K79 Cantata
for Soprano, Tenor, Female Chorus, and a small Instrumental Ensemble – Kantate für Sopran, Tenor, Frauen-Chor und kleines Instrumentalensemble – Cantata pour soprano, ténor, chœur de femmes et un petit ensemble instrumental – Cantata per soprano, tenore, coro femminile e piccolo complesso strumentale
Scored for: a) First edition (legend): Two Flutes, Oboe, English Horn (doubling Oboe II), Violoncello – (nomenclature): Soprano-Solo, Tenor-Solo, Chorus; b) Performance requirements: Solo Soprano, Solo Tenor; four-part* female choir** (Soprano two-part**, Alto two-part**); 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes (2nd Oboe = English horn), English horn (= 2. Oboe), 1 Violoncello.
* The writing is in reality only in two and three parts; the idea of it being in four parts only arises theoretically, as there is only ever the two-part soprano line combined with a one-part alto line, or the one-part soprano line with a two-part alto line.
** Maximum 12 ladies’ voices = 3 per part.
Performance practice: The female chorus was originally planned as four groups of two voices, soprano and alto. This arrangement proved not be sufficient in 1952 (probably due to problems with each part being doubled up, something which did not allow the singers to mix well and therefore required a third person to create a homogeneity of sound), so Strawinsky increased the number of voices to twelve, split evenly, though he set this number as the maximum allowed. He gave this instruction in a letter to Adams of 17th October 1952, and it was directed towards the choir director who wanted to use a female chorus with 24 voices, to which Strawinsky replied that the man in question must understand little of the music and the instrumentation of his Cantata, because by doing this he would throw everything off balance. Shortly before this, he had admitted in a letter to Adams of 11th September 1952, (i.e. before the first performance), that his original plan of working with only eight female singers could not be realized and that he wanted to use two groups of six.
Source: Strawinsky collected his texts for the cantata from a five-volume anthology Poets of the English Language, which his friend Wystan Hugh Auden had published together with Norman Holmes Pearson. Auden had given a copy to Strawinsky to his great joy at Christmas or New Year 1951, for which Strawinsky thanked them on 4th January 1952 with a flattering letter. Strawinsky selected four anonymous poems in the folk song style from the Elizabethan period, i.e. the 15th and 16th centuries, according to his viewpoints, the syllable arrangement of which seemed compelling and whose structure, as he explained, would suit a musical setting. Three of these poems are in Strawinsky’s semi-sacred style, and the fourth is a love poem. Strawinsky himself spoke of a world composition: ‘the cantata is, therefore, secular’. ‘A Lyke-Wake Dirge’ forms the outer centre, and he inserts other poems in between its lines: firstly ‘The maidens came…’ then ‘To-morrow shall be …’ and finally the love song, ‘Westron Wind’. The inner centre forms the Holy Story, a free story of the Passion of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ; it is a piece within a piece with its own ending for the possibility that it could be performed as a self-standing Passion, something which Strawinsky was considering and which he was intending for Easter Week. The five-volume edition >POETS OF THE / ENGLISH LANGUAGE / Edited by / W.H. AUDEN / and / NORMAN HOLMES PEARSON< was printed in octavo and linen by >The Colonial Press< in the United States in a blank case with a spine printed in gold without writing on the front- or –back covers apart from a Pegasus emblem on the front page (625 + 564 + 628 + 540 + 630 pages). It was published in September 1950 by the New York publishers >The Viking Press< and on exactly the same day in Canada by >The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited< Publishers. It is lovingly put together. Each of the 5 volumes (I: Medieval / AND / Renaissance / POETS / Langland to Spenser; II: Elizabethan / AND / Jacobean POETS / Marlowe to Marvell; III: Restoration / AND / Augustan / POETS / Milton to Goldsmith; IV: Romantic / POETS / Blake to Poe; V: Victorian / AND / Edwardian / POETS / Tennyson to Yeats) contains an index of the titles and opening lines as well as a short catalogue of the authors with the sources of the poems; the first volume has additional emendations and glosses by E. Talbot Donaldson. The texts of the four songs are taken from the 1st volume, pages 426 (Westron Wind), 427-428 (The maidens came), 428-429 (A Lyke-Wake Dirge), 430-431 (To-morrow shall be . . .).
Differences Strawinsky-Auden: [(Versus)-Line / Score text / Auden text]: [A Lyke-Wake Dirge:] I-1: without result; I-2: >nighte< / > night<; I-3: >Fire< + >sleete< + >lighte;< / > Fire,< + > sleete,< + > lighte,<; I-4: without result; II-1: >past,< / > paste,<; II:2: >nighte< / > night<; II-3: >com’st< + >last;< / > comest< + > laste,<; II-4: without result; III-1: >gav’st< / > gavest<; III-2: I-2: >nighte< / > night<; III-3: >sit< + >on< / > Sit< + > on,<; III-4: without result; IV-1: >hos’n< + >gav’st< / > hosen< + > gavest<; IV-2: I-2: >nighte< / > night<; IV-3: >bane;< / > bane,<; V-4: without result; V-1: >may’st< + >pass,< / > mayst< + > passe,<; V-2: I-2: >nighte< / > night<; V-3: >com’st< + >last;< / > comest< + > laste<; V-4: without result; VI-1: >may’st< + >pass,< / > mayst< + > passe,<; VI-2: I-2: >nighte< / > night<; VI-3: >com’st< + >last;< / > comest< + > laste<; VI-4: without result; VII-1: >gav’st< + >drink,< / > gavest< + > drink<; VII-2: I-2: >nighte< / > night<; VII-3: >shrink;< / > shrinke,<; VII-4: without result; VIII-1: >meat< + >gav’st< / > meate< + > gavest<; VIII-2: I-2: >nighte< / > night<; VIII-3: >bane;< / > bane,<; VIII-4: without result; IX -1: without result; IX-2: I-2: >nighte< / > night<; IX -3: >Fire< + >sleete< + >lighte;< / > Fire,< + > sleete,< + > lighte,<; IX -4: without result # [The maidens came:] 1: without result; 2: >when< + >mother’s< / > When< + > mothers<; 3: >had< / > hade<; 4: without result; 5: >The rose< / > the rose<; 6-9: without result; 10: >glass< / > glasse<; 11: >shines< / > Shines<; 12-22: without result; 23: >Eternal< / > Eternall<; 24-26: without result # [To-morrow shall be . . .:] I-1,2: without result; I-3: >to< / > To<; I-4: without result; I-5: >oh,< / > oh!<; I-6: without result; II-1: without result; II-2: >of< / > Of<; II-3,4: without result; III-1,2,3,4: without result; IV:1: >baptiz’d< / > baptized<; IV-2,3,4: without result; V-1: without result; V-2: >where< / > Where<; V-3,4: without result; VI-1: without result; VI-2: >variance;< / > variance,<; VI-3,4: without result; VII-1: without result; VII-2: >advance;< / > advance,<; VII-3,4: without result; VIII-1,2: without result; VIII-3: >they< / > They<; VIII-4: >Judg’d< / > Judged<; IX-1: >hang’d< / > hanged<; IX-2: >glance,< / > glance;<; IX-3: >issu’d< / > issued<; IX-4: without result; X-1,2,3,4: without result; XI-1: >Heav’n< / > Heaven<; XI-2,3: without result; XI-4: >gen’ral< / > general< # [Westron Wind:] 1: >wind,< / > winde,<; 2: >small< + >rain< + >down< + >rain< / > smalle< + > raine< + > downe< + > raine?<; 3: >were< / > wer<; 4: >again.< / > againe.<.
