Stravinsky and His World

by Levitz, Tamara

  [СхемаXIII - формаXIV - System]

  [(secular

  sacred)XV]

  ___________________________________________________________________

  *magic, the irrational, esoteric musicXVI

  II [verso of first sheet]XVII

  3rd Lesson The musical métier

  The Composition of a musical work. Talent and musical talents, hearing. Composition, invention, imagination—“imaginative” and intellectual imagination,XVIII inspiration. The musical conception. The system. Musical writing—[the design or plan of a compositionXIX]. Sound material. The assumptions and inertia of the creative process. The deliberate and the unexpected. [breathing strong and weak beats]. Culture and taste. The culture of taste. Order

  “The kingdom of necessity and the kingdom of freedom.”XX

  4th Lesson. Musical Typology. [suppose distinction]

  [I] Problem of style. Synoptic, synchronic, and parallel analyses. [of illustrative, associative purityXXI]. What we call “Classicism” [academicismXXII], “romanticism” and “modernism” in music. Music that “imposes itself” and music “that is subjected.”XXIII Musical psychology. Parallelisms of the different arts.XXIV On banalityXXV and platitudes. [II Sacred, profane]

  [иллюстрXXVI] [+ illegible Russian word]

  [V ЧайковскийXXVII]

  [two illegible Russian words]

  IndependentXXVIII

  Conditional

  [Haydn, Wagner]

  [music кадре историиXXIX]

  PatronsXXX

  Snobbery

  public

  [Abbreviations of the words classicism, Romanticism, modernism, academicism, and history in Russian are added in the left-hand margin.]

  5th Lesson. Looking back through history

  ProblemXXXI of the continuous and the discontinuous. “Revolutions” and evolution in the history of the arts. Causal relationships. The determinate and indeterminate. (Chance). The genesis and the phenomenon (the fact). Cycles. Progress. The arts and life.

  Ideocracy. Main ideas. Patrons. Snobbery and scholasticism the bourgeois spirit.

  III [recto of second sheet]XXXII

  6–7th Lessons Russian music

  [citizenXXXIII of the world]

  Folklore and musical culture. Plainchant. Kastalsky.XXXIV “Russia-Eurasia.” “Italianisms,” “Germanisms” and “Orientalisms” of Russian music. The fundamental elements of Russian historiography. The two Russias. The revolution and the Russian Reaction. The two “disorders.”

  Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Moussorgsky, R-Korsakoff. Scriabine. The new Soviet (Ukrainian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, etc.) “folklorism” and downgrading of values [degradationXXXV].

  8 Lessons on Performance

  Nothingness and musical life. The music, the performers, the listeners. The

  public. Interpretation and performance. Music criticism; its aberrations and “classical” distractions. “Accessible” and “enigmatic” music. The true meaning of music. The “self,” the “non-self”—and Being—creative monism. [Academicism]

  III [verso of second sheet]

  [illegible Russian words]

  Словарь (Француз.)XXXVI Stretto-Coda

  Lesson IV conf.

  1 Симф. БрамсаXXXVII —C minor

  4 Симф. БетховенаXXXVIII —B-flat Maj

  Commentary

  Although Suvchinsky’s manuscript is not dated, it is not difficult to approximate when it was written based on the chronology of the Harvard lectures. Stravinsky received the commission from Harvard on 23 March 1939 and welcomed Suvchinsky alone at Sancellemoz a few days later; he cabled his acceptance to Harvard on 11 April.26 Assuming Stravinsky asked Suvchinsky to create an outline for the lectures when he met him in Sancellemoz, I conclude that Suvchinsky’s manuscript must date from around the middle of April 1939.27

  How can we be sure that Stravinsky did not dictate this document to Suvchinsky? A number of clues lead us to reject this hypothesis, and to accord Suvchinsky full-fledged paternity for this manuscript in terms of both form and content. The first clue is that a manuscript in Stravinsky’s hand already exists; the second is that this manuscript contains many ideas that Suvchinsky presented elsewhere in the fifteen years before he began working on the Poétique, and that are known to be his.28 Many of these ideas found their way into the published version of the Poétique in almost identical wording. A comparison between Suvchinsky’s manuscript and the published work reveals that Suvchinsky in his outline established the lectures’ overall structure, creating the coherent foundation upon which they were built.

  English Translation of the Diplomatic Edition of Stravinsky’s Manuscript

  The study of the genesis of the Poétique musicale becomes more complicated if we take into account the second source on our list above, Stravinsky’s manuscript, which consists of nineteen pages of an outline with some text that closely matches Suvchinsky’s manuscript in content.29 These autograph pages are the only known physical evidence of Stravinsky’s involvement in the writing of the lectures. Robert Craft transcribed and commented on them, and at the time assumed that they represented a significant point of departure for the writing of the Poétique.30 The discovery of Suvchinsky’s outline changes the status of this manuscript, which no longer appears as a starting point, but rather as nothing more than a copy of Suvchinsky’s work. Given the many errors in Craft’s transcription, the document is presented here in a new translation of the complete original French version.

