Robert Copeland - The Christian Message of Igor Stravinsky

The Christian Message of Igor StravinskyAuthor(s): Robert M. CopelandSource: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 68, No. 4 (Oct., 1982), pp. 563-579Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/742158 .

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The Christian Message of Igor Stravinsky ROBERT M. COPELAND

IN his notable survey, Music in the 20th Century, William W. Austin comments on a "preaching" tendency in the later works

of Igor Stravinsky, and correctly observes that

for many prospective hearers of Stravinsky's sermons, it was hard enough to reconcile his irreverent wit and his dancing gusto with sincere piety; if religious associations impelled them to look for an intimate warm feeling of consolation, or a vague mystical sense of transcendence, or a reassuring solidarity with the hallowed forms of organized churches, Stravinsky rebuffed them more sharply than unbelievers ... They could not be blamed for failing to grasp his true faith, his tough integrity, and his genuine humility before God.'

Indeed, both believers and unbelievers have found it difficult to understand Stravinsky's faith and its expression in his music. As a result, it "has not been properly appreciated by most of his commenta- tors, or else it has been ill-judged and even misinterpreted."2

For example, an eminent musicologist denies outright the exis- tence of a genuine faith in Stravinsky: ... One looks in vain for some sort of vision, some gift of poetry or revelation which would invest his oeuvre with a significance denied to lesser composers.... Of late he has turned to religious subjects-is he a genuinely religious composer of "sacred" music? No, he could not be, for his ideal world is too little concerned with the final inwardness of life.3

I (N.Y., 1966), p. 534. 2 Roman Vlad, Stravinsky, trans. Frederick and Ann Fuller, 3rd ed. (London, 1978), pp.

153-54. 3 Paul Henry Lang, Introduction, in Stravinsky: A New Appraisal of His Work (New

York, 1963), pp. 10, 18.

563



564 The Musical Quarterly

A recent biographer describes the composer's faith as simply "a cheerful acquiescence" in "the dogmas and discipline of the Church," and places him in the wrong church.4 Even Robert Craft admits that he understands little of Stravinsky's religious side.5

On the other hand, there are evidences of a genuine and deep Christian faith, evidences which need to be collected and evaluated. They include Stravinsky's own statements and acts of faith, the tes- timony of those who knew him well, and his compositions.

I

Stravinsky was brought up in the Russian Orthodox Church, though apparently more from custom than from faith. I do not think my parents were believers. They were not practicing churchgoers, in any case, and judging from the absence of relevant discussion at home, they cannot have entertained strong religious feelings. Their attitude must have been more in- difference than opposition, however, for the least hint of impiety horrified them.6

Igor Fedorovich, sickly at birth (1882), was immediately baptized by sprinkling, but later that month was baptized in the usual Or- thodox manner (immersion) and chrismated (anointed) in the Nik- olsky Cathedral in St. Petersburg. When a boy, he was required to attend church services, read the Bible, and observe the fasts and feasts of the Church Year. However, in adolescence he rebelled against the Church and abandoned it by the time he finished Gymnasium.7

Thus, his musical studies with Rimsky-Korsakov, his collabora- tion with Diaghilev, his rise to international fame, and his turning to Classical subjects and musical forms all occurred during a period in which he was largely estranged from Christianity. But the break seems not to have been quite complete, because he had his children baptized

4 Neil Tierney, The Unknown Country: A Life of Igor Stravinsky (London, 1977), p. 120. Tierney alleges that "some time after his second marriage he switched his allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church." This is absurd in light of Stravinsky's repeated statements that he was Russian Orthodox, as well as his known fidelity to that church. His funeral was conducted by an Orthodox archimandrite (although in a Roman Catholic church), and he is buried in the Orthodox section of the San Michele cemetery in Venice.

5 Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Retrospectives and Conclusions (New York, 1969), p. 198.

6 Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Expositions and Developments (Garden City, 1962), p. 60.

