biography
| name: |
Stravinsky, Igor (Fyodorovich)
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pronunciation:
[stravinskee]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1882–1971)
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| biography:
| Composer and conductor, born in Oranienbaum, near St Petersburg, Russia. The son of an admired bass in the Imperial Opera, he studied piano and composition as a boy. Although he studied law at St Petersburg University, he was far more interested in music and studied composition (1903–6) under Rimsky-Korsokov becoming a member of that composer's circle. In 1909 the Russian ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev invited him to compose for his company, the Ballets Russes. In 1910 the company danced Stravinsky's first major work, The Firebird, and for the next 20 years he was closely associated with Diaghilev's company. Their premiere of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (‘the rite of spring’) in 1913 caused a tremendous commotion. After 1910 he essentially settled in Western Europe, first Switzerland and then Paris, where he toured as a conductor and pianist in performances of his own music. After the Russian Revolution (1917), he regarded himself as an exile. In 1926 he rejoined the Russian Orthodox Church and his devout Christianity inspired many of his subsequent works. After three tours in the USA and several American commissions, he moved there (1939), settled in Los Angeles, and became a naturalized citizen (1945). Although he continued to be an international Neoclassicist in his musical style, he did show some recognition of his American environment, writing his famous Circus Polka (1942) for the elephants of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, and Ebony Concerto (1945) for Woody Herman. His various efforts at film music ended up being used in other compositions, and the climax of his Neoclassical style was the opera, The Rake's Progress (1951). The young American conductor, Robert Craft, became Stravinsky's inseparable assistant from 1948; Craft not only aided Stravinsky in his various musical projects but helped him assemble several books. He also introduced him to the serialist school of music and, from the early 1950s, Stravinsky composed in his own adaptation of this style. By this time, he was generally recognized as the leading composer of his era, and he toured throughout the world conducting his own and others' works. In 1962 his 80th birthday was widely celebrated, and he made a triumphant return to Russia. He settled in New York City (1969) and died there, but was buried in Venice near Diaghilev's grave. |
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