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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 composers of the 20th century and a pivotal figure in
modernist music In music, modernism is an aesthetic stance underlying the period of change and development in musical language that occurred around the turn of the 20th century, a period of diverse reactions in challenging and reinterpreting older categories o ...
. Born to a musical family in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, Russia, Stravinsky grew up taking piano and
music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...
lessons. While studying law at the University of Saint Petersburg, he met
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ALA-LC system: , ISO 9 system: .. (18 March 1844 – 2 ...
and studied music under him until the latter's death in 1908. Stravinsky met the
impresario An impresario (from Italian ''impresa'', 'an enterprise or undertaking') is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, Play (theatre), plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film producer, film or ...
Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario an ...
soon after, who commissioned the composer to write three ballets for the
Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...
's Paris seasons: ''
The Firebird ''The Firebird'' (; ) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who c ...
'' (1910), '' Petrushka'' (1911), and ''
The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring'' () is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky ...
'' (1913), the last of which caused a near-riot at the premiere due to its
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
nature and later changed the way composers understood rhythmic structure. Stravinsky's compositional career is often divided into three main periods: his Russian period (1913–1920), his neoclassical period (1920–1951), and his serial period (1954–1968). During his Russian period, Stravinsky was heavily influenced by Russian styles and folklore. Works such as '' Renard'' (1916) and (1923) drew upon Russian folk poetry, while compositions like (1918) integrated these folk elements with popular musical forms, including the
tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...
,
waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...
,
ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
, and
chorale A chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one o ...
. His neoclassical period exhibited themes and techniques from the classical period, like the use of the sonata form in his Octet (1923) and use of Greek mythological themes in works including (1927), ''
Oedipus rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...
'' (1927), and ''
Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...
'' (1935). In his serial period, Stravinsky turned towards compositional techniques from the Second Viennese School like
Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
's
twelve-tone technique The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale ...
. ''In Memoriam Dylan Thomas'' (1954) was the first of his compositions to be fully based on the technique, and (1956) was his first to be based on a
tone row In music, a tone row or note row ( or '), also series or set, is a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets are sometime ...
. Stravinsky's last major work was the '' Requiem Canticles'' (1966), which was performed at his funeral. While many supporters were confused by Stravinsky's constant stylistic changes, later writers recognized his versatile language as important in the development of modernist music. Stravinsky's revolutionary ideas influenced composers as diverse as
Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...
,
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
,
Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...
, and
Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...
, who were all challenged to innovate music in areas beyond
tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitch (music), pitches and / or chord (music), chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived ''relations'', ''stabilities'', ''attractions'', and ''directionality''. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or ...
, especially rhythm and
musical form In music, ''form'' refers to the structure of a musical composition or musical improvisation, performance. In his book, ''Worlds of Music'', Jeff Todd Titon suggests that a number of organizational elements may determine the formal structure of a ...
. In 1998, ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine listed Stravinsky as one of the 100 most influential people of the century. Stravinsky died of
pulmonary edema Pulmonary edema (British English: oedema), also known as pulmonary congestion, is excessive fluid accumulation in the tissue or air spaces (usually alveoli) of the lungs. This leads to impaired gas exchange, most often leading to shortness ...
on 6 April 1971 in New York City, having left six memoirs written with his friend and assistant Robert Craft, as well as an earlier autobiography and a series of lectures.
Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
credited Stravinsky with having “enlarged the boundaries of the permissible” in music.


Life


Early life in Russia, 1882–1901

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum, Russia—a town later renamed Lomonosov, about thirty miles (fifty kilometers) west of
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
—on . His mother, Anna Kirillovna Stravinskaya (née Kholodovskaya), was an amateur singer and pianist from an established family of landowners. His father, Fyodor Ignatyevich Stravinsky, was a famous
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
at the
Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...
in Saint Petersburg, descended from a line of Polish landowners. The name "Stravinsky" is of Polish origin, deriving from the
Strava Strava is an American internet service for tracking physical exercise which incorporates social network features. It started out tracking mostly outdoor cycling and running activities using Global Positioning System (GPS) data, but now incorpor ...
river in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The family was originally called "Soulima-Stravinsky", bearing the Soulima arms, but "Soulima" was dropped after Russia's annexation during the
partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...
. Oranienbaum, the composer's birthplace, was where his family vacationed during summers; their primary residence was an apartment along the Kryukov Canal in central Saint Petersburg, near the Mariinsky Theatre. Stravinsky was baptized hours after birth and joined to the
Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
in St. Nicholas Cathedral. Constantly in fear of his short-tempered father and indifferent towards his mother, Igor lived there for the first 27 years of his life with three siblings: Roman and Yury, his older siblings who irritated him immensely, and Gury, his close younger brother with whom he said he found "the love and understanding denied us by our parents". Igor was educated by the family's
governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...
until age eleven, when he began attending the Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium, a school he recalled hating because he had few friends. From age nine, Stravinsky studied privately with a piano teacher. He later wrote that his parents saw no musical talent in him due to his lack of technical skills; the young pianist frequently improvised instead of practicing assigned pieces. Stravinsky's excellent
sight-reading In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian language, Italian meaning, "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singi ...
skill prompted him to frequently read vocal scores from his father's vast personal library. At around age ten, he began regularly attending performances at the Mariinsky Theatre, where he was introduced to Russian repertoire as well as Italian and French opera; by sixteen, he attended rehearsals at the theater five or six days a week. By age fourteen, Stravinsky had mastered the solo part of
Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...
's Piano Concerto No. 1, and at age fifteen, he transcribed for solo piano a string quartet by
Alexander Glazunov Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov ( – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Russian Romantic period. He was director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 and 1928 and was instrumental i ...
.


