L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT
(THE SOLDIER'S TALE)
A BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
This paper will discuss Stavinsky's L'HISTOIRE
DU SOLDAT. It will be concerned with the following: facts
about the work; information about the instrumentation; facts about the story
and a synopsis of the story; information concerning the genesis of the work;
and a short analysis of the music and how it relates to the story.
L'HISTOIRE DU
SOLDAT does not fit exactly into any set genre. It could be called: a ballet d' action with a
story told in narrative by the characters and a narrator[1];
"a play with music and dance"[2]; a
miniature theatre piece, full of experiments.[3] It is
also interesting that this work is included in Loewenberg's
Annals of Opera 1597-1940. [4] However
you choose to label it, L'HISTOIRE represents many innovations in music and
theatre.
The facts on L'HISTOIRE are as follows: it was composed at Morges
in 1918 and dedicated to Werner Reinhart; the full work was published by J
& W. Chester in 1924. It was also
arranged into a suite for clarinet, violin, and piano in 1919 (Werner Reinhart
was an excellent amateur clarinetist).
And, a suite featuring the original instrumentation was arranged in
1920. A rehearsal version, the
composer's piano reduction, is also available.
L'HISTOIRE's libretto,
in French, is by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz. There are English translations by (1) Rosa Newmarch and (2) Michael Flanders and Kitty Black. Hans Reinhart produced the German
translation.
Instrumentation for this work represents treble and bass in
each instrumental family. It consists
of: violin, double bass, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, and percussion
(played by one player). This
instrumentation closely resembles that of the New Orleans Dixieland Jazz band
that was traveling through
Primitivism made it vogue for Europeans to be interested in
Jazz, as it was descended from African rhythms and melodies.[6] The memory of W.W.I caused an even more
serious need to rid music of romanticism.
Stravinsky said "Rhythm and motion, not the element of feeling, are
the foundations of musical art." [7]
The bassoon was a substitute for the saxophone; Stravinsky
did not care for the instrument. The
percussion instruments approximate those of a trap set or dance drums. The set up includes: a bass drum, cymbal,
side drum with snares, two side drums without snares (different sizes), small
drum with snares, tambourine and triangle.
Although the drums were to approximate a dance drum set, a pedal bass
drum was not admissible. In a letter to
Robert Craft dated October 7, 1947, Stravinsky states that the pedal bass drum
will not work for this piece.[8] The
part calls for the bass drum to create different timbre effects with the use of
different implements. Great care was
given to the percussion writing in L'HISTOIRE;
Stravinsky even bought his own set of percussion instruments in
This work does mark one of the first times that Stravinsky
uses the violin as a solo instrument.
Also, the percussion writing is virtuosic throughout this piece. These two featured instruments assume the
roles of the soldier's soul (violin), and the "Diablerie"
(percussion).
The story for L'HISTOIRE was one from a collection by
Alexander Afanasiev.
Afanasiev collected "soldier
stories" from peasant recruits of the Russo-Turkish War (1827-1829). Stravinsky says:
We were particularly drawn to
the cycle of legends dealing with the adventures of the soldier who deserted
and the devil who inexorably comes to carry off his soul. This cycle was based on folk stories of a cruel
period of enforced recruitment under Nicholas I....[10]
More symbolically, it is a
story about a deserter who barters his violin, his soul, for the rewards of the
devil.
What follows is a brief story synopsis, as taken from
White's Stravinsky The Composer and
his Works [11]:
Part
One, Scene 1 -- ('Scene au bord du ruisseau'-- 'The Banks of a Stream'.) The Soldier, returning to his native village
with a fortnight's leave, is accosted by The Devil disguised as an old man with
a butterfly net. The Devil obtains the
Soldier's fiddle in exchange for
a magic book and invites him to spend three days of his leave with him. The Soldier accepts.
Scene 2 --
('Scene du sac' -- 'A crossroads in the open country,
showing a frontier post and the village belfry in the distance'.) On reaching his native village, the Soldier
finds he has been away not three days but three years. The Devil appears disguised as a cattle merchant
and explains that with the help of the magic book the Soldier can make his
fortune.
Scene 3 --
('Scene du livre' -- 'A
room'.) By now, the Soldier is
thoroughly disillusioned by his wealth. The
Devil disguised as an old clothes woman calls on him and displays her wares,
including a fiddle which he recognizes as his.
He wants to buy it back, but finding he can get no sound out of it,
hurls it into the wings and tears up the book in despair.
