Stravinsky [Hardcover]

Vera Stravinsky (Author), Robert Craft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1979

This initial selection from the extraordinary lifetime of letters to and from Igor Stravinsky, annotated by his friend and associate Robert Craft, includes correspondence with W. H. Auden, Jean Cocteau, Lincoln Kirstein and other friends, as well as Stravinsky's letters to Nadia Boulanger, Ernest Ansermet, and Craft himself. The book presents a wealth of previously unpublished information about Stravinsky's relationships with other musicians, and about his methods of composition. The opening section, based on letters to Stravinsky from his first wife Catherine, is among the most important material yet made available for an understanding of the composer's personal and family life.If the exchanges with Auden (The Rake's Progress) and Cocteau (Oedipus Rex) take first place for general interest, the letters to Ansermet - who conducted more performances of Stravinsky's music than anyone but the composer himself - give a remarkable view of the musical and ballet worlds, especially of the Diaghilev period, and of the great impresario himself. This book, accompanied by two further volumes, is a major contribution to the Stravinsky canon and to the cultural history of the twentieth century.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The distinguished conductor, Robert Craft, met Igor Stravinsky in 1948, and developed what proved to be an extraordinarily fruitful artistic partnership from then until the composer's death in 1971. Craft lived with the family in California and later in New York and remained close to the composer's widow Vera, until her death in 1982. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 688 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (February 1, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671243829
• ISBN-13: 978-0671243821
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,298,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This monument to Stravinsky is an irreplaceable volume for your library, December 4, 2005

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful monument to the life of one of the great composers. He is significant to us not only for the body of works he left us, and it is considerable, but also because he lived in our time - or near it for you younger folks. He died in 1971 and was still writing something as wonderful as the "Requiem Canticles" as late as 1965-66.

This book is full of pictures from his life. We get rare glimpses not only at him and those with whom he lived is life, but artifacts such as posters, drafts of works, scores, even a picture of Stravinsky playing the piano in concert. One of my favorites is the master in a hotel nightclub at the piano working on the important but rarely performed "Threni". Or the sheet with the various versions of the row that is the source for the "Septet". I mean how cool is that?

The text is surely by Robert Craft. While he and Stravinsky's widow author the book, Vera, it really has to be the work of Craft. I tell you that I feel ever grateful to that man for the support he gave Stravinsky that allowed him to have the energy and support to compose his later works (those after "The Rake's Progress).

This book is not inexpensive, but for those of us who revere Stravinsky, there is no substitute for your library.