Higher education, 1901–1909


Student compositions

Despite his musical passion and ability, Stravinsky's parents expected him to study law at the University of Saint Petersburg, and he enrolled there in 1901. However, according to his own account, he was a bad student and attended few of the optional lectures. In exchange for agreeing to attend law school, his parents allowed for lessons in
harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...
and
counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...
. At university, Stravinsky befriended Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov, son of the leading Russian composer
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ALA-LC system: , ISO 9 system: .. (18 March 1844 – 2 ...
. During summer vacation of 1902, Stravinsky traveled with Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov to
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
– where the latter's family was staying – bringing a portfolio of pieces to demonstrate to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. While the elder composer was not stunned, he was impressed enough to insist that Stravinsky continue lessons but advised against him entering the Saint Petersburg Conservatory due to its rigorous environment. Importantly, Rimsky-Korsakov agreed personally to advise Stravinsky on his compositions. After Stravinsky's father died in 1902 and the young composer became more independent, he became increasingly involved in Rimsky-Korsakov's circle of artists. His first major task from his new teacher was the four-movement Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor in the style of Glazunov and
Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...
– he paused temporarily to write a
cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...
for Rimsky-Korsakov's 60th birthday celebration, which the elder composer described as "not bad". Soon after finishing the sonata, the student began his large-scale Symphony in E-flat, the first draft of which he finished in 1905. That year, the dedicatee of the Piano Sonata, Nikolay Richter, performed it at a recital hosted by the Rimsky-Korsakovs, marking the first public premiere of a Stravinsky piece. After the events of Bloody Sunday in January 1905 caused the university to close, Stravinsky was not able to take his final exams, resulting in his graduation with a half-diploma. As he began spending more time in Rimsky-Korsakov's circle of artists, the young composer became increasingly cramped in the stylistically conservative atmosphere: modern music was questioned, and concerts of contemporary music were looked down upon. The group occasionally attended chamber concerts oriented to modern music, and while Rimsky-Korsakov and his colleague Anatoly Lyadov hated attending, Stravinsky remembered the concerts as intriguing and intellectually stimulating, being the first place he was exposed to French composers like Franck, Dukas, Fauré, and
Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
. Nevertheless, Stravinsky remained loyal to Rimsky-Korsakov – the musicologist Eric Walter White suspected that the composer believed compliance with Rimsky-Korsakov was necessary to succeed in the Russian music world. Stravinsky later wrote that his teachers' musical conservatism was justified, and helped him build the foundation that would become the base of his style.


First marriage

In August 1905, Stravinsky announced his engagement to Yekaterina Nosenko, his first cousin whom he had met in 1890 during a family trip. He later recalled:
From our first hour together we both seemed to realize that we would one day marry—or so we told each other later. Perhaps we were always more like brother and sister. I was a deeply lonely child and I wanted a sister of my own. Catherine, who was my first cousin, came into my life as a kind of long-wanted sister... We were from then until her death extremely close, and closer than lovers sometimes are, for mere lovers may be strangers though they live and love together all their lives... Catherine was my dearest friend and playmate ... until we grew into our marriage.
The two had grown close during family trips, encouraging each other's interest in painting and drawing, swimming together often, going on wild raspberry picks, helping build a tennis court, playing piano duet music, and later organizing group readings with their other cousins of books and political tracts from Fyodor Stravinsky's personal library. In July 1901, Stravinsky expressed infatuation with Lyudmila Kuxina, Nosenko's best friend, but after the self-described "summer romance" had ended, Nosenko and Stravinsky's relationship began developing into a furtive romance. Between their intermittent family visits, Nosenko studied painting at the Académie Colarossi in Paris. The two married on 24 January 1906, at the Church of the Annunciation five miles (eight kilometers) north of
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
– because marriage between first cousins was banned, they procured a priest who did not ask their identities, and the only guests present were Rimsky-Korsakov's sons. The couple soon had two children: Théodore, born in 1907, and Ludmila, born the following year. After finishing the many revisions of the Symphony in E-flat in 1907, Stravinsky wrote ''Faun and Shepherdess'', a setting of three Pushkin poems for
mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...
and orchestra. Rimsky-Korsakov organized the first public premiere of his student's work with the Imperial Court Orchestra in April 1907, programming the Symphony in E-flat and ''Faun and Shepherdess''. In 1908, he sent the score of '' Feu d'artifice'' to Rimsky-Korsakov. It was returned with the note: “Not delivered on account of death of addressee.” Rimsky-Korsakov's death in June 1908 caused Stravinsky deep mourning, and he later recalled that '' Funeral Song'', which he composed in memory of his teacher, was "the best of my works before ''The Firebird''".


International fame, 1909–1920


Ballets for Diaghilev

In 1898, the
impresario An impresario (from Italian ''impresa'', 'an enterprise or undertaking') is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, Play (theatre), plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film producer, film or ...
Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario an ...
founded the Russian art magazine '' Mir iskusstva'', but after it ended publication in 1904, he turned towards Paris for artistic opportunities rather than his native Russia. In 1907, Diaghilev presented a five-concert series of Russian music at the
Paris Opera The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...
; the following year, he staged the Paris premiere of Rimsky-Korsakov's version of '' Boris Godunov''. Diaghilev attended the February 1909 premiere of two new Stravinsky works: ''
Scherzo fantastique ''Scherzo fantastique'', op. 3, composed in 1908, is the second purely orchestral work by Igor Stravinsky (preceded by the Symphony in E-flat (Stravinsky), Symphony in E-flat op.1). Despite the composer's later description of the work as "a piece ...
'' and '' Feu d'artifice'', both lively orchestral movements featuring bright orchestration and unique harmonic techniques. The vivid color and tone of Stravinsky's works intrigued Diaghilev, and the impresario subsequently commissioned Stravinsky to orchestrate music by Chopin for parts of the ballet ''.'' This ballet was presented by Diaghilev's ballet company, the
Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...
, in April 1909, and while the company scored successes with Parisian audiences, Stravinsky was working on Act I of his first opera '' The Nightingale''. As the Ballets Russes faced financial issues, Diaghilev wanted a new ballet with distinctly Russian music and design, something that had recently become popular with French and other Western audiences (likely due to the group of Russian classical composers known as The Five, according to the musicologist
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 ...
); Diaghilev's company settled on the subject of the mythical Firebird. Diaghilev asked multiple composers to write the ballet's score, including Lyadov and Nikolai Tcherepnin, but after none committed to the project, the impresario turned to the 27-year-old Stravinsky, who gladly accepted the task. During the ballet's production, Stravinsky became close with Diaghilev's artistic circle, who were impressed by his enthusiasm to learn more about non-musical art forms. ''
The Firebird ''The Firebird'' (; ) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who c ...
'' premiered in Paris (as ) on 25 June 1910 to widespread critical acclaim, and made Stravinsky an overnight sensation. Many critics praised the composer's alignment with Russian nationalist music. Stravinsky later recollected that after the premiere and subsequent performances, he met many figures in the Paris art scene; Debussy was brought on stage after the premiere and invited Stravinsky to dinner, beginning a lifelong friendship between the two composers. The Stravinsky family moved to
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, for the birth of their third child, Soulima, and it was there that Stravinsky began work on a ' for piano and orchestra depicting the tale of a puppet coming to life. After Diaghilev heard the early drafts, he convinced Stravinsky to turn it into a ballet for the 1911 season. The resulting work, '' Petrushka'' (under the French spelling ''Petrouchka''), premiered in Paris on 13 June 1911 to equal acclaim as ''The Firebird'', and Stravinsky became established as one of the most advanced young theater composers of his time. While composing ''The Firebird'', Stravinsky conceived an idea for a work about what he called "a solemn pagan rite: sage elders, seated in a circle, watched a young girl dance herself to death". He immediately shared the idea with Nicholas Roerich, a friend and painter of pagan subjects. When Stravinsky told Diaghilev about the idea, the impresario excitedly agreed to commission the work. After the premiere of ''Petrushka'', Stravinsky settled at his family's residence in Ustilug and fleshed out the details of the ballet with Roerich, later finishing the work in Clarens, Switzerland. The result was ''
The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring'' () is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky ...
'' (), which depicted
pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
rituals in Slavonic tribes and used many
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
techniques, including uneven rhythms and
meters The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...
, superimposed harmonies,
atonality Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on ...
, and extensive
instrumentation Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...
. With radical choreography by the young Vaslav Nijinsky, the ballet's experimental nature caused a near-riot at its premiere at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913.


