Stravinsky: Letters to Pierre Boulez

Author(s): Robert Craft and Stravinsky

Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 123, No. 1672 (Jun., 1982), pp. 396-402
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/964114
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Stravinsky: Letters to Pierre
Robert Craft
According to Peter Heyworth's New Yorkerprofile of
Pierre Boulez (24 and 31 March 1974), 'of all the com-
posers who have emergedsince the war, Boulez, both as a
man and a musician, was for years the closest to Stravin-
sky'. (In fact Elliott Carterwas closer, and for far longer.)
Mr Heyworth goes on: 'Stravinskyand Boulez had first
met at a party in Virgil Thomson's apartment in New
York in 1952 ... It is inconceivable that [Stravinsky]
could have been unaware of Boulez's assaults on his
neoclassic music'. What really is inconceivable is that
Stravinsky would have attended had he been aware of
Boulez's role in these assaults. Stravinskywas fully in-
formed of the controversysurroundinga festival of his
music in Paris afterthe Liberation,but his dossier on the
affair, with cuttings and letters from Nadia Boulanger,
Manuel Rosenthal, Marcelle de Manziarly and others,
does not mention Boulez.' Stravinsky'sown letters of the
time show his understandingof Parisianmusical politics,
as when he writes of the 'sincere and spontaneous
manifestationsagainst the Rite in 1913, comprehensible
becauseof the violent characterof this score', but 'doubts
the spontaneity of a howling manifestation against the
Norwegian Moods, the elements that could provoke
boisterous protestations being totally absent2 . . . Unless I
am mistaken, it seems that once the violenthas been ac-
cepted, the amiablein turn is no longer tolerable'.3
Not until March 1966 did Stravinskylearn that Boulez
had been ringleaderof the claque against the Moods;this
was when Pierre Suvchinskysent him a copy of Boulez's
book Relevesd'apprenti.After readingit, Stravinskywrote
1 Stravinskywas familiarwith only one name, Rene Leibowitz, thanksto a letter
about him from Andre Schaeffner(1 Sept 1946).In spite of Schaeffner'sdisparage-
ment, StravinskygrantedLeibowitz an interviewin Hollywood in Dec 1947. This
seems to have revived Stravinsky'sinterest in Schoenberg:soon after, he ordereda
copy of Schoenberg's Models for Beginners in Composition.
2 Writingto Stravinsky(23 June 1949),IgorMarkevichdescribesthe Oslo orches-
tra's reaction to the Four NorwegianMoods: 'At the first rehearsal,the players'
smiles came as a surprise. Most of the elements . . . were familiar,but the musi-
cians were astonishedto find these elements in a context so remote from the sen-
timental one in which they are generallyexpressed.Some performerswere furious
and refused to play, imaginingthat you were mockingNorway! I had quite a time
persuadingthem that you had no such intention ... At the same time, I became
somewhat anxious about what the public reactionwould be. Nevertheless ... the
musiciansentered into the spirit of the music more and more and developedsuch a
taste for it that they played the concert superbly'.
3 letter to Rosenthal, 12 Jan 1946, in French; letters in French in this article
translatedby Kristin Crawford
This articleis a versionof a chapterto appearin a later volumeof
RobertCraft's 'Stravinsky:SelectedCorrespondence' of whichvol.i
is publishedthis summerbyAlfredA. Knopf(New York)and Faber
(London).
396
Boulez
on its title-page: 'Les rares mots de sa dialectiquem'epa-
tent de moins en moins. Pourvu qu'il n'arrive pas a la
meme chose avec sa musique'. Stravinskyattacheda cut-
ting from Le monde(29 March 1966) to the cover of the
book, a blurb describingthe contents as 'les ecrits du plus
grand musicien et penseur de'la musique d'aujourd'hui',
underscoredthe.words 'plus grand' and 'penseur' in red
pencil and placed interrogationmarksnext to them.
