Stravinsky in the Chair of Poetry Author(s): Alexis Kall Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul.

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VOL. XXVI, No. 3

JULY, 1940

QUARTERLY
STRAVINSKY IN THE OF POETRY
By ALEXIS KALL

THE MUSICAL
CHAIR

fortheacademic versity, by yearI939-40,nota fewweretaken a what the to with had do Indeed, surprise. Stravinsky, composer, chair ofpoetry? isvery The answer simple. It willbe recalled as Mr. Professor EliotNorton, Charles that Edward W. Forbesremarked in his introductory wordsto a on Harvard had influence the lectures, Stravinsky's profound ofthelastquarter ofthepast lectures His famous youth century. on FineArts andhisadmirable onDantefilled the course students with in them newconceptions ofculture. enthusiasm, implanting of the of one of class the who Stillman, I898, Chauncey many weredeeply withMr. Norton's created the impressed teaching, Charles EliotNorton ofPoetry. to Mr. Professorship According Stillman's includes notonlythevisual artsof definition, poetry and from painting, sculpture, architecture, thepoeticpointof and music. Priorto the view,but also archeology, literature, hadbeenno representative time there ofmusic as holder present ofthis chair. 283
Copyright, 1940, by G. SCHRMER, INCe.

hadaccepted that IgorStravinsky WHEN UnitheCharles of poetry EliotNorton chair at Harvard

IT BECAMEKNOWN

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When Mr. Forbes,the Chairman of Harvard'sCharlesEliot NortonProfessorship Committee, Stravinsky through approached MissNadia Boulanger himthischair, itwas notwithand offered out hesitation thatStravinsky at that accepted.As it happened, timehe had justbegunto workon a new symphony. as Absorbed hewas inthis newopus,however, couldnothelprealizStravinsky a sojourn in theUnitedStates, oftheHarvard as occupant ingthat chairof poetry, himampleopportunities would afford forboth andconcert creative work. The understanding withHarvardUniversity was thathe was withtwo months of vacation forhis concert Outengagements. side of meeting with the students for informal talks regularly about musicin generaland composition of musicin particular, was expected to deliver six publiclectures on music. Stravinsky The selection of thesubjects was left In recognito hisdiscretion. tionof hisstanding in themusical world,he was given, also,the of his lectures French. in special privilege giving For thebenefit ofthose be limited, hearers whoseFrench might a concisesynopsis of eachlecture was prepared inEnglish and distributed. However,such helpwas almost Indeed,to superfluous. an observer it was plainthatthelargeaudiences thatgathered in Harvard's New LectureHall accepted these leaflets outof printed and habitrather To an American, thanof necessity. this courtesy fact may well appearas a refutation of the average gratifying The technologists of European's opinionof our linguistic ability. notwithout it as publicspeaking, good showof reason, explained due to Stravinsky's of precision, distinct mastery pronunciation, and well cadencedvoice. To Cantabridgians it may well have seemedanother that not is without proof justification Cambridge of America. calledtheAthens To an impartial observer, however, of thematter thetruth in thecombination was to be sought of all these explanations. Bearingin mindthathe was to occupya chairof "poetry", entitled his course,"Lectureson Musical Poetics". Stravinsky wordinitsGreekmeaning, heexplained that the Takingthelatter oftheworkto be done.To talk word"poetics"signifies thestudy of musicalpoeticsto himis to studythe "processof doing",in
to live in Cambridgeor Boston fromOctober 1939 to May 1940,

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in the Chair of Poetry Stravinsky