Linguistic complications: There were linguistic complications for the printing concerning the word ‘shall’, which the publishers wished to have printed as ‘sall’. Strawinsky, who discussed this with his friend Aldous Huxley, insisted on his spelling of it (which in fact did not correspond to the published original) in a letter to Erwin Stein of 15th August 1952 under an appeal from Aldous Huxley and the edition of the Oxford Book of English Verse von 1900, which by the way corresponded to the text of Auden.
Construction: The work is a seven-part cantata which has subtitles for the movements (Prelude, Ricercar I, 1st Interlude, Ricercar II, 2nd Interlude, Westron Wind and Postlude); it uses anonymous English song forms from the 15th and 16th centuries with Ricercar II as its formal centre, and this movement can be performed as a representation of the Passion of Jesus Christ as a self-standing work with its own ending. In the Cantata, Strawinsky understood the term ‘Ricercar’, originally a free sound game before the original composition for the purpose of tuning the lyre strings (from ricercare = Italian for to research) not in the Bachian sense but as a structural term for a canonic process which also allowed him a certain freedom. The choir, despite the four-part notation, is either divided as a two-part soprano line against one alto or as one soprano against a two-part alto line, so always in three parts, and is restricted to the Elegy. The choir and the soloists, to whom the two Ricercare and the Song of Love are assigned, are never combined. The soloists are also split at first; Ricercar I is a soprano solo, Ricercar II an extremely extensive tenor solo. The Song of Love is a soprano and tenor duet, taking its cue from the meaning. – Strawinsky distributes the framing >A LIKE-WAKE DIRGE< across four sections (Prelude; 2 Interludes, Postlude). He inserts: the Ricercar I (>The Maidens came . . .<) between the Prelude and 1st Interlude; the >SACRED HISTORY<, which is to be understood as the centre, between the 1st and 2nd Interludes as Ricercar II (>To-morrow shall be . . .<); and >WESTRON WIND< between the 2nd Interlude and the Postlude. – The original text of >A Like-Wake Dirge< is made up of nine verses of four lines each, of which each second and fourth line is identical and were (therefore presumably) printed in the Auden edition in italics. The ninth verse is a repeat of the first verse, so that these two verses form a textual frame. Strawinsky uses the first two verses for the Prelude, verses three and four for the 1st Interlude, verses five and six for the 2nd Interlude, and the remaining three verses for the Postlude. The two Interludes appear as an architectonic identity (7 + 18 + 17 bars), the Prelude is shortened by a bar (7 + 17 + 17), and the Postlude gains a sense of finality by means of the inclusion of what are now three verses, leading to its greater length (7 + 17 + 17 + 17). – ‘The Maidens came . . . ‘ is a poem that is not divided into verses, consisting of 26 lines with a caesura after the 14th line. Lines 8 and 9 are the same as lines 4 and 5. The phrase in the 12th line (>How should I love<) is the only thing that Strawinsky repeats, and it was certainly for the purpose of heightening his expressive emphasis. – The ‘Sacred History’ (To-morrow shall be my dancing day) is made up of eleven four-line verses with a two-line refrain, which is printed in italics in the original; it is only included in its entirety after the first verse in Auden’s version, appearing again at the end of the second verse as an incipit with the first two words printed followed by the abbreviation >etc.<. It can be assumed that this refrain should come after every verse. Strawinsky saw it differently, and only had the refrain appear after the first two verses. In the ‘History’, he repeats combinations of single words several times; it remains open as to whether this is for the purpose of heightening expression or for the row construction, or indeed for both considerations mutually influencing each other. The English of the poem is less archaic. Auden was following a modern London reprinting from 1833 (>Sandy’s Christmas Carols<). – ‘Westron winde’ (Strawinsky writes and sets >Westron wind<) is a short poem four lines in length. Strawinsky builds it into a sort of three-part antiphon, in that he repeats the first two lines at the end after lines three and four, which are the concluding lines in the original, in an expanded form.
Structure
A LYKE-WAKE DIRGE / VERSUS I / PRELUDE
[Eine Totenklage / Vers 1 / Vorspiel - Un Hymne pour une veillée funèbre / Vers 1 / Prélude]
Tempo: Crotchet = 52 (41 bars = figure 71 up to the end of figure 210 with repeat from 17 bars figure 11 up to the end of figure 210 = bar 8-24 with (two) interchangeable final bars 23/24 = figure 29-10)
RICERCAR I / (Soprano) / The maidens came . . .
[Die Jungfern kamen - Les Vierges sont venues]
Tempo: Quaver = 69 ( 71 bars = figure 51 up to the end of figure 96)
[1. Section 4/8 = structural A = d minor]
(10 bars = figure 51 up to the end of figure 15)
Text: The maidens came . . .
[2. Section 3/8 = structural B = g minor]
(17 bars = figure 2 up to the end of figure 3)
Text: The baily berith . . .
[3. Section 4/8 = structural A1 = varied version of A = d minor]
(8 bars = figure 4)
Text: And through the glass window . . .
[4. Section 3/8 = structural B1 = shortened version of B = g minor]
(7 bars = figure 5)
Text: The baily berith . . .
[5. Section 4/8 = structural A2 = new varied version of A = g minor]
(7 bars = figure 6)
Text: For to report it . . .
[6. Section alteration 4/8-3/8 = structural C = recitative]
(4 bars figure 71 up to figure 74 + 6 bars = figure 75 up to figure 79)
Text: Right mighty and famous . . .
[7. Section 4/8 = structural D = prayer = function of a coda]
(12 bars = figure 81 up to the end of figure 96)
Text: Vertues and bening . . .
A LYKE-WAKE DIRGE / VERSUS II / 1st Interlude
[Eine Totenklage / Vers 2 / 1. Zwischenspiel - Un Hymne pour une veillée funèbre / Vers 2 / 1. Interlude]
Tempo Crotchet = 52 (41 {42} bars = figure 71 up to the end of figure 210{11} with repeat of 17{18} bars figure 11 up to the end of figure 210{11} = bar 8-24{25} with {two} interchangeable final bars 23/24 = figure 29-10 for three bars 23-25 = figure 29-11
RICERCAR II* / (Tenor) / To-morrow shall be . . . / (SACRED HISTORY)
[Morgen soll ich . . . (Die Heilige Geschichte) - Demain sera . . . (L'Histoire sacrée)]
[1.] CANTUS CANCRIZANS / Tempo: Semiquaver = 108 (8 bars = figure 121 up to figure 51) [1.]