That Boulez's writings antedatedhis acquaintancewith
Stravinsky made no difference to the older man, who
never forgave criticism of his music from any quarterat
any time: had.he seen Boulez's attacks when they were
published, no meeting would have taken place. Releves
d'apprenti,even more than the disastrouspresentationof
Threniin Paris in 1958, was the underlying provocation
for Stravinsky'ssubsequentcomments on Boulez and for
the 1970 'public withdrawal' (as Mr Heyworth charac-
terizes it) of what Stravinskytermed his 'earlier"extrava-
gant advocacy"'.4
The older composerfirst heardBoulez's name and met his
music in Baden-Badenin October 1951, when Heinrich
Strobelplayed a tape of Hans Rosbaud'sDonaueschingen
performanceof PolyphonieX. The next encounter took
place the following year at a concert in the Petit Theatre
des Champs-Elysees, 7 May 1952, when Boulez and
Olivier Messiaen5played an instalmentof Boulez's Struc-
tures;and 23 May, in the Salle de l'Ancien Conservatoire,
when Stravinsky,with Nadia Boulangerand the present
writer, attendedan evening of musiqueconcretethat inclu-
ded Boulez's Etude a un son.6
In September 1952 Stravinskyattended several rehear-
sals and a performanceof PolyphonieX in Hollywood. But
between Virgil Thomson's party, in December of that
4 Letter in the Los Angeles Times (23 June 1970)
5 Stravinskyhad been familiarwith Messiaen'smusic since the end of World War
II but had not seen the composer before. At Suvchinsky's request, Stravinsky
cabled a 50th-birthdaygreeting to Messaien from London, 11 Dec 1958: 'My
warmest greetings to the great French musician for a new half-century'. For
Stravinsky's 80th birthday, Messiaen sent a 'Strophe of the grive musicienne
[thrush], collected for Igor Stravinsky, 25 May 1962, at the edge of the forest,
Olivier Messiaen'. The music, in one voice only, consists of about a dozen short
figures, most of them repeatedthree, four and five times. The range is three octa-
ves and a 5th; no instrument is indicated.
6 Stravinskylater noted: 'Musiqueconcrete.A seance that took place in Paris in
May 1952 in the Hall of the Old Conservatory.Long quarter-hoursdemonstrating
pieces whose substancewas a melangeof sounds and of noises ... The participants
were professionalcomposers, very antipathetic, and amateurs, "revolutionaries",
rathersympathetic.A lady next to me ragedin the intermission,declaringthat this
"music" was horrible. I had ... a great desire to ask her: "But how do you know,
Madame?"Was she acquaintedwith other examples [of musiqueconcrete]that were
not so bad?'
 Stravinsky in his library, March 1962

year, and November 1956 - when Boulez, Stockhausen

and Nono called on the composer of the Rite in the Rote
Kreuz hospital in Munich - the two men were not in
communication. A few weeks after the hospital visit
Stravinsky, stopping for 12 hours at the Ritz Hotel in
Paris between trains from Rome to London, attended
recordings of two of his works for Boulez's Domaine
Musical. The two musicians met again in London a few
days later.
On 4 January1957 Boulez wrote to Stravinsky7of an in-
vitation from the Monday Evening Concerts of Los
Angeles to conduct Le marteau sans maitre there in
March. Stravinskyurged Boulez to accept and arranged
for him to stay in the TropicanaMotel, a few blocks from
the Stravinsky home. In Hollywood, Boulez spent con-
siderabletime with the older composer, and on 8 March
Stravinsky attended a symposium at UCLA, in which
Boulez, Lukas Foss, Paul Des Marais and the present
writer discussed contemporarymusic. At the concert, on
11 March, Boulez delayed his performanceuntil Stravin-
sky's mislaid score had been found; many in attendance
surmised that he was the only member of the audience
who mattered. paidanything,neitherthe $100 for the '36 questions',nor the
Back in Paris, Boulez wrote to Stravinskyon 23 March $80 forthe photos,in spiteof the contractthatI signedandsent
asking him to conduct Agon there under the auspices of by air mail a good monthago. My best wishesgo out to you.