Illness and wartime collaborations

Soon after, Stravinsky was admitted to a hospital for
typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...
and stayed in recovery for five weeks; numerous colleagues visited him, including Debussy,
Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was a Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20t ...
,
Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...
, and Florent Schmitt. Upon returning to his family in Ustilug, he continued work on his opera ''The Nightingale'', with an official commission from the Moscow Free Theatre. In early 1914, his wife Yekaterina contracted
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
and was admitted to a sanatorium in
Leysin Leysin is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in the Aigle (district), Aigle district of Switzerland. It is first mentioned around 1231–32 as ''Leissins'', in 1352 as ''Leisins''. Located ...
, Switzerland, where the couple's fourth child, Maria Milena, was born. Here Stravinsky finished ''The Nightingale'', but after the Moscow Free Theatre closed before the premiere, Diaghilev agreed to stage the opera. The May 1914 premiere was moderately successful; critics' high expectations after the tumultuous ''Rite of Spring'' were not met, though fellow composers were impressed by the music's emotion and free treatment of
counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...
and themes. In early July 1914, while his family resided in Switzerland near his sick wife, the composer traveled to Russia to retrieve texts for his next work, a ballet-cantata depicting Russian wedding traditions titled . Soon after he returned,
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
began, and the Stravinskys lived in Switzerland until 1920, initially residing in Clarens and later
Morges Morges (; , Plurale tantum, plural, probably Ablative (Latin), ablative, else dative; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud and the seat of the Morges District, distri ...
. During the first months of the war, the composer intensely researched Russian folk poetry and prepared librettos for numerous works to be composed in the coming years, including ', '' Renard'', , and other
song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...
s. Stravinsky met numerous Swiss-French artists during his time in Morges, including the author Charles F. Ramuz, with whom he collaborated on the small-scale theater work '. The eleven-musician and two-dancer show was designed for easy travel, but after a premiere run funded by Werner Reinhart, all other performances were canceled due to the Spanish flu epidemic. Stravinsky's income from performance
royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...
was suddenly cut off when his Germany-based publisher suspended operations due to the war. To keep his family afloat, the composer sold numerous manuscripts and accepted commissions from wealthy impresarios; one such commission included ''Renard'', a theater work completed in 1916 upon a request from Princesse Edmond de Polignac. Additionally, Stravinsky made a new concert suite from ''The Firebird'' and sold it to a London publisher in an attempt to regain copyright control over the ballet. Diaghilev continued to organize Ballets Russes shows across Europe, including two charity concerts for the
Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...
where Stravinsky made his conducting debut with ''The Firebird''. When the Ballets Russes traveled to Rome in April 1917, Stravinsky met the artist
Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
, and the two adventured around Italy; a they saw in Naples inspired the ballet ''
Pulcinella Pulcinella (; ) is a classical character that originated in commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry. Pulcinella's versatility in status and attitude has captivated audiences worldwide and kept ...
'', which premiered in Paris in May 1920 with designs by Picasso.


France, 1920–1939


Turn towards neoclassicism

After the war ended, Stravinsky decided that his residence in Switzerland was too far from Europe's musical activity, and briefly moved his family to Carantec, France. In September 1920, they relocated to the home of
Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and Businessperson, businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with populari ...
, an associate of Diaghilev's, where Stravinsky composed his early neoclassical work the ''
Symphonies of Wind Instruments The ''Symphonies of Wind Instruments'' (French title: ''Symphonies d'instruments à vent'') is a concert work written by Igor Stravinsky in 1920, for an ensemble of woodwind and brass instruments. The piece is in one movement, lasting about 9 m ...
.'' After his relationship with Chanel developed into an affair, Stravinsky relocated his family to the
white émigré White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik com ...
-hub
Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...
in May 1921, partly due to the presence of his other lover Vera de Bosset. At the time, de Bosset was married to the former Ballet Russes stage designer Serge Sudeikin, though de Bosset later divorced Sudeikin to marry Stravinsky. Though Yekaterina Stravinsky became aware of her husband's infidelity, the Stravinskys never divorced, likely due to the composer's refusal to separate. In 1921, Stravinsky signed a contract with the
player piano A player piano is a self-playing piano with a pneumatic or electromechanical mechanism that operates the piano action using perforated paper or metallic rolls. Modern versions use MIDI. The player piano gained popularity as mass-produced home ...
company Pleyel to create
piano roll A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. Piano rolls, like other music rolls, are continuous rolls of paper with holes punched into them. These perforations represent note contro ...
arrangements of his music. He received a studio at their factory on the Rue Rochechouart, where he reorchestrated ' for a small ensemble including player piano. The composer transcribed many of his major works for the mechanical pianos, and the Pleyel premises remained his Paris base until 1933, even after the player piano had been largely supplanted by electrical gramophone recording. Stravinsky signed another contract in 1924, this time with the Aeolian Company in London, producing rolls that included comments about the work by Stravinsky that were engraved into the rolls. He stopped working with player pianos in 1930 when the Aeolian Company's London branch was dissolved. The interest in Pushkin shared by Stravinsky and Diaghilev led to '' Mavra'', a comic opera begun in 1921 that exhibited the composer's rejection of Rimsky-Korsakov's style and his turn towards classic Russian operatists like Tchaikovsky, Glinka, and Dargomyzhsky. Yet, after the 1922 premiere, the work's tame nature – compared to the innovative music Stravinsky had come to be known for – disappointed critics. In 1923, Stravinsky finished orchestrating ', settling on a percussion ensemble including four pianos. The Ballets Russes staged the ballet-cantata that June, and although it initially received moderate reviews, the London production received a flurry of critical attacks, leading the writer
H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...
to publish an open letter in support of the work. During this period, Stravinsky expanded his involvement in conducting and piano performance. He conducted the premiere of his Octet in 1923 and served as the soloist for the premiere of his
Piano Concerto A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advance ...
in 1924. Following its debut, he embarked on a tour, performing the concerto in over 40 concerts.