[1.] RITORNELLO / Semiquaver = 132 più mosso Quaver = 66 (4 bars = figure 41 up to figure 11)
[2] CANTUS CANCRIZANS / Tempo Io Semiquaver = 108 (14 bars = figure 1 up to the end of figure 3)
[2.] RITORNELLO / Semiquaver = 132 più mosso Quaver = 66 (4 bars = figure 4)
[3.] CANTUS CANCRIZANS / Tempo Io Semiquaver = 108 (6 bars = figure 5)
[1.] CANON Semiquaver = 132 più mosso Quaver = 66 (12 bars = figure 6 up to the end of figure 8)
[3.] RITORNELLO L'istesso Quaver sempre (3 bars = figure 9)
[2.] CANON (12 bars = figure 10 up to the end of figure 12)
[4.] RITORNELLO (3 bars = figure 13)
[3.] CANON (12 bars = figure 14 up to the end of figure 16)
[5.] RITORNELLO (3 bars = figure 17)
[4.] CANON (9 bars = figure 18 up to the end of figure 19)
[6.] RITORNELLO (3 bars = figure 20)
[5.] CANON (12 bars = figure 21 up to the end of figure 23)
[7.] RITORNELLO (3 bars = figure 24)
[6.] CANON (9 bars = figure 25 up to the end of figure 27)
[8.] RITORNELLO (3 bars = figure 28)
[7.] CANON (12 bars = figure 29 up to the end of figure 31)
[9.] RITORNELLO (3 bars = figure 32)
[8.] CANON (12 bars = figure 33 up to the end of figure 35)
[10.] RITORNELLO (3 bars = figure 36)
[9.] CANON (12 bars = figure 37 up to the end of figure 39)
[11.] RITORNELLO (3 {4**} bars = figure 401-3{1-4**})
A LYKE-WAKE DIRGE / VERSUS III / 2nd Interlude
[Eine Totenklage / Vers 3 / 2. Zwischenspiel - Un Hymne pour une veillée funèbre / Vers 3 / 2. Interlude]
Crotchet = 52 (41 {42} bars = figure 71 up to the end of figure 210{11} with repeat of 17{18} bars figure 11 up to the end of figure 210{11} = bar 8-24{25} with {two} interchangeable final bars 23/24 = figure 29-10 for three bars 23-25 = figure 29-11
WESTRON WIND / (Soprano and Tenor)
[Westwind - Le Vent d'ouest]
Crotchet = 136 (68 bars = figure 41 up to the end of figure 165 = structural three-section song form A-B-A)
A LYKE-WAKE DIRGE / VERSUS IV / Postlude
[Eine Totenklage / Vers 4 / Nachspiel (Postludium) - Un Hymne pour une veillée funèbre / Vers 4 / Postlude]
Crotchet = 52 (58 bars = figure 71 up to the end of figure 410 with repeat of 17 bars figure 11 up to the end of figure 210 = bar 8-24)
* Conceived as a work to be performed in its own right and with its own ending.
** If performed separately, a 4th bar is added to the Ritornello to create a final bar.
Strawinsky’s self-analysis: the Cantata is Strawinsky’s only piece for which he himself supplied an extensive analysis of the composition, something which was unusual for him.
Prelude, Interludes, Postlude
The Cantata begins with a short instrumental introduction in the Phrygian mode. This is followed by a three- and two-voice elegy in the chorus (figure 14), the music of which is modal and both verses are compositionally identical, like a refrain, but their accompaniments are adapted to the speech rhythms. Strawinsky composed the two-bar final cadence of the repeat as a pure D major chord. The text for the Elegy consists of 4 lines of 9 verses in total, which he distributes throughout the entire piece as a background framework: 2 verses as the Prelude, 2 verses as the first interlude between Ricercar I and Ricercar II, 2 verses as the second interlude between Ricercar II and the West-Wind song, and 3 verses as the postlude. On all four occasions in which the Elegy is heard, it remains compositionally unchanged, including the Prelude, verse repetitions and final cadence. The only deviations from this are exclusively rhythmic adjustments to the demands of the speech rhythms of the lines. The ninth verse does not appear simply as the third repetition in the Postlude but the line has its own rhythmic adjustments with a simple alteration of the compositional structure. The final cadences are prima and seconda volta and instrumental but without text; the extension of the prima volta in the second and third line (both interludes) by a bar in comparison with the seconda volta is carried out by the extension of two quavers into crotchets. For the Postlude, the final cadence of the seventh and eighth verses are identical in terms of notes, and the final verse has its own instrumental cadence over five crotchets which has a rallentando over it; the Cantata closes with this on a 6/4 chord on A major.
Ricercar I
After the instrumental introduction the first Ricercar comes, a seven-part soprano solo, A-B-A1-B1-A2-C-D accompanied by a quintet, in which the 2nd oboe is replaced by the cor anglais. Strawinsky himself analysed its form as A-B-A-B-A-recitative-C = Prayer: A, B, A, B, A, recitative, C (prayer) and despite the major-minor quality, he was thinking modally. The canonic structure is obvious. It is introduced by the 1st flute and played in inversion, so in contrary motion, by the cor anglais. In the subsequent B section it is the flute that mirrors the voice part while the oboe, which enters in the fourth bar, repeats the original canon of the soprano at the same pitch. The modality goes from D minor to A minor and back again to D minor, changing in the B section to G minor. The A1 – B1 sections, which join on to one another, are A and B with identical key signature but with shortened repeating and developing sections (sections 3 and 4). A2 is newly worked as a shortened A section with an identical key signature. It is now the 1st flute that follows the soprano part a quaver apart in canon and in octaves, while the oboe plays the mirror image of the flute part at the same time two octaves lower. All the A sections are written in 4/8 bars and all the B sections in 3/8 bars. The C section, the sixth section, is a strongly held recitative of 9 bars which alternates five times between 4/8 and 3/8. The final 12 bars have the function of a coda. The text with which it begins is linked by its meaning to the previous section and forms the ending there, so that the prayer of which Strawinsky is speaking enters first in the second half of the 2 ndbar of figure 82. The tonal and modal centre is A, which is raised to B in the sixth and seventh bars, thus becoming stronger, while the flutes play at an interval of a fifth. The Amen begins a cadence to A which gains a plagal character from the harmonic crotchets in the woodwinds.
Ricercar II
The second Ricercar, which follows the first Interlude, is in its own contrapuntal world and was, not without reason, understood by Strawinsky as a self-standing piece within the cantata and was given its own final bar for such purposes. At nearly 12 minutes in length, this section takes up almost half of the entire Cantata. The Ricercar consists of a melodic game of inversions and retrogrades between which short ritornelli are inserted which are steered by the text. In order to identify the compositional processes, Strawinsky had them printed in brackets and labeled the beginning ‘Cantus cancrizans’. The ritornelli act as rest points in this canonic game of confusion. The first two span four bars in a 4/8 time signature while all the others last three bars in a 3/4 time signature. The last of the eleven total ritornelli, always alternating with a ‘Cantus cancrizans’ or a canon (except for the 3rd ‘Cantus cancrizans’, which is followed immediately by a canon), contains the final instrumental chord in the flutes and violoncello as an additional fourth bar which should be played if one wishes to perform the piece as a self-standing composition. It should be ignored for a performance of the Cantata in its entirety. All the ritornelli are to a large extent compositionally identical but with adjustments of the speech rhythms to the respective texts, and thus easily recognizable to even the untutored listener. There are differences in the techniques of instrumentation, aside from a different harmonic and melodic handling of the first two ritornelli. While the tenor steadfastly sings the melody in its various permutations without interruption in all 9 canon sections, all the accompanying parts do not take part in the canonic game together. The respective permutations are treated contrapuntally, much more in a separate manner of linear sectionality with free instrumental structures superimposed. The process can be shown in a diagram because the canonic sections, which are in four parts throughout, have a different permutation in every part next to the free structure; these overlap undeviatingly in all the parts.
