Founder of Modernism in Music:

 

Igor Stravinsky

 

 

 

 

 

 

Main Life Accomplishments:

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, considered by many in both the West and his native land to be the most influential composer of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the century. In addition to the recognition he received for his compositions, he also achieved fame as a pianist and a conductor, often at the premières of his works.

Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (Russian Ballets): L'Oiseau de feu ("The Firebird") (1910), Petrushka (1911/1947), and Le Sacre du printemps ("The Rite of Spring") (1913). The Rite, whose première provoked a riot, transformed the way in which subsequent composers thought about rhythmic structure, and was largely responsible for Stravinky's enduring reputation as a musical revolutionary, pushing the boundaries of musical design.

After this first Russian phase Stravinsky turned to neoclassicism in the 1920s. The works from this period tended to make use of traditional musical forms (concerto grosso, fugue, symphony), frequently concealed a vein of intense emotion beneath a surface appearance of detachment or austerity, and often paid tribute to the music of earlier masters, for example J. S. Bach and Tchaikovsky.

In the 1950s he adopted serial procedures, using the new techniques over his last twenty years. Stravinsky's compositions of this period share traits with all of his earlier output: rhythmic energy, the construction of extended melodic ideas out of a few two- or three-note cells, and clarity of form, of instrumentation, and of utterance.

He also published a number of books throughout his career, almost always with the aid of a collaborator, sometimes uncredited. In his 1936 autobiography, Chronicles of My Life, written with the help of Alexis Roland-Manuel, Stravinsky included his infamous statement that "music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all." With Roland-Manuel and Pierre Souvtchinsky he wrote his 1939–40 Harvard University Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, which were delivered in French and later collected under the title Poétique musicale in 1942 (translated in 1947 as Poetics of Music). Several interviews in which the composer spoke to Robert Craft were published as Conversations with Igor Stravinsky They collaborated on five further volumes over the following decade.

 

Basics:

Born:  17-Jun-1882 Oranienbaum, Russia

Died:  6-Apr-1971 New York City 

Nationality:  American

Fields:   Arts

Main Accomplishments:  The Russian-born composer Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky (1882-1971) identified himself as an "inventor of music." The novelty, power, and elegance of his works won worldwide admiration before he was 30. Throughout his life he continued to surprise admirers with transformations of his style that stimulated controversy.

 

Chronology of Life Events:

Jun 17, 1982
Igor Stravinsky born.

1900
the famous Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov & Stravinsky met.

1902
When Stravinsky father died.

1903
Stravinsky became the composer's private student and continued in this capacity until Rimsky-Korsakov's death in 1908

1918
One of these was a folk-tale piece composed called Histoire du Soldat, which was an early example of musical theater.

1930
Stravinsky was devoting much of his attention to religious works.

1938
Death of his daughter of tuberculosis was followed the next year by the death of his wife.

1962
Stravinsky returned to Russia for the first time in half a century, giving a series of concerts in Moscow and Leningrad.

1967
Stravinsky's health was deteriorating rapidly, and that year he conducted his last public performance, of the Pulcinella Suite, in Toronto, Canada.

Apr 6, 1971

He died in New York City
 

Early Life:

Igor Stravinsky was one of music's truly epochal innovators; no other composer of the twentieth century exerted such a pervasive influence or dominated his art in the way that Stravinsky did during his five-decade musical career. Aside from purely technical considerations such as rhythm and harmony, the most important hallmark of Stravinsky's style is, indeed, its changing face. Emerging from the spirit of late Russian nationalism and ending his career with a thorny, individual language steeped in twelve-tone principles, Stravinsky assumed a number of aesthetic guises throughout the course of his development while always retaining a distinctive, essential identity.

Although he was the son of one of the Mariinsky Theater's principal basses and a talented amateur pianist, Stravinsky had no more musical training than that of any other Russian upper-class child. He entered law school, but also began private composition and orchestration studies with Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. By 1909, the orchestral works Scherzo fantastique and Fireworks had impressed Sergei Diaghilev enough for him to ask Stravinsky to orchestrate, and subsequently compose, ballets for his company. Stravinsky's triad of early ballets -- The Firebird (1909-1910), Petrushka (1910-1911), and most importantly, The Rite of Spring (1911-1913) -- did more to establish his reputation than any of his other works; indeed, the riot which followed the premiere of The Rite is one of the most notorious events in music history.

