Listening to Stravinsky's Music in the 1920s Author(s): Eric Walter White Source: Tempo, New Series, No.

81, Stravinsky's 85th Birthday (Summer, 1967), pp. 32-36 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/943885 . Accessed: 06/12/2013 03:56
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LISTENING TO STRAVINSKY'S MUSIC IN THE I920s

heard some of Stravinsky's I first music as a schoolboy of eighteen,in the at the old course of a concert Colston Hall, Bristolon i5th FebruaryI924. It suite conducted Firebird was The by Sir Thomas Beecham; and I remembersitting in the gallery,listening thatpart entranced,and thento myastonishment finding was of theaudience upsetand scandalisedbywhattheyhad heard. The impression I began to look out carefully for opportunities was so strongthat thereafter of hearingother works by him. A few months later I was stayingin Melun on the edge of the forestof Fontainebleau. It was May i924; and in addition to exploringthe countryside, and boatingon the Seine, I used occasionallyto visitParis. in the forest bicycling name on a posteradvertising an orchestral concert One day I noticed Stravinsky's at the on 22nd May, and I House to be conductedby Serge Koussevitzky Opera bought a ticket immediately. The programmeconsisted solely of Stravinsky's made just as immediatean impacton me as The worksand I foundthatPetrushka a months few had done Firebird earlier; but when we came to thepiecede resistance, of the new Piano Concerto withthe composerhimself the which was as premiere I soloist, feltsomewhatbaffled. I was fascinated by his appearanceand performance; I noted the long pause at the end of the first movement,duringwhich he drawnfroma little pile placed dried his hands with one or more handkerchiefs at the side of the piano; and I neverdreamed (nor, do I think,did the restof the audience) that this pause was being prolonged owing to a momentary lapse of and Petrushka I foundhis neo-classical memoryon his part. But afterTheFirebird and I was not at all sure how to relate thisConcerto and upsetting, idiom strange After ballet the interval therewas anothersurprisein store earlier scores. to the I forme-The Riteof Spring. was completelyunpreparedfor this extraordinary work, with its extremesof violence allied to occasional momentsof sensitivity, obtained by sophisticated and primitiveeffects means; and when the Sacrificial I if had been knockedout. Not so I felt as its to Dance came end, cataclysmic I saw him on To to his plush-coveredfauteuil my surprise leap my neighbour. his in the air and shouting and and jump up 'Bravo'! down, waving programme I left Melun and went to afterwards stayin Perigueuxwith a French Shortly who had a grand piano in their sitting-room. Going to the local music family score of The Rite of shop ('Neyrat-en face Daumesnil'), I orderedthe miniature its was so fascinated when it arrived, and, by complexitythatI began to Spring I make my own four-handed piano arrangement. startedwith the introduction to PartTwo and had made quite satisfactory progressby the time I leftP~rigueux laterthatsummer; but I dropped the work as soon as I discoveredthatStravinsky of his own. had made and publisheda duet arrangement In October 1924 I went up to Oxford, and there the four-handed version of Petrushka, publishedby Edition Russe de Musique, became my constantcomto perform myself passagesof it withtwo hands; and I remember panion. I taught an enthusiastic demonstration of this in my Balliol room in Acton givingHarold It must have been about the same time that ArthurG. the summerof
I925.

