STRAVINSKY in the 1930s

Stravinsky in the thirties turned out not to be that different from Stravinsky of the
twenties, nor that much different from the Stravinsky of the forties for that matter.
From a historical perspective one is apt to look for changes according to the
calendar but the chance date of an anniversary rarely affects anything. Of course
there may be changes but nothing like the changes he had already made after 1913.
The 1920s are generally summed up as the Roaring 20s; The Jazz Age; the
Charleston and the black bottoms, the flappers and Rudolph Valentino. All good
labels.
The 1930s on the other hand gave us the Great Depression and the
Clouds of War. In the world of music this was reflected by a more serious approach,
a growing move towards neo-romanticism from the likes of William Walton in
England with his first symphony and an emerging school of American composers like
Roy Harris and Samuel Barber, frequently inspired by the presence of the now
muted Sibelius.
None of this seemed to affect Stravinsky very much and so this composer of many
styles was carrying on much as he had been doing. He was in the middle of his neoclassical period attracted to classical subjects. From Graeco-Roman he now, in
1930, turned his attention to another symphony, an expression which, for Stravinsky,
had no bearing on sonata form as one understood the word. This time it was to be
the Symphony of Psalms, based on the Old Testament, a three-movement choral
symphony. It was commissioned by Koussevitsky for the 50th anniversary of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra. Stravinsky, a religious man, had had in mind for some
time the psalm-symphony idea. The three movements are played without a break.
The texts are sung by the chorus in Vulgate Latin. Mind you, if you can distinguish
between classical Latin and fourth century Vulgate Latin, you are a better homo than
me Gungus Dinus. Stravinsky said that it is not a symphony in which I have included
Psalms to be sung. On the contrary, it is the singing of the Psalms that I am
symphonizing.
One noticeable development was more a nod towards an early composer without
sexing up that composers work. Suddenly he was writing works with titles giving the
key, Violin Concerto in D and Symphony in C. This was Stravinsky saying, Hello, I
can write traditional music you know. The violin concerto, written in 1931, is a nod
towards Bach and was written for the violinist Samuel Dushkin who lent his expertise
to its composition. It is not your traditional violin concerto of the Brahms or Max
Bruch ilk but more a chamber work lasting some 22 minutes, seemingly influenced
by his own Soldiers Tale and the devilish quality of the soldiers fiddle. It is set in
four movements rather than the traditional three, with titles such as Toccata, Aria
and Capriccio. Each movement opens with the same chord, undeniably Stravinsky
leaving his calling card. Its first performance was in Berlin under Klemperer.
It was his teaming up with Dushkin in 1931 that turned Stravinsky towards chamber
music in the years from 1931 to 1934. Duo Concertant is another neo-classical
composition dating from 1932 for violin and piano which he dedicated to Dushkin.
The pair gave recitals together across Europe for some years following. Other
chamber works of the early thirties included Suite Italienne , based on Pulcinella

and written for the cellist Piatigorsky and Suite Pastorale written for violin (Dushkin)
and piano with a version also for wind quintet and piano.
One influence from these early years of the thirties may come as a surprise, Benito
Mussolini. Stravinsky is said to have remained a confirmed monarchist all his life and
loathed the Bolsheviks. In 1930, he claimed, "I don't believe that anyone venerates
Mussolini more than I. I have an overpowering urge to render homage to your Duce.
He is the saviour of Italy and let us hope Europe". Later, after a private audience
with Mussolini, he stated I told him that I felt like a fascist myself. On the other
hand, when it came to the Nazis, Stravinsky's works were placed on the proscribed
list of Entartaete Musik, Degenerate Music, better described as ex-communicated
composers, particularly Jewish or communist ones. There was a special section
reserved for Stravinsky who lodged a formal appeal to establish his true Russian
credentials and, demeaning himself, declared, "I loathe all communism, Marxism,
the execrable Soviet monster, and also all liberalism, democratism, atheism, etc.." It
did him little good. All that his appeal could infer was that he wished to dissociate
himself from the others who were there. His fawning of Mussolini is in absolute
contrast to that of Arturo Toscanini, who, stood as a fascist candidate in 1919 and
then fell out with the party. He refused to display Mussolini's photograph or conduct
the Fascist anthem at La Scala. He raged to a friend, "If I were capable of killing a
man, I would kill Mussolini." He vowed not to return to Italy until the fall of Fascism.