Westron winde
The West Wind song, which follows the second Interlude, is quite a stormy duet for soprano and tenor in a simple song structure and is accompanied by an instrumental ensemble which replaces the 2 ndoboe with the cor anglais. Strawinsky works here with forms of imitation but avoids the canonic legerdemain of the other sections of the Cantata to correspond to the formal simplicity. Structurally, this movement is in a three-part A-B-A form without any alteration of the second A section. Of the 68 bars of the piece, the first A section covers 20 bars (to the end of figure 4), of which bar 20 is a rest, and the middle section with the beginning of the calling to Christ is 23 bars long (figure 5 to the end of figure 10). The second A section uses bars 1-18 note-for-note but does not make the final word of bar 19 (‘rain’) last for the entire bar, only for half a bar in order to repeat the text ‘can rain’ in the second half of the bar along with the following text. Strawinsky therefore fills up the pause bar, bar 20, of the first A section in the second A section, with music. The final 5 bars form an instrumental postlude which is derived from the accompaniment of the first call to Christ in the middle section.
Style: The Cantata is constructed with a modal and freely tonal mixture process with minimal alterations to the structure; the work demands painstaking attention as a listener. The differentiations limit themselves occasionally to the smallest discrepancies but appear early on, as the consistently small sections either have a recognisable character or are written so individually that it is possible to hear one’s way through. Even though Strawinsky himself named his composition ‘half-wordly’, its flow is still and sacral, in the same way as the portrayal of the Passion that is incorporated into it avoids any dramaticism and the plot is reflected and introverted. This style exhibits an unknown constructivist method for Strawinsky up to that point and so stands at the beginning of a new development. Although Strawinsky had for a long time not been developing his textual interpretations according to the meanings of the texts but to their numbers of syllables, there are still other motific interpretations. Single tableaux such as constant rain (West Wind song, figure 10), upward whistling wind (West Wind song, figure 9), the quasi-trumpet-fanfare greeting of the Queen (Ricercar I, figure 7) and other examples stand against the formula and add interpretative worth.
Dedication: This CANTATA is dedicated / to the Los Angeles Symphony Society* / which performed it under my / direction and for the first time / on November 11th, 1952 / Igor Strawinsky.
* The institution that first performed the work did not call itself Los Angeles Symphony Society but Los Angeles Chamber Symphony Society. It stood at the time under the directorship of the Music Director John Vincent and was a chamber orchestra in which even Sol Babitz played. Certain of the orchestral members, expecially the violinist Sol Babitz, who was very highly regarded by Strawinsky, are known from Strawinsky’s vinyl recordings. The orchestra was overseen by the female supervisor, Florence Caylor.
Duration: about 1'45" (Lyke-Wake Dirge I), 4'43" (Ricercar I), 1'41" (Lyke-Wake Dirge II), 11'55" (Ricercar II), 1'41" (Lyke-Wake Dirge III), 2'11" (Westron Wind), 1'41" (Lyke-Wake Dirge IV).
Date of origin: April 1951 up to August 1952; a ccording to the sketches, Westron Wind was written on 2nd February 1952.
History of origin: Strawinsky began the composition in April 1951 and completed it in August 1952. It must also have been often interrupted by other works and events. While it can be gathered from a letter to Roth of 22nd July 1952 that the new Cantata was in its final stages of composition at this point, ‘actually’ the composition was already complete. The ‘actual’ composition was presumably already finished and Strawinsky was only making technical instrumental corrections.
First performance: 11th November 1952, Royce Hall Auditorium, University California in Los Angeles with Marni Nixon (Soprano) and Hughes Cuenod (Tenor), the Roger Wagner Choral (Sopran: Anne Shaw Price, Joyce Ferrin, Barbara Fauskin, Nancy Anmair; Alt: La Vada Marlow, Maxine Winge, Lee Madsen, Jean Uppman; Choirmaster: Dr. Roger Wagner) and the Members of the Los Angeles Chamber Symphony Society Haskon Bergh (Flute), Arthur Gleghorn (Flute), Alexandre Duvoir (Oboe), William Kosinski (English horn) under the direction of Igor Strawinsky.*
* The programme contained music only of Strawinsky.
Remarks: Of the history of the composition of the Cantata, there seems only to be known that which Strawinsky himself expressed in a programme note, his own analysis, which was reproduced in a shortened version for the CD release, and what is extant of the sparse correspondence from this time. After the completion of The Rake’s Progress, Strawinsky wanted to set a lyrical, English text (‘in a purer, non dramatic form’). This was probably a subtle compliment to his highly prized friend, Wystan Auden, who was a co-publisher of the English collection Poets of the English Language.
Situationsgeschichte: According to statements by trustworthy contemporaries such as Otto Klemperer, Strawinsky was intensively occupying himself at the time with Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and the Musical Offering, the influence of which is unmistakeable, especially in the second Ricercar. Apart from this, he heard Webern’s String Quartet several times in January and February 1952, so shortly before the composition of the second Ricercar, and he must have been profoundly impressed by it. His turn towards Webern’s row techniques was consequently only a question of time, especially as Strawinsky’s style of adopting and exploiting worthy composition models without twelve-tone or serial techniques would remain incomplete. After the death of Schönberg, the latter’s satirical works against Strawinsky had been consigned to history, while left-orientated dialectical and sociological animosity in the style of Adorno compensated for the serial events that were playing out liberally in Cologne and Paris, the ties were already looking for the works that pointing towards a discontinued future in 1914 and 1922. Strawinsky re-orientated himself in the coming time and wrote a works for cognoscenti and aficionados over the next thirteen years between 1953 and 1966 with consequences that would not be foreseen for a long time.
Significance: The Cantata was written at a time when Strawinsky clearly had no further interest in commercially viable compositions, and he changed his focus towards an introverted, religiously motivated and older style. Even though the Cantata is neither twelve-tone nor constructed according to a serial principle, something which in fact had not been invented at the time of composition of this piece, the contrapuntally imitative process was developed in a free rhythmic style. It bears the hallmarks of a pre-serial compositional style so that the actual story of Strawinsky’s serial journey, which was finally realized with the Septet, begins with it.
Versions: The publishing contract between Strawinsky and Boosey & Hawkes was settled on 20th June 1952. The printing was hurried through. All the necessary versions (orchestral score, the piano reduction completed by Strawinsky himself and the pocket score) were published directly after the completion. The conducting score was published in December 1952 and the pocket score in January 1953. A new printing of the pocket score is proved for February 1957. The piano reduction was also produced in 1952. As the only one of the editions, it contains a German translation by Heinrich Lindlar. The British Library received the conducting score and piano reduction on 19th December 1952 and the pocket score on 22th January 1953. The English-German and the solely German versions of the text in the piano reduction are published under the same plate number.
