I have always known that Stravinsky was an interesting fellow. Why? There is a pattern amongst composers who make it somewhat supernaturally big in their lifetime: they are a bit crazy. And I mean crazy with as much admiration as one can muster in the definition of that word.
Beethoven...Mozart...Brahms...Tschaikovsky...all a bit crazy. For example, Brahms (known for such masterpieces as Brahms Lullaby...) He threw away pretty much all of his sketches. All of them. (for the non-music nerd types, that is unusual to do) Thus making it difficult to figure out exactly how Brahms created his masterworks. He only allowed his final masterpieces to survive. Sure, we can guess and pretty much figure out how he made them...but sketches make the work MUCH easier.
I spent last Friday reading through a number of letters Stravinsky wrote to various colleagues. I also spent a good bit of that time reading aloud excerpts of those letters to a colleague of mine...he (Stravinsky) was so dry...much more so than I originally realized. I have read bits and pieces of Stravinsky's words before, of course, but this was my first really in depth study...it felt more like entertainment than studying...
His travel schedule...I mean, he was in New York for 2 days, Boston for a week, Berlin for a night, Paris, Los Angeles, South Africa, Santa Fe, the list goes on and on...and his wife went with him all those years.
You have to be a little bit crazy to keep up with a schedule like that on a constant basis...
3 comments:
Is that where English teachers and the like get their answers for what the artist was thinking when they wrote whatever it is? Notes and whatall. Who knew such things were available for study.
Oh yeah, they are all available. I am a bit concerned about what will happen in the future...it's not like we are going to be able to tap into someone's personal email unless we are conducting a federal investigation...but notes, sketches, etc...yep, they are available...sometimes difficult to find, but available...
well how far is it really from crazy to genius or vice versa? that sounds like an interesting read; i read this book about beethoven once (non-fiction) and it was pretty awesome.
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