Stravinsky and his family spent the war years in Switzerland, returning to France in 1920. His jazz-inflected essays of the 1910s and 1920s -- notably, Ragtime (1918) and The Soldier's Tale (1918) -- gave way to one of the composer's most influential aesthetic turns. The neo-Classical tautness of works as diverse as the ballet Pulcinella (1919-1920), the Symphony of Psalms (1930) and, decades later, the opera The Rake's Progress (1948-1951) made a widespread impact and had an especial influence upon the fledgling school of American composers that looked to Stravinsky as its primary model. He had begun touring as a conductor and pianist, generally performing his own works. In the 1930s, he toured the Americas and wrote several pieces fulfilling American commissions, including the Concerto in E flat, "Dumbarton Oaks."

After the deaths of his daughter, his wife, and his mother within a period of less than a year, Stravinsky emmigrated to America, settling in California with his second wife in 1940. His works between 1940 and 1950 show a mixture of styles, but still seem centered on Russian or French traditions. Stravinsky's cultural perspective was changed after Robert Craft became his musical assistant, handling rehearsals for Stravinsky, traveling with him, and later, co-authoring his memoirs. Craft is credited with helping Stravinsky accept 12-tone composition as one of the tools of his trade. Characteristically, though, he made novel use of such principles in his own music, producing works in a highly original vein: Movements (1958-1959) for piano and orchestra, Variations: Aldous Huxley in Memoriam (1963), and the Requiem Canticles (1965-1966) are among the most striking. Craft prepared the musicians for the exemplary series of Columbia Records LPs Stravinsky conducted through the stereo era, covering virtually all his significant works. Despite declining health in his last years, Stravinsky continued to compose until just before his death in April 1971. ~ AMG, All Music Guide

 

Wife Background:

Katerina Nossenko, his cousin whom he had known since early childhood. They were married on 23 January 1906, and their first two children, Fyodor and Ludmilla, were born in 1907 and 1908 respectively.

 

Vera de Bosset Soudeikine (1888 – 1982) was a long-term mistress and ultimately second wife of the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, who married her in 1940 after the death of his first wife Katerina Nossenko.

Stravinsky met Vera in 1921, when she was a dancer and the wife of the painter and stage designer Serge Sudeikin, while he had been married to his cousin Katerina Nossenko since 1906. The two soon began an affair which led to her leaving her husband. From then until the death of Katerina in 1939, Stravinsky led a deft double-life, spending most of his time with his first family and the rest with Vera. Katerina soon learned of the relationship and accepted it as inevita.

 

Father Background:

Stravinsky's father, an opera singer, wanted him to become a lawyer, so when he went to college he studied law and music at the same time.

 

 
 
SuperAttainer

ANALYSIS SECTION:

 
 
1. Early Success
 

When did the SuperAttainer first display ability that was greatly above average and what were his accomplishments? 
 

REFERENCES:

1.

  
 
2. Contrarian

 
What actions did the SuperAttainer take that demonstrated a mindset that was very different from those around him?
 

REFERENCES:

1.

  
 
3. Conceited
 
What are the actions and documented statements that exhibit an elevated sense of self importance of the SuperAttainer? 
 
REFERENCES:

1.

  
 
4. Hard-Knocked 
 
During what events did the SuperAttainer experience personal misery and severe anxiety?
  

REFERENCES:

1.

  
 
5. Loner
 
Is there evidence of the SuperAttainer being comfortable spending time apart from others? 
 

REFERENCES:

1.

  
 
6. Mentored & Motivated
 
Who was vital to developing the SuperAttainer and guiding his career and what significant actions were taken?
 

REFERENCES:

1.

  
 
7. Discontent
 
What evidence is there that the SuperAttainer was unsatisfied with even great personal accomplishment?
 

REFERENCES:

1.

  
 
8. Promoted
 
What actions or events were responsible for publicizing the tremendous achievements and abilities of the SuperAttainer?
 

REFERENCES:

1.

Overall Score:

x out of 8 = xx% 

PASS

SuperAttainer Type:

Describe the factors in the SuperAttainer’s background to indicate whether he is a Come-From-Nothing or Aristocratic type..

Conclusion:

Executive Search & Management Consulting:

Chalre Associates provides its Executive Search & Management Consulting services throughout the emerging countries of the Asia Pacific region with specific focus on Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore.  Regional Managers use us to help bridge the gap between local environments and the world-class requirements of multinational corporations.