by Eric WalterWhite

1967 by Eric Walter White

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LISTENING IN THE

1920S

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Browne of Christ Church when walkingdown the Giler, heard the percussive phrasesof the Russian Dance emerge fromthe open window of my attic room and marvelled that anyone in Balliol should share his enthusiasmfor modern music. of Stravinsky's music were I doubt whetherany professional performances I was was true I failed that tried but to persuade in Oxford while up-it given Artur Rubinsteinto include in one of his recitals the Piano Rag Music which had dedicated to him in 1919. NeverthelessI. made up for that by Stravinsky to join me in club performances of theduet verof mypianistfriends some getting and The Riteof Spring.NaturallyI boughtthe new Sonata and sions of Petrushka Serenadeforpiano as soon as theyappeared; and I gave what may have been the of the latter in Great Britain (certainlythe firstin Oxford) first performance when I played it at the Holywell Music Room in January, I927. The percussive influenced some of the compositions of Stravinsky's piano pieces style score thatArthurG. Browne of my contemporaries;and the Homage toBeethoven wrote in 1927 (with words by Tom Driberg) specially to commemoratethe of Beethoven'sdeathwas closelyrelatedto theidiomof TheWedding. centenary But during this period how could one hear the orchestralmusic? The of Diaghilev's Russian Ballet answer was-by attendingas many performances as one possiblycould. I first saw the RussianBalletin 1925 when it was contributing a single ballet to each varietyprogrammeput on at the Coliseum Theatre, no work of Stravinsky's was done thatsummer. When London; but unfortunately the company returnedto the Coliseum in the autumn, they added Petrushka to theirrepertory. I went up to London on a date in Novemberand by dint of froma theatrenear the Strandto carefultimingand a judicious bit of sprinting St. Martin's Lane managedto combine the greaterpart of one of Balieff'sChauve with the full 4. minutesof Petrushka. Sourisperformances The followingyear the companywas back in London for a full season on its own at His Majesty's Theatre in the Haymarket.This time therewere three Pulcinella and The Wedding-and ballets in the repertory-Petrushka, Stravinsky of each of these. I was particularly I managedto see performances thrilled by The of the two Pleyel double-pianos Wedding, althoughI had to admit thatthe effect was not altogethersatisfactory on the stage with their shabbycases like coffins, But the Nijinska choreography of the fromthe point of view stage spectacle. of the four the seemedto me apt and moving, performance pianists (Georges Auric, Francis Poulenc, Vittorio Rieti, and VladimirDukelsky) with Eugene Goossens as conductor was exciting,and the musical score breathtakingly original. But some of thepublic and manyof the criticswere outraged. I agreedwarmly with an "It was to come he out from Wells when H. G. wrote, amazingexperience this delightful displaywith the warp and woof of music and vision still running in one's mind, and finda little group of critics flushedwith and interweaving the storesof theirmindsforcheap tritedepreciation and ransacking of resentment had a chanceto praisefora longtime'"'. thefreshestand theyhad thingthat strongest afterthe London premibre, His letterof protest,which was writtenimmediately was reprintedas a throwawayand handed out with the programmesat subat the theatre. I kept my copy of it. sequent performances the Russian Ballet returnedto London for an autumn In November i926 to revive The season at the Lyceum Theatre. This gave them an opportunity for about fiveyears owing to the Firebird which had been out of the repertory accidental destructionof the sets. For this revival Goncharovawas invited to