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thefieldof music.Hence hisadvancenoticethatit was precisely sucha study that he intended to undertake. uses a academic French. He alwaysinsists beautiful, Stravinsky on a veryexact,almostliteral and consequently the translation, authorof thisarticlehas oftenfoundit verydifficult to render individual intoEnglish.Stravinsky's is forceful passages language and picturesque. In thefifth of the for lecture, instance, speaking of two Russiasembodying existence two "disorders"-theconservative and the revolutionary-, he says: "We shall see the seconddevour thefirst and feast on itto thepointof indigestion." In thefourth lecture thewell knownWagnerian he mentions books thatmake a neoleit-motives, "guide books" containing to a performance of Gotterdimmerung, look"like phyte, listening one ofthose tourists whomoneseeson thetopoftheEmpire State to orienthimself a map of New Buildingtrying by unfolding York." The whole courseis dividedintosix lectures and to each of themStravinsky constitutlecture, givesa specialname.The first is called"Getting introduction, inga rather general Acquainted". The secondis an exposition of the"MusicalPhenomenon" so far as thisproceeds from the "integral the man", onlybeingcapable of higher of necessity, thespeculation is suchas here, speculation; deals withsoundand tone.At the end of the lecture Stravinsky ofelements ofmusic andmorphology. Musicalcomposition speaks is thesubjectof histhird in lecture, thecourseofwhichtheexact of invention, and taste culture, meanings imagination, inspiration, arediscussed. The fourth lecturehas "Musical Typology" for its subject. Here Stravinsky discusses the interplay of formal elements and showshow theyworkto constitute whathe callsthe"biography of music."An illustration of thisis foundin his fifth on lecture, the vicissitudes and changes thatbefellRussianmusic.The sixth his last,is devotedto execution. lecture, Stravinsky distinguishes the "interpreter" from the"player"and brings them before their audiences and before their critics. In hisconclusion he defines the of music and its essential aim. meaning
* *i

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At the beginning of the first lectureStravinsky warnshis audience hiscoursewillbe neither that an academic course noran confesideas."A serialof dogmatic apologyforhisown general the to stand between were sions",as he called his lectures, they two. His coursewas to be an explanation of music.It was not to consist in an impersonal statement of general ideasbut in a few "observations" his own experifrom came which-thoughthey ence-were nevertheless and,therefore, objective justas valuable to others as to himself. To thisend,Stravinsky at the confessed, that he was goingto actas a polemic outset, speaker. Anyexplanaof it by himis in reality a studying tionof musicto hisaudience self.To himit also connotes a correction of someof thenotions thathavebeenmisrepresented or by ignorance. either maliciously in a he thatare Acting polemiccapacity, justifies arguments but apparently forStravinsky thathisperson as admits personal; well as his work has been a de factotest-a "reactive", to use a term familiar to chemists. His workshave producedreactions thatexceededtheirpurtheir hismostemphatic objecpose.Whatever scopeand volume, is to beingconsidered a "revolutionary". however, tion, Generally to him thereis no such thingas "revolutionary art". speaking, Revolutionmeanstemporary chaos,and Art is the oppositeof is one thing; chaos.Revolution is another. Noveltyis not novelty and such as always recognized by contemporaries; of thisfact of a thegross misunderstanding Stravinsky gives striking example: Gounodby hiscontemporaries. Charles In the secondlecture Stravinsky speaksof the "Phenomenon of Music". evokemusicin our The elements of soundgivenus by nature is a promise butsoundis notyetmusic. Sound,in a sense, minds, of music.It is forman to graspand developthe inherent possito all the of thispromise-manwho is not onlysensitive bilities butalso capableof organizing them. There is no voicesof nature, of a mindthatcreates, as musicwithout the working such thing vivifies. orders, is a way of doingthings to certain Art,in reality, according methods are the roads that assure and these methods, undeviating ofourway ofworking. therectitude

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in the Chair of Poetry Stravinsky