Historical recordings: 22th December 1952 in New York with Jennis Tourel (Soprano), Hugues Cuénod (Tenor), the New York Concert Choir and the New York Symphonic Ensemble under the direction of Igor Strawinsky; 27th November 1965 (up to 10th February 1966) in Hollywood with Mezzosopranistin Adrienne Albert (Mezzo soprano), Alexander Young (Tenor), the Gregg Smith Singers and the Columbia Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Igor Strawinsky.
CD edition: XI-1/11-17 (Recording 1965/66).
Autograph: Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
Copyright: 1952 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York.
Editions
a) Overview
79-1 1952 FuSc; E; Boosey & Hawkes London; 38 p.; B. & H. 17245.
79-1Straw ibd. [with annotations].
79-2 1952 VoSc; E; Boosey & Hawkes London; 32 p.; B. & H. 17247.
79-254 1954 ibd.
79-254-Straw 1954 ibd. (no annotations).
79-2[68][1968] ibd.
79-3 1953 PoSc; E; Boosey & Hawkes London; 38 p.; B. & H. 17245; 666.
79-357 1957 ibd.
79-362 1962 ibd.
79-364 1964 ibd.
79-366 1966 ibd.
79-4 [1952] VoSc; G; Boosey & Hawkes Bonn; 32 p.; B. & H. 17247.
b) Characteristic features
79-1 igor strawinsky / cantata / full score / boosey & hawkes // Igor Strawinsky / Cantata / for Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus / and a small Instrumental Ensemble / Words anonymous, 15th/16th century lyrics / Full Score / Boosey & Hawkes Ltd. / London · New York · Sydney · Toronto · Capetown · Buenos Aires · Paris · Bonn // (Full score sewn in red 23.6 x 31 (4° [4°]); 38 [37] pages + 4 cover pages tomato red on green beige [front cover title, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s >Édition Russe de Musique / (S. et N. Koussewitzky) / Boosey & Hawkes< Werbung >Igor Strawinsky<* production data 453] + 3 pages front matter [title page, legend >Instruments< English + duration data [>about 30 minutes<] English, page with dedication and (world) premiere data handwritten printed in line etching >This CANTATA is dedicated / to the Los Angeles Symphony Society / which performed it under my / direction and for the first time / on November 11 th, 1952 / Igor Stravinsky<] without back matter; title head >CANTATA / for Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus / and a small Instrumental Ensemble<; authors specified 1. page of the score paginated p. 2 below title head above and next to 1. line movement title >A LYKE-WAKE DIRGE< flush left centred >Anonymous 15th/16th / Century lyrics< next to and above 1. line movement title flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1952<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush left >All Rights of Reproduction in any form reserved. / Copyright 1952 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York<; production indication 1. page of the score below type area flush right >Printed in England<; plate number >B. & H. 17245<; end number p. 38 flush right >12. 52. E<) // (1952)
* In French, compositions are advertised in two columns without edition numbers and without price information >Piano seul° / Trois Mouvements de Pétrouchka / Suite de Pétrouchka (Th. Szántó) / Marche chinoise de “ Rossignol ” / Sonate pour piano* / Ouverture de “ Mavra ” / Serenade en la / Symphonie*°° pour°° instruments à vent / Octuor pour instruments à vent / Partitions pour piano°* / Le Chant du Rossignol / Apollon Musagète / Le Baiser de la Fée / Orpheus / Piano à quatre mains° / Le* Sacre du Printemps / Pétrouchka / Deux Pianos à quatre mains° / Concerto pour piano* / Capriccio pour piano* et orchestre / Chant et piano°* / Deux Poésies de Balmont / Trois Poésies de la lyrique japonaise / Trois petites chansons / Chanson de Paracha de “ Mavra ” / Introduction, chant du pêcheur, air du / rossignol / Choeur°* / Ave Maria (a cappella) / Credo (a cappella) / Pater noster (a cappella) // Partitions pour chant et piano* / Rossignol. Conte lyrique en 3 actes / Mavra. Opéra bouffe en 1 acte / Œdipus Rex. Opéra-oratorio en 1 acte* / Symphonie de Psaumes / Perséphone / Violon et Piano°* / Suite d’après Pergolesi / Duo Concertant / Airs du Rossignol / Danse Russe / Divertimento / Suite Italienne / Chanson Russe / Violoncelle et Piano°* / Suite Italienne (Piatigorsky) / Musique de Chambre° / Trois pièces pour quatuor à cordes / Octuor pour instruments à vent / Partitions de poche° / Suite de Pulcinella / Symphonies pour°° instruments à vent / Concerto pour piano* / Chant du Rossignol / Pétrouchka. Ballet / Sacre* du Printemps / Le Baiser de la Fée / Apollon Musagète / Œdipus Rex* / Perséphone / Capriccio* / Divertimento / Quatre Études pour orchestre / Symphonie de Psaumes / Trois pièces pour quatuor à cordes / Octuor pour instruments à vent / Concerto en ré pour orchestre à cordes< [* different spelling original; ° centre centred; °° original spelling]. The following places of printing are listed: London-New York-Sydney-Toronto-Cape Town-Paris-Buenos Aires.
79-1Straw
The copy from Strawinsky’s estate contains notes [>recorded with / Columbia / 22. 12. 52 / NY< and >nothing / bor for< and >Febr. 12/66 Vers I II III e
IV<].
79-2 CANTATA° / [picture] / Music by / Igor Strawinsky / on Anonymous XV th-XVI thCentury English Lyrics / Vocal Score [#] Boosey & Hawkes // Igor Strawinsky / Cantata / for Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus / and a small Instrumental Ensemble / Words anonymous, 15th/16th century lyrics / Vocal Score / by the Composer / Boosey & Hawkes Ltd. / London · New York · Sydney · Toronto · Capetown · Buenos Aires · Paris · Bonn // (Vocal score with chant [library binding] 23 x 31 (4° [4°]); sung text [exclusively] English; 32 [31] pages + 4 cover pages light red on yellow beige [ornamental front cover title°° with a three-quarter-page picture of 3 musicians, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s >Édition Russe de Musique / (S. et N. Koussewitzky) / Boosey & Hawkes< advertisements >Igor Strawinsky<* production data >No. 453<] + 3 pages front matter [title page, legend >Instruments< English + duration data >about 30 minutes< English, [shortened] dedication handwritten printed in line etching >To the / Los Angeles Symphony Society / Igor Strawinsky / 1952<] without back matter; title head >CANTATA / for Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus / and a small Instrumental Ensemble<; authors specified 1. page of the score paginated p. 2 below title head above and next to movement title >A LYKE-WAKE DIRGE< flush left centred >Anonyme Englishe Dichtungen / des 15./16. Jahrhunderts< next to and below movement title flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1952<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush left >All Rights of Reproduction in any form reserved / Copyright 1952 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York<; production indication 1. page of the score below type area flush right >Printed in England<; plate number >B. & H. 17247<; without end mark p. 32) // (1952)
° The title is designed in the style of a conveyer belt.
°° The title texts are in ligature-free, quasi-handwritten, decorative cursive script.