7 Ibid., pp. 61-63.



The Christian Message 565

in accordance with Church practice.8 By his forty-second year, for reasons which are not now clear, Stravinsky had entered a profound spiritual crisis. "Then in 1923 we find him finally repudiating the ballet, his religious convictions no longer permitting him to employ his art in anything so base as theatrical ballet. (Indeed a letter to Diaghilev at this time speaks of the ballet as 'l'anatheme du Christ'.)"9 (Within a few years he abandoned this extreme position and resumed the composition of ballets.) In 1924, at about the time he moved from Biarritz to Nice, he became acquainted with a Russian priest, Father Nicolas, who, he says, "was practically a member of our household during a period of five years."'9 In September, 1925, he experienced a dramatic answer to prayer which he felt at the time was miraculous: an abscessed forefinger was suddenly healed at the beginning of a piano performance in Venice." Shortly thereafter, he rejoined the Russian Orthodox Church, an event about which he wrote to Diaghilev and to which the latter alluded in his last letter to Stravinsky.'2

In reference to all this, Stravinsky, nearing eighty, said:

... I cannot now evaluate the events that, at the end of those thirty years, made me discover the necessity of religious belief. I was not reasoned into my disposition. Though I admire the structured thought of theology (Anselm's proof in the Fides Quaerens Intellectum, for instance) it is to religion no more than counterpoint exercises are to music. I do not believe in bridges of reason or, indeed, in any form of extrapolation in religious matters.... I can say, however, that for some years before my actual "conversion," a mood of acceptance had been cultivated in me by a reading of the Gospels and by other religious literature ... .

For the remainder of his long life, Stravinsky gave evidence to his friends and associates of a deep Christian faith. Robert Craft has referred on a number of occasions to the composer's religious nature and practices-for example, attending church services on various special occasions.'4 Stravinsky, he says, prayed daily, prayed before and after composing, and prayed when facing difficulty. "He believed

8 Theodore Stravinsky, Catherine and Igor Stravinsky: A Family Album (London, 1973), unpaginated.

9 Serge Lifar, Diaghilev (London, 1940), quoted in Erie Walter White, Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works, 2nd ed. (London, 1979), p. 85.

10 Expositions, p. 64. 11 Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Dialogues and a Diary (London, 1968), p. 26. 12 Printed in Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Memories and Commentaries (New York,

1960), p. 51. '3 Expositions, pp. 63-64. 14 Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Themes and Episodes (New York, 1966), pp. 172-75.




that God had created the world; he believed literally in all of the events in the Bible."'5 Late in life, Stravinsky ceased to attend services, but he attributed this to laziness rather than to any loss of faith; he still regarded himself as a Russian Orthodox.16

In his writings and published conversations, Stravinsky also made a number of comments which reflect a Christian world view. Such comments are widely scattered in his autobiography (1936), his Nor- ton Lectures at Harvard (1939), and his six volumes of conversations with Robert Craft. During the course of these, his religious beliefs emerge quite naturally. His belief in the afterlife and judgment, for example, is reflected when he answers a question about the future of his music: he refuses to worry about it. "The Recording Angel I am concerned with is not CBS, in any case, but the One with the Big Book."1'7

Stravinsky was also sufficiently discriminating to discern insincer- ity. While describing his Elegy for J.F.K., composed to a text of W. H. Auden, he commented:

Wystan doesn't care in the least about J.F.K., but he does care about the form, and it is the same with his Christianity: what interests him, what his intellect and his gifts require is the form of Christianity; or, to go a little deeper, the uniform.'1

The aesthetic viewpoints which Stravinsky articulated comport well with Christian faith. For example, he saw that God is at the heart of the musical enterprise. In his Norton Lectures, he told the Harvard audience that music's "essential aim... is to promote a communion, a union of man with his fellow-man and with the Supreme Being."'9 He explained the creative process in music in terms of God's creation: "Since I myself was created, I cannot help having the desire to create."20 He defended the composer's artistic inspiration by quoting John 3:8, "The Spirit moves wherever it wishes" ("Spiritus ubi vult

15 Robert Craft, in "Stravinsky the Man," National Public Radio program broadcast July 2, 1979, on Station KSAC, Manhattan, Kansas.

16 Expositions, p. 65. Cf. his son Theodore's comments in the Foreword of Catherine and Igor Stravinsky.

17 Retrospectives, p. 82. 18 Themes, p. 306. 19 Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons, trans. Arthur Knodel and

Ingolf Dahl (Cambridge, Mass., 1970), pp. 24-25. All citations are from the bilingual edition, in which the French and English are on facing pages.