Part
Two, Scene 4 -- ('Scene du jeu de cartes' -- 'A room in the
palace'.) The Soldier, who has now lost his
wealth, comes to a town where the King's daughter is ill and the King has
promised her hand in marriage to whoever succeeds in curing her. The Soldier meets the Devil disguised as a
virtuoso violinist and plays cards
with him. He goes on losing and plying
him with wine, until the Devil falls unconscious, and he is able to recover his old fiddle.
Scene 5 --
('Scene de la fille guerie'
-- 'The Princess's room'.) The invalid Princess is lying on a couch. The Soldier enters and plays his fiddle. The Princess rises and dances a tango, a
waltz and a ragtime, at the end of which she falls into the Soldier's arms. During their embrace, the Devil enters dressed
as a devil (with forked tail and pointed ears).
The Soldier fiddles him into contortions and with the help of the
Princess drags his body into the wings.
Scene 6 --
('Scene des limites franchies'
-- same as Scene 2.) Sometime after
their marriage, the Soldier and
Princess decide to visit his native village; but as soon as he crosses the
frontier, he falls into the power of the Devil, who appears in gorgeous scarlet
apparel, and has got hold of the fiddle again.
He follows the Devil very slowly, but without resisting.
The libretto carries the following introductory note
concerning the staging: A small stage mounted on a platform. A stool (or barrel) at either side. On one of the stools the Narrator sits in
front of a small table on which there are a carafe of white wine and a glass. The orchestra is placed on the opposite side
of the stage.
In his book, The
Music of Stravinsky[12], Stephen
Walsh parallels the 'Soldier's Tale' to Stravinsky's own situation in
1918. There are similarities in that
Stravinsky is in semi-exile and many people felt that he had deserted his roots
(he would become a French citizen in a few years). Walsh states that he is playing foreign tunes
to keep his soul. Also, Stravinsky does
state that he found the Peace of Brest-Litovsk humiliating.[13] Many do not agree with Walsh's view, but it
is worth noting.
A final point on the story is that although the story was
originally Russian, Stravinsky and Ramuz decided to
broaden it into a worldlier tale. Some
have compared it to a miniature Faust.
The genesis of L'HISTOIRE
was in 1915 when Stravinsky and Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
(b. 1878) met through the introduction of a mutual friend, the conductor Ernest
Ansermet. Ramuz was a French novelist who, like Stravinsky, lived in
After the completion of Les
Noces, They looked for a new project to work on
together. Both men were in need of money
due to the war. Stravinsky could no
longer receive funds from his estate in
This "small production," would have a small cast,
a small orchestra, and require a small space.
It would also need to be very mobile.
Since Ramuz was a novelist, he suggested that
he should write a story rather than a play.
From
these beginnings, their miniature theatre piece was born. It was a way for the duo and their friends to
make some money. In concept, it was a
traveling theatre, easily moved because the stage sat on saw horses with a
barrel on each side. There was a small
orchestra on one side of the stage while the action took place on the other. The stage divided into three portions, with
the inclusion of the narrator. This was
visually appealing in that they could lead the eye where it needed to go; left,
right, center, all at once or nothing at all.
The first performance of L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT, conducted by Ernest Ansermet
(1883-1969), took place on September 28, 1918, at the Theatre Municipal de
Lausanne. Werner Reinhart sponsored, and
underwrote to a large degree, this performance. This performance was a great
success but the tour had to be canceled because of the Spanish Influenza
epidemic. It would later be revived and
performed on numerous occasions.
Although a complete theoretical analysis of this work is
beyond the scope of this paper, some theoretical points deserve consideration. This work marks a consolidation of the past
four years of Stravinsky's work. L'HISTOIRE also leads to Stravinsky's
next composition, Ragtime for eleven
instruments (1918). The Ragtime
of L'HISTOIRE is, in particular,
a precursor to this piece.
The pitch relations in this work are predominantly
diatonic. A juxtaposition of major and
minor mode is fairly common and some chromaticism is
apparent. However, it is the rhythm and
the motion of the music that contributes most to the drama. The opening of Part 1 is The Soldier's March. In
spite of many changing meters, the bass maintains an almost constant march
feeling. To achieve this march feeling,
Stravinsky employs a rhythmic pattern that is always of quarter note value
(although notated eighth note, eighth rest).
Furthermore, the implied harmony of I, V, I, V, leads to a feeling of
motion as well.
The Music to Scene
One also has a bass ostinato
that stays constant while the melodies are in multimetric
form.