Religious crisis and international touring

The Stravinsky family moved again in September 1924 to Nice, France. The composer's schedule was divided between spending time with his family in Nice, performing in Paris, and touring other locations, often accompanied by de Bosset. At this time, Stravinsky was going through a spiritual crisis onset by meeting Father Nicolas, a priest near his new home. He had abandoned the Russian Orthodox Church during his teenage years, but after meeting Father Nicolas in 1926 and reconnecting with his faith, he began regularly attending services. From then until moving to the United States, Stravinsky diligently attended church, participated in charity work, and studied religious texts. The composer later wrote that he was contacted by God at a service at the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, leading him to write his first religious composition, the for a cappella choir. In 1925, Stravinsky asked the French writer and artist Jean Cocteau to write the libretto for an operatic setting of Sophocles' tragedy ''Oedipus Rex'' in Latin. The May 1927 premiere of his opera-oratorio ''
Oedipus rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...
'' was staged as a concert performance since there was too little time and money to present it as a full opera, and Stravinsky attributed the work's critical failure to its programming between two glittery ballets. Furthermore, the influence from Russian Orthodox vocal music and 18th-century composers like Handel was not well received in the press after the May 1927 premiere; neoclassicism was not popular with Parisian critics, and Stravinsky had to publicly assert that his music was not part of the movement. This reception from critics was not improved by Stravinsky's next ballet, ', which depicted the birth and apotheosis of Apollo using an 18th-century musical style. George Balanchine choreographed the premiere, beginning decades of collaborations between Stravinsky and the choreographer. Nevertheless, some critics found it to be a turning point in Stravinsky's neoclassical music, describing it as a pure work that blended neoclassical ideas with modern methods of composition. A new commission for a ballet from Ida Rubinstein in 1928 led Stravinsky again to Tchaikovsky. Basing the music on romantic ballets like ''Swan Lake'' and borrowing many themes from Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky wrote ''The Fairy's Kiss'' with Hans Christian Andersen's tale ''The Ice-Maiden'' as the subject. The November 1928 premiere was not well-received, likely due to the disconnect between each of the ballet's sections and the mediocre choreography, of which Stravinsky disapproved. Diaghilev's fury with Stravinsky for accepting a ballet commission from someone else caused an intense feud between the two, one that lasted until the impresario's death in August 1929. Most of that year was spent composing a new solo piano work, the Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, Capriccio, and touring across Europe to conduct and perform piano; the Capriccio's success after the December 1929 premiere caused a flurry of performance requests from many orchestras. A commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930 for a symphonic work led Stravinsky back to Latin texts, this time from the book of Psalms. Between touring concerts, he composed the choral ''Symphony of Psalms'', a deeply religious work that premiered in December of that year.


Work with Dushkin

While touring in Germany, Stravinsky visited his publisher's home and met the violinist Samuel Dushkin, who convinced him to compose the Violin Concerto (Stravinsky), Violin Concerto with Dushkin's help on the solo part. Impressed by Dushkin's Virtuoso, virtuosic ability and understanding of music, the composer wrote more music for violin and piano and rearranged some of his earlier music to be performed alongside the Concerto while on tour until 1933. That year, Stravinsky received another ballet commission from Ida Rubenstein for a setting of a poem by André Gide. The resulting melodrama only received three performances in 1934 due to its lukewarm reception, and Stravinsky's disdain towards the work was evident in his later suggestion that the libretto be rewritten. In June of that year, Stravinsky became a naturalized French citizen, protecting all his future works under copyright in France and the United States. His family subsequently moved to an apartment on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, where he began writing a two-volume autobiography with the help of Walter Nouvel, published in 1935 and 1936 as . After the short run of ''Perséphone'', Stravinsky embarked on a successful three-month tour of the United States with Dushkin; he visited South America for the first time the following year. The composer's son Soulima was an excellent pianist, having performed the Capriccio in concert with his father conducting. Continuing a line of solo piano works, the elder Stravinsky composed the Concerto for Two Pianos (Stravinsky), Concerto for Two Pianos to be performed by them both, and they toured the work through 1936. Around this time came three American-commissioned works: the ballet for Balanchine, the Brandenburg Concertos, ''Brandenburg Concerto''-like work Dumbarton Oaks (Stravinsky), Dumbarton Oaks, and the lamenting Symphony in C (Stravinsky), Symphony in C for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's 50th anniversary. Stravinsky's last years in France from late 1938 to 1939 were marked by the deaths of his eldest daughter, his wife, and his mother, the former two from tuberculosis. In addition, the increasingly hostile criticism of his music in major publications and failed run for a seat at the Institut de France further dissociated him from France, and shortly after the beginning of World War II in September 1939 he moved to the United States.


United States, 1939–1971


Adjustment to the United States and commercial works

Upon arriving in the United States, Stravinsky resided with Edward W. Forbes, the director of the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures series at Harvard University. The composer was contracted to deliver six lectures for the series, beginning in October 1939 and ending in April 1940. The lectures, written with assistance from Pyotr Suvchinsky and Alexis Roland-Manuel, were published in French under the title (''Poetics of Music'') in 1941, with an English translation following in 1947. Between lectures, Stravinsky finished the Symphony in C and toured across the country, meeting de Bosset upon her arrival in New York. Stravinsky and de Bosset finally married on 9 March 1940 in Bedford, Massachusetts. After the completion of his lecture series, the couple moved to Los Angeles, where they applied for United States nationality law, American naturalization. Money became scarce as the war stopped the composer from receiving European royalties, making him take up numerous conducting engagements and compose commercial works for the entertainment industry, including the for Paul Whiteman and the for a Broadway theatre, Broadway revue. Some discarded film music made it into larger works, as with the war-inspired Symphony in Three Movements, the middle movement of which used music from an unused score for ''The Song of Bernadette (film), The Song of Bernadette'' (1943). The couple's poor English led to the formation of a predominantly European social circle and home life: the estate staff consisted of mostly Russians, and frequent guests included musicians Joseph Szigeti, Arthur Rubinstein, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. However, Stravinsky eventually joined popular Hollywood circles, attending parties with celebrities and becoming closely acquainted with European authors Aldous Huxley, W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, and Dylan Thomas. In 1945, Stravinsky received American citizenship and subsequently signed a contract with British publishing house Boosey & Hawkes, who agreed to publish all his future works. Additionally, he revised many of his older works and had Boosey & Hawkes publish the new editions to re-copyright his older works. Around the 1948 premiere of another Balanchine collaboration, the ballet ''Orpheus (ballet), Orpheus'', the composer met the young conductor Robert Craft in New York; Craft had asked Stravinsky to explain the revision of the ''Symphonies of Wind Instruments'' for an upcoming concert. The two quickly became friends and Stravinsky invited Craft to Los Angeles; the young conductor soon became Stravinsky's assistant, collaborator, and amanuensis until the composer's death.


