Igor Stravinsky Archive

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky, 1882-1971, is one of the most influential and widely performed composers of the 20th century. Born and raised in St. Petersburg, the Russian imperial capital, his parents planned a career in law for their son, enrolling him in the University of St. Petersburg. After visiting with composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1902, Stravinsky began to spend more time in his private music studies. The death of his father and the actvities of the Revolution of 1905 moved Stravinsky to follow music rather than law. Over his career he moved fromRussia/Ukraine to Switzerland, France, and ultimately the United States.

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 (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913). 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.

Sviatoslav Soulima Stravinsky, 1910-1994, was a Swiss-American pianist, composer and musicologist of Russian, Polish and Ukrainian descent, the third child of Igor Stravinsky. As a pianist, he was considered an important interpreter of the works of his father. In 1950 he was appointed to the piano faculty of the University of Illinois, where he served for 28 years. Stravinsky also maintained a solo concert career, and distinguished himself as a composer, transcriber, and editor, writing books on orchestration and the orchestra.