Search - Igor Stravinsky, Ross Pople, London Festival Orchestra :: Igor Stravinsky: L'Histoire du Soldat

In exile in Switzerland following the turmoil attendant on the Russian Revolution and forced by the aftermath of World War I to make a virtue out of the unavoidable shortage of means, Igor Stravinsky created something extraordinary, marking the beginning of modern music theatre: The Soldier's Tale--to be read, played and danced (1918). He worked in lively and amicable cooperation with the librettist Charles Ferdinand Ramuz; with René Auberjonois, the painter responsible for the set design; and finally with conductor Ernest Ansermet. The content of the economical and clearly articulated work is based on folk tales from the collection by the Russian author Alexander Afanasiev (for example, The Deserter and the Devil), but is also reminiscent of the Orpheus myth, in which music has power over life and death. A Faustian conflict is played out in the world of itinerant theatre companies and traveling entertainers: a young, credulous soldier fatefully sells his violin to the devil, causing him to fall under the latter's diabolic spell and at the last to be lured down to hell. Another excellent recording from Ross Pople and the London Festival Orchestra.