Turn towards serialism

As Stravinsky became more familiar with English, he developed the idea to write an English-language opera based on a series of paintings by 18th-century artist William Hogarth titled ''A Rake's Progress, The Rake's Progress''. The composer joined Auden to write the libretto in November 1947; American writer Chester Kallman was later brought in to assist Auden. Stravinsky finished the The Rake's Progress, opera of the same name in 1951, and despite its widespread performances and success, the composer was dismayed to find that his newer music did not captivate young composers. Craft had introduced Stravinsky to the serial music of the Second Viennese School shortly after ''The Rake's Progress'' premiered, and the opera's composer began studying and listening to the music of Anton Webern and
Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
. During the 1950s, Stravinsky continued touring extensively across the world, occasionally returning to Los Angeles to compose. In 1953, he agreed to compose a new opera with a libretto by Dylan Thomas, but development on the project came to a sudden end following Thomas's death in November of that year. Stravinsky completed ''In Memoriam Dylan Thomas'', his first work fully based on the serial
twelve-tone technique The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale ...
, the following year. The 1956 cantata ' premiered at the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Venice, inspiring to commission the musical setting in 1957. With the Balanchine ballet ''Agon (ballet), Agon'', Stravinsky fused neoclassical themes with the twelve-tone technique, and ' showed his full shift towards use of
tone row In music, a tone row or note row ( or '), also series or set, is a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets are sometime ...
s. In 1959, Craft interviewed Stravinsky for an article titled ''Answers to 35 Questions'', in which the composer sought to correct myths surrounding him and discuss his relationships with other artists. The article was later expanded into a book, and over the next four years, three more interview-style books were published. Continued international tours brought Stravinsky to Washington, D.C. in January 1962, where he attended a dinner at the White House with then-President John F. Kennedy in honor of the composer's 80th birthday. Although it was largely an Anti-Sovietism, anti-Soviet political stunt, Stravinsky remembered the event fondly, composing the ''Elegy for J.F.K.'' after the president's Assassination of John F. Kennedy, assassination a year later. In September 1962, he returned to Russia for the first time since 1914, accepting an invitation from the Union of Soviet Composers to conduct six performances in Moscow and Leningrad. After the success of ''The Firebird'' and ''The Rite of Spring'' in the 1910s, Stravinsky's music was respected and frequently performed in the Soviet Union, influencing young Soviet composers at the time like Dmitri Shostakovich. However, after Stalin began consolidating power in the early 1930s, Stravinsky's music nearly vanished and was formally banned in 1948. A new interest in his works was born during the Khrushchev Thaw, partly due to the composer's 1962 visit. During his three-week visit he met with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and several leading Soviet composers, including Shostakovich and Aram Khachaturian. Stravinsky did not return to Los Angeles until December 1962 after eight months of almost continual traveling.


Final works and death

Stravinsky revisited biblical themes for many of his later works, notably in the 1961 chamber cantata ''A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer'', the 1962 musical television production ''The Flood (Stravinsky), The Flood'', the 1963 Hebrew cantata ''Abraham and Isaac (Stravinsky), Abraham and Isaac'', and the 1966 '' Requiem Canticles'', the last of which was his final major composition. Between tours, the composer worked relentlessly to devise new tone rows, even working on toilet paper from airplane lavatories. The intense touring schedule began taking a toll on the elderly composer; January 1967 marked his last recording session, and his final concert came the following May. An obviously very frail Stravinsky made his final public conducting appearance on May 17, 1967 at Massey Hall in Toronto, when he led the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in a performance of his Pulcinella Suite. After spending the autumn of 1967 in the hospital due to bleeding Peptic ulcer disease, stomach ulcers and thrombosis, Stravinsky returned to domestic touring in 1968 (only appearing as an audience member) but stopped composing due to his gradual decline in physical health. In his final years, the Stravinskys and Craft moved to New York to be closer to medical care, and the composer's travel was limited to visiting family in Europe. Soon after being discharged from Lenox Hill Hospital after contracting
pulmonary edema Pulmonary edema (British English: oedema), also known as pulmonary congestion, is excessive fluid accumulation in the tissue or air spaces (usually alveoli) of the lungs. This leads to impaired gas exchange, most often leading to shortness ...
, Stravinsky moved with his wife to a new apartment on Fifth Avenue. The composer died there on 6 April 1971 at the age of 88. A funeral service was held three days later at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel. After a service at Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, Santi Giovanni e Paolo with a performance of the ''Requiem Canticles'' conducted by Craft, Stravinsky was buried on the cemetery island of Isola di San Michele, San Michele in Venice, several meters from the tomb of Sergei Diaghilev.


Music

Much of Stravinsky's music is characterized by short, sharp Articulation (music), articulations with minimal rubato or vibrato. His student works were primarily assignments from his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov and were mainly influenced by Russian composers. His first three ballets, ''
The Firebird ''The Firebird'' (; ) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who c ...
'', '' Petrushka'', and ''
The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring'' () is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky ...
'', marked the beginning of his international fame and a departure from 19th-century styles. Stravinsky's music is often divided into three periods of composition: his Russian period (1913–1920), where he was greatly influenced by Russian artists and folklore; his neoclassical period (1920–1951), where he turned towards techniques and themes from the classical period; and his serial period (1954–1968), where he used highly structured composition techniques pioneered by composers of the Second Viennese School.


Student works, 1898–1907

Stravinsky's time before meeting Diaghilev was spent learning from Rimsky-Korsakov and his collaborators. Only three works survive from before Stravinsky met Rimsky-Korsakov in August 1902: "Tarantella (Stravinsky), Tarantella" (1898), Scherzo (Stravinsky), Scherzo in G minor (1902), and ''The Storm Cloud'', the first two being works for piano and the last for voice and piano. Stravinsky's first assignment from Rimsky-Korsakov was the four-movement Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor, which was also his first work to be performed in public. Rimsky-Korsakov often gave Stravinsky the task of orchestrating various works to allow him to analyze the works' form and structure. Many of Stravinsky's early works showed influence from French composers as well, notably in the minimal use of large doublings and different combinations of tone colors. A number of Stravinsky's student compositions were performed at Rimsky-Korsakov's gatherings at his home; these include a set of Bagatelle (music), bagatelles, a "chanson comique", and a
cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...
, showing the use of Classical period (music), classical musical techniques that would later define Stravinsky's neoclassical period. The musicologist Stephen Walsh (writer), Stephen Walsh described this time in Stravinsky's musical career as "aesthetically cramped" due to the "cynical conservatism" of Rimsky-Korsakov and his music. Rimsky-Korsakov thought the Symphony in E-flat (1907) was swayed too much by Alexander Glazunov, Glazunov's style, and disliked the modernist influence on ''Faun and Shepherdess'' (1907); however, critics found the works to not stand out from his teacher's music.