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It is futileto turn to history in order to understand the of music.We do not need to seek its origins; this phenomenon would be to tryto seize the unseizable. a living In such matters illusion isbetter than a deadreality. We cannotjudgemusicof thepastby means of ourreasoning minds alone.We lack an essential withthis element: itself contact music. Therefore we can be interested in thephenomenon of music from theintegral man,who is armed onlyin so faras it emanates withthe resources of our sensesand intellect. Only the integral is of of higher to whichwe being capable theeffort speculation, will now giveourattention. This speculation to points necessarily theelements ofsoundandoftime. Of the elements of time, (i) meter, the material element, serves to create(2) rhythm, whichis theformal whose element The encounterbetween purpose is to commandmovement. and meteris exemplified rhythm by jazz. Musicalcreation first of all, a particular presupposes, experience of time-the "chronos"-of whicha musical workgivesus thefunctional realization. timepassesin various to theinPsychological waysaccording timate moods of each one of us. Its fluctuations are perceptible to real-ontological-time.The cleavage between onlyin relation thetwo typesof duration in two kindsof music:one that results embraces theprocess of ontological timeand one thatcontradicts thisprocess. is generally The first dominated of by theprinciple the secondprogresses similarity, habitually by contrast. of musicallanguage:the Stravinsky speaksof the elements musicalscale, the interval, the chord,the consonanceand disand theemancipation ofthedissonance in modern music. sonance, The dissonance isno morea factor ofdisorder thantheconsonance is a guarantee of security. valuefor Tonalityhasno moreabsolute us thanit had fortheclassical masters. Nevertheless we must submitto thenecessity ofaffirming an "axis"inourmusic, so to speak, and of recognizing the existence of poles of attraction, without to the conventions of traditional submitting tonality. "To compose",saysStravinsky, "meansforme to command soundsby lookingforthe center towards whichtheymustconverge."

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succession ofmusical tones. Melodyis a cadencedor measured Melodicsense isa gift andBellini). (cf. Beethoven on the wouldspurn Certain "innovators" Stravinsky, melody. its at the must retain believes that top of melody place contrary, thehierarchy ofmusical elements. forms: ofmusical ofthesymphony, He speaks ofthehierarchy of instrumental and vocal forms, and of the decadenceof vocal art.Song, in so faras it is dominated by words,ceasesto belong of the to the realmof music.(Wagner and the heresy properly Gesamtkunstwerk.) lectures(when theyare pubMany readersof Stravinsky's of all,since histhird lecture themostinteresting lished)will find comof thefamous "confessions" it contains one ofthosestriking creative the the even the of about and physiology poser psychology process. ofa free withtheassumption oftheexistence specuBeginning thata workof art comesto theconclusion lativewill,Stravinsky One itself revealsand justifies by the freeplay of its functions. inwhichtheworkofartfinds itsmaterialitheforms maycriticize to abouttheveryfactof itsexistence, zation.To argue, however, himis a futile undertaking. Too willingly, says he, people are readyto believethatthe emotional is setinmotion creative impulse by a purely imagination The factis thatinspiration knownunderthenameof inspiration. its butchronologically ofcreative condition is nottheprimary art, of thecreator manifestation. Emotionis but a reaction secondary to the an attempt to seizetheunknown, in hisattempt which, prior effort. hasbeenthesoleaimofthecreative reaction, It is bornof a has itsown "physiology". The act of creating the intuitive which accompanies a foretaste kind of "appetite", but can later thathas beenalready visionof theunknown seized, techof a discriminating the efforts itself manifest onlythrough ofnature. isa requisite nique.This "appetite" notbe confused and must Invention imagination, presupposes most the lecturer thatinterests withit. The kindof imagination made of the contribution He is the creative imagination. speaks fromwithoutby chance,and says that what it bringsus has butan alert of imagination; withthevagaries in common nothing the the obstacle. from the accident, unforeseen, profits imagination

