Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky

On 23 January 1906,Igor Stravinsky married his cousin Yekaterina Gavrilovna Nosenko or Katya, in the face of great opposition from the Orthodox Church, to which Stravinsky belonged. They had four children, Fyodor (1907 and Ludmila (1908), Soulima (1910) and Marina Milena (1913). Soulima later grew up to become a composer.

In February 1921 while his wife was still alive, Stravinsky met Vera de Bosset, a Russian born American dancer, married to painter and stage designer Serge Sudeikin. The two developed a romantic relationship, as a result of which Vera left her husband.

Stravinsky continued leading a double life, dividing his time between Vera and his family until the death of his wife from tuberculosis in 1939. Finally, Stravinsky and Vera got married in Boston on March 9, 1940.

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was born on 17 June 1882 in Oranienbaum near Saint Petersburg in Russia. His father, Fyodor Ignatievich Stravinsky, was a well-known bass opera singer and actor, attached to the Mariinsky Theatreof St. Petersburg. His mother was Anna (née Kholodovsky) Stravinsky.

Not much is known about Stravinsky’s childhood except that he was a lonely child and did not have any real friend. Finding solace only in music, hestarted playing the piano at a very young age.

By the age of fifteen, he had mastered Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto in G minor and finished a piano reduction of a string quartet by Glazunov.In spite of such affinity to music, he entered the University of St. Petersburg in 1901 to study law at the insistence of his parents.

Here, he befriended Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov, whose father Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a celebrated composer.In the summer of 1902, he visited their home in Heidelberg, Germany, where he showed some of his compositions to the senior Rimsky-Korsakov.

Impressed by what he heard, the noted composersuggested that heshould take music lessons in private, rather than entering the Saint Petersburg Conservatoire. The idea appealed to him immensely.

Igor Stravinsky started his career under the mentorship of Rimsky-Korsakov, who used his influence to get him heard. He began by performing in the weekly gatherings of Rimsky-Korsakov’s class while he was still his student

His first major work, ‘Symphony in E-flat Major’, was composed sometime between 1905 and 1907. It was his first work for orchestra and also his first published piece. It was performed on April 27, 1907 by the St. Petersburg Court Orchestra along with ‘The Faun and Shepherdess’, another of his creations.

In July 1907, he started working on his second orchestral piece, ‘Scherzo fantastique.’Completed on 30 March 1908, it was his last major piece written while Rimsky-Korsakov was alive. In the same year, Stravinsky also wrote another short orchestral fantasy called ‘Feud'artifice’ as a wedding present to Rimsky-Korsakov’s daughter.

Both these pieceswere performed on 6 February 1909 at the Siloti Concerts, Petersburg. Sergei Diaghilev, whoat that time was planning to present a Russian opera in Paris, was present there. Realizing Stravinsky’s potential, Diaghilev commissioned him to compose a full-length ballet score, titled ‘The Firebird.

Subsequently, ‘Firebird’ was premiered by Diaghilev’s company, Ballets Russeson 25 June 1910 in Paris. It was a huge success and Stravinsky was not only hailed as a gifted composer, but he also became Diaghilev's star composer.

Igor Stravinsky’s first major work was ’The Firebird.’ Premiered by the Ballets Russes on 25 June 1910 in Paris, the ballet not only earned the twenty-eight year old composer instant stardom, but also led to his collaboration with Diaghilev and paved the way for equallysuccessful productions like ‘Petrushka’, ‘The Rite of Spring’ and ‘Pulcinella.

The ‘Octet’, a chamber music composition completed in 1923, is another of his well known works. In this composition, Stravinsky used an unconventional combination of woodwind and brass instruments such as flute, clarinet in B and A, two bassoons, trumpet in C, trumpet in A, tenor trombone, and bass trombone.