Top 10 most inspiring quotes by Igor Stravinsky
- In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love?
- Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody’s piano playing in my living room has to the book I am reading.
- Music praises God. Music is well or better able to praise him than the building of the church and all its decoration; it is the Church’s greatest ornament.
- My childhood was a peroid of waiting to the moment when i could send everyone in it to hell.
- The trick is to compose what one wants to compose and to get it commissioned afterward.
- I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.
- Conductors’ careers are made for the most part with ‘Romantic’ music. ‘Classic’ music eliminates the conductor; we do not remember him in it.
- The principle of the endless melody is the perpetual becoming of a music that never had any reason for starting, any more than it has any reason for ending.
- Is it not by love alone that we succeed in penetrating to the very essence of being?
- Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) was a Russian-born composer, conductor, and pianist who had a significant impact on the development of 20th-century music. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of his time and a leading figure in the field of modern classical music.
Stravinsky was born on June 17, 1882, in Oranienbaum, near St. Petersburg, Russia. His father was a bass singer at the Imperial Opera, and his mother came from a Polish aristocratic family. Initially, Stravinsky studied law at the University of St. Petersburg, but he had a deep passion for music and began taking private composition lessons.
In 1902, Stravinsky met the renowned Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who recognized his talent and became his mentor. Under Rimsky-Korsakov’s guidance, Stravinsky refined his skills in orchestration and composition. His early works, such as the Symphony in E-flat major and the Scherzo fantastique, were influenced by Russian nationalist music.
Stravinsky gained international acclaim with the ballet The Firebird (1910), commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes in Paris. The success of The Firebird was followed by two more ballets, Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913), which caused a scandal at its premiere due to its dissonant and unconventional musical language. The Rite of Spring is now considered a masterpiece and a revolutionary work that redefined the possibilities of musical expression.
During World War I, Stravinsky lived in Switzerland and collaborated with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes once again, producing notable works like Pulcinella (1920) and The Soldier’s Tale (1918). In the 1920s, Stravinsky embraced neoclassicism, a style characterized by a return to classical forms and structures, as seen in works such as the ballet Apollo (1928) and the Symphony of Psalms (1930).
In 1939, Stravinsky moved to the United States, where he continued to compose prolifically and gained American citizenship in 1945. His works from this period include Orpheus (1948), The Rake’s Progress (1951), and Agon (1957). Stravinsky explored various styles throughout his career, incorporating elements of serialism and twelve-tone techniques in his later compositions.
Igor Stravinsky’s impact on music extended beyond his compositions. His ideas and writings on music theory, rhythm, and aesthetics influenced generations of composers and theorists. He left a lasting legacy, challenging traditional notions of tonality and form and pushing the boundaries of musical expression.
Stravinsky continued to compose until the end of his life and died on April 6, 1971, in New York City, leaving behind a vast body of work that continues to be performed and admired today.
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