Metrical ambiguity continues in
The Royal March when the opening
measure is in 5/8 moving the original downbeat to the upbeat in the
accompaniment. The resolution occurs
with a second 5/8 bar in the ninth bar.
The
structure of this march is much freer and this signifies the Soldier's new
freedom. If the first march was full of
military memories, this march speaks of the freedom of the future. But, it is also in this march that we meet
the Devil posing as a virtuoso violinist; with freedom comes the responsibility
of guarding your soul. With a return to
the original trombone melody, this march ends.
The Little Concert is
the climax of this portion of the work.
The motives contain parts of the preceding pieces. They work against each other to break up all
continuity of rhythm. At rehearsal 7,
the clarinet and trumpet are moving from 7 to 6 to 5 while the violin is in 6
and the bass in 4.
From
here the piece works toward a large tutti and then
back to the recapitulation (it is almost in sonata allegro form). This piece represents the Soldier attaining
all that he has dreamed of in spite of the trials that he has encountered since
we met him.
The Tango is
performed by the violin and the percussion.
The clarinet is added when the princess begins to dance. It is in this piece that we see the
"soul" dancing above the constant of the "Diablerie". The
percussion in this portion is treated "organically". That is, it is not being used as a color but
rather, it is a functioning part of the music and the music would not be the
same with any other treatment.
Waltz is a
continuation of the dance. It is notable
in that the rhythm stays in a "3" feel the entire time. Also, the percussion drops out in this piece,
signifying safety from the devil and stability.
This piece was approached attacca with a
rhythmic modulation and it segues to
Ragtime in the same manner.
The modulation into Ragtime
is a bit more tricky. It moves from a
fast "3" feeling, to a medium "4" feeling. This, and the reappearance of the percussion,
foreshadows the entrance of the Devil at the conclusion of this piece.
The Devil's Dance is
a furious dance with incredible motion.
It combines the aspects of a solid beat under an ambiguous meter like many
of the previous pieces, but does this at a terrific rate. It is in fact the violin playing the Devil to
death. At this point, the Soldier and
Princess unite to pull the Devil off stage.
Then they fall into each other's arms at the strains of The Little Choral that follows.
The Devil's Song is
a warning of the Soldier's impending doom.
But, he and his bride are not listening.
The narrator continues this prophesy in the Great Choral.
The
music to both Chorals is said to come from Lutheran Hymns.[14] Also, the theme of The Great Choral is said to have been given to Stravinsky in a
dream.[15]
The final piece, The
Triumphal March of the Devil, signifies the Devil's victory. There are many instances where the violin and
percussion are playing by themselves.
This is again the contrast of the Soldier's soul over the Devils
constant rhythm. In the end though, the
only sound left (last thirteen measures) is the percussion. The Devil has won. This last bit is controversial in that
Stravinsky notated a decrescendo; this perhaps signaled the Devil descending
into Hell. However, many performers
prefer to end with a steady crescendo, thereby heightening the excitement and
drama of the work.
In
conclusion, though based on a Russian folk tale from the first quarter of the
nineteenth century, L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT is
still a moving work of art today. Its
combination of stage, story, dance, symbolism and music is unique.
Sources Consulted
Craft, Robert ed. Stravinsky,
Selected Correspondence V1.
Leonard, Richard
Anthony. A History of Russian Music.
Loewenberg, Alfred. Annals of Opera 1597-1940. 3rd ed.
Machlis, Joseph. Introduction to Contemporary Music. 2nd
ed.
Randel, Don Michael ed.
The New Harvard Dictionary of
Music.
Stravinsky,
Igor. Igor Stravinsky an Autobiography.
Walsh,
Stephen. The Music of Stravinsky.
White, Eric Walter.
Stravinsky The Composer and His Works.
MAY 17,
1994
[1]Don Michael Randel, ed., The New Harvard Dictionary of Music
(Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986),
[4]Alfred Loewenberg, Annals of Opera 1597-1940 3rd edition
(Totowa, New Jersey: Rowan and Littlefield, 1978)
[5]Eric Walter White, Stravinsky The Composer and His Works
(Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966),
[6]Joseph Machlis, Introduction to Contemporary Music 2nd edition
(New York & London: WW Norton & Company, 1979),
[8]Robert Craft, ed., Stravinsky, Selected Correspondence V1
(New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982),
[9]Eric Walter White, Stravinsky The Composer and His Works
(Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966),
[11]Eric Walter White, Stravinsky The Composer and His Works
(Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966),
[14]Eric Walter White, Stravinsky The Composer and His Works
(Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966),