  [on the verso of an envelope]

  and I am proud of it [6 illegible Russian words]

  I am very happy to be giving my lectures at this university that etc. I want above all to thank the committee (или кто другойXXXIX) for the initiative they showed in entrusting this lecture series to me.

  Ladies and gentlemen, I will furthermore not hide my delight in being able to speak before you, above all [sentence cut off here]

  [folio 1]XL

  2nd part of the 1st lesson

  Polemic: 1st lecture

  I am obliged to polemicize primo because of the said reversal and displacement of things in music and segundo for a reason that seems personal at first glance but and is in fact not.

  It’s that my musical biography and my work, by a twist of chanceXLI that I am willing to consider a happy chance, had [sic] been givenXLII from the beginning of my career the qualities of being “reactive.” This [quality of being] “reactive,”XLIII entering [into contact] with all the ideas and they the musical reality that surrounds me, with the milieu of people and ideas, produced reactions as violent as they were mismanaged. One would think they picked the wrong person. But, grave matters that they are,

  [folio 2]

  these false reactions demonstrated the vice residing in all musical consciousness thanks to which all ideas, theses, judgments and opinions concerning music as art and as one of the principal faculties of the human mind were distorted.XLIV We must not forget that at the time when Petrouchka, Le Sacre du Pr., and Le Rossignol appeared many things changed. Things did not change on the level of aesthetics or simply mode of expression (this change took place at a time before I began my activities). The change of which I speak happened immediately in tandem with a fundamental general revision of the foundations and primary elements of musical art.

  [folio 3]

  This revision sketched outXLV in the era I am speaking to you about continues its uninterrupted development—something I could observe and that proves itself in the chain of concrete facts and the events of musical life to which we are all witnesses.

  – I know very well that there is a point of view…. revolution at the time of the “Sacre” and assimilation of revolutionary conquestsXLVI now ——

  – this is false.XLVII

  – My course will be polemical—I am not afraid to admit it.XLVIII Not to defend myself, me, but to defend here verbally music and its principles jus
t as I defend them through my musical compositions.XLIX

  [folio 4]

  – Now allow me to present to you the manner in which I will structure my course. It will be divided into eight lessons and I am keen that each have a title. I will name them right away

  The 1st that I am in the process of conveying to you now is nothing more than a “getting acquainted.”L

  The 2nd

  The 3rd etc….

  – As you see, this “Explication” of music that I am tackling before you and with you, I hope, that is to say with your interest for the material in question that I have the right to presume will take the form of a system, a synthesis of perspectives beginning with an analysis of the phenomenon of music and finishing with the problem of the performance of

  [folio 5]

  music. Don’t think that I warn you that I did not choose the most common method for this kind of undertaking that is to say which consists of developing a thesis departing from the general and leading to the particular (detail?) Quite the opposite. I will follow the method of “synchronization,” that is to say I will speak simultaneously about the general and the detailLI always supporting one by the other. For it is necessary to realize that it is only by virtue of practical necessity that we are obliged to distinguish (to discern)LII things by placing them in purely conventional categories,LIII

  [folio 6]

  such as primary, secondary, principal—subordinate, etcLIV

  (of Главный [principal] and of Второстепенный [secondary]).LV The true hierarchy of phenomena and things and also of the relationships among things is built and conceived totally differently is incarnated, takes shape on an entirely different plane.LVI And I harbor the hope and it is very desired by me that this will be clear to you clarification of this thesis will be one of the outcomes of my course.

  [unnumbered folio, recto]

  2nd lesson

  a) the ph. of music b) the musical work

  a) The phenomenon of music

  What is not music: sound, noises, even birdsong. What is music is sounds organized as man’s conscious action.LVII

  – I admit to not having much taste for problems of “origins” and prehistory. This excursion into the depths and darkness of the past that claims to have the qualities of a precise science and too often, alas, is nothing more than an interpretation of little-known facts, an interpretation that has its origins in clearly preconceived ideas and viewpoints. Example: I am a materialist, so long live Darwinism and consequently I seek the monkey in question before the man

  – Formulate music’s origins in magic, incantation, etc

  [in the margin, circled in red pencil and marked “for me”:] NB: talk about the fact in music. Не забыть коду 4-ой симф ЧайковскогоLVIII

  [verso]

  – Personally, I am beginning to interest myself in the phenomenon of music as it emanates from the whole man, that is to say a man armed with all the resources of our senses, psychic faculties and intellectual means.

  – I declare above all that the phenomenon of music is a phenomenon of speculation (see my interview with Moreux).LIX A speculation that is shaped by elements of sound and time.

