Stravinsky the Music-Maker: Writings, Prints and Drawings