20 Poetics, pp. 64-65.




spirat").21 He acknowledged both the Divine source of his creative abilities and his responsibility as a steward of those abilities:

I regard my talents as God-given, and I have always prayed to Him for strength to use them. When in early childhood I discovered that I had been made the custodian of musical aptitudes, I pledged myself to God to be worthy of their development, though, of course, I have broken the pledge and received uncovenanted mercies all my life, and though the custodian has too often kept faith on his own all-too-worldly terms.22

His effort to glorify God through the use of his talents is explicit in the dedications of some of his works. Although the Symphony of Psalms was commissioned for the Boston Symphony, the score is inscribed "composed to the glory of God." Likewise on the Symphony in C (1940) he wrote, "This symphony, composed to the glory of God, is dedicated to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra" (for whom it had been commissioned).

Some of Stravinsky's musical beliefs show a striking similarity to other Christian concepts. Most noticeable, perhaps, is his view of the importance of limits, controls, and discipline in the act of composing. Unlike many composers of this century, Stravinsky believed that artistic discipline was essential. This sense of discipline is in fact one of the keys to his adoption of the serial technique. In an interview in May, 1952, he said, ".... the serial composers are the only ones with a discipline that I respect. Whatever else serial music may be, it is certainly pure music.'"23

Throughout his professional life, Stravinsky had composed with the aid of discipline; he felt frightened in the absence of limits.24 Discipline was not only an essential component of the compositional process, it was infused with theological significance. Late in life, he commented that the absence of a "mainstream" in current music is "the same as the problem of man without God: irresponsibility. In the domain of art this is translated into that most unusable of goals, total freedom... .."25

Stravinsky also held strong opinions about the character of church music. In his Conversations, he expressed admiration for the genres of

21 Ibid., pp. 60-61. 22 Dialogues, p. 25. 23 Quoted in White, p. 133. 24 See his extended comments in Poetics, pp. 84-85, 86-87. 25 Retrospectives, p. 103.




sacred music of the past-Masses, motets, passions, cantatas. "These are not simply defunct forms," he said, "but parts of the musical spirit [now] in disuse."

The Church knew what the Psalmist knew: music praises God. Music is as well or better able to praise Him than the building of the church and all its decoration; it is the Church's greatest ornament. Glory, glory, glory; the music of Orlando Lassus' motet praises God, and this particular "glory" does not exist in secular music. And not only the glory . . . but prayer and penitence and many other [actions] cannot be sec- ularized. The spirit disappears with the form.26

Stravinsky, in the manner of Paul Tillich, distinguishes between what he calls religious religious music and secular religious music. "The latter," he says, "is inspired by humanity in general, by art, by Ubermensch, by goodness, and by goodness knows what. Religious music without religion is almost always vulgar.... I hope, too, that my sacred music is a protest against the Platonic tradition... of music as anti-moral." He was then asked if one must be a believer to compose in the great forms of sacred music. He replied, "Certainly, and not merely a believer in 'symbolic figures,' but in the Person of the Lord, the Person of the Devil, and the Miracles of the Church."27

Since Stravinsky had at that time already composed in the forms he is discussing-Mass (1948), motet (the three sacred choruses), and cantata (e.g., Babel, 1944; Canticum Sacrum, 1955)-it seems clear that he is here identifying himself as one who believes genuinely in the Person of the Lord, the Devil, and the Miracles. His statement, in short, constitutes a "profession of faith," particularly when seen in the context of his life and other statements.

Nevertheless, Stravinsky does not speak of his faith in direct, personal terms-at least not in print. However, Stravinsky's attitudes toward God, and his methods of expressing his faith verbally, must be understood in the context of his spiritual environment, the Russian Orthodox Church. Orthodox thought patterns, shaped by the early Greek Fathers and placing greater emphasis on mystical experience than on systematic theology, are different in important respects from those of Westerners, both Catholic and Protestant. The concept of "salvation," for example, is expressed quite differently by the Or- thodox Church than by Western Churches. In the Orthodox Church,

26 Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Conversations with Igor Stravinsky (London, 1959), p. 124.