The status of the Swiss Family Stravinsky was to change in 1934 and it became the
French Family Stravinsky instead. Why then, you may ask, after residing in France
since 1920.? According to two of my authorities Stravinsky needed French
citizenship to apply to apply for a vacancy which had occurred in the Acadmie
Franaise. However, this is flawed and here I must be fair to Stravinsky. He applied
for French nationality in 1934 for whatever reason.
Stravinsky was a man ahead of Stravinsky was a man ahead of his time but even he
was not to know in 1934 Paul Dukas, composer of
the popular Sorcerers Apprentice as well as a
brilliant symphony (illustrated by Matthew), was
going to die the next year. His death left a vacant
seat in the Acadmie Franaise much coveted by
Stravinsky. However the appointment was at the
behest of the members of the Acadmie, not the
French government. On the whole the Acadmie
are a conservative lot and would not have been
keen to have someone who has just become
French, thinking they can just barge in to become
an immortel.
Damn it, its a bit like Grard
Depardieu becoming Russian, just the other way
round. So who did get the hot spot? Hands up any
of you who have heard of Florent Schmidt and
could name a work of his. No. Well he wrote over
130 opuses and, as I have previously related, he
Florent Schmidt wearing pince lost his glasses in the Rite of Spring riot. Actually
nez
they were pince nez and difficult to stay on during a
dust up. Florent Schmidt came from Alsace
Lorraine but despite his name he is as French as

Arsne Wenger, who hails from the same area. He was rated highly until 1940 but
then dropped out of favour. He wrote a ballet, La Tragdie de Salom, in 1907. The
rhythmic syncopations, poly-rhythms, percussively treated chords, bitonality, and
scoring of Schmitt's work are said to anticipate the Rite of Spring. Stravinsky
acknowledged that Schmitt's ballet gave him greater joy than any work he had heard
in a long time. The two fell out with each other in later years, and Stravinsky
reversed his opinion of Schmitt's works. Stravinsky was somewhat miffed not to have
been elected. Schmidts election would have done nothing to improve that
relationship.
In 1934 the French Family Stravinsky moved back to Paris and resided at the Rue
du Faubourg Saint-Honor. Now that is no garret for some bohemian artist. It is an
area you can live in, money being no object. It is one of the most fashionable streets
in the world, home to virtually every major global fashion house. Yes, and also
having at No 55 the Elyse Palace, official residence of the President of the
Republic.
Now Stravinsky returned to sung melodrama with dance. In 1933 Ida Rubinstein
commissioned Pnlope, a kind of Orpheus story with Pnlope hitching up with
Pluto in Hades for three months a year and coming back to earth for the following
nine months. It is not played very often and it is difficult to obtain a CD without
having the Firebird and the Rite of Spring included for the umpteenth time. It was
one of Stravinskys gripes in an interview given in 1934 in London to the
Gramophone magazine that people wanted to listen to the same old stuff being
churned out instead of the latest compositions.
The Concerto for Two Pianos was Stravinsky's first work after becoming a French
citizen and completed in1935. It is considered to be one of his major compositions for
piano during his neo-classical period. He had begun work on the first movement of
the Concerto in 1931 after his violin concerto. He had in mind something to be
played by him and his son if they found themselves in a city with no resident
orchestra. He had some difficulty in the composition and turned to the Pleyel
company to build him a double piano with one keyboard fixed to the back of the other
so that Stravinsky could play both parts whilst composing. The inspiration for the
concerto is said to have come from the variations of Brahms and Beethoven.