Goodwork.
the Domaine Musical. (Boulez sent a far longer and more
detailedletter to the presentwriteron 8 April.) Stravinsky Boulez wrote to Stravinskyin Dartington, 7 August 1957,
answeredby cable on 11 April: 'Agree conduct for 1500 and in Venice, 20 September 1957. According to plan,
dollars European premiere Agon Paris October 12 Stravinskyarrived in Baden-Badenon 8 October by car
SudwestfunkOrchestrapreparedby Hans Rosbaud.Noti- from Munich - where he had conducted a concert the
fying Roth. Details Craft'sletter. Greetings'. Boulez cabl- night before - and rehearsedAgon on the 9th and 10th
ed his agreement on 15 April, but since the Domaine with the orchestraof the South-west German Radio (bet-
Musical had no concert bureau, Stravinskywas obliged to ween rehearsalshe heardBoulez recordhis Third Sonata).
write, two and a half months later, regardingthe currency On 11 October Stravinskyleft for Paris on the night train,
in which he was to be paid, and thanking him and the next morning leading an acousticalrehearsalof Agon
Stockhausen for remembering his birthday. He wrote in the Salle Pleyel. The concert that evening was a great
success and, in commemoration,Boulez gave Stravinskya
again on 15 July, from Santa Fe, New Mexico:
copy of Jacques Scherer's Le 'Livre' de Mallarme, inscrib-
DearBoulez,Thankyou for yourletterof July 9, althoughits
contentshavedisappointed me a little,sinceyouwillnotcometo ing it 'En souvenir d'Agon et du concert due Octobre 11.
Avec mon amitie.' In the days thereafter, many hours
Dartington.Too bad,we werecountingon it so much.This note were spent discussing both the 'Livre' and Paul Klee's
to replyto twothings:1)Dr E. Rothof Boosey&Hawkesjustin-
formedme thattheorchestra scoreof Agonwillbe atthe disposal theoretical writings with the participation of Alberto
of the Sudwestfunk at the verybeginningof September; and a Giacometti, who made his first drawingsof Stravinskyat
letterfromStrobeltellsme the same.2) M Worms8stillhasnot this time. According to Mr Heyworth, however, Boulez
achieved his greatest coup when he persuadedStravinsky
himself to conduct the first Europeanperformanceof his
most recent work, Agon, at the Domaine Musical.
7 This is the first of Boulez's 50 letters to Stravinsky,all in French and including The Paris Agon was a German import: an established
a few on postcards:the only years not representedare 1964 and 1965 (Boulez's let-
ters to the present writer are not drawn on). and well-subsidized German orchestra played the piece,
8 Gerard Worms, proprietorof Editions du Rocher, Monaco, which published after being thoroughly rehearsed by Rosbaud. When
AvecStravinsky(1958). On 18 May Stravinskyhad written to 'CherBoulez',enclos- Boulez invited Stravinskyto Paris againthe following year
ing 'the definitive version (which I succeeded in finding) for the last phraseof "36 to conduct Threni, the performerswere to be recruited
questions". I believe that it is good now. Please add it to the others. I hope to have
the French proofs soon. When you send them, do not forget to tell us when and locally, a shakyarrangementeven if Boulez had fulfilled his
how the little honorarium,concerning which Deborah Ishlon was to have spoken
to you, will be sent ... I believe it was one hundred dollars.And a few lines about promise to preparethe work himself. That he did not find
yourself.Agon is finished, full of erasures... It is cold, the sky is dull, and we have
time to do so is explained, if hardlyexcused, by his efforts
no spring, though it is already 13 May, parbleu!I. Stravinsky'. to finish a compositionof his own, Poesie pourpouvoir,for
397
the 1958 Donaueschingen Festival. Well aware that Paris
did not have a chorus capable of singing Threni and that
employing a pick-up orchestra for this music would in-
volve myriad hazards, Stravinsky had urged Boulez to
make an agreement with Cologne Radio, as he had in Oc-
tober 1957 with that of Baden-Baden. On 6 November
Boulez wrote to Stravinsky in New York, on 1 December
from Cologne, during rehearsals of his Visage nuptial, and
on 9 January 1958 (to California). Shortly thereafter, the
score arrived; Stravinsky acknowledged it on 25 January
1958:
Boulez, what a beautifulpresentyou have given me! So happy to
have this gigantic and very beautifulorchestrascore, that I long
to hear, and concerning which Suvchinsky, after hearing it in
Cologne, wrote to me with much enthusiasm. On that subject,
what has happened in the negotiationswith Cologne? I would
like so much for you to succeedthere, and to do Threniwith their
choir and ensemble in Paris. A word from you on this matter
(especiallypositive)will be very welcome. My very sincereaffec-
tions take to the night air.
