Sviatoslav Soulima Stravinsky (23 September 191028 November 1994) was a
SwissSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
-
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pianist, composer and
musicologistMusicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture. In the intermediate sense, it includes all relevant cultures and a range of musical forms, styles, genres and...
of Russian and Ukrainian descent. As a pianist, he was considered an important interpreter of the works of his father,
Igor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, 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...
, but as a composer he was overshadowed by his father.
Soulima Stravinsky was born in
LausanneLausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva , and facing Évian-les-Bains and with the Jura mountains to its north-west. Lausanne is located some northeast of Geneva. It is the capital of the canton of Vaud and of the district of...
,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
, in 1910, the son of
Igor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, 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...
and Katerina Nossenko, and the grandson of
Fyodor StravinskyFyodor Ignatievich Stravinsky , – ) was a Russian-Ukrainian bass opera singer and actor. He was the father of Igor Stravinsky and the grandfather of Soulima Stravinsky....
.
Sviatoslav Soulima Stravinsky (23 September 191028 November 1994) was a
SwissSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
-
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pianist, composer and
musicologistMusicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture. In the intermediate sense, it includes all relevant cultures and a range of musical forms, styles, genres and...
of Russian and Ukrainian descent. As a pianist, he was considered an important interpreter of the works of his father,
Igor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, 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...
, but as a composer he was overshadowed by his father.
Biography
Soulima Stravinsky was born in
LausanneLausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva , and facing Évian-les-Bains and with the Jura mountains to its north-west. Lausanne is located some northeast of Geneva. It is the capital of the canton of Vaud and of the district of...
,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
, in 1910, the son of
Igor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, 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...
and Katerina Nossenko, and the grandson of
Fyodor StravinskyFyodor Ignatievich Stravinsky , – ) was a Russian-Ukrainian bass opera singer and actor. He was the father of Igor Stravinsky and the grandfather of Soulima Stravinsky....
. He studied piano with
Isidor PhilippIsidor Philipp was a French pianist, composer, and distinguished pedagogue of Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris.-Biography:...
as well as theory and composition with
Nadia BoulangerNadia Boulanger was an influential French composer, conductor, and music professor. An outstanding music educator at the highest level, she taught many of the most important composers and conductors of the 20th century.-Ancestors:Nadia Boulanger was born to a highly musical family. Her...
. He appeared in Paris in 1934 playing his father's Concerto for Piano and Winds, Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra and the Concerto for Two Solo Pianos. He recorded these works with his father in 1938.
He played in London at the 1937 season of the
PromsThe Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington, London...
.
Igor Stravinsky moved to the United States in 1939, but Soulima joined the French army and remained in Europe for nine more years. He moved to the USA in 1948, making his American debut that year at the Red Rocks Festival in
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It may also be considered to be part of the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States. Colorado entered statehood in 1876 and was nicknamed the “Centennial State”...
and his New York debut with the CBS Symphony Orchestra.
In 1950, Soulima Stravinsky was appointed to the piano faculty of the School of Music of the University of Illinois, where he remained until 1978. He continued his concerto solo career and began distinguishing himself as a composer, transcriber and editor. In addition to his many musical compositions, he wrote books on
orchestrationOrchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
and the
orchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
. His book on orchestration contains an excellent section on
brass instrumentA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
s including many unusual instruments.
In 1974, Stravinsky was awarded the "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" by the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
He died in Sarasota,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
in 1994, survived by his wife Francoise, his son John, and his sister Milene Marion.
About nine months after his death, his widow Francoise found a previously unknown work amongst Soulima's papers - a
Lamento for cello and piano. It was in incomplete form, but it was edited and performed for the first time before Francoise herself died.
Works
- Etudes Pittoresques (20), for piano
- The Art of Scales (24 Preludes), for piano
- 6 Sonatinas for Young Pianists, for piano (or harpsichord)
- Piano Suite for the Right Hand
- Music Alphabet, for piano
- Piano Music for Children, Volume 1 (19 pieces)
- Suite for Viola Solo (1975)
- Sonata for Cello and Piano (1990)
- Lamento, cello and piano (posth.)
- Three string quartets (recorded on CD, label Polymnie)
- Cadenzas (18) and fermatas (4) to Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as...
's piano concerti:
- No. 6 in B flat
The Piano Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, K. 238, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in January of 1776.The work is in three movements:*I. Allegro aperto*II. Andante un poco adagio*III. Rondeau: Allegro-References:...
, K. 238
- No. 8 in C
The Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major, K. 246, or Lützow Concert was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in April of 1776 in the same year as the Haffner Serenade . Countess Antonia Lützow, 25 or 26 years old, second wife of Johann Nepomuk Gottfried Graf Lützow, the Commander of the Hohensalzburg...
, K. 246
- Double Concerto in E flat
The Concerto No. 10 in E-flat major for Two Pianos, K. 365/316a, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in 1779. Mozart wrote it to play with his sister Maria Anna . He was 23 years old and on the verge of leaving Salzburg for Vienna....
, K. 365
- No. 11 in F
Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 11 in F major, KV. 413 , was the second of the group of three early concertos he wrote whilst in Vienna, in the autumn of 1782 . It was the first full concerto he wrote for the subscription concerts he gave in the city...
, K. 413
- No. 20 in D minor
The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance was at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on February 11, 1785, with the composer as the soloist....
, K. 466
- No. 21 in C
The Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. It is one of Mozart's most popular piano concertos.-Background:...
, K. 467 Elvira Madigan
- No. 22 in E flat
The Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K. 482, is a concertante work for piano, or pianoforte, and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart composed the concerto in December of 1785....
, K. 482
- No. 24 in C minor
The Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 is a concertante work for piano, or pianoforte, and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart composed the concerto in the winter of 1785–1786 and completed the work on 24 March 1786...
, K. 491
- No. 25 in C
The Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503, was completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on December 4, 1786, alongside the Prague Symphony, K.504. Although two more concertos would later follow, this work is the last of the twelve great piano concertos written in Vienna between 1784–1786.Though...
, K. 503, and
- No. 26 in D
The Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major, K. 537, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and completed on February 24, 1788. It is generally known as the "Coronation" Concerto.-Source of the nickname "Coronation":...
, K. 537 Coronation.