Much of Stravinskys commissions were now coming from America although he was
not to reside there till 1939. A particularly felicitous period in his catalogue follows
although one would never guess that Stravinsky was going through the most painful
of experiences in his private life at the time. First came the ballet Jeu de Cartes
(The Card Game) commissioned by George Balanchine and mounted by him for the
first Stravinsky Festival given by the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1937.
Stravinsky, himself a keen poker player, wrote it in three, not acts, not scenes, but
deals. At the start of each deal, the same theme is announced as the cards are
shuffled before intrigue and deceit follow. There is a lot of bluffing in this game and in
the music also. Stravinsky parodies and combines various fragments from Rossinis
Barber of Seville and Strauss Fledermaus with musical allusions to Beethoven,
Ravel and Tchaikovsky. Musically the blood is actively flowing again compared to
the anaemia of the statuesque classical dramas which had more recently dominated
his output. Co-incidentally, Arthur Bliss wrote a ballet Checkmate based also on a

game of chess for the Vic-Wells in 1937. It is curious that Stravinskys ideas seemed
sometimes to follow what others had just been doing.
Following Jeu de Cartes came the Concerto in E flat, better known as Dumbarton
Oaks. It demonstrates Stravinsky's ability to create something completely modern
whilst paying homage to the musical past. It was commissioned by Robert Woods
Bliss, a wealthy American diplomat, for his and his wifes 30th wedding anniversary.
It was first performed in their home, Dumbarton Oaks, in Washington DC. Bliss had
by then retired from the foreign service but had had a distinguished career, including
postings in St. Petersburg and Paris. The work was completed in Paris in late March
1938. It is based on Bach's Brandenburg concertos, and is in three short
movements. The first performance took place on the Bliss's anniversary in the Great
Hall of Dumbarton Oaks, a 19th century Georgian-style mansion. Stravinsky was laid
up with tuberculosis at the time and unable to travel. Bliss came out of retirement
during the war to work for the State Department. Dumbarton Oaks was used to host
two international conferences in 1944 which he organized and that led to the setting
up of UNO. The Bliss's later made a charitable donation of Dumbarton Oaks with its
collection of Byzantine and medieval art and its research library to Harvard
University.
The third work in this group was the Symphony in C commissioned by Mrs Woods.
On disc it is usually coupled with his Symphony in Three Movements but there is a
whole world war which separates the two. The symphony in C is half and half. Half
was composed in France and Switzerland against the background of sickness and
bereavement. The second half was written in 1939 after Stravinsky became resident
in America. The symphony is in the traditional four movements and is entirely
abstract. One writer refers to it as in the 'pure music' styles of Bach, Haydn and
Beethoven, which is about as moronic as it is oxymoronic. Whether it should rank as
a symphony or ballet is to be discussed by Matthew but Martha Graham did
choreograph the work in the late 1980s. Just to confuse matters, she named the
ballet "Persephone" which it is not and only used three of the movements.
Stravinsky disclaimed any link between his personal experiences and the
symphonys content. The domestic background to this particular period was one of
acute tragedy and suffering. His wife, Katya had long suffered from tuberculosis. He
could only recall living in Paris as the unhappiest time of all. Both he and his eldest
daughter, Ludmila, in turn contracted the disease from which Ludmila died in 1938.
Katya, died of tuberculosis a year later, in March 1939. Stravinsky himself spent five
months in hospital, during which time his mother died. These three hammer blows of
fate are virtually Mahlerian. It does not seem to have had any perceptible effect on
Stravinskys music compared to, say, that of Josef Suk and the Asrael symphony.
The outbreak of war in September 1939 was in no way the reason for Stravinsky
going to America. With hindsight one knows of the collapse of France in June 1940
but Stravinsky was not leaving to scupper off for the duration. He had undertaken a
lecturing post at Harvard and the widowed Stravinsky was not emigrating as he set
off alone at the end of September . Vera de Bosset with whom he had shared a
steady fifty-fifty relationship for twenty years followed him in January, and they were
married in Massachusetts in March 1940. Pretty fast off the mark. Now the
American years, half of Stravinskys compositional life, were about to begin.