On 26 February, Stravinsky wrote to Suvchinsky, say-
ing 'I am beginning to understand D. H. Lawrence, who
fled from Paris', and asking him to inform Boulez of the
death of Alessandro Piovesan: 'Not having received any
answer from Piovesan, the director of the Biennale di
Venezia, [Boulez] got angry and refused to take part in
September'.9 In another note to Suvchinsky (29 March),
Stravinsky reveals that he has finished Threni and inquires
about Boulez's Doubles, just performed in Paris.
Boulez's next letter, 10 April 1958, was forwarded to
Stravinsky in the Clift Hotel, San Francisco, and the one
after that came on Stravinsky's birthday. He answered on
20 June 1958:
Upon receiving your letter, I sent the following note to Dr E.
Roth in London: 'Pierre Boulez beseeching me to ask you to
send him IMMEDIATELY full score and chorus partsof THRENI. I
am doing that without delay. Boulez is a seriousman, and if he is
askingsomethingin this manner,he means it. I hope you can do
it without delay, and (let me add) for a graciousrental fee ... I
gave him your address.Be assured,dearfriend,that I understand
your difficultiesvery well and that I sympathizewith you entire-
ly. I send you and Madame Tezenas?0my most sincere friend-
ship.
The following day Stravinsky wrote to Suvchinsky:
Along with this letter, I am sending my sketch of the orchestra
score of Threnito you and to Boulez so that you may become
acquaintedwith it. In accordancewith Boulez's request, I asked
London to send the chorus parts and score to him immediately
... But if he has alreadyleft for Baden-Baden,I do not know
how all of this will work out.
On 26 July and 5 September Boulez wrote to Stravinsky
assuring him about the preparations for the concert. But
what did work out was that Threni was so badly sung and
9 The originalsof Stravinsky'sletters to Suvchinskyare in Russian;translations
are by Malcolm Macdonald.
10 patronessof the Domaine Musical
398
played - in the Salle Pleyel, 14 November 1958 - that
the audience received it with jeers: the composer curtly
refused to take a bow and swore he would never again con-
duct in Paris, a vow that he kept."I
A coup of a different kind awaited Stravinsky that same
night when he learnt that a new book, Rencontres avec
Pierre Boulez by Antoine Gol6a, had been sold in the foyer
during the Threni performance. Luckily, Mrs Stravinsky
spirited these Rencontres away before her husband could
read the first page of the text, which described a Boulez-
led demonstration against Stravinsky's 'neoclassic' music
during a concert of it in Paris at the end of World War II.
On 25 November Stravinsky wrote to Boulez from the
Hotel Hassler in Rome, asking for his fee to be ac-
celerated, without showing any reservation towards him
or even directly referring to the concert. Back in Califor-
nia, after a successful performance of Threni in New York,
Stravinsky wrote to Suvchinsky on 25 January 1959:
... even afterhearingsuch a performance,I do not think that the
attitude of Paris towards Threniand towards me would be any
differentfrom the one shown me on 14 November ... I shall not
recall what I went through in Paris with any feeling of gratitude
to Boulez . . . He did not have enough courageto admit his own
negligence and to say 'mea culpa'.
This is the first documented indication of Stravinsky's
true response to the experience. Others were to follow a
month later when the periodical Das Musikleben publish-
ed a poisonous review of the concert by, of all people,
Boulez's biographer Golea. Stravinsky drafted a letter to
the editor, part of which follows:
Your reviewer of the Paris concert in which I conducted my
Threniin November 1958 (your Februaryissue, pages 79-80)
... is guilty of a vicious injustice. The responsibility for the
failure of the concert [rests with] the Domaine Musical. As the
author of a book that is in part a history of that organization,12
your reviewer is close enough to it to know the truth, which is
that the Domaine Musical did not preparethe concertas promis-
ed ...
