IGOR STRAVINSKY: THE NIGHTINGALE

MS 5405
MS Short Title IGOR STRAVINSKY: THE NIGHTINGALE
Text IGOR STRAVINSKY: THE NIGHTINGALE (LE ROSSIGNOL OR SOLOVEY), OPERA IN 3 ACTS, VOCAL SCORE
Description MS and engraved page-proofs in Russian and French (vocal score) on paper, Clarens and Berlin, 1913-1914, 134 pp., 33x42 cm, single column, (29x20 cm), 4+12 lines, engraved with 4 systems of 3 staves per page by Russischer Musikverlag, Berlin, and the engraver Röder, Leipzig, with extensive autograph corrections and revisions, with an added autograph page, signed, with a copy of the first edition of the vocal score.
Provenance 1. Russischer Musikverlag, Berlin (1914-); 2. Sotheby's 30.11.2006:136; 3. Sotheby's 4.12.2007:145.
Commentary The Nightingale was Stravinsky's first opera, but a short one. The performance takes about 45 minutes. Diaghilev at the Paris Opera staged it 26 May 1914. It is based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, and Stravinsky wrote the libretto together with Stephan Mitusov. It constitutes his most important literary composition. Rossignol is a key work in Stravinsky's production. The first act was composed at the height of his Russian period in 1908-1909, act 2 and 3 did not follow until Oct. 1913 - April 1914, after he had composed The Firebird, Petroushka and The Rite of Spring. Still shaken by reactions to the first performance of The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky noted wryly: "the première of Rossignol was not a success in the sense that it did not provoke a scandal"; and later: "I now find that the first act, in spite of its evident touches of Debussy, and Tchaikovskian tunes too sweet and even too pleasing for the period, is at least operatic, while the following ones are a sort of spectacular ballet." The compositional difficulties are reflected in the numerous corrections and additions in the present score.
Place of origin Clarens and Berlin
Dates 1913-1914