Le roi des étoiles
Le Roi des étoiles (German " King of the Stars " or " Star King ", Russian Звездоликий , Zwesdóliki , lit. " The star- faced ") is a cantata that the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) wrote in 1911/12 . The work dedicated to Claude Debussy was not premiered until 1939.
Origin and premiere
In the winter of 1911/12, in close proximity to the ballet music Le sacre du printemps , Igor Stravinsky wrote the cantata Le Roi des étoiles in Ustilug, Ukraine, based on a text by the Russian poet Konstantin Balmont .
Stravinsky dedicated the work to Claude Debussy, with whom he was on friendly terms in France. Debussy wrote in a letter of thanks to Stravinsky on August 18, 1913: “ The music of Le Roi des Etoiles remains extraordinary. [...] I don't see where the cantata could be performed, except on the Sirius and Aldebaran. As for our humble planet, I dare say that it remains sunk into an abyss for the listener. "
In fact, the work was published by Jurgenson in 1913 , but was not premiered until April 19, 1939 (in Brussels with the Orchester de la Radio de Bruxelles under the direction of Franz André ) , not least because of its considerable practical performance difficulties . The German premiere took place in 1957 on Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne under Hans Rosbaud . Le Roi des étoiles is still one of Stravinsky's least well-known compositions.
plant
The only 54 strokes comprehensive, almost 6-minute composition requires a six-voice male choir and a full orchestra following players: piccolo , 3 flutes (3rd also Piccolo), 4 oboes (4 also English horn ), 4 clarinets (one in It ), 3 bassoons , contrabassoon , 8 horns , 3 trumpets , 3 trombones , tuba , timpani , bass drum , tam-tam , 2 harps , celesta and three-part strings .
The highly differentiated orchestral setting is not accompanying, but largely independent of the male voices, which are also divided several times, which demands a high degree of intonation security from the performers. A preceding motto suddenly places minor and major side by side; bitonal stratifications also shape the further course. In terms of composition, Stravinsky approached the impressionistic sound ideas of Debussy and Alexander Scriabin , a path that he was no longer to pursue in later compositions.
The symbolist -endzeitliche poem Konstantin Balmont is in German translation:
His face was like the sun
at the hour when it reached its zenith.
His eyes were like the stars
rushing brightly through the sky.
The colors of the rainbow
were woven and artfully inserted
into the magnificent robe that
the resurrected one wore.
Around him the thunders reddened
in the torn, angry clouds,
and seven golden seven stars
burned like candles before him.
The clusters of the blazing lightning
blossomed like flowers on the steep slope.
“
Do you keep the commandments?” In response to his question, our cry rang out: “Yes, Lord!”
“I am the first and the last.”
The thunder answered his word.
'The hour of harvest has come,' said the star-eyed man, 'prepare
the sickle! Amen. '
We, the band of faithful, rose.
The clouds blazed in the sky,
and seven golden seven stars
showed the way to the border of the desert.
Remarks
- ↑ cit. n. Heinrich Lindlar: Lübbes Strawinsky Lexikon , G. Lübbe Verlag, 1982, ISBN 3-7857-0312-0 , p. 215
- ↑ cit. n. Heinrich Lindlar: Lübbes Strawinsky Lexikon , G. Lübbe Verlag, 1982, ISBN 3-7857-0312-0 , p. 213/214
literature
- R. Craft : Two dedications to Debussy . In: Heinrich Lindlar and Reinhold Schubert (eds.): Stravinsky - Reality and Effect . Music of the time. New series, issue 1. Boosey & Hawkes Verlag , Bonn 1958.
- Heinrich Lindlar: Lübbes Strawinsky Lexikon , G. Lübbe Verlag, 1982, ISBN 3-7857-0312-0 , pp. 213-215.
- Clytus Gottwald : Swesdoliki - the unanswered question . In: Heinz-Klaus Metzger , Rainer Riehn (eds.): Igor Strawinsky (Musik-Concepts Heft 34/35). Edition Text + Critique, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-88377-137-6 .