Stravinsky delayed sending this until he could discuss the
matter with Suvchinsky, to whom the composer wrote on
9 March, referring to Golea as 'Boulez's lackey', and add-
ing:
I received two letters from Boulez.l3 In one ... he does not ex-
cuse himself for the absenceof any kind of preparationof Threni
... but does complain about [Golea's] phrase. This, however,
does not concernme in the least, but only Boulez himself and his
coupdepublicite.When he finally refersto Threni,it is only to ex-
11 Stravinskywrote in his diary that night: 'My concert (Threni)at Pleyel (unhap-
piest concertof my life!)'. Backin California,Stravinskyattacheda note to a packet
of Boulez's letters: 'All this correspondenceresulted in the scandalousconcert in
Parison 14 Nov 1958'. Stravinskymade known his resolvenever to appearin Paris
again, as for example, on a letter from the InternationalMusic Council, 7 Dec
1959, inviting him to conduct in Parisin Oct 1960, he wrote, in red ink: 'Repondu
le 13 Dec/59: Decision de ne plus jamaisapparaitrea Parisapresl'acceuilde Threni
l'annee derniere'.
12 Stravinskyguessed at this, not having read the book; the pages of his copy are
uncut.
13 actually four letters since the beginning of the year

press regret about the lack of resources in Paris for performing
such pieces. But what is new about that?As you yourself can see,
the possibility that he will admit his own guilt is slight ... and I
therefore hold no hope of receiving a satisfactoryanswer. If I
send the letter that you suggested (threateningto pass my letter
on to the press, if he refusesto acceptthe blame),it would simply
make him bitter and complicate my position further . . . All of
this has put me on edge. How unpleasantit is.
Boulez's second letter concernsonly himself, the orchestra,the
chorus and the soloists in the Munich Threni[6 March]. Loaded
with useless details, the letter ... is designed to give me the im-
pression that he was very busy with the music, which, in itself
... probably interests him very little.
Meanwhile, on 10 March, Stravinsky had written to
Boulez:
In one of your lettersyou express regretat not having noticed, in
time to have it omitted, a phrase employed by [Golea] in
referenceto his book about you. He attributedto you certainin-
tentions. Obviously such an interpretationof your actions (that
publicity was your only motive in inviting me into the young
organization) could only come from someone fundamentally
hostile to my musical activity.I can imaginehow much that must
have offended you, and I thank you for reassuringme of your
true intentions, which I never doubted.
Since this is the case, it is your place, in my estimation, to
answer the journalist's insolent article about our unfortunate
concert ... in Das Musikleben .. . Were it left to me to answer
him, I would have to blame the Domaine Musical for being poor-
ly prepared, for the complete incompetence of the group of
singers, for the lack of rehearsals... This journalistwould hard-
ly dare to claim ignoranceof all these circumstances.The article
is so vicious, so vile, so unfair, that you, not only as organizerof
the concertand the one responsiblefor [my] appearance,but also
Stravinsky with RobertCraft in Athens
as the subject of his book, should feel morallyobliged to reply. I
go further:I feel that it is your duty to contest him. I await that
gesture from you.
Stravinsky wrote to Suvchinsky on 19 March:
YesterdayI received your letter of the 15th and was glad about
the reconciliationthat I sensed with Boulez. I hope that your in-
terpretationof his repentanceis not mistaken.I am now awaiting
a letter from him about Golea's article, and from you, about my
demand that Boulez refute it ... I only fear that Boulez will
delay in giving me an answer ... I would like to erase this entire
affair.
In May Boulez went to Copenhagen to meet Stravinsky
(who was there for concerts and to receive the Sonning
Prize), armed with his answer to Golea. Stravinsky made a
copy of it and sent another, with his comments, to Suv-
chinsky from Hollywood on 29 May.
In Copenhagen, Boulez asked Stravinsky for the Euro-
pean premiere of his Movements. Stravinsky answered on
6 June:
My dear Boulez, the two premiere performancesof Movements
have been set by RolfLiebermann for 17 June 1960, in Cologne,
and 27 June, in Hamburg.'4Since you have intended to give the
Domaine Musical concert with my Movementsbefore 28 June (as
you told me in Copenhagen), and since Margrit Weber is the
only possible pianist (she has a one-yearexclusivity for the work
in Europe), you would be obliged to squeeze the concert and
rehearsalsinto the tight space of a week, between 18 and 25 June.
This would permit Mrs Weber to rejoin me in Hamburg on 26
June for the dress rehearsalof the concerton 27 June. I hope you
will be able to manage this; if not, you will probably postpone
this concert until autumn 1960. You would be very kind to in-
form me of your decision ... How did it go in Vienna? I was
happy to see you, and how nice it was of you to have come to
Copenhagen!