  – The Khronos.LX [Problem of movement and time. Совместное рассмотрение элементов муз(ыкального) времени и движения представляет собою вопрос о LENTO и PRESTO в музыке]LXI

  – The dialectic of the creative process in music. The principle of contrast and similitude in musical creation: my attitude regarding “variety” and “similitude” (polychromy, monochromy)

  – Active and passive meditation in music (author-listener)LXII

  – Musical emotion (interview)

  – The limits of the art of music: pure music and descriptive music. I talk about works and I give examples in lesson 4)

  [unnumbered page, recto]

  2) b) The musical work

  (Elements—from which is made and morphology)

  d) melos, melody, theme, motive + phrase, period, development = recapitulation.LXIII

  —quote examples: Sonatas,

  Cantata,

  etc..…

  don’t forget Variations.

  a) scaleLXIV

  b) interval, chordLXV

  e) harmony, polyphony

  c) mode, tonalityLXVI

  f) modulation

  g) movement (or tempo), meter, rhythm

  h) sonority: pitch, register, timbre

  i) the instrument producing the sounds and the human voice

  The human voice

  The word and its syllable. Intonation (don’t forget accent, that is to say strong beat, weak beat but not dynamic element).

  j) Schema, form, system (coexistence of different forms in a mechanical or organic unity).

  [Roland-Manuel’s two typescripts of the previous two unnumbered folios, starting with “2nd lesson,” follow here]

  [on the verso of an envelope]

  There are 2 attitudes of the musician toward speechLXVII put into music. One is that in which the musician finds in speech only sound material adequate to musical expression, the other is that in which the musician seeks to create the song out of it, plainchant,LXVIII music that was notated with neumes.LXIX The 1st case produces Lieder and romances as a type, the 2nd chansons. One is passive. where the music is determined The meaning of the music is determined by speech and speech’s meaning in itself. The other is active; music monopolizes speech, which it uses solely as sound material without taking into account its meaning.

  [unnumbered page recto; blank verso]

  3) The musical métier

  or rather “On musical composition”

  The composition of a work: that is to say that the work is a piece that is composed.LXX The composer (reproach in the pejorative sense). See my interview, with Moreux (artist, artisan, etc.)

  Invention; imagination (Отсебятина),LXXI intellectual imagination. (Я в процессе творчества и этот процесс в какой-то момент начинает идти по инерции.)LXXII

  One can only speak of oneself. Сведя многочисл(енные) свидетельства в одно можно вывести некий закон творч(еского) процесса.LXXIII

  The deliberate and the unexpected of the creative process. Я задумал что-то и в процессе работы пришел вдруг к неожиданному, что не надо путать с отсебятиной.LXXIV

  Composition,LXXV the design or plan of a compositionLXXVI (tight or flowing:LXXVII easy schemas of sequences, padding, Wagner, etc.)

  Inspiration

  Culture and taste. The culture of taste. One seeks good taste, imposes it upon oneselfLXXVIII (breeding)LXXIX and upon others. It is culture and tradition.

  – Order and disorder

  As a rule

  As laws exterior order

  interior orderLXXX

  – The kingdom of necessity and the kingdom of freedom. Диалектика такова: снобы думают, что искусство синоним своб(одного) творч(ества). Это неверно. Искусство тем свободнее чем оно ограниченнее и закономернее и каноничнее и догматичнее.LXXXI

  [Folio 1]

  4) Musical typology (that we notice by looking back through history)

  supposes a work of choosing that presumes a certain method of discernment. Choose, distinguish, compare, appreciate.

  By doing synoptic, synchronic and parallel analyses, we arrive directly at the problemLXXXII of style, which is a thing difficult if not impossible to define, as well as at questions about the history of music. This brings us to the problem of the continuous and the discontinuous.

  cycles—period with a precise beginning and end

  current—it’s the op
posite, duration without limits, without end.LXXXIII

  Revolutions and evolution in history. The determinate and the indeterminate. Chance (miracle) and Genesis (causal relationship):LXXXIV Haydn—Mozart—a shared genesis and yet each has his own miracle. A phenomenon that is simultaneously determined and indeterminate.LXXXV Before speaking about rather arbitrary classifications like, for ex., classicism and romanticism, I would like to set out the thesis to which all phenomenon of any art submits. This is the thesis of the subordinate and insubordinateLXXXVI—in Russian подчиняющийся и самочинный

  Cite the Sophocles (from the interview).LXXXVII

  [Folio 2]

  – Insubordination asks of music things that are beyond its competence

  – principle of illustration, imitation (leitmotif, abstract idea: theme of fate, of vengeance) etc. Example

  negative: Wagner—Strauss (follower) Symph domesticaLXXXVIII

  positive: Beethoven Symph. pastoraleLXXXIX | gesetzmässigXC

  Verdi Storm — Rigoletto |

  From this perspective resume the conversation on classicism and romanticism. For example a slow movement in Papa Haydn and in Chopin. And on the other hand, see the difference between two romantic [sic], that same Chopin and Weber. Discuss

  – Schumann and Brahms.

  On banality and platitude. Don’t confuse specimens of this genre with diverse forms of lyric and even sentimental expression of yesteryear that have become anachronistic. Example of the music of Tchaikovsky, Gounod, etc.

  [Folio 3]XCI

  – Now two words on the subject of “modernism” and “academicism”

  – First of all what a failure of a word “modernism” is

  – The two “academicisms,” I have nothing against good academicism, which—not laying claim to anything—cannot bother anybody, its (pedagogical?) roleXCII consisting of doing service by preserving values etc.

  – I am not modernist. People have always taken me for what I am not. I am not revolutionary. I am not conservative. (Pulcinella),XCIII I situate myself in the element of evolution.