Igor Stravinsky Quotes

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century.

Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Serge Diaghilev and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: The Firebird , Petrushka , and The Rite of Spring . The latter transformed the way in which subsequent composers thought about rhythmic structure and was largely responsible for Stravinsky's enduring reputation as a musical revolutionary who pushed the boundaries of musical design. His "Russian phase" which continued with works such as Renard, the Soldier's Tale and Les Noces, was followed in the 1920s by a period in which he turned to neoclassicism. The works from this period tended to make use of traditional musical forms , drawing on earlier styles, especially from the 18th century. In the 1950s, Stravinsky adopted serial procedures. His compositions of this period shared traits with examples of his earlier output: rhythmic energy, the construction of extended melodic ideas out of a few two- or three-note cells and clarity of form, and of instrumentation. Wikipedia  

✵ 18. June 1882 – 6. April 1971   •   Other names Igor' Fëdorovič Stravinskij, Ígor Fiódorovich Stravinskij
Igor Stravinsky photo
Igor Stravinsky: 13   quotes 10   likes

Famous Igor Stravinsky Quotes

“The phenomenon of music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the co-ordination between man [sic] and time.”

Quoted in DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0130493465, Ch. 3. from Igor Stravinsky' Autobiography (1962). New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., p. 54.
1970s and later

“Composers combine notes, that's all.”

Source: 1970s and later, Themes and Conclusions (1982), p. 52 : Dialogues.

“One has a nose. The nose scents and it chooses. An artist is simply a kind of pig snouting truffles.”

1962, quoted in Andriessen and Schoenberger, The Apollonian Clockwork (1989). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
1960s

Igor Stravinsky Quotes about music

“Music's exclusive function is to structure the flow of time and keep order in it.”

Quoted by Géza Szamosi, The Twin Dimensions: Inventing Time and Space (New York, 1986), p. 232.
1970s and later

“My music is best understood by children and animals.”

Igor Stravinsky. The Observer, Oct 8, 1961.
1960s

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