Boulez wrote on 4 and 20 July, but Stravinsky persisted in
the matter of the reply to Golea, writing again to Boulez
on 23 July: 'I see that the June issue of Musikleben has ap-
peared and that your answer to Antoine Golea still is not
published. Is this bad faith on the part of the journal? Do
you intend to respond?' By 15 August, Stravinsky was
once again doubtful of Boulez's sincerity and motives:
I received your letter of 11 August with the typewrittenletter in
German. You know German well enough to realize that this is
not a translationof the article you gave me in Copenhagen,but
an abridgedGermanversion (one-thirdthe length of the French),
smoothed and sweetened beyond recognition from the original,
14 Stravinskywrote to Suvchinskyon 24 Aug: 'I have finished my Movementsfor
piano and orchestraearlier than anticipatedand will therefore not wait until next
June but conduct the premierein New Yorkat Christmasor immediatelyafter the
New Year. The piece turned out to be quite difficult, not so much for the pianist as
for the conductor because of the rhythmic, and even metric complexity. I am wor-
ried about this work . . . but perhaps should not be after the success of Threni
everywhereexcept in Paris!'
399
which you sent to the Neue Zeitschriftftr Musik in Mainz. [Your this. You might stressthe point to him also, but I fearthat
intentions have been distorted in the process] because, as you the affairis hopeless'. In fact the Copenhagenversion was
yourself state in the article,your aim was 'aboveall to set straight
never published, but eventually a letter did appear-
a flagrantinjustice'. This importantphrase, like so many others,
was not translated,and the result is that, contraryto your wishes,
Stravinskyhad writtento Boulez five times in the interim.
He described it in a letter to Suvchinsky (23 February
the injustice has not been 'set straight'.
I am surprisedby all this, because I expected a very different 1960):
attitudefrom you, given your friendly, cordialrelations.For this [Theletterwas]printedin theusualtypeandin thesame,never-
reason I sign this letter with much grief and disappointment. changingplace.Boulezdid not removethe phrasecontre-coeur,
whichhe couldhavedoneif, as you say,he has begunto treat
On 16 August Stravinsky sent a copy of this letter, with thatgovnoGoleawith contempt,thoughnobodycouldeverdo
the 'abridged' and 'sweetened' version of Boulez's article, this stronglyenough... exceptperhapsthe Sovietdogs who
to Suvchinsky, and on 29 August Boulez wrote, promising threwthemselveson poorPasternak,15 andtheywoulddo it for
Stravinsky that the Copenhagen version would be printed. thewrongreason:Golea's'devotionto progressive music'.Well,
Stravinsky acknowledged this new pledge on 24 August: explainthatto theAmerican optimistswhoapplaudKhrushchev.
'Just a note before our departure for Europe (in two days) Strangely,Mr Heyworth's New Yorkerarticle does not
to let you know that your letter of 20 August reassured mention the Threniepisode and its aftermath,noting only
me, and I thank you for it sincerely. Thus we have only to that 'in the middle sixties, relationsgrew less cordial, and
await the appearance of your article in German in the next after 1967 there was no further contact between the two
Musikleben'. In the same letter he wrote: men'. In fact relationsgrew more cordial, not less, when
The composition of Movementsis finished, and becausethis was the efforts towards a professionalassociationended. For
not anticipated I have had to redistributemy time (spring and Stravinsky's80th birthday,in June 1962, Boulez sent his
summer 1960) completely. I wrote to Liebermann,but he had manuscriptscore of Domaine.
alreadyset the world premierefor 17 June in Cologne. In Ham- The Paris performanceof Movementsthat Boulez had
burg, Movements was to be done .. . on 27 June. Now I shall planned for June 1960 did not materialize.After the first
change these dates and give the premiere in New York ... performanceof A Sermon,A Narrative and A Prayer, in
without waiting the additional 10 months. I await Liebermann's Basle in
February1962, Stravinskyreceiveda programme
reply to find out whetherhe will keep the Cologne and Hamburg severalmusicians, including Boulez. Stravinsky
dates, in spite of the New York premiere. If so, I do not think signed by
that it will be possible for you to count on 24 June, since Mrs wrote to Suvchinsky: 'It would be interesting to know
Weber, who possesses the exclusive performancerights, will what Boulez's reactionreallywas, since it is impossible to
be
probably busy with rehearsalsfor the 27 June concertin Ham- tell from his "mersi bokou voo noo mankie bokoo esper
burg. That is all for today. I hope to have news from you in Lon- voo voir bentoe" style'.