First three ballets, 1910–1913

Russian composers often used large orchestration to feature many different timbres, and Stravinsky harnessed this idea in his first three ballets, often surprising the musicians and performers due to the orchestra's great force at certain moments. ''
The Firebird ''The Firebird'' (; ) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who c ...
'' used a harmonic structure that Stravinsky called "leit-harmony", a portmanteau of leitmotif and harmony used by Rimsky-Korsakov in his opera ''The Golden Cockerel''. The "leit-harmony" was used to juxtapose the protagonist, the Firebird, and the antagonist, Koschei, Koschei the Deathless: the former was associated with Whole-tone scale, whole-tone phrases and the latter with Octatonic scale, octatonic harmony. Stravinsky later wrote how he composed ''The Firebird'' in a state of "revolt against Rimsky", and that he "tried to surpass him with ''ponticello'', ''col legno'', ''flautando'', ''glissando'', and Flutter-tonguing, fluttertongue effects". Stravinsky defined his musical character in his second ballet '' Petrushka''. The Russian influence can be seen in the use of a number of Russian folk tunes in addition to two waltzes by Viennese composer Joseph Lanner and a French music hall tune. Stravinsky also used a folk tune from Rimsky-Korsakov's opera ''The Snow Maiden'', showing the former's continued reverence for his teacher. The "Petrushka chord" was "the first important use of bitonality in modern music." Stravinsky's third ballet, ''
The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring'' () is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky ...
'', caused a near-riot at the premiere due to its
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
nature. He had begun to experiment with polytonality in ''The Firebird'' and ''Petrushka'', but for ''The Rite of Spring'', he "pushed [it] to its logical conclusion," as Eric Walter White described it. In addition, the complex Metre (music), meter in the music consists of phrases combining conflicting time signatures and odd Accent (music), accents, such as the "jagged slashes" in the "Sacrificial Dance". Both polytonality and unusual rhythms can be heard in the chords that open the second episode, "Augurs of Spring", consisting of an E-flat Dominant seventh chord, dominant 7 superimposed on an F-flat major Triad (music), triad written in an uneven rhythm, Stravinsky shifting the accents seemingly at random to create asymmetry. ''The Rite of Spring'' is one of the most famous and influential works of the 20th century; the musicologist Donald Jay Grout described it as having "the effect of an explosion that so scattered the elements of musical language that they could never again be put together as before."


Russian period, 1913–1920

The musicologist Jeremy Noble (musicologist), Jeremy Noble said that Stravinsky's "intensive researches into Russian folk material" took place during his time in Switzerland from 1914 to 1920.
Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...
considered Stravinsky's Russian period to have begun in 1913 with ''The Rite of Spring'' due to its use of Russian folk songs, themes, and techniques. The use of duple or triple meters was especially prevalent in Stravinsky's Russian period music; while the pulse may have remained constant, the time signature would often change to constantly shift the accents. While Stravinsky did not use as many folk melodies as he had in his first three ballets, he often used folk poetry. The ballet-cantata ' was based on texts from a collection of Russian folk poetry by Pyotr Kireevsky, and his opera-ballet '' Renard'' was based on a folktale collected by Alexander Afanasyev. Many of Stravinsky's Russian period works featured animal characters and themes, likely due to inspiration from nursery rhymes he read with his children. Stravinsky also used unique theatrical styles. ' blended the staging of ballets with the small instrumentation of early cantatas, a unique production described on the score as "Russian Choreographic Scenes". In ''Renard'', the voices were placed in the orchestra, as they were meant to accompany the action on stage. ''L'Histoire du soldat'' was composed in 1918 with the Swiss novelist Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, Charles F. Ramuz as a small musical theatre production for dancers, a narrator, and a septet. It mixed the Russian folktales in the narrative with common musical structures of the time, like the Tango music, tango, Waltz (music), waltz, Rag (music), rag, and
chorale A chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one o ...
. Even as his style changed in later years, Stravinsky maintained a musical connection to his Russian roots.


Neoclassical period, 1920–1951

The ballet ''
Pulcinella Pulcinella (; ) is a classical character that originated in commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry. Pulcinella's versatility in status and attitude has captivated audiences worldwide and kept ...
'' was commissioned by Diaghilev in 1919 after he proposed the idea of a ballet based on music by 18th-century Italian composers like Giovanni Battista Pergolesi; by imposing a work based on the harmonic and rhythmic systems of Late Baroque (music), late-Baroque era composers, Stravinsky marked the start of his turn towards 18th-century music. Although the musicologist Jeremy Noble considered Stravinsky's neoclassical period to have begun in 1920 with his ''
Symphonies of Wind Instruments The ''Symphonies of Wind Instruments'' (French title: ''Symphonies d'instruments à vent'') is a concert work written by Igor Stravinsky in 1920, for an ensemble of woodwind and brass instruments. The piece is in one movement, lasting about 9 m ...
'', Bartók argued that the period "really starts with his Octet for Wind Instruments, followed by his Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (Stravinsky), Concerto for Piano". During this period, Stravinsky used techniques and themes from the Classical period (music), classical period of music. Greek mythology was a common theme in Stravinsky's neoclassical works. His first Greek mythology-based work was the ballet (1927), choosing the leader of the Muses and the god of art Apollo as the subjects. Stravinsky would use themes from Greek mythology in future works like ''
Oedipus rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...
'' (1927), ''
Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...
'' (1935), and ''Orpheus (ballet), Orpheus'' (1947).
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 ...
wrote that ''Oedipus rex'' was "the product of Stravinsky's neo-classical manner at its most extreme," and that musical techniques "thought outdated" were juxtaposed against contemporary ideas. In addition, Stravinsky turned towards older musical structures and modernized them. His Octet (1923) uses the sonata form, modernizing it by disregarding the standard ordering of themes and traditional tonal relationships for different sections. Baroque
counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...
was used throughout the choral ''Symphony of Psalms'' (1930). In the jazz-influenced ''Ebony Concerto (Stravinsky), Ebony Concerto'' (1945), Stravinsky fused big band orchestration with Baroque forms and harmonies. Stravinsky's neoclassical period ended in 1951 with the opera ''The Rake's Progress''. Taruskin described the opera as "the hub and essence of 'neo-classicism'". He pointed out how the opera contains numerous references to Greek mythology and other operas like Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' and Bizet's ''Carmen'', but still "embod[ies] the distinctive structure of a fairy tale". Stravinsky was inspired by the List of operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, operas of Mozart in composing the music, particularly , but other scholars also point out influence from George Frideric Handel, Handel, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Gluck, Ludwig van Beethoven, Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Schubert, Carl Maria von Weber, Weber, Gioachino Rossini, Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Donizetti, and Giuseppe Verdi, Verdi. ''The Rake's Progress'' has become an important work in List of prominent operas, opera repertoire, being "[more performed] than any other opera written after the death of Giacomo Puccini, Puccini", according to Taruskin.