27 Conversations, pp. 124, 125.




the word "salvation" is used less often than "redemption." As it is applied in the life of the believer, redemption is conceived primarily as theosis (often translated "deification"), the process of becoming united with God, of being transformed by divine grace into "a personal and organic union between God and man-God dwelling in us and we in him."28 This concept of theosis arises from, for example, John 17:21, where Jesus prayed "that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us

... ." (Translation

from the New International Version.) Another base is II Peter 1:4, "through [these promises] you may participate in the divine nature.""29 A contemporary theologian, explaining theosis as expounded by St. Gregory Palamus (d. 1359), says:

... God, essentially unsharable and transcendent, is also a living God who communi- cated Himself voluntarily through His acts: He thus becomes available not merely to knowledge, but sharable or communicable, because of the hypostatic unity of divinity and humanity in Jesus Christ. Even then, however, He remains transcendent, since this is His nature: participation in His Being or deification is only possible to the extent that He wills it and in accordance with His energies or acts. This participation is total in Jesus Christ, since the Person of the Word incarnate is the source of all the divine operations.s0

The Orthodox Church also believes that theosis applies to the body as well as the soul, and to all of material creation as well as the human body." Thus Orthodox belief takes into account such passages as Romans 8:19-23 ("the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God," NIV), and demonstrates a more holistic comprehension of Scripture than do those Western Christians who concentrate only on the salvation of the soul.

Orthodox writers also point out that the doctrine of theosis affects all of life. Theosis is intended for all believers, not for a select few; it makes the believer aware and repentant of the continuing sin in his life; and since it involves love of one's fellow man as well as love of God it is a social as well as a personal force. The ordinary means by

28 Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church, rev. ed. (Baltimore, Md., 1964), p. 236. 29 The doctrine of theosis should not be confused with pantheism, Oriental mysticism, or

similar non-Christian concepts, which Orthodox theologians reject. "Deified" man partakes of the divine "energies" (actions) but not of the divine essence.

30 Jean Meyendorff, The Orthodox Church: Its Past and Its Role in the World Today, trans. John Chapin (New York, 1962), pp. 205-6.

31 Ware, pp. 238-39.




which theosis is effected include worship, the sacraments, prayer, the Scriptures, and obedience to the Commandments.32

Thus "deification" includes two doctrines which in Western theology are always separated: justification and sanctification. ". Orthodoxy continues to regard ... justification as a 'gradual development' and 'links sanctification with it as the development and exten- sion of justification.' "33 It is evident that theosis is based upon Scrip- ture (as most of the doctrines held by all Christians claim to be ), that it recognizably refers to the same spiritual realities as the corresponding doctrines of the Western churches, and that it attributes redemption to the grace of God operating through the "ordinary means of grace."

The doctrine of theosis can shed light on why Stravinsky did not write of "salvation" in the Western Evangelical manner, and why his Christian devotion was expressed in prayer, worship, and work (composition). Stravinsky seems to have suggested that music has a role in theosis when he said that its "essential aim ... is to promote a ... union of man with . . . the Supreme Being." At the same time, he linked music to "ontological time"-that is, he exhibited a concern for music as an expression of the ultimate nature of being. Many years later, he confirmed his continuing belief in the ultimate significance of music when he commented, "Lucifer took his music with him from Paradise, and even in Hell ... music is able to represent Paradise and become the 'bride of the cosmos.' "34

Like many of its Western counterparts, the Orthodox Church places heavy emphasis on personal faith. This is reflected in the morning prayer, which Stravinsky apparently used daily: ... O my Saviour, by Thy grace deliver me; for if it were Thy will to save me according to my works, that would be neither grace nor gift but only a burden. Thou hast said, "He that believeth in me shall live." ... Since, then, it is faith in Thee that saves, behold: "I believe," therefore save me! ... O, my God, let my faith be counted to me for works. Do not ask me from my own strength for the works which should justify me, but let this my faith be all-sufficient, let it answer for me, let it make me a partaker of Thine eternal glory.35

32 Ware, pp. 240-41; Meyendorff, pp. 192, 206; Wilhelm Niesel, The Gospel and the Churches, trans. David Lewis (Philadelphia, 1962), pp. 137-43.

SS Niesel, p. 142, quoting K. Kyobouniotes, Ekklesia (Leipzig, 1939). 34Conversations, p. 125. 35 Quoted in Niesel, p. 142.




Thus, Stravinsky's religious faith is revealed to have been intensely personal and mystical, in ways consistent with Russian Orthodoxy. He professed to be a Christian believer, read and thought about the Gospels and other religious writings, prayed regularly, and con- sciously attempted to reflect theistic-Christian spiritual values in his approach to composition.