don or Venice. The two musicians met only four times after that, in
On the same day he wrote to Suvchinsky: 'Boulez writes Paris in May 1962, in Los Angeles in March 196516-
that my letter grieved him very much and that he sent a when Stravinsky heard Boulez rehearse his Eclat - in
letter to Strobel with a request for permission to translate Paris, 6 June 1965,17and in Stravinsky'sHollywood home
the text as it is into German, and to send it to Das in May 1967. The last communications were two
Musikleben. We will see what happens, and whether or not postcardsto Stravinsky,29 May and 18 August 1967; two
[Boulez] is conniving'. Another letter to Boulez, of 13 cables, a birthday greeting ('O saisons O chateaux votre
January 1960, refers to Movements again: plus haute tour') and an appeal (5 October)to protest the
My dear friend, We will not give the 23 January concert (too kidnappingof the Korean composerYsang Yun (Stravin-
expensive). We have finished our three concerts,with Movements sky had alreadyrespondedto the same requestfrom Luigi
(the other two were LesNocesand the Rite).All three were a great Dallapiccola);and a note on a programmefor a concertof
success (even in the press), but they cost me a fortune! So it is Zvezdoliki,RequiemCanticlesand the Rite that Boulez had
with choirs and orchestra!Imaginethat even [when] Bernstein's
Philharmonic [is] entirely sold out, [the] cost [to] the sponsors
[is] 250 thousand dollars a year.
Mrs Weberhad a greattriumphbeforethe New Yorkaudience
(and the press), and I now wish to make the recording of 15 On 28 Jan 1960 Stravinskywrote to Suvchinsky:'I readDr Zhivagoin Russian,
Movementswith her in Hollywood this June (Columbia).This
and, with sadness, I confess my disappointment. Of course, it is real pered-
will satisfy me in a way that a concert cannot, thanks to all the vizhnichestvo.How strange to read such a novel in the age of JamesJoyce'.
tension of a premiere and a pianist who, although having 16 During this visit Stravinskywas being filmed in his home, and Boulez had been
memorizedthe piece, is wholly unfamiliarwith the style of the invited for lunch. After the meal, he opened the score of Les nocesto the last page
music. I have heardthat she will play it in Cologne in June with and tried to convince the composerthat the two bars of rest between 134 and 135
were a mistake; one, according to Boulez's calculations, was correct. Stravinsky,
Schmidt-Isserstedt. slightly inebriated,agreed. All of this can be seen in the Liebermannfilm. In Dec
But on 23 January 1960, Stravinsky was still writing about 1965, at a recording,Stravinskyrestoredthe second bar.
17 Boulez's recordedperformancesof Renard,Les noces,and the Rite had so upset
the Golea matter to Suvchinsky: 'I received the December
Stravinskyin the early 1960s that he did not attend a programmeof these three
issue of Das Musikleben . . . Boulez's answer to that govno worksled by Boulez at the ParisOpera, 5 June 1965;yet the two dined togetherthe
Golea was conspicuously absent. I wrote to Boulez about following day.
401
Stravinsky'sdrawingof Picasso
concuctec in Lonaon on i august 1'o0: -szen cner ami,
How we are missing you these evenings! We think of you
very affectionately. I greatly hope to see you in Los
Angeles next January. Amities a Vera et a Bob'.
Stravinsky did not receive Boulez in January, but Mrs
Stravinsky and the present writer did see him, at the home
of his intimate friend Lawrence Morton, who had been on
holiday with him in Yosemite and Mexico and had been
his house guest in Baden-Baden and in France. Several
weeks after Boulez's May 1967 visit, Stravinsky had read a
Boulez interview with Jaroslav Buzga in Prague, publish-
ed in Melos, in which Boulez stated: 'Stravinsky's Varia-
tions contain nothing new, or nothing that Webern had
not done already'.