* In French, compositions are advertised in two columns without edition numbers and without price information >Piano seul° / Trois Mouvements de Pétrouchka / Suite de Pétrouchka (Th. Szántó) / Marche chinoise de “ Rossignol ” / Sonate pour piano* / Ouverture de “ Mavra ” / Serenade en la / Symphonie*°° pour°° instruments à vent / Octuor pour instruments à vent / Partitions pour piano°* / Le Chant du Rossignol / Apollon Musagète / Le Baiser de la Fée / Orpheus / Piano à quatre mains° / Le* Sacre du Printemps / Pétrouchka / Deux Pianos à quatre mains° / Concerto pour piano* / Capriccio pour piano* et orchestre / Chant et piano°* / Deux Poésies de Balmont / Trois Poésies de la lyrique japonaise / Trois petites chansons / Chanson de Paracha de “ Mavra ” / Introduction, chant du pêcheur, air du / rossignol / Choeur°* / Ave Maria (a cappella) / Credo (a cappella) / Pater noster (a cappella) // Partitions pour chant et piano* / Rossignol. Conte lyrique en 3 actes / Mavra. Opéra bouffe en 1 acte / Œdipus Rex. Opéra-oratorio en 1 acte* / Symphonie de Psaumes / Perséphone / Violon et Piano°* / Suite d’après Pergolesi / Duo Concertant / Airs du Rossignol / Danse Russe / Divertimento / Suite Italienne / Chanson Russe / Violoncelle et Piano°* / Suite Italienne (Piatigorsky) / Musique de Chambre° / Trois pièces pour quatuor à cordes / Octuor pour instruments à vent / Partitions de poche° / Suite de Pulcinella / Symphonies pour°° instruments à vent / Concerto pour piano* / Chant du Rossignol / Pétrouchka. Ballet / Sacre* du Printemps / Le Baiser de la Fée / Apollon Musagète / Œdipus Rex* / Perséphone / Capriccio* / Divertimento / Quatre Études pour orchestre / Symphonie de Psaumes / Trois pièces pour quatuor à cordes / Octuor pour instruments à vent / Concerto en ré pour orchestre à cordes< [* different spelling original; ° centre centred; °° original spelling]. The following places of printing are listed: London-New York-Sydney-Toronto-Cape Town-Paris-Buenos Aires.
79-254-Straw
Strawinsky ’ s copy >IS / PM / 2246< is without annotations.
79-2 [68] CANTATA / [picture] / Music by / Igor Stravinsky° / on Anonymous XV th-XVI thCentury English Lyrics / Vocal Score [#] Boosey & Hawkes // Igor Stravinsky° / Cantata / for Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus / and a small Instrumental Ensemble / Words anonymous, 15 th /°° 16 th century lyrics/ Vocal Score / by the Composer/ Boosey & Hawkes / Music Publishers Limited / London · Paris · Bonn · Johannesburg · Sydney · Toronto · New York // (Vocal score with chant [library binding] 23.4 x 31 (4° [4°]); sung text English; 32 [31] pages + 4 cover pages brown on cream white [ornamental front cover title°° with a three-quarter-page picture of 3 musicians, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s advertisements >Igor Stravinsky<* production data >No. 40<] + 3 pages front matter [title page, legend >Instruments< without duration data, [shortened] dedication handwritten printed in line etching >To the / Los Angeles Symphony Society / Igor Strawinsky / 1952<] + 2 pages back matter [empty page, page with modernistisch ongemachter publisher’s advertisements > SACRED CHORAL WORKS<** production data >No. 26a< # >9/68<]; title head >CANTATA / for Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus / and a small Instrumental Ensemble<; authors specified 1. page of the score unpaginated [p. 2] below title head flush left centred >Anonymous 15 th /°° 16 th / Century lyris< flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY° / 1952<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush left >All Rights of Reproduction in any form reserved / Copyright 1952 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York<; plate number >B. & H. 17247<; production indication 1. page of the score next to title head flush left in the text box contained >IMPORTANT NOTICE / The unauthorized copying / of the whole or any part of / this publication is illegal< below type area flush right >Printed in England<; without end marks) // [1968])
° Different spelling of the name is original.
°° Slash original.
* In French, compositions are advertised in two columns without edition numbers, without price information and without specification of places of printing >Operas and Ballets° / Agon [#] Apollon musagète / Le Baiser de la fée [#] Le rossignol / Mavra [#] Oedipus rex / Orpheus [#] Perséphone / Pétrouchka [#] Pulcinella / The flood [#] The rake’s progress / The rite of spring°<; below >Symphonic Works°< >Abraham and Isaac [#] Capriccio pour piano et orchestre / Concerto en ré (Bâle) [#] Concerto pour piano et orchestre / [#] d’harmonie / Divertimento [#] Greetings°° prelude / Le chant du rossignol [#] Monumentum / Movements for piano and orchestra [#] Quatre études pour orchestre / Suite from Pulcinella [#] Symphonies of wind instruments / Trois petites chansons [#] Two poems and three Japanese lyrics / Two poems of Verlaine [#] Variations in memoriam Aldous Huxley<; below >Instrumental Music°< Double canon [#] Duo concertant / string quartet [#] violin and piano Epitaphium [#] In memoriam Dylan Thomas / flute, clarinet and harp [#] tenor, string quartet and 4 trombones / Elegy for J.F.K. [#] Octet for wind instruments / mezzo-soprano or baritone [#] flute, clarinet, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets and / and 3 clarinets [#] 2 trombones / Septet [#] Sérénade en la / clarinet, horn, bassoon, piano, violin, viola [#] piano / and violoncello [#] / Sonate pour piano [#] Three pieces for string quartet / piano [#] string quartet / Three songs from William Shakespeare° / mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet and viola°<; below >Songs and Song Cycles< >Trois petites chansons [#] Two poems and three Japanese lyrics / Two poems of Verlaine°<; below >Choral Works< >Anthem [#] A sermon, a narrative, and a prayer / Ave Maria [#] Cantata / Canticum Sacrum [#] Credo / J. S. Bach: Choral-Variationen [#] Introitus in memoriam T. S. Eliot / Mass [#] Pater noster / Symphony of psalms [#] Threni / Tres sacrae cantiones°< [° centre centred; °° original mistake in the title].
** Compositions are advertised from >BRITTEN, B.<° to >YOUNG, P. <°, amongst these >STRAVINSKY, I. [°] [#°*] Canticum Sacrum / [#°*] Mass / [#°*] Requiem Canticles / [#°*] A Sermon, a Narrative, and a Prayer / [#°*] Symphony of Psalms / [#°*] Threni< [° The names of the composers and work titles are separated by means of a vertical line continuing the length of the full page; * flush right].