Serial period, 1954–1968

In the 1950s, Stravinsky began using serial compositional techniques, such as the
twelve-tone technique The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale ...
originally devised by
Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
. Noble wrote that this time was "the most profound change in Stravinsky's musical vocabulary", partly due to Stravinsky's newfound interest in the music of the Second Viennese School after meeting Robert Craft. The composer's treatment of the twelve-tone technique was unique: whereas Schoenberg's technique was very strict, disallowing repetitions of a
tone row In music, a tone row or note row ( or '), also series or set, is a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets are sometime ...
until it was complete, Stravinsky repeated notes freely, even separating the row into Cell (music), cells and reordering the notes. In addition, his serial period's orchestration style became dark and bass-heavy, with Wind instrument, winds and piano frequently using their lowest registers. Stravinsky first experimented with non-twelve-tone serial techniques in small-scale works such as the Cantata (Stravinsky), Cantata (1952), the Septet (Stravinsky), Septet (1953) and ''Three Songs from Shakespeare'' (1953). The first of his compositions fully based on such techniques was ''In Memoriam Dylan Thomas'' (1954). ''Agon (ballet), Agon'' (1954–1957) was the first of his works to include a twelve-tone series, whereas the second movement from ' (1956) was the first piece to contain a movement entirely based on a tone row. ''Agon'''s unique tonal structure was significant to Stravinsky's serial music; it begins Diatonic scale, diatonic, moves towards full 12-tone serialism in the middle, and returns to diatonicism in the end. Stravinsky returned to sacred themes in works such as '','' ' (1958), ''A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer'' (1961), and The Flood (Stravinsky), ''The Flood'' (1962). Stravinsky used a number of concepts from earlier works in his serial pieces; for example, the voice of God in Christianity, God being two Bass (voice type), bass voices in homophony seen in ''The Flood'' was previously used in '. Stravinsky's final large-scale work, the '' Requiem Canticles'' (1966), made use of a complex four-part array of tone rows throughout, showing the evolution of Stravinsky's serialist music. Noble described the ''Requiem Canticles'' as "a distillation both of the liturgical text and of his own musical means of setting it, evolved and refined through a career of more than 60 years". The influence of other composers on Stravinsky can be seen throughout this period. He was heavily influenced by Schoenberg, not only in his use of the twelve-tone technique, but also in the distinctly "Schoenbergian" instrumentation of the Septet and the similarities between Schoenberg's ''Klangfarbenmelodie'' and Stravinsky's ''Variations: Aldous Huxley in memoriam, Variations.'' Stravinsky also used a number of themes found in works by Benjamin Britten, later commenting about the "many titles and subjects [I have shared] with Mr. Britten already". In addition, he was very familiar with the works of Anton Webern, being one of the figures who inspired Stravinsky to consider serialism a possible form of composition.


Artistic influences

Stravinsky worked with some of the most famous artists of his time, many of whom he met after achieving international success with ''The Firebird''. Diaghilev was one of the composer's most prominent artistic influences, having introduced him to composing for the stage and bringing him international fame with his first three ballets. Through the Ballets Russes and Diaghilev, Stravinsky worked with figures like Vaslav Nijinsky, Léonide Massine, Alexandre Benois, Michel Fokine, and Léon Bakst. The composer's interest in art propelled him to develop a strong relationship with Picasso, whom he met in 1917. In the years following, the two engaged in an artistic dialogue in which they exchanged small-scale works of art to each other as a sign of intimacy, which included the famous portrait of Stravinsky by Picasso, and a short sketch of clarinet music by Stravinsky. This exchange was essential to establish how the artists would approach their collaborative space in ''Ragtime'' and ''Pulcinella''. Stravinsky displayed a taste in literature that was wide and reflected his constant desire for new discoveries. The texts and literary sources for his work began with interest in Folklore, Russian folklore. After moving to Switzerland in 1914, Stravinsky began gathering folk stories from numerous collections, which were later used in works like ', ''Renard'', ', and various songs. Many of Stravinsky's works, including ''The Firebird'', ''Renard'', and ' were inspired by Alexander Afanasyev's famous collection ''Russian Folk Tales''. Collections of folk music influenced Stravinsky's music; numerous melodies from ''The Rite of Spring'' were found in an anthology of Lithuanian folk songs. An interest in the Roman Rite, Latin liturgy began shortly after Stravinsky rejoined the church in 1926, beginning with the composition of his first religious work in 1926 ', written in Old Church Slavonic. He later used three psalms from the Latin Vulgate in his ''Symphony of Psalms'' for orchestra and mixed choir. Many works in the composer's neoclassical and serial periods used (or were based on) liturgical texts. Stravinsky worked with many authors throughout his career. He first worked with the Swiss novelist Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, Charles F. Ramuz on ' in 1918, with whom he formed the idea and wrote the text. In 1933, Ida Rubinstein commissioned Stravinsky to set music to a poem by André Gide, later becoming the melodrama '. The Stravinsky-Gide collaboration was apparently tense: Gide disliked how the music did not follow the Prosody (music), prosody of his poem and did not attend rehearsals, and Stravinsky ignored many of Gide's ideas. Gide later left the project and did not attend the premiere run. The story of ''The Rake's Progress'' was first conceived by Stravinsky and W. H. Auden, the latter of whom wrote the libretto with Chester Kallman. Stravinsky befriended many other authors as well, including T. S. Eliot, Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, and Dylan Thomas, the last of whom Stravinsky began working with on an opera in 1953 but stopped due to Thomas's death.