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34

TEMPO

took place on 2 th performance design new decor and costumes, and the first November. Lydia Lopokova, as full of bounce as a new tennisball, danced the title role, while Lifarwas a slightly cautious Tsarevich,because a few dayspreand was wearinga skull-cap he had his head on thestage. concussed viously slightly de balletwas clearlyunaccustomedto all the exertionsFokine required The corps of Kashchei's retinue,and by the end of the Infernal Dance manyoftheircostumes had become unfastened.I admiredthe way in which duringthe following Bercedid other to use the sleepingpartners each Oxford up. Returning surreptitiously at midnight, I foundthata seasonalfoghad disrupted the railway fromPaddington and and when I a handful of other belated revellers arrived at Didcot timetable, where we were due to change, we were told thatour connectionhad gone and the stationmaster therewould be nothingelse until the milk train. Fortunately a be on which himself to to allowed persuaded put 'special', got us back to Oxford in rollickingstyle. The Russian Ballet season at the Princes Theatre in the summerof 1927 in honwas memorablebecause duringit Diaghilev mounteda gala performance conducted three of his ballets: our of the King of Spain at which Stravinsky and Pulcinella. I rememberhow disconcertedI was by his TheFirebird, Petrushka insistenceon rigidmetre in TheFirebird-nota suspicionof rubatowas allowed, and there were times when the dancers seemed to findhis beat veryunaccomby the tempihe adopted. In Petrushka modatingand were clearlyinconvenienced I was entrancedto notice in Scene Three thatfromthe seat in thepit where I was head as seen againstthe footlights almost the silhouetteof his remarkable sitting in which the Blackamoor the with the coconut centre coincided placed literally of the stage, worshippedand subsequently beheaded. In Scene Four I watched with admiration the way he refusedto concede any ritardando duringthe bridge Dance of the but I was startled to find before the that Coachmen, presently passage at the climax of this numberwhen the tune returnsin canon he laid down his baton, leavingthe orchestrato continueon its own until the double bar. For the greaterpart of 1928 and 1929 I lived in or near Berlin,and thereI Rexat the Krolloper had the good luck to see an excellentproductionof Oedipus in 1928 and to be presentat the RussianBallet Festspielin the summerof 1929. OedipusRexwas a revelation. Described by the composer himselfas artopera been presentedby the RussianBallet in the summerof 1927 oratorio,it had first in concert format the ThbetreSarah-Bernhardt, Paris, where it had been sandwiched between two ballets. This proved to be a seriouserrorofjudgement,and afterthe first flop. Shortly manypeople seemed to thinkthe work was a ghastly Vienna mounted at it at 23rd (on February1928) Klemperer stage production the Krolloper, Berlin,where it formedpart of a Stravinsky bill, the other items was presentat the first performbeing Mavraand TheSoldier'sTale. Stravinsky ance on February2Sth-and has said that he winced when he saw the Speaker enter wearing a black Pierrot costume. This error had been correctedby the time I attendedthe second performance (in May); and I was luckyenoughto go later the same year. Musicallythe to each of the subsequentfourperformances and of the stageperformance the effect work had been most carefully prepared, was staggering.I neverhad anydoubt about its being a masterpiece. of opera productionwas highin Althoughat thattime the generalstandard on the Unterden Berlin-and therewere threeopera-houses open simultaneously, was a and in different matter withballet. at the Kroll, Linden, Charlottenburg-it was performed at the Krolloper in the same bill as Later in the season, Petrushka

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LISTENING IN THE

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OedipusRex;but the dancers were not particularly good, and with choreography of Max to have lost somethingof instead the ballet seemed Fokine, by Terpis its true identity. I was accordinglydelightedwhen I foundthe Russian Ballet advertisedto give a shortseason in Berlin in June 1929. There were two proOper-and each was grammes-one forthe Staatsoperand one fortheStdidtische to be performed included The twice. The Staatsoper oftheNightinSong programme with and Stdidtische the gale by Balanchine; Oper programmeinchoreography was refreshing to see the dancersagain,and I am particularly glad thatI saw Lifar much to of the orchestral was veryinferior. (lance Apollo-but mydismay playing where even the presenceof Ernest This was particularly trueof TheRiteofSpring, Ansermetat the conductor's desk could not save the situation. I suppose the reason was that this visit came at the end of the season when the playerswere but the results tired,and in anycase the scores were probablyunder-rehearsed; and this was all the more disappointing since recent concert were distressing, ballet performancesby Klemperer at the Krolloper of some of Stravinsky's In any case, Stravinsky who had visitedBerlin earlier in Juneto play his Piano and (as he rightly Concerto underKlempererleftbeforethe RussianBalletarrived "I that absence saved a somewhat in from his me Chronicle): says expect my painful impression." I caughta glimpseof Diaghat the Staatsoper one of the performances After horrified from the door and was and Lifar to see Diaghilev ilev stage walkingaway a bad ill such Two months later he so and with yellowishcomplexion. looking was dead; and with his death his ballet companywas dispersed. and minute-writers' In theautumnof 1929 I was workingin the translators' of the League ofNations,and myworktookme frequentsectionof thesecretariat ly to Geneva. At the end of NovemberI broke thejourneyin Parisfora concert at the formedParis Symphony Orchestraunder Ansermet given by the recently in rememberseeing Stravinsky the Salle Pleyel and distinctly foyerin chatting I could not freemyself fortheconcertthe the interval;but to mydisappointment of the Capriccio was given with performance followingweek at which the first in Switzerland,however. the composer as soloist. There were compensations at La had writtenhis fascinating was who F. Muette, Pully, C. living Ramuz, by Mermod, Lausanne. At the Conservatoirede Musique, Geneva, the manuswas living was availableforconsultation. Ansermet scriptfullscore of TheFirebird in Geneva and was in chargeof the concertsgiven by the Orchestrede la Suisse included works by Stravinsky.In fact, Romande whose programmes frequently on to Geneva came I8th October, 930 Stravinsky o to play his Capriccio at a and TheFairy'sKiss; and concert in the Grand Theatre thatincluded Pulcinella his Ragtime was featured in the programmeof a November concert. It was rumouredat the time that he had completed a new work: so wonderingwhat I sent Ansermet a postcard. it was, and where and when it would be performed, and would He kindlyreplied tellingme that the work was a choral symphony in Brusselson I 3thDecember. My currentcontract receive its first performance at the League happened to come to an end just beforethatdate: so I took a train toBrussels, boughta ticketfortheconcertin the Palais des Beaux Artsand enjoyed of TheFirebird, the Overture to Mavra, the a magnificent programmeconsisting of Psalms. Four StudiesforOrchestra,and the Capriccio, as well as the Symphony
and these had just been published in a limited edition sur Igor Strawinsky, Souvenirs had been particularly good. and Apollo Musagetes scores e.g. Pulcinella, The Wedding cluded The Rite of Spring and Apollo Musagetes. When the company arrived, it