79-3 HAWKES POCKET SCORES / ^IGOR STRAWINSKY / CANTATA^ / BOOSEY & HAWKES / No. 666 // HAWKES POCKET SCORES / IGOR STRAWINSKY / CANTATA / For Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus, / and a small Instrumental Ensemble / BOOSEY & HAWKES / LTD. / LONDON · NEW YORK · TORONTO · SYDNEY · CAPETOWN · PARIS · BONN / NET PRICE / MADE IN ENGLAND // (Pocket score stapled 13.7 x 18.8 (8° [8°]); sung text English; 38 [37] pages + 4 cover pages olive-green on light green beige [front cover title with frame 9, x 3.7 light green beige on olive-green, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s advertisements >HAWKES POCKET SCORES / A selection of outstanding modern works / from this famous library of classical and contemporary Miniature Scores.<* production data >No. 582< [#] >6.50<] + 3 pages front matter [title page, legend >Instruments< English + duration data >about 30 minutes< English, dedication + (world) premiere data handwritten printed in line etching above centre >This CANTATA is dedicated / to the Los Angeles Symphony Society / which performed it under my / direction and for the first time / on November 11 th, 1952 / Igor Stravinsky<] without back matter; title head >CANTATA / for Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus / and a small Instrumental Ensemble<; authors specified 1. page of the score paginated p. 2 below title head above and next to movement title >A LYKE-WAKE DIRGE< flush left centred >Anonymous 15th/16th / Century lyrics< next to and below movement title flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1952<; legal reservations 1. page of the score below type area flush left >All Rights of Reproduction in any form reserved. / Copyright 1952 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York<; plate number >B. & H. 17245<; end number p. 38 flush left >1·53 L. & B.<; production indications 1. page of the score below type area flush right >Printed in England< p. 38 as end mark flush right >Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Limited, London<) // (1953)
^ ^ = Text in frame.
* Compositions are advertised in three columns without edition numbers from >BÉLA BARTÓK< to >R. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS<, amongst these >IGOR STRAWINSKY / Apollon Musagète ( Revised1947) / Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra / Chant du Rossignol / Concerto in D for String Orchestra / Divertimento ( Revised1949) / Mass for Chorus and Wind instr.° / Octet for Wind Instruments° / Œdipus Rex ( Revised1948) / Orpheus / Perséphone (Revised 1947) / Pétrouchka (Revised 1947) / Piano Concerto / Pulcinella Suite (Revised 1949) / Four Studies for Orchestra / The Rite of Spring ( Revised1947) / Symphony of Psalms / Symphonies for°° Wind Instruments° / Three Pieces for String Quartet< [° original spelling; °° original mistake in the title]. The following places of printing are listed: London-New York-Toronto-Sydney-Capetown-Buenos Aires-Paris-Bonn.
79-357 HAWKES POCKET SCORES / ^IGOR STRAWINSKY / CANTATA^ / BOOSEY & HAWKES / No. 666 // HAWKES POCKET SCORES / IGOR STRAWINSKY / CANTATA / For Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus, / and a small Instrumental Ensemble / BOOSEY & HAWKES / LTD. / LONDON .PARIS .BONN .CAPETOWN .SYDNEY .TORONTO .BUENOS AIRES .NEW YORK / MADE IN ENGLAND [#] NET PRICE // (Pocket score stapled 13.5 x 18.5 (8° [8°]); sung text English; 38 [37] pages + 4 cover pages dark green on grey-beige [front cover title with frame grey-beige on dark green 9.5 x 3.7, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s advertisements > HAWKES POCKET SCORES/ A selection of outstanding modern works / from this famous library of classical and contemporary Pocket Scores<* production data >NO 782< [#] 1.56] + 3 pages front matter [title page, legend English + duration data >about 30 minutes< English, dedication + (world) premiere data handwritten printed in line etching centre >This CANTATA is dedicated / to the Los Angeles Symphony Society / which performed it under my / direction and for the first time / on November 11 th, 1952 / Igor Strawinsky<] without back matter; title head >CANTATA / for Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus / and a small Instrumental Ensemble<; authors specified 1. page of the score paginated p. 2 below title head above and next to movement title >A LYKE-WAKE DIRGE< flush left centred >Anonymous 15th/16th / Century lyrics< next to and below movement title flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1952<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush left >All Rights of Reproduction in any form reserved. / Copyright 1952 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York<; plate number [centre; on pages showing the beginnings of the movements pp. 2, 4, 12, 14, 26, 28, 36 flush right] >B. & H. 17245<; end number p. 38 flush left >2 · 57 L & B<; production indications 1. page of the score below type area flush right above plate number >Printed in England< p. 38 flush right as end mark >Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Limited, London) // (1957)
^ ^ = Text in frame.
* Compositions are advertised in two columns with edition numbers from >Béla Bartók< to >Ralph Vaughan Willimas< amongst these >Igor Strawinsky / 610 Capriccio ( Revised1949 Edition) / 611 Apollon Musagète ( Revised1947 Edition) / 630 Octet for Wind Instruments/ [#] ( Revised1952 Edition) / 632 Pulcinella Suite ( Revised1949 Edition) / 637 Symphony of Psalms / 638 The Rite of Spring ( Revised1947 Edition) / 639 Pétrouchka ( Revised1947 Edition) / 640 Orpheus / 651 / Œdipus Rex ( Revised1948 Edition) / 652 Perséphone / 655 Mass / 666 Cantata / 672 Symphonies of Wind Instruments / [#] ( Revised1947 Edition) / 679 The Fairy’s Kiss / 682 Septet (1953) / 688 In Memoriam Dylan Thomas (1954)<. After London the places of printing are listed: Paris-Bonn Capetown-Sydney-Toronto-Buenos Aires-New York.
79-362 HAWKES POCKET SCORES / ^IGOR STRAWINSKY / CANTATA^ / BOOSEY & HAWKES / No. 666 // HAWKES POCKET SCORES / IGOR STRAWINSKY / CANTATA / For Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus, / and a small Instrumental Ensemble / BOOSEY & HAWKES / MUSIC PUBLISHERS Limited / LONDON · PARIS · BONN · JOHANNESBURG · SYDNEY · TORONTO · NEW YORK / NET PRICE / MADE IN ENGLAND [#] // (Pocket score stapled13.5 x 18.6 (8° [8°]); sung text English; 38 [37] pages + 4 cover pages dark green on beige [front cover title with frame beige on dark green 9.5 x 3.7, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s advertisements >HAWKES POCKET SCORES / An extensive library of miniature scores containig both classical works / and a representative collection of outstanding modern compositions<* production data >No. I6< [#] I/6I] + 3 pages front matter [title page, legend >Instruments< English + duration data >about 30 minutes< English, dedication + (world) premiere data handwritten printed in line etching centre >This CANTATA is dedicated / to the Los Angeles Symphony Society / which performed it under my / direction and for the first time / on November 11 th, 1952 / Igor Strawinsky<] without back matter; title head >CANTATA / for Soprano, Tenor, female Chorus / and a small Instrumental Ensemble<; authors specified 1. page of the score paginated p. 2 below title head above and next to movement title >A LYKE–WAKE DIRGE< flush left centred >Anonymous 15th/16th / Century lyrics< next to and below movement tile flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1952<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush left >All Rights of Reproduction in any form reserved. / Copyright 1952 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York<; plate number [centre; on pages showing the beginnings of the movements 2, 4, 12, 14, 26, 28, 36 flush right] >B. & H. 17245<; end number p. 38 flush left >5·62 L & B<; production indications 1. page of the score below type area flush right above plate number >Printed in England< p. 38 flush right as end mark >Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Limited, London) // (1962)
^ ^ = Text in frame.
* Compositions are advertised in thre columns without edition numbers from >Bach, Johann Sebastian< to >Wagner, Richard<, amongtst these >Stravinsky, Igor / Agon / Canticum Sacrum / Le Sacre du Printemps / Monumentum / Movements / Oedipus Rex / Pétrouchka / Symphonie de Psaumes / Threni<. After London the following places of printing are listed: London with Paris-Bonn-Johannesburg-Sydney-Toronto-New York.
