played an important role in the earliest stages of the organization of Soviet music after the
1917 Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of governme ...
but later went into exile. His music reflects his close connections with contemporary writers and artists, and also his close relationship with
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 ...
.
Russian career
Born into a prosperous
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish family, he converted to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
while still in Russia. An admirer of
van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
, from whom he derived the name 'Vincent', Lourié was partly self-taught, but also studied piano with
Barinova and composition with
Glazunov at the
Saint Petersburg Conservatory, graduating in 1913. He became friendly with the
Futurist
Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...
poets and particularly
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...
, whose poetry he was among the first to set. He was also acquainted with
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...
,
Nikolai Kulbin,
Fyodor Sologub
Fyodor Sologub (russian: Фёдор Сологу́б, born Fyodor Kuzmich Teternikov, russian: Фёдор Кузьми́ч Тете́рников, also known as Theodor Sologub; – 5 December 1927) was a Russian Symbolist poet, novelist, transl ...
and
Alexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...
; and was deeply influenced by contemporary art. His early piano pieces, from 1908 onward, take on from the late works of
Scriabin but evolve new kinds of discourse, arriving in 1914 at an early form of dodecaphony (the ''Synthèses'') and in 1915 at the ''Formes en l'air'', dedicated to
Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is kn ...
, a rather
Cubist
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
conception using an innovative form of notation in which different systems are placed spatially on the page in independent blocks, with blanks instead of bars' rest. At this stage of his career he seems a parallel figure to
Nikolai Roslavets, though Lourié's aesthetic appears more '
decadent'. Essentially he was the first Russian Futurist in music, and in 1914 was the co-signatory, with the painter
Georgy Yakulov Georgy may refer to:
* Georgy (given name)
*Diminituve for Georgina
*Georgy, the protagonist in '' Georgy Girl'' novel, film, and song
* ''Georgy'' (musical), a musical from the novel ''Georgy Girl''
See also
* Georgi (disambiguation)
* Georgiy, a ...
and the poet
Benedikt Livshitz
Benedikt Konstantinovich Livshits (russian: Бенеди́кт Константи́нович Ли́вшиц, 24 December 1886 (Old Style)/6 January 1887 (New Style) – 21 September 1938) was a poet and writer of the Silver Age of Russian Po ...
, of the Petersburg
Futurist Manifesto
The ''Manifesto of Futurism'' ( Italian: ''Manifesto del Futurismo'') is a manifesto written by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and published in 1909. Marinetti expresses an artistic philosophy called Futurism that was a rejection ...
, 'We and the West', proclaiming principles common to all three arts.
Revolutionary Russia
After the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...
of 1917 Lourié served under
Lunacharsky
Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (russian: Анато́лий Васи́льевич Лунача́рский) (born Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov, – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Bolshevik Soviet People's ...
as head of the music division (Muzo) of the Commissariat of Popular Enlightenment (
Narkompros The People's Commissariat for Education (or Narkompros; russian: Народный комиссариат просвещения, Наркомпрос, directly translated as the "People's Commissariat for Enlightenment") was the Soviet agency charge ...
). For a while he shared a house with
Serge Sudeikin and his wife
Vera Sudeikina
Vera de Bosset Stravinsky (January 7, 1889 – September 17, 1982) was an American dancer and artist. She is better known as the second wife of composer Igor Stravinsky, who married her in 1940.
Life
Vera de Bosset was born Vera Bosse, the d ...
. His tenure proved to be contentious. When he suggested renaming his music department "The People's Tribune for Civil Music", and to style himself the "People's Tribune", Lunacharsky allegedly replied: "No, Artur Sergeevich, this does not suit us."
Alexander Goldenweiser and
Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov
Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov (russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Ипполи́тов-Ива́нов; 28 January 1935) was a Russian and Soviet composer, conductor and teacher. His music ranged from the late-Romantic era ...
complained to Lenin himself about him.
Though his sympathies were Leftist he became increasingly disenchanted with the
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
order in Russia.