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of culture and taste, insists on the further, Speaking, Stravinsky ofexercising itstrue valuefrom thelatter, whichreceives necessity culture. forStravinsky, whichanimates is a living and Tradition, force, the present; as an illustration informs of its vitality, he citeshis from of a tradition the rediscovery foroperaMarie,originated the amidst files dust-covered of musical drama. gotten Here Stravinsky becomes involved in oneofhispolemic moods and attacks the Wagnerian"Gesamtkunstwerk". He finds fault withits lack of tradition and itsself-conceit, and pointsout the terrible setbackwhichit inflicted of upon musicby a lowering a lowering of a compound causedby themixing of symbols taste, out of dramaand the fashioning of an object of philosophical out of music itself. speculation mentioned as a contrast the"sanetraditions Then, after having of dramatic in theFrench schoolattheendof art",whichhe finds the 19thcentury, he dwellswithparticular interest uponthecase of Verdi.Falstaff is thelastwork--and thefirst instance in which this"colossus"is poisonedby the Wagnerian virus.He bitterly of order,is abanthat,whereasVerdi, the champion complains donedto theorgan we see a grinders, Wagner, revolutionary, with all thedisorder ofhis"improvisations", exalted intriumph. ofthenecesTowardstheendof thelecture Stravinsky speaks and of the perilsof fantasy and arbitrariness. sityof limitations, Each artistic he says,has itsown limitations; he seesno medium, reasonwhy he shouldnot imposefurther limitations of hisown. Artis nota realm of liberty, butone of necessity. Unlesswe dogmatizeby following the canonsof art,we failto reachour end. The fourth entitled "MusicalTypology",begins with lecture, the remark thatart alwayspresupposes the processof choosing. The technique of choosing consists in determining first whatto in orderto select, discard thenin discriminating in order to unite. This principle, of thecomposer, can easily appliedto theactivity be extended to thewholeof musical to establish art,ifone wishes a perspective of thehistory ofmusic. In this wayone can placethe different of music and can throw of types lighton the problem style. controls hisconStyleistheparticular way inwhichan author a language used also by others. Mozartand ceptswhilespeaking

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is in a different Haydn use thesamelanguage way. Their culture thesame, "miracle". buteachoneworks hisownparticular artfarbeyond The greatmasters of their projecttheradiance their of whichthe fociby means day. In thisway theyconstitute historic fromtimeto timeand the confieldof art is illumined When thesefoci reach the point of cultureis insured. tinuity ofextinction they"warm up onlythepedagogues". comes Then Stravinsky explainshow academicmannerism thesense intoexistence, and speaks abouttheperilto whichlosing culture: of continuity and of theneedof communication exposes hisvocabulary, hislanguage, a modern artist is expected to invent he begins to speakin an ofhisart.As a result and eventhemedium incommunicable idiom. to make has a tendency The new age in whichwe are living and to crushall uniuniform in the realmof matter everything The foci of culture in the realmof the spirit. beginto versality disbefore thenin local planes, in national, concentrate gradually appearing altogether. about the necessity of a observation There is an interesting infrom different that is cosmopolitanism, essentially universality of a widelyexpanding the fecundity asmuchas it presupposes and recognized to an orderestablished thesubmission culture, by we find that in submission is this It liberty. everybody. When peoplehope thefugue. takes As an example, Stravinsky in liberty, of strength to findthe principle theydemandfrom of sentiments, thatare outsideitsrealm:expression musicthings It is easy nature. imitation of of dramatic situations, interpretation to theopportunity remark this that to understand Stravinsky gives of theWagnerian (The reader system. speakabouttheabsurdity haslittle or thatStravinsky theforegoing from will havegathered no useforso-called music.) program in a stateof deare created Such aberrations by romanticism and classicism romanticism between Differentiation crepitude. to a battleof words."Classicworksare beautiful leadspromptly romanticism [Andr6Gide]. The only whentheir is subjugated" thesnob,no longer whichis usedonlyto flatter term"modern", On the otherhand,theacademiccan be easily has any meaning. to as it is appliedto workscomposed inasmuch defined, according