II

If "sacred" is taken to refer to music suitable for church services, then Stravinsky wrote little of it: three short choruses for the Orthodox liturgy (Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Credo), a Mass for the Roman Catholic service, and an English anthem on a text by T. S. Eliot. If "sacred" is understood more broadly to include concert works with a biblical or other Christian text, then Stravinskycomposed a great deal of sacred music.36

The small quantity of actual church music is one of the often- misunderstood aspects of Stravinsky's output. Of 104 completed compositions, only five are suitable for liturgical use. Most composers who have been known as believers have produced a significant amount of church music; Bach's output was prodigous, but, of course, he was employed as a church musician for most of his career. But although Stravinsky was not, he identified himself with the spirit of the Cantor of Leipzig: I was born out of time in the sense that by temperament and talent I would have been more suited for the life of a small Bach, living in anonymity and composing regularly for an established service and for God. I did weather the world I was born to, weathered it well, you will say, and I have survived-though not uncorrupted-the hucksterism of publishers, music festivals, recording companies, publicity... conductors, critics. ... But the small Bach might have composed three times as much music.37

Even without economic stimulus, it might seem that Stravinsky could have produced more church music than he did, for not everyone who composes church music is employed by the church.

As a Russian Orthodox, however, Stravinsky faced two major problems unknown to musicians in most Western churches: language

36 For a discussion of some of these works, see Gerald R. Hoekstra, "Stravinsky's Settings of Religious Texts" (unpublished paper, 1970).

37 Dialogues, pp. 123-24.




and medium. The language of Russian Orthodox worship and devotion is Church Slavonic, an archaic ancestor of Russian, and virtually unknown in the West. This renders Russian church music unusable in other branches of Christendom. Yet for Stravinsky, Slavonic always remained "the language of prayer."38

So Stravinsky, in many of his Christian works, turned to Latin, the "universal" language of the West and the language of the Roman Catholic church. The three sacred choruses, composed originally to Slavonic texts, were later reissued in Latin with some revisions.39 Several concert and dramatic works-for example, Oedipus

Rex--use Latin. He explained his use of it thus:

I have always considered that a special language, and not that of current converse, was required for subjects touching on the sublime. .... The choice [of Latin] had the great advantage of giving me a medium not dead, but turned to stone and so monumentalized as to have become immune from all risk of vulgarization....

What a joy it is to compose music to a language of convention, almost of ritual, the very nature of which imposes a lofty dignity! One no longer feels dominated by the phrase, the literal meaning of the words. Cast in an immutable mold which ade- quately expresses their value, they do not require any further commentary. The text thus becomes purely phonetic material for the composer. He can dissect it at will and concentrate all his attention on its primary constituent element-that is to say, on the syllable. Was not this method of treating the text that of the old masters of austere style? This, too, has for centuries been the Church's attitude towards music, and has prevented it from falling into sentimentalism, and consequently into individualism.40

In addition to its universal and ritual values, Latin also appealed to Stravinsky as a-"sacred" language. "'Sacred' might mean no more than 'older,' as one could say that the language of the King James Bible is more sacred than the language of the New English Bible, if only because of its greater age."41

Another major problem which confronted Stravinsky as an Or- thodox composer was the limitation of medium. Only unaccompa-

38 Expositions, p. 65. This omits the possibility of translation. In all his vocal music, Stravinsky was so insistent on the primacy of the word (the syllable, to be more precise) that in several cases he specifically prohibited performance in translation (e.g., Symphony of Psalms, Abraham and Isaac). Most of his works would suffer significantly in translation. Cf. his comments in Dialogues, p. 22, and in Conversations, pp. 34-35.

39 However, he did not "expunge" the Slavonic versions, pace Tierney (who, incidentally, also mistakes the language of the original version to have been Russian). In 1964, well after the 1949 Latin versions, he rewrote the Slavonic version of the Credo, which (if proof were needed) demonstrates that he did not repudiate or withdraw the Slavonic versions.

40 Igor Stravinsky, An Autobiography (New York, 1936), pp. 196, 202. 41 Dialogues, p. 21.




nied vocal music is permitted in the Orthodox liturgy, but except for extremely simple music, Stravinsky disliked the sound of unaccom- panied voices.42 Thus he found himself aesthetically out of tune with his church and unable to provide interesting music for it.

But Stravinsky did not abandon the attempt to praise his God through his music. Rather, he adopted the method chosen by Calvi- nist composers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who faced similar limitations of medium: he set about to provide concert music which would bring glory to God and point listeners toward God.

In his choices of subject and text, as well as in their treatment, Stravinsky frequently revealed his Christian viewpoint. From the time of his conversion, certain themes occur time and again, presenting his Christian message both directly and indirectly.

