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An Autobiography
An Autobiography
chronicles the first half-century of Stravinsky's life, all the while offering his opinions and "abhorrences." A
Parsifal
performance at Bayreuth? "At the end of a quarter of an hour I could bear no more." Nijinsky? "The poor boy knew nothing of music." Spanish folk music? "Endless preliminary chords of guitar playing."
Paperback
,
192 pages
Published
December 17th 1998
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published 1935)
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Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
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235)
Jul 29, 2009
Kitty with Curls
marked it as read-some-of
This book begins with a memory of young Stravinsky's obsession with a kind of "music" constructed mainly from tongue-clicking and armpit farts. The more I think of this, the more it strikes me as a profound & wonderful description of Stravinsky & his works.
I didn't get very much farther into this book than that, though; Stravinsky is not one of those rare musicians with a talent for scintillating prose. Who cares, though?
I didn't get very much farther into this book than that, though; Stravinsky is not one of those rare musicians with a talent for scintillating prose. Who cares, though?
view 1 comment
This book came to me via the Intellectual Devotional: Biographies. After reading the short, one page biography, I checked DVDs of Stravinsky’s ballets, The Rite of Spring and Firebird. They were wonderful and led me to search for his autobiography. The Kindle edition is available for free on Amazon and I’m glad I didn’t spend money on it.
The autobiography was mainly about his work and people he knew. Since I wasn’t familiar with either, it had a limited appeal for me. There was very little as fa ...more
The autobiography was mainly about his work and people he knew. Since I wasn’t familiar with either, it had a limited appeal for me. There was very little as fa ...more
Fascinating insight into the composer and his strong opinions on many subjects including Wagner and how to correctly listen to music (watch the performers!)
It feels like a very sincere account of what he has gone through during the beginning and development of his career even though it ends midway. The reading is quite relaxed with certain parts requiring extra musical knowledge. One thing that has caught my eye is that there were several key opinions he went about time after time during the book and his general avoidance of saying negative things about people. For an outsider, it would seem like Stravinsky is either the most optimist and friendly
...more
How do I say this? I gave the book 3 stars, more because of my own lack than the writer's. His vocabulary was extensive, and there were several words I should have just stopped and looked up. As it was, many of them I was able to understand from context (how's that for reaching back into the past?). That is mostly what limited my enjoyment of the book.
Stravinsky has not written a typical life story, but rather the story of his music's life. It was written in the mid-1930's, when he was about 50 ...more
Stravinsky has not written a typical life story, but rather the story of his music's life. It was written in the mid-1930's, when he was about 50 ...more
a bit dry throughout most of the book. Stravinsky was very opinionated and from time to time it bleeds through into his writing. one thing this book WILL give you is an extraordinary, vocabularic workout. saw a few words for the first time. Thank you, Tino and Noah for reading the last 5% or so. if you are looking for a challenge and like Stravinsky's music, this book is for you.
Interesting, strangely defensive. Discusses his music far more than his life. Only read if you are familiar with his compositions.
A very interesting insight into one of my favorite composers. I would only recommend it if you have a solid background of early 20th century music, since Stravinsky talks at length about other composers and musicians.
Fascinating book. Read this book many years ago in college. The idea that lives with me still is an anecdote Stravinksy relates in the book. Seems he was traveling by train in Europe during WW2. His baggage was examined and he was detained and questioned because of a portrait of him done by Picasso. The military guards could not believe that it was a human face. They thought that it was some kind of diagram or secret plans!
It's hard to know what you've got ahold of when you are reading an uncredited translation of a ghostwritten French memoir, but enough of what feels like authentic Stravinsky seems to come through to make this book worth while. It is especially fun to note where his compositional practice contradicts what he asserts as dogma here.
Читаю его автобиографию и в это же время слушаю лекции TTC - Robert Greenberg - Igor Stravinsky. Интересно сравнивать что человек говорит о себе и как это было на самом деле. Стравинский как композитор гораздо интереснее Стравинского-писателя, это и так понятно. Очень мне нравится его музыка, прям в унисон с моей "душой".
It's interesting and important to hear a composer's point of view on his music and events, so this book has some significance. But it also has pit-falls. It's no wonder Stravinsy wasn't a writer. He's very sardonic and clearly genious, but he doesn't explain his opinions very conclusively.
Aug 31, 2012
Gijs Grob
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Shelves:
20th-century
,
biography-and-autobiography
,
french
,
music
,
non-fiction
,
20th-century-1930s
Nogal droog opgeschreven autobiografie van Stravinsky, waaruit men nauwelijks iets over hemzelf te weten komt, behalve dan wanneer hij wat deed en naar wie zijn dank uitgaat. De felle ergernis over Nijinski's uitvoering van de sacre is een uitzondering.
Fascinating. As a clarinetist and longtime admirer of l'histoire d'un soldat, I was charmed to hear his story of how it came to be written in the depths of WWI. Stravinsky was a genius in the last great era of serious music.
Aug 11, 2008
Brian
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommended to Brian by:
Amazon.com
Shelves:
biography-memoir
,
general-non-fiction
It was an okay read. Stravinsky was a very opinionated man. I mostly just liked the details surrounding the production of his ballets.
Very insightful and very valuable to anyone interested in Stravinsky or in pursuing any sort of artistic career.
Passionnant et plein d'humour.
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Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers 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. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1946. In addition to the recognition he receive ...more
More about Igor Stravinsky...
He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the century. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1946. In addition to the recognition he receive ...more
“I live neither in the past nor in the future. I am in the present. I cannot know what tomorrow will bring forth. I can know only what the truth is for me today. That is what I am called upon to serve, and I serve it in all lucidity.”
—
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“For I consider that music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all, whether a feeling, an attitude of mind, a psychological mood, a phenomenon of nature, etc. Expression has never been an inherent property of music. That is by no means the purpose of its existence. If, as is nearly always the case, music appears to express something, this is only an illusion and not a reality. It is simply an additional attribute which, by tacit and inveterate agreement, we have lent it, thrust upon it, as a label, a convention – in short, an aspect which, unconsciously or by force of habit, we have come to confuse with its essential being.”
—
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