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of the helmets of ancientRomanofficials to firemen's hats.It is now applied pictures who represent to persons and officialdom. pompouspedantry

in theChairof Poetry Stravinsky 29I In this andnecessary in directing schoolrules. it is useful sense theschool. no academic but it should have outside exercises, place Our musicologists new works havethehabitof measuring of modernism, and areready to thefalse standard to according as academic discard does that not fit this standard. everything that is confused andextravagant is considered "modEverything ern". that is clear andcontrolled is called "academic." Everything What is expected from criticism is thatit should judgethe that hasbeendone, work andnotthat find fault itshould with the ofthe orintentions ofthat work. legitimacy origin in itsspontaneity is more The public than theprofeshonest sional critics. Therearesnobs whowant to serve error andtruth and alike, inconfusing succeed thetwo.Thisevilbegets itsopposite: "pomThere are two kinds of the ofour pompiers: pompier pierism".' times of andthe the old school. pompier At theendofthe fourth ofdifferent lecture, Stravinsky speaks ofdillettante andofMaecenas, anddraws a clever caricature types of them: thefalse Maecenas is usually recruited from the among old the from the"bourgeois". After snobs; all, "pompier" among the"bourgeois" isless than the snob. dangerous Decadence oftheMaecenas thepoorMaecenas, andthe type: who becomes a Maecenas without it. capitalist anonymous knowing In the fifth dealswith"les Avatars" of lecture, Stravinsky The French Russian term music. no equivalent inEnglish, having the should title read "On Russian Music". simply Stravinsky begins it witha question: when ofRussian Whyis it that people speak music theword"Russian" andnot"music"? This they emphasize is veryfarfrom attitude hisown.The purpose of this peculiar is to rectify lecture theerrors ofperspective Russian bystudying music nothistorically butrather to is,inrelation organically--that thetransformation ithasundergone inthe short ofitsduraperiod tion. Russian music with Glinka whose practically originated works, forthefirst in Russia, time introduce the"popular" melos into "scientific" music. The merger wasa perfectly instinctive achieve1The Frenchword"pompier" withtheresemblance in mnid-r9th originated century

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ment that didnotspring from Dargomijsky, plan. anyformulated characterwith theItalian likeGlinka, melos theRussian mixed that istics inhis time. reigned wastocreate "five" The nationalistic oftheRussian tendency to re-enforce this In order a system outof their useof folklore. lost best butthey the their toperfect tried technique, system, they In this charm in theeffort. wayRimsky-Korsakov partof their became a technician andaneminent pedagogue. The BelaievCircle(Rimsky-Korsakov, Liadov, Glazounov, turned andsoon onschool a value toogreat etc.)placed technique academic. of themighty talent "thegroupof five"rises Confronting But a solid technician anda professor. likeRimsky Tchaikovsky, ofany"system" from thespirit as detached Tchaikovsky proved of Russian in thehistory as was Glinka. Tchaikovsky appears his He influence. received ofItalian music at theendofthereign withtheGerman academic in accordance training professional ofthe"five", tendencies If he escapes from thefolklore methods. national. remains henevertheless deeply realism of Glinka, characteristics thenaturalistic The Italian arelegitimate ofTchaikovsky--all the occidentalism ofthe"five", of soon Russia. But in thehistoric tendencies they development Whileone might haveexpected intotheacademic. degenerated sawappear, oneactually ofa conservative thedictatorship spirit, disorder of that of artand thought, in all therealm ideological is so as music far is thefirst which Scriabin representative conoftwoRussias that we haveseentheexistence cerned. Sincethen and therevolutionary. theconservative two disorders: embody onittothe devour thefirst andfeast second We shall seethe point ofindigestion. toSoviet music. The isdevoted ofthelecture The second part herwhen Russia tookplaceat a time revolution Russian thought The and revolutionary selffreedfrommaterialism ideology. a period ofsanity itseemed tobereally that preceded years twenty andrebirth. it is with is notonlytinged The Russian spirit irrationalism, rationalism a for a most also marked rudimentary by tendency of thespirit of criticism. intoa caricature thathas degenerated andstill hasincessantly Thispseudo-critical been, is,poisonspirit