One of these recurring themes is death. Over a sixty-year period, Stravinsky composed eleven works which are "funeral music" in one sense or another and which are dedicated to the memory of various friends and acquaintances. In several instances, the composer's choice of text is particularly appropriate for the personal faith of the de- ceased. When Dylan Thomas died, Stravinsky set one of Thomas' own poems as a memorial: "Do not go Gentle into that Good Night." For T. S. Eliot, Stravinsky set the Introit from the Mass for the Dead (although neither the poet nor the composer was Roman Catholic): Grant him eternal rest, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon him. A hymn befits You in Zion, O God, and a vow shall be paid to You in Jerusalem. Hear my prayer; all flesh shall come to you.

When Stravinsky commemorated the unorthodox but mystical Aldous Huxley, the music had no text at all.

Stravinsky's longest statement on death is the Requiem Canticles (1966), for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. The texts are selected from the Roman funeral Mass: the last sentence of the Introit, five of the eighteen stanzas of the Sequence "Dies Irae," and the complete Re- sponsory ("Libera me"). In the Sequence and Responsory, the theme of the Last Judgment predominates; these excerpts are representative:

What a trembling there will be when the Judge shall come to try all things truly! O King of dread majesty, who freely savest the redeemed, save me, O fountain of

goodness. Deliver me, O Lord, from everlasting death in that dreadful day, when the heaven

and the earth shall quake, when Thou shalt come to judge the earth by fire. I tremble

42 Expositions, p. 65.




and am sore afraid for the judgment and the wrath to come. ... Deliver me.43

Because the text is incomplete, the work cannot be called a liturgical Requiem, even though it was sung at Stravinsky's own funeral. It is, rather, a concert work in which Stravinsky made a statement-even a warning-about death and judgment, a statement which is Chris- tian in its concept and content.

In addition, Stravinsky's last published work was an orchestration of two songs of Hugo Wolf on the subject of death. Roman Vlad has shown the close musical relationship between these songs and the Requiem Canticles.44

A second theme discernible in Stravinsky's music is that of repentance. The text of "Dies Irae" was originally intended to move the hearer to repent. Stravinsky had earlier (1958) composed what may be viewed as an example of repentance, Threni. The text is selected from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, a book which forms part of the ritual of both the Jewish Synagogue (for the ninth of Ab, a fast commemorat- ing the destruction of the Temple) and the Roman Catholic Church (during Holy Week) and has been set by a number of composers. The portions chosen by Stravinsky are from Chapter 1:1, parts of 2, 5, 11, and 20; from Chapter 3:1-6, 16-27, 34-36, 40-45, 49-66; from Chapter 5:1, 19, 21. These passages include not only lament for the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple (understood by Christians as a symbol of Christ's death; cf. John 2:19-22), but repentance for the sin which had brought about that destruction:

The Lord hath afflicted her ["the city"] for the multitude of her transgressions.... Behold, O Lord, for I am in great distress ... for I have grievously rebelled....

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.... Let us search and try our ways, and turn unto God; let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.

At the same time, the text bears the biblical message of hope: I called upon thy name, O Lord ... thou hast heard my voice... thou drewest near

in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear Not. O Lord, . . . thou hast redeemed my life.... Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

43 Trans. in Arthur Jacobs, ed. Choral Music: A Symposium (Baltimore, 1963), pp. 399-401. 44 Vlad, pp. 260-66.




A third theme prominent in Stravinsky's music is the Christian virtues, particularly the three emphasized in the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians: faith, hope, and love (caritas). This theme is found most clearly and succinctly in Canticum Sacrum (1955), where these virtues are presented as the very core of the Gospel. The work is in five movements, which are symmetrical in size and weight and balanced content.45 The first movement establishes the setting: Christ's commis- sion to his disciples, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:7). The final movement completes the action by indicating their obedience: "And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, confirming the word with signs following" (Mark 16:20). The intervening movements are based on related passages from the Song of Songs, Deute- ronomy, I John, Psalms, and Mark. The central movement and the longest is divided into three sections which are exhortations to "Cari- tas," "Spes," and "Fides."

Stravinsky's belief in the importance of faith (heavily emphasized in Orthodox teaching) is also expressed in the first movement of A Sermon, A Narrative, and A Prayer (1961), whose text is taken from Romans 8:24 and Hebrews 11:1 and 12:29:

We are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man sees why does he yet hope for? The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, is faith. And our God is a consuming fire. If we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. The substance, etc.

