Suite from L'histoire du soldat

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) had already written his three ballet works (Firebird, Petrouchka, Rite of Spring), filled with colorful big orchestration, when L’histoire du soldat (A Soldier’s Tale) was performed for the first time in 1918. Due to the First World War there was not enough money left for large-scale performances, and many great musicians were both literally and figuratively caught up in the battle. Concerned about their subsistence, Stravinsky and his friends (including writer Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, conductor Ernest Ansermet, and production designer René Auberjonois) wanted to write something, which could be produced simply and economically. They planned a traveling theater show during their exile in Switzerland—a theater that would work with reduced instrumental and scenic demands. In the course of these considerations, the artists of A Soldier’s Tale settled on seven musicians, one reader, two actors, and two dancers.
For the libretto Stravinsky and Ramuz culled two stories from a collection of Russian fairytales from Alexander Afanas’ev and transferred them into a more contemporary, albeit timeless context. The plot centers on a soldier, of course, who makes a pact with the devil, exchanging his violin for the ability to predict future world economies. Following the premiere, Stravinsky was given additional funding by Swiss philanthropist Werner Reinhart to make a reduced chamber version. Given its role in the tale, the violin takes center stage in the trio version. It is paired with the clarinet, for Reinhart was himself an accomplished clarinetist. The piano fills out the harmony and accompanies the other instruments in the various movements.
Stravinsky selected five scenes from the larger stage work in making his trio version. These include the quirky and delightful March, with its athletic gestures and unexpectedly abrupt end. It is followed by a celebration of the soldier’s violin, highlighted in several short solo cadenzas. (Tonight’s performance omits the suite’s third movement.) The fourth movement, titled Tango-Valse-Rag, hardly needs further comment except perhaps to observe how deftly Stravinsky captures the verve of these three dances. Finally, we get the furious “Devil’s Dance,” in which rapidly changing meters make literal dancing impossible. Still, the urgency and virtuosity on display make for utterly compelling music.

Overall, one can hear Stravinsky’s neo-classical aesthetic, which developed after the First World War. Gone are the imposing textures, atonal explorations, and rhythmic aggression of the pre-war period. A Soldier’s Tale carries a bright optimism, despite the darker tones of the libretto, and signifies one of the composer’s most successful stylistic evolutions.

(c) Jason Stell