Igor Stravinsky
In the late summer of 1909, Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) received a telegram that was to change his life and the course of music history. The sender was the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who asked the hitherto virtually unknown pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov if he would like to write the music for a large ballet based on a material from the Russian fairytale world. The premiere of the piece, entitled "The Firebird", was scheduled for the following spring in Paris. After brief hesitation in view of the short time available – "I wasn't aware of my strengths at the time", Stravinsky later recalled – the young composer threw himself into the work. "The Firebird" went on to become a resounding success. Passages of rousing rhythmic power and aggressive ferocity, short melodies inspired by Russian folk music and a highly developed sense of timbre are the most important characteristics of the "Firebird" music, which were to remain significant for Stravinsky's work. The decisive novelty of the score, however, is rather more hidden. Even in this early work, Stravinsky suspended traditional tonality for long stretches and allowed the combination of harmonies to follow its own inner logic. At the time, the harmonies themselves are not yet considered revolutionary. This was to change in the next two ballet scores, "Petrushka" and "Le sacre du printemps". In "Le sacre du printemps", which premiered on 29th May 1913 and was accompanied by one of the biggest scandals in recent music history, Stravinsky unleashes a rhythmic and tonal storm of previously unimaginable intensity, layers ostinati one on top of the other to create extreme dissonances and cancels out any metre by means of irregular accents. This work exemplifies the use of montage as a basic principle of Stravinsky's composition, the use of fixed building blocks that are juxtaposed and layered on top of each other in clear contrasts and sharp incisions.
Stravinsky could not and did not want to surpass "Le sacre du printemps". Afterwards, partly under the impact of the war, he deliberately composed sparse, reduced works such as "The Soldier's Tale". In 1920, Stravinsky, who had previously lived in exile in Switzerland, settled in Paris. Just as he had previously been inspired by Russian folk music, he now took up musical styles of the past, which he adapted using his own unmistakable, alienating language, and became an exponent of neoclassicism. In the 1920s he started to perform very successfully, first as a pianist, but then mainly as a conductor of his own works.
Stravinsky perceived the rise of fascism as a general crisis of culture in Europe. This was compounded by personal misfortunes. Then, in 1939, when Stravinsky received an invitation from Harvard University to give lectures on the poetics of music, he saw an opportunity to alter his circumstances. At first, he only planned a temporary stay in the USA, but he soon decided to settle permanently in America. The composer only returned to Europe for concert engagements and in 1945 Stravinsky, who had previously held French citizenship, became an American citizen.
His American period led to a significant stylistic reorientation. Inspired by the music of the post-war generation, Stravinsky explored the music of Anton Webern in the 1950s, again adapting serial techniques in a highly individual way. At the age of over seventy, Stravinsky was thus simultaneously regarded as a "modernist par excellence" whose works from earlier phases were performed by prestigious large orchestras, and as an avant-gardist who was performed at the special festivals for the music of the present and thus seemed almost to belong to the youngest generation of composers. His last major work, the “Requiem Canticles”, was composed in 1965/66. Stravinsky died in New York on 6th April 1971.
© MARKA / Alamy Stock Photo
Past Events
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Robin Ticciati, conductor
Lang | Pärt | Stravinsky | Mahler
RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, Kammerakademie Potsdam
Justin Doyle, conductor
Gabrieli | Gesualdo | Stravinsky
Les Siècles, Rundfunkchor Berlin
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
Igor Stravinsky
Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Collegium Vocale Gent
Philippe Herreweghe, conductor
Fauré | Brahms | Stravinsky
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Stravinsky | Hindemith
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Sir George Benjamin, conductor
Benjamin | Knussen | Purcell | Stravinsky
Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam
Daniel Harding, conductor
Stravinsky | Messiaen | Debussy
Schola des Rundfunkchor Berlin
Benjamin Goodson, conductor
Works by Igor Stravinsky, Morton Feldman and John Cage
Berliner Philharmoniker
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
Works by Igor Strawinsky, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Claude Debussy and György Ligeti
Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Works by Pierre Boulez and Igor Stravinsky
Visiting Orchestras
Orchestra MusicAeterna
von Bingen / Ligeti / Schnittke / Stravinsky / Purcell / Pärt / Mozart
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam
Schönberg / Stravinsky / Barber / Varèse
Berlin-based Orchestras
Berliner Philharmoniker / Pierre Boulez
Works by Pierre Boulez and Igor Stravinsky
Visiting Orchestras
Bayerisches Staatsorchester / Kent Nagano
Works by Luciano Berio, Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky
Berlin-based Orchestras
Berliner Philharmoniker / Sir Simon Rattle
Works by Luciano Berio and Igor Stravinsky
String Quartets
Charity Concert
Philharmonia Quartett Berlin
Works by Igor Stravinsky, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Claude Debussy
Berlin-based Orchestras
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Marek Janowski
Works by Luciano Berio, Igor Stravinsky and Richard Strauss
Visiting Ensemble
Ensemble Modern / Beat Furrer
Works by Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez and Beat Furrer
Visiting Orchestras
Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam / Mariss Jansons
Werke von Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartók und Luciano Berio
Berlin-based Orchestras
Konzerthausorchester Berlin / Lothar Zagrosek
Works by Gérard Grisey, Igor Stravinsky, Olivier Messiaen and Alexander Skrjabin
Berlin-based Orchestras
Berliner Philharmoniker / Sir Simon Rattle
Works by Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky and Jean Sibelius
Berlin-based Orchestras
Berliner Philharmoniker – Sir Simon Rattle
Works by Jonathan Harvey and Igor Stravinsky
Visiting Orchestras