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theMarxist ing the realmof artin Russia.In thisrespect theory has reducedart--including music-to the fateof beingbut an instrument of propagandaat the serviceof the partyand the government. Revolution foundmusica preyto thetwo disorders and comthe Bolshevists had no troublein pletelyled astray.Therefore itto thewilloftheir whims. bending At the beginning the new regime, beingverybusyin other abandonedmusicto the controversies of the theorists. In fields, thisway operawas condemned some as a and by superannuated conventional whereas others exalted the"mass"opera, which form, is impersonal, without without hero, plot. At the sameperiod,the revolutionary claimed propagandists Beethoven as their reasons. own,butnotformusical Political considerations forced the abandonment of leftist formulas forthesakeof a renaissance of regional and folkmusic. The watchword now is to promote "socialistic realism". Regionalistictendencies in theelevenrepublics of theU. S. S. R. arebeing There is a vogue for ethnographic research thatis encouraged. withtheproblems of musical creation. The result beingconfused is a series of compositions all of whichbelongto thetypeof conventional opera. Two currents sumup thetendencies of contemporary Russian music: on the one side,a predilection forrevolutionary subjects takenby preference frommodernevents;on the otherside,an of classical worksto theneedsof conunprecedented adaptation life.Lenin figures as a subjectin opera. Glinka's"A temporary Life forthe Czar" returns to therepertory after having changed its title.The word "Czar" is replacedby the terms Fatherland, andPeople. Earth, Two formulas sum up and explainmusicfromthe pointof view of contemporary Russia: one of themsecularand popular, the othermysticand grandiloquent. Here the "Kolchosians"2 danceamidtractors, there music"contributes to theformation of a human immersed in the middle of thegreatepoch". personality It is unnecessary to explain that music can no morebe a specifsocialistic ically"Kolchose" dancethana specifically symphony. In theconclusion of thelecture, outthat the Stravinsky points
2 The word derives from "collective landowners".

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eternalcontroversy betweenthe "Slavophiles"and the "Occidentals" hasnotendedwiththecataclysm oftheRevolution. Russiahasnotbecomeindependent of theold Europeand has notfoundherhistoric of theSlavoroad according to thedesires born of an occidentalsystem, philes.The Marxistrevolution, causedRussiato fallback intoa chauvinism in itsown way, that, her from Russia culture. As a result finds herseparates European selffacingEurope and at the sametimeturning herback on it. The Russianpeople remain one of the mostgenerously endowed witha giftformusic.But,after of all, the development artistic potentialities impliesan integral stability in which conRussiais completely lacking. temporary lastlecture is fullof sarcasm hispolemic revealing Stravinsky's attitude towardsmany of his fellow-artists and towardsinterofhisart, conductors. preters especially Music retained has an existence by memory, saysStravinsky, to its it exists notated in from its form) execution; previous (apart in a potential an To form before actual these two one. presentation and active--correspond two kindsof statesof music-potential and the performers. the creators Of these,the latter musicians: mereperformers, own two varieties-the who are imhavetheir to play theirparts, and the interpelled only by the obligation to theaudiencethemusicof the who not onlytransmit preters, hisintrinsic ideasofthat music:the butalsotryto convey creator, of the arethefield interpreters representatives author. workseemsneverto preserve itsidentity A musical quiteintimeit is doneuponthequality tact.For itsaspectdepends every in thenarrow The executant senseof theword of the execution. of hispart, is committed buttheinterrendering onlyto a literal to giveto theworknotonlya perfect is expected rendering preter occultor but also a devotedlove,evena collaboration-whether thecreator. evident-with sincethecomposer has itsgreatdangers, is This collaboration whenpresenting hiswork (espeby the risk, alwaysconfronted of theinterpreter time),thatthevagaries may ciallyforthefirst or inertand at any rate berenderthe work "unrecognizable trayed." of musicthemostdangerous, in Amongthepoor interpreters

