A sort of choreographic cantata depicting Russian peasant nuptials, Les Noces ("The Wedding") was produced by Diaghilev in Paris in 1923. This outstandingly original work broke new musical ground with its compact, concise style, using unusual combinations of instruments with vocal accompaniment rather than a large orchestra. Reproduced from an authoritative score, this handsome, inexpensive volume incorporates new lists of contents and instrumentation; a glossary and preface (with illustrations); a Note on the Translation and Translation of the French Text.
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music.
He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the century. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1946. In addition to the recognition he received for his compositions, he also achieved fame as a pianist and a conductor, often at the premieres of his works.
He also published a number of books throughout his career, almost always with the aid of a collaborator, sometimes uncredited. In his 1936 autobiography, Chronicles of My Life, written with the help of Walter Nouvel, Stravinsky included his infamous statement that "music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all."