Into exile
In 1921 he went on an official visit to
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
, where he befriended
Busoni, and from which he failed to return. His works were thereafter proscribed in the USSR. In 1922 he settled in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
, where he became friends with the philosopher
Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...
and was introduced to Stravinsky by Vera Sudeykina. Maritain championed his work early on, viewing the young Lourié not only as an important composer, but as a composer with an important capacity to express Catholic theology and philosophy in music. Lourié dedicated a number of his works to Maritain, including the Gigue from 4 Pièces Pour Piano (1928). From 1924 to 1931 he was one of Stravinsky's most important champions, often becoming part of the Stravinsky household as he wrote articles about his fellow composer and preparing piano reductions of his works. He and the Stravinskys eventually parted company over a feud with Vera, and Stravinsky seldom afterwards mentioned his existence. In his works of the Paris years Lourié's early radicalism turns to an astringent form of
neoclassicism and Russophile nostalgia; a dialogue with Stravinsky's works of the same period is evident, even to the extent that Stravinsky may have taken ideas from the younger composer: Lourié's ''A Little Chamber Music'' (1924) seems to prophesy Stravinsky's ''Apollon musagète'' (1927), his ''Concerto spirituale'' for chorus, piano and orchestra (1929) the latter's ''Symphony of Psalms'' (1930). Certainly in his later works Stravinsky adopted Lourié's style of notation with blank space instead of empty bars. Lourié also composed two symphonies (No. 1 subtitled ''Sinfonia dialectica'') and an opera, ''The Feast in a Time of Plague''. A man of very wide culture, who cultivated the image of a dandy and aesthete, he set poems of
Sappho
Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied ...
,
Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
,
Heine,
Verlaine, Blok, Mayakovsky,
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His '' Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...
, classical Latin and medieval French poets. He was also a talented painter.
American years
When the Germans occupied Paris in 1940, Lourié fled to the USA, assisted by
Serge Koussevitzky
Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling " Serge", using it in his signature. (SeThe Koussevi ...
. He settled in New York. He wrote some
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
s but gained almost no performances for his more serious works, though he continued to compose. He spent over ten years writing an opera after Pushkin's
The Moor of Peter the Great called ''The Blackamoor of Peter the Great'', so far unperformed, though a lapidary orchestral suite has been recorded. He also composed a setting of sections from
T. S. Eliot's ''Little Gidding'' for tenor and instruments (1959): this could be seen as another instance of pre-Stravinsky-ing Stravinsky, who set one of the same texts as the anthem ''The Dove Descending'' in 1962.
Works
This list is based on that of the Arthur Lourié Society.
Arthur Lourié Society - Works
Selected recordings
* Arthur Lourié Songs & Choruses: ''The Rosary'', ''Voice of the muse'', on poems of Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...
. Cantata ''In the Sanctuary of a Golden Dream'' on collected texts of Alexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...
Natalia Gerassimova, Vladimir Skanavy et al., rec. 1994, reissued by Brilliant (2010)
* Futurpiano: ''Synthèses'' (Op. 16), ''Formes en l'air'' (for Pablo Picasso). Daniele Lombardi, piano. Rec. 1995. Issued by LTM (2009)
* ''12 Greek Songs to Texts from Sappho'', translated by Viacheslav Ivanov (1914) on: ''Viacheslav Ivanov in Music of Miaskovsky, Lourié, Shebalin, Gretchaninov'' Ludmila Shkirtil (mezzo-soprano), Northern Flowers (2010)
* ''Solo Piano Works'', plus ''Der Irrtum der Frau Tod''/''Death's Mistake'' for speaker and piano; 3-CD set, Moritz Ernst (piano), Oskar Ansull (speaker), Capriccio (2016)
References
Л.Корабельникова.Там,за океаном ... В кн: Русские евреи в Америке,кн.1. Ред.-сост. Э.Зальцберг. Иерусалим-Торонто-Москва.2005. С.125-142.
External links
Arthur Lourié Gesellschaft, Basel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lourie, Arthur
1892 births
1966 deaths
People from Slawharad District
People from Bykhovsky Uyezd
Belarusian Jews
Jews from the Russian Empire
Belarusian Roman Catholics
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism
Soviet emigrants to the United States
American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent
20th-century classical composers
Belarusian composers
Composers from the Russian Empire
20th-century Russian male musicians
Jewish classical composers
Russian male classical composers
Saint Petersburg Conservatory alumni