Legacy

Stravinsky is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. In 1998, ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine listed him as one of the Time 100, 100 most influential people of the century. Stravinsky was not only recognized for his composing; he also achieved fame as a pianist and as a conductor.
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
wrote in ''Time'', "He conducted with an energy and vividness that completely conveyed his every musical intention. Here was Stravinsky, a musical revolutionary whose own evolution never stopped. There is not a composer who lived during his time or is alive today who was not touched, and sometimes transformed, by his work." Stravinsky was also renowned for his precise orchestration: the critic Alexis Roland-Manuel wrote that Stravinsky and the French composer
Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...
were the "[two men] in the world who best knows the weight of a trombone-note, the harmonics of a 'cello or a ''pp'' tam-tam in the relationships of one orchestral group to another." Anthony Tommasini writes: "One morning in 1971 I arrived at the door of the music building at Yale, on which someone had posted an index card with this simple news: 'Igor Stravinsky died today.' It felt as if the floor had dropped out from under the musical world I inhabited. Stravinsky had been like a Beethoven among us." Stravinsky was noted for his distinctive use of rhythm, especially in ''The'' ''Rite of Spring''. The rhythm in ''The Rite'' stretched across Bar (music), bars and lacked distinct beats, which opened the door for future composers to make rhythm more fluid within meters. However, many saw his subsequent neoclassical period as a return to the past while other composers tried advancing modern music. His subsequent turn towards serialism further alienated him from audiences, and academics saw this stylistic shift as not innovative enough, since they believed the death of Schoenberg also marked the end of twelve-tone music. Stephen Walsh related the changing nature of Stravinsky's music to the composer's nature: as an exile from his native Russia, Stravinsky adapted to his environment and absorbed the music of those around him. Martha Hyde stated that more recent analysis "judg[ed] Stravinsky's neoclassical style as the harbinger of musical postmodernism". After his death, Stravinsky's importance in modernist music became evident: though many modern styles quickly fell out of fashion (like twelve-tone music), the music of Stravinsky stood out as a body of unique ingenuity, according to Walsh. Stravinsky influenced many composers and musicians. His music continues to offer inspiration and a unique method to young composers. The rhythmic innovations in ''The Rite of Spring'' brought rhythm to the forefront of modern music rather than tonality, setting a new standard in the modernist movement that future composers like Varèse and Ligeti were inspired to innovate upon. Stravinsky's rhythm and vitality greatly influenced
Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...
and
Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...
, and the combination of folklore and modernism found in many of Stravinsky's works influenced
Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...
as well. Stravinsky's less popular works were also widely influential: the disconnected form of the ''Symphonies of Wind Instruments'' can be seen similarly in later works by avant-garde masters like Messiaen, Michael Tippett, Tippett, Louis Andriessen, Andriessen, and Iannis Xenakis, Xenakis. Stravinsky also influenced composers like Elliott Carter, Harrison Birtwistle, and John Tavener. Aside from Craft, his students include Earnest Andersson, Armando José Fernandes, Mordecai Seter, Robert Strassburg, and Warren Zevon.


Recordings

Stravinsky's need for money during the World Wars led him to sign many contracts with record companies to conduct his music. His early exposure to player piano technology guided his view that records were far inferior to live performance but acted as historical documentation of how his works should be performed. As a result, Stravinsky left a massive archive of recordings of his own music, seldom recording music by other composers. Although most of his recordings were made with studio musicians, he also worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Stravinsky received five Grammy Awards and a total of eleven nominations for his recordings, with three of his albums being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. He was Posthumous award, posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. During his lifetime, Stravinsky appeared on several telecasts and documentaries. The first, ''A Conversation with Igor Stravinsky'', was released in 1957 by NBC and produced by Robert Graff, who later commissioned and produced ''The Flood''. The interview-like format later influenced the various volumes Craft wrote with Stravinsky. The 1965 National Film Board of Canada documentary ''Stravinsky'', directed by Roman Kroitor and Wolf Koenig, followed Stravinsky conducting the CBC Symphony Orchestra in a recording of the ''Symphony of Psalms'', with anecdotal interviews interspersed throughout. The 1966 CBS documentary ''Portrait of Stravinsky'' took the composer back to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (where ''The Rite of Spring'' premiered) and to his old home in Clarens, Switzerland. Other documentaries captured the collaborative process between Balanchine and Stravinsky.


Writings

Stravinsky published a number of books throughout his career. In his 1936 autobiography, ''Chronicle of My Life'', which was written with the help of Walter Nouvel, Stravinsky included his well-known statement that "music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all". With Alexis Roland-Manuel and Pyotr Suvchinsky, Pierre Souvtchinsky, he wrote his 1939–40 Harvard University Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, which were delivered in French and first collected under the title in 1942 and then translated in 1947 as ''Poetics of Music''. In 1959, several interviews between the composer and Craft were published as ''Conversations with Igor Stravinsky''. Five more volumes of a similar format were published over the following decade. Books and articles are listed in Appendix E of Eric Walter White's ''Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works'', references in Alicja Jarzębska's ''Stravinsky: His Thoughts and Music'', and Stephen Walsh (writer), Stephen Walsh's profile of Stravinsky on ''Oxford Music Online''.


Books

* Originally published in French as ''Chroniques de ma vie'', 2 vols. (Paris: Denoël et Steele, 1935), subsequently translated (anonymously) as ''Chronicle of My Life''. This edition reprinted as ''Igor Stravinsky – An Autobiography'', with a preface by Eric Walter White (London: Calder and Boyars, 1975) . Reprinted again as ''An Autobiography (1903–1934)'' (London: Boyars, 1990) . Also published as ''Igor Stravinsky – An Autobiography'' (New York: M. & J. Steuer, 1958), and ''iarchive:igorstravinskyan002221mbp/mode/2up, An Autobiography'' (New York: W. W. Norton, 1962) . * * Reprinted by University of California Press, 1980. . * Reprinted by University of California Press, 1981. * Reprinted by University of California Press, 1981. * Reprinted by Faber and Faber, 1986. * * * This is a one-volume edition of ''Themes and Episodes'' (1966) and ''Retrospectives and Conclusions'' (1969) as revised by Igor Stravinsky in 1971. . Reprinted by University of California Press, 1982.


Articles

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References


Notes


Citations


Sources


Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Originally published in English by Gollancz in 1936 as Chronicle of My Life. Various other editions and publishers - 1958, 1962, 1975, 1990. * * * * *


Articles and dissertations

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External links

*
The Stravinsky Foundation
website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stravinsky, Igor Igor Stravinsky, 1882 births 1971 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists 20th-century Russian classical composers Soviet classical composers 20th-century Russian classical pianists 20th-century French composers 20th-century French conductors (music) 20th-century French male classical pianists 20th-century French classical pianists 20th-century French male musicians Academic staff of the École Normale de Musique de Paris American classical composers American classical pianists American male classical composers American male classical pianists American male conductors (music) American opera composers American people of Polish descent American people of Russian descent Ballets Russes composers Burials at Isola di San Michele Composers for piano Naturalized citizens of France French classical composers French classical pianists French male classical composers French male classical pianists French people of Polish descent French people of Russian descent Grammy Award winners Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Honorary members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Switzerland Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Jazz-influenced classical composers Russian male opera composers Modernist composers Neoclassical composers People from Lomonosov People from Petergofsky Uyezd Pupils of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Ragtime composers Recipients of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists Russian anti-communists Russian male conductors (music) Russian opera composers Russian Orthodox Christians from the United States Russian people of Polish descent Twelve-tone and serial composers People from Volyn Oblast