Other exhortations to faith are presented indirectly, in the form of symbolic narratives. For example, the second movement of A Sermon, A Narrative, and A Prayer recounts the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr (from the book of Acts), an example of faith that remained firm under adversity. Another such work, his "dance drama for television," The Flood, is called "a Biblical allegory."46 He considered it specifically to be an image of catastrophe.

Why did I call my work The Flood, instead of Noah? Because Noah is mere history. As a genuine antedeluvian he is great curiosity, of course, but a side-show curiosity. And even as "eternal man," the second Adam, the-to Augustinians-Old

45 Many aspects of this work are symbolic. It is dedicated "To the City of Venice, in praise of its Patron Saint, the Blessed Mark, Apostle," and intended for performance in St. Mark's Cathedral. The structure of the Canticum is symbolic of the five-domed Byzantine architecture of St. Mark's. The Gospel quotations used are from the Gospel of Mark.

46 White, p. 517, n. 1.




Testament Christ image, he is less important than the Eternal Catastrophe. The Flood is also The Bomb. 47

But what is "Eternal Catastrophe?" And in what sense is The Flood its allegory? To preclude misunderstanding, Stravinsky later clarified his views.

To me the Noah story is symbolic, and I think of Noah as an Old Testament Christ figure (Auerbach's sense) like Melchizidek. The subject of The Flood is not the story, however, but Sin. Whereas the music of Petrushka attempted to create resemblances, The Flood music is, structurally speaking, all symbolic.48

The Eternal Catastrophe, then, is sin, and it is sin which provokes the specific terrestrial catastrophe-not only the historical Flood but also today's impending Bomb. As in the flood the only salvation lay in God's grace to Noah, so (by implication) only God can preserve man through the next catastrophe.

Not only is the story itself symbolic; so too are many details of the score. For example, only the "terrestrials" speak-including the Nar- rator Noah and his family-whereas the "celestials" sing-God, Sa- tan, and the angelic choir. God is heard but of course not seen. The questionable anthropomorphism of a man impersonating the voice of God is avoided by assigning His words to a duet of basses. Since He is unchanging and eternal, "God must always sing in the same manner, in the same tempo."49 Satan's voice, in contrast, is to be "a high, slightly pederastic tenor (at any rate, Satan is sexually less "sure" than God)," and his music is "complex and sophisticated."50 The work opens with a Prelude representing Chaos, after which the heavenly choir sings the ancient hymn "Te Deum Laudamus" in the style of a Byzantine chant. In the opening tableau, the angels are arranged like icons on an Orthodox altar-a deliberate attempt to relate the piece to the Church. At the conclusion, after God establishes His covenant with Noah and blesses him, the choir returns, singing the phrases of the hymn in reverse order, fading into silence as it disappears from view.

Another composition which presents its narrative for allegorical reasons is Abraham and Isaac (1963), a "sacred ballad" for baritone and chamber orchestra. It is Stravinsky's only work with a text in

47 Expositions, p. 144. 48 Dialogues, p. 72. 49 Expositions, p. 140. 50 Ibid., p. 141.




Hebrew and is dedicated to the people of the State of Israel. The text, taken from Genesis 22:1-19, recounts the story of Abraham's willing- ness to sacrifice Isaac, the heir that God had promised, at God's command. Abraham exercises great faith, and God then intervenes to spare Isaac. Although Abraham and Isaac lacks the kind of musical text illustrations found in The Flood, the work as a whole serves as an allegory whose point is, "Have faith, and act upon it."

The second virtue, hope, is not treated separately, but only in conjunction with repentance (as in Threni) or with faith and love (as in Canticum Sacrum and A Sermon, A Narrative, and A Prayer). Again, Stravinsky's sense of Christian theology is sound, inasmuch as "hope" cannot exist except in the context of repentance and faith.