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36

TEMPO

It is true thaton thisoccasion the Symphony of Psalmsdid not quite make its full had not yet discoveredthatit was essentialthatthe pulsation as Stravinsky effect, ofthe coda, 'Laudate Eum in cymbalis bene sonantibus,'shouldbe extremely slow nearer minim MM than even so But it was was clear that this 36 (with 48). anotherneo-classicalmasterpiece. Within the space of seven years, I had pursued performances of his music fromBristoland Oxfordand London, to Paris, Berlin, Geneva and Brussels; and I was luckyto havehad the chanceto do so. In thatperiod I also hearda fewof his works on the radio, includingthe Piano Concerto, TheSoldier'sTale, TheSongof and The Wedding.But quite apartfromthe standards theNightingale of the actual from broadcast the of etc. technical the 2LO, gGB performances quality receiving sets leftmuch to be desired, and the soundsheard were oftenso distortedas to idea of the real qualityof the music. Nor was the gramogive a verymisleading of It much ofperformances help. was truethatColumbia issuedrecordings phone suite in I927, and of Petrushka of TheFirebird coda the to the ballet) and (lacking three of with The RiteofSpring the following them as conyear-all Stravinsky and records became these But the ductor; quite popular. by i930 only other works of his to have been recorded complete were the piano version of Ragtime he had composed and the Concertino.This total of fiveworksout of the fifty-five and for was rather like who wanted anyone inadequatecoverage, by 1930 myself to become better acquainted with the music, the only solution was to try to wherevertheymightbe held, and to studythe music attendactual performances in score.

STRAVINSKY AND THE PIANO

by John Ogdon

unusualfactthatStravinsky Not only the piano music, but also the relatively too that although composes at the piano, should concern us. It is noteworthy works contain Stravinsky's piano outputis not verylarge, manyof his orchestral in Three and the Symphony importantconcertantepiano parts. That Petrushka conceived as compositionsfor piano and orchestra, Movementswere originally and then altered to their presentform,perhaps representsa realisationon his was composed, that the role of the part, propheticat the time when Petrushka with orchestra could not remainin the same relationinstrument piano as a solo as had been the case in thenineteenth as to the orchestra, protagonist, century. ship one needs a veritable filamentof To encompass the protean Stravinsky, A few follow. First: polarities. John Fowles, in The Aristos, workpoints. enjoins us to thinkpolarly, and cites Beethovenas the supreme example of a composerdoingthis. CertainworksofBeethoven,especiallythe 'Hammerklavier' of thosepolarities Sonata,seem to expressin musicaltermsthepotentialcongruity of feelingwhich express themselvesin creation and destruction. At least one Le Sacre, does this. As is well known, Stravinsky has aswork of Stravinsky's, ? 1967 by John Ogdon

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