The following letters from Stravinsky to Boulez date
from the comparatively untroubled period after Threni
and before the Melos interview:
[New York],
14 September 1960
Thanks, dear Boulez, for your lines. We fly 17 September to
Italy. I conduct at the Biennale on the 17th and will be at the
B[auer]-Gr[unwald]all of October. The exclusive rights of Mrs
Weber for Movementsend 10 January 1961. Will be happy to
hear from you soon. Cordially.
Kapuzinerstrasse9, Baden-Baden Hollywood, 11 May 1961
Dear friend, Would you give me a present for my birthday:the
tape of Pli selonpli? I am determined to have that and the or-
chestra scores as soon as they can be purchased.Say yes.
Will we see you in Europe this summer? Perhaps your
Brussels Wozzeckwill coincide with our dates there for a concert
at the Radio (6-11 October)?Will be happy to have news from
you, and in the meantime, I embraceyou affectionately.
23 August 1961
My dear Boulez, I have just received your letter of 17 August.
Thank you. The programmeyou have describedis good. I only
402
regretthe absenceof Movements,which you had previouslyplan-
ned to give despite the 'retrospective'characterof the concert.18
As for my dates, here they are:tomorrowwe fly to New York.
1 September we sail on the Kungsholmto Scandinavia.On the
12th, I conduct in Helsinki, and from the 15th to the 25th we
will be in Stockholm with a radio concert of the Rite. From the
27th to the 30th, God willing, in Berlin. From 1 to 18 Octoberin
Zurich, at the H6tel Baur-au-Lac,and from the 19th to the 31st
at the Savoy in London, where I conduct for the BBC. We fly to
Cairo on the 31st for five days, then to Bangkokfor three days,
then continue the flight to Australiaand New Zealand.After all
these concerts, we rest in Tahiti for five days and arrivein Los
Angeles in the first weeks of December.
What a pity that I will alreadybe in London during the three
days that you will be in Basle, and that we will not see each other
this year! I should like to have news from you in Stockholm
(GrandHotel), or in Zurich, where I conductSoldier'sTaleat the
Opera, following TheNightingaleconductedby someone else.
Kapuzinerstrasse9, Baden-Baden Hollywood, 8 January1963
My dear Boulez, Thanks for your letter of 17 December. Just
this note in great haste to tell you that the second programme
you suggest seems to me the better one, because, 1) you will use
the choir in two compositions, and 2) you would conduct the
Paris premiereof A Sermon,A Narrativeand A Prayer,and bet-
ter that it be done by you than by some incompetent.
Your letter gave me realpleasure,and now we will have only to
be assuredthat your negotiationswith the Theatre des Champs-
Elysees end in a definite agreement.
We will stay here until spring, probablythe end of March, for
which reason I unfortunatelyhave very little hope of seeing you
soon. Your good lines reached me at the same time as the an-
nouncement(from Zurich)of the death of Hans Rosbaud.19I am
overcome. Affectionatelyyours.
Stravinsky's next news of Boulez came from Suvchinsky,
who wrote on 16 December 1963:
Wozzeckfills the house and is a real triumph. Boulez conducts
magnificently but the sets and production (J.-L. Barrault)are
very poor. And Boulez is to blame for this, for as always he was
very slow to understand.He gave a very shocking explanationto
his colleagues of the intent, the essence, and-most unfortu-
nately-of the concept of this amazingwork. Now he admits all
of the inadequaciesof the production.What a strangeperson he
is ... If you could only see what happens on stage.
Three days later Suvchinsky wrote again to say that, on 18
December, Boulez was invited to 'luncheon with De
Gaulle, and returned 'awkward but pleased'.
After Stravinsky's death, Boulez told an interviewer, M
Deliege, that his view of the composer of the Rite had not
changed since 1949.
18 'Retrospective'meant, in effect, Stravinsky'spopular Russian pieces, whereas
he wanted Boulez to play the late works. Stravinskywrote to AdrianaPanni (13 Jan
1965): 'Do not believe that I disapprove your choice of Boulez to conduct my
Abrahamand Isaac. On the contrary,I am delighted that you invited him to do it'.
19 Stravinskywrote to Suvchinsky (19 Jan): 'Hans Rosbaud died ... I cannot rid
myself of the idea that contemporarymusic has been orphaned. His death had a
profound effect on me'.