The third virtue, love (caritas), is presented more subtly and sym- bolically than faith and hope. It serves as the basic theme of two operas: Vlad has pointed out that both Persephone (1934) and The Rake's Progress (1951) hinge on a Christian, self-sacrificing love as the means of salvation.51

A fourth theme in Stravinsky's works is the dual one of praise and prayer. Although he was a master of musical theater his music of praise and prayer is largely devoid of dramatic effects. Thus it stands in sharp contrast to most of the religious music of the past two centuries. The reason, it seems clear, was not a lack of faith or piety, but rather his conceptions of God and of music, which would not permit him to vulgarize either. His works of praise and prayer are characterized by "a sense of sublime calm, of freedom from the bonds of human passion."52

The Symphony of Psalms (1930) illustrates this quality in significant measure. The texts of its three movements are taken respectively from Psalms 39:12-13; 40:1-3; and 150, from the Vulgate (with instruc- tions never to perform in translation). In the first, "Hear my prayer, O Lord," the melodic material is static, majestic, ritual in character, and based on the alternation of two pitches a semitone apart. The second movement, also a prayer, is full of symbolism; it is a double fugue, the first instrumental, the second vocal; the first is limited in range and confined to the treble register, the second expands both in range and in register. The third movement, whose text is a jubilant Psalm of praise, is startling in its quietness. "Praise the Lord" and even "Alleluia" are

51 Vlad, pp. 114, 172. 52 Ibid., p. 163.




very reserved-quiet and slow; the final section develops quietly over a long ostinato, and the symphony ends with a sublime "Laudate Dominum," piano. Such treatment of this text is extremely unlike that of, for example, Bruckner, and at first hearing seems incongruous. The composer, however, has again provided a clue to the correct understanding of his work when he wrote that he too thought of the final section at a too-rapid tempo, "at first, and until I understood that God must not be praised in fast, forte music, no matter how often the text specifies, 'loud'. .. ."53 Stravinsky's spiritual insights emerge again: quiet confidence better expresses genuine praise than loud, emotional frenzy.

His Mass (1948), another expression of praise and prayer, is much more austere than the Symphony of Psalms. The text is the Ordinary of the Roman Mass, and the work was intended by Stravinsky to be used in actual services (as in fact it has been). The ensemble he chose precludes the possibility of high drama: men's choir, children's choir, and ten wind instruments (two oboes, cor anglais, two bassoons; two trumpets, three trombones). The music, while far from simple, lacks both flamboyance and virtuosity. It is liturgical and almost without ornament. In making a musical setting of the Credo I wished only to preserve the text in a special way. One composes a march to facilitate marching men, so with my Credo I hope to provide an aid to the text. The Credo is the longest movement. There is much to believe.54

A moving and intensely personal prayer by the Elizabethan drama- tist Thomas Dekker serves as the final movement of A Sermon, A Narrative, and A Prayer:

O my God, if it Bee Thy Pleasure to cut me off before night, Yet make me, My Gratious Sheepherd, for one of Thy Lambs to whom Thou Wilt Say, "Come You Blessed," and cloth me in a white robe of righteousness, that I may be one of those singers who shall cry to Thee, Allelluia.

Once again, the calm restraint of this prayer contrasts with the drama which has preceded it (the Narrative), and concludes with a sublime "Alleluia" reminiscent of the conclusion of the Symphony of Psalms.

53 Dialogues, pp. 44-45. 54 Stravinsky's comment to Evelyn Waugh, quoted from Robert Craft in White, p. 447.




III

The Christian message of Igor Stravinsky becomes manifest upon thoughtful perusal of his life and music. The comment of William A. Dryness about Georges Roualt is apropos here: "One need not be a monk to understand what this artist does, but one must be patient enough to listen to the man as well as the work. And one must not listen to each alone, but to both together, carefully, and thoughtfully."55

Even before the bulk of Stravinsky's religious works was composed, his son Theodore found his faith to be an indispensable key to understanding his message. "Stravinsky firmly believes; his praying and adoring are functions of his deepest self. Though personal, this side of Stravinsky helps to reveal the ultimate essence of his art, even to those to whom spiritual questions have become foreign or chimerical. Stravinsky's attitude to art is unequivocally religious, that is, meta- physical and ontological, not sentimental or intellectual."56

It appears, then, that those who have looked "in vain for some sort of vision, some gift of poetry or revelation," have either failed to look very far or have failed to recognize the vision when they encountered it. The evidences are everywhere.

55 Dryness, Roualt: A Vision of Suffering and Salvation (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1971), p. 17. 56 Theodore Strawinsky, The Message of Igor Strawinsky, trans. Robert Craft and Andre

Marion (London, 1953), p. 19.



Robert Copeland - The Christian Message of Igor Stravinsky

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