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opinion,are the conductors Stravinsky's enjoyingan artificial in the present-day and those whose ascent prestige particularly musical worldispromoted not efforts legitimate. always by ridicules and their overtheir love of cheapeffects Stravinsky nuances,and pointsout emphasis upon producingunnecessary their as tempo. ofsuchimportant gross neglect things Music can be "seen",saysStravinsky. inIts plastic rendering fluences our judgment of of it,though we maynotbe conscious the fact.Hence the necessity to cultivate forthe executant harmonious and proper of gestures. This elegant correctregulation nessis morea matter ofeducation ofmusical instruction. than of ways: for revealsitself in a multitude Lack of education in of the between character a workand the instance, disproportion themeansemployed foritsexecution, or in theostentatious marof great of choralandinnumbers and in themultiplying shalling strumental units.One does not gain powerin proportion to the of of the number executants. make To augmentation something thick doesnotmeanto makeitstrong. All creation has a tendency to communicate to projectitself, itself.The creatorhas an unconquerable desireto make other in hisjoy. As a result a partner becomes in thelistener peopleshare thegame(le jeu) initiated is not But a participant by thecreator. a judge.The audienceis not qualified to pronounce an authoritativeand final the value of a intrinsic work. judgment upon Enough thatit is entrusted withtheresponsibility of deciding thefateof thecomposition as a current item. The foregoing makesevident the moralresponsibility of the executant. The fateof a workalwaysdepends of uponthequality its performance, its first one. The publicmustplace particularly itstrust intherepresentatives oftheauthor. How does the listener, thepartner-of the creator, participate in themusical different attitudes heldby "game"?Therearethree thepublictowards Activeparticipation music. theaudience uniting to thecomposer is one; passive meditation in an attempt to follow the development of the composition is another. Music imparts a kindof insensibility to thosewho, adopting thethird, listen to it it. Discussing without thislastattitude, hearing speaks Stravinsky of the radio which"sparesthe listener any effort exceptthatof

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and paralyzinghim turninga switch", graduallystupefying when J.S. Bach How were different the conditions, musically. a long,longwayto hearBuxtehude! walkedjoyfully In the Epilogue,Stravinsky the generaltheses recapitulates which he has sustained and whichare governed by an essential A conthe pursuit of unitythrough consideration: multiplicity. stantsearchforvariety alone prompts only a vain and everunthe It is natural towards satisfied to incline and healthy curiosity. infinite towards the of a limitation rather than tangible support ofunbridled possibilities multiplicity. The finished But unity static. Music unifies. is notnecessarily flows workspreads in orderto makeitself knownand eventually In an element of back to itsorigin. this to us as appears way music communion withthefuture-andwiththeSupreme Being. in this To preserve theunderlying as muchas possible spirit, almost briefoutlineof Stravinsky's lectures at given Harvard, have of his lectures verbatim translations of his own summary oftenbeen used. As to the lectures themselves, theyhave been translated from French andwillbe pubintoEnglish by thewriter lished Pressearly intheautumn-anevent by theHarvard eagerly tobymany lookedforward ofStravinsky's followers andadmirers. thepubliclectures Aside from by virtue givenby Stravinsky he gave,to to theCharles Eliot NortonChair, of hisappointment students ofcomtalented Harvard a small select groupofthemost esoteric also by mostof the a private course,attended position, inof music.This coursedid not comprise Harvardprofessors works the criticized struction in composition. Stravinsky merely of the young composers, or would-becomposers. Always outhe and style, in counterpoint and errors spokenas to the faults and to pointout passages thatmerited neverhesitated recognition It was a or imagination. revealedthe presence of real invention of criticizing the treatforhis audiences, however, when,instead of he take his own some of would others, compositions worksofhiscreative ofthelatest ("OedipusRex", activity period mostly Oaks", etc.)-and would analyze "Jeu de Cartes","Dumbarton of on thepiano.How manydetails and playa wholecomposition how thatone would hardly or orchestration notice, counterpoint would havebeenlost,wererevealed muchbeautythatotherwise listeners these hours! his to eager during unforgettable

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