Igor Stravinsky
Russian composer, 1882-1971
"Stravinsky was a Russian (and later, a naturalized French and American) composer, pianist and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. His compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes: ""The Firebird"" (1910), ""Petrushka"" (1911) and ""The Rite of Spring"" (1913). His ""Russian phase"" was followed in the 1920s by a period in which he turned to neoclassical music. In the 1950s, Stravinsky adopted serial procedures."
Source: Wikipedia
Komponist (1882-1971). Inscribed copy of: Cinq Pièces Faciles pour piano a quatre mains (main droite facile) Andante, Española, Balalaïka, Napolitana, Galop. Genf. 19 SS. Originalumschlag. Qu.-4to.
$ 5,859 / 5.500 €
(49481/BN33884)
First edition, inscribed "pour Madame René Auberjonois, en grande sympathie, Igor Strawinsky, Morges 17-IX-17". - The present volume constitutes an impressive document of Stravinsky's life during the October Revolution. A composition for his children, this work was penned in 1914/15, shortly after leaving Russia forever and settling down into Swiss exile, all connections to his Russian homeland having been severed by the Great War. The events of the war also meant that Stravinsky was unable to solicit commissions, receive royalties, or even contact his publishers; his collaboration with Djaghilev had more or less ground to a halt, their tour having returned hardly any profit.
It was at this time that Stravinsky had to rely upon the generosity of wealthy Swiss patrons such as Madame Auberjonois, who was the first wife of the post-Impressionist Swiss painter René Auberjonois, mother of author Fernand Auberjonois, and later grandmother of the American actor René Murat Auberjonois. Stravinsky had met René Auberjonois in the fall of 1917, during the planning stages of "Histoire du Soldat", and he later became an important acquaintance of Stravinsky's. The present copy must have been presented during the early years of their friendship..
Komponist (1882-1971). Autograph musical quotation signed. Paris. 1 S. Qu.-kl.-8vo.
$ 4,794 / 4.500 €
(72339/BN46141)
A particularly fine quotation from his second ballet "Petrushka", first performed by Sergei Diaghilev's "Ballets Russes" at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 13 June 1911. - In pencil; small traces of mounting on reverse.