79-3[66] HAWKES POCKET SCORES / ^IGOR STRAWINSKY / CANTATA^ / BOOSEY & HAWKES / No. 666 // HAWKES POCKET SCORES / IGOR STRAWINSKY / CANTATA / For Soprano, Tenor, Female Chorus, / and a small Instrumental Ensemble / BOOSEY & HAWKES / MUSIC PUBLISHERS LIMITED / LONDON · PARIS · BONN · JOHANNESBURG · SYDNEY · TORONTO · NEW YORK / NET PRICE / MADE IN ENGLAND [#] // (Pocket score stapled 13.5 x 18.,6 (8° [8°]); sung text English; 38 [37] pages + 4 cover pages dark green on beige [front cover title with frame beige on dark green 9.5 x 3.7, 2 empty pages, HAWKES POCKET SCORES / The following list is but a selection of the many items included in this extensive library of miniature scores / containing both classical works and an ever increasing collection of outstanding modern compositions. A / complete catalogue of Hawkes Pocket Scores is available on request.<* production data >No. 16< [#] >1.66<] + 3 pages front matter [title pages, legend >Instruments< English + duration data > about 30 minutes< English, dedication + (world) ptemiere data handwritten printed in line etching above centre >This CANTATA is dedicated / to the Los Angeles Symphony Society / which performed it under my / direction and for the first time / on November 11 th, 1952 / Igor Strawinsky <] ohne Nachspann; title head >CANTATA / for Soprano, Tenor, Female Chorus / and a small Instrumental Ensemble<; authors specified 1. page of the score paginated p. 2 below title head above and next to movement title >A LYKE–WAKE DIRGE< flush left centred >Anonymous 15th/16th / Century lyrics< next to and below movement tile flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1952<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush left >All Rights of Reproduction in any form reserved. / Copyright 1952 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York<; plate number >B. & H. 17245<; production indications 1. page of the score below type area flush right above plate number >Printed in England< p. 38 flus right as end mark >Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Limited, London) // [1966]
^ ^ = Text in frame.
* Compositions are advertised in three columns without edition numbers and without specification of places of printing from >Bach, Johann Sebastian< to >Tchaikovsky, Peter<, amongst these >Stravinsky, Igor / Abraham and Isaac / Agon / Apollon musagète / Concerto in D / The flood / Introitus / Oedipus rex / Orpheus / Perséphone / Pétrouchka / Piano concerto / Pulcinella suite / The rake’s progress / The rite of spring / Le rossignol / A sermon, a narrative and a prayer / Symphonie de psaumes / Symphonies of wind instruments / Threni / Variations<.
79-4 CANTATA° / [Zeichnung] / Music by / Igor Strawinsky / on Anonymous XV th-XVI thCentury English Lyrics / Vocal Score [#] Boosey & Hawkes // Igor Strawinsky / Cantata / für Sopran, Tenor, Frauenchor. / 2 Flöten, Oboe, Engl. Horn und Cello. / Auf anonyme Englishe Dichtungen / des 15./16. Jahrhunderts / Klavierauszug / vom Komponisten / Deutsche Fassung von Heinrich Lindlar / Boosey & Hawkes Ltd. / London · New York · Sydney · Toronto · Capetown · Buenos Aires · Paris · Bonn // (Vocal score with chant sewn 23.4 x 30.8 (4° [4°]); sung text [exclusively] German; 32 [31] pages + 4 cover pages light red on yellow beige [ornamental front cover title with a three-quarter-page picture of 3 musicians °°, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s >Édition Russe de Musique / (S. et N. Koussewitzky) / Boosey & Hawkes< advertisements >Igor Strawinsky<* production data >No. 453<] + 3 pages front matter [title page, duration data >etwa 30 Minuten< German, [shortened] dedication handwritten printed in line etching >To the / Los Angeles Symphony Society / Igor Strawinsky / 1952<] without back matter; title head >CANTATA / für Sopran, Tenor, Frauenchor / 2 Flöten, Oboe, Engl. Horn u. Cello<; authors specified 1. page of the score paginated p. 2 below title head flush left centred >Anonyme Englishe Dichtungen / des 15./16. Jahrhunderts< flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1952<; legal reservation 1st page of the score below type area flush left >All Rights of Reproduction in any form reserved / Copyright 1952 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York<; production indication 1. page of the score below type area flush right >Printed in England<; plate number >B. & H. 17247<; without end mark p. 32) // [1952]
° The title is designed in the style of a conveyer belt.
°° The title texts are in ligature-free, quasi-handwritten, decorative cursive script.
* In French, compositions are advertised in two columns without edition numbers and without price information >Piano seul° / Trois Mouvements de Pétrouchka / Suite de Pétrouchka (Th. Szántó) / Marche chinoise de “ Rossignol ” / Sonate pour piano* / Ouverture de “ Mavra ” / Serenade en la / Symphonie*°° pour°° instruments à vent / Octuor pour instruments à vent / Partitions pour piano°* / Le Chant du Rossignol / Apollon Musagète / Le Baiser de la Fée / Orpheus / Piano à quatre mains° / Le* Sacre du Printemps / Pétrouchka / Deux Pianos à quatre mains° / Concerto pour piano* / Capriccio pour piano* et orchestre / Chant et piano°* / Deux Poésies de Balmont / Trois Poésies de la lyrique japonaise / Trois petites chansons / Chanson de Paracha de “ Mavra ” / Introduction, chant du pêcheur, air du / rossignol / Choeur°* / Ave Maria (a cappella) / Credo (a cappella) / Pater noster (a cappella) // Partitions pour chant et piano* / Rossignol. Conte lyrique en 3 actes / Mavra. Opéra bouffe en 1 acte / Œdipus Rex. Opéra-oratorio en 1 acte* / Symphonie de Psaumes / Perséphone / Violon et Piano°* / Suite d’après Pergolesi / Duo Concertant / Airs du Rossignol / Danse Russe / Divertimento / Suite Italienne / Chanson Russe / Violoncelle et Piano°* / Suite Italienne (Piatigorsky) / Musique de Chambre° / Trois pièces pour quatuor à cordes / Octuor pour instruments à vent / Partitions de poche° / Suite de Pulcinella / Symphonies pour°° instruments à vent / Concerto pour piano* / Chant du Rossignol / Pétrouchka. Ballet / Sacre* du Printemps / Le Baiser de la Fée / Apollon Musagète / Œdipus Rex* / Perséphone / Capriccio* / Divertimento / Quatre Études pour orchestre / Symphonie de Psaumes / Trois pièces pour quatuor à cordes / Octuor pour instruments à vent / Concerto en ré pour orchestre à cordes< [* different spelling original; ° centre centred; °° original spelling]. The following places of printing are listed: London-New York-Sydney-Toronto-Cape Town-Paris-Buenos Aires.
K Catalog: Annotated Catalog of Works and Work Editions of Igor Strawinsky till 1971, revised version 2014 and ongoing, by Helmut Kirchmeyer.
© Helmut Kirchmeyer. All rights reserved.
http://www.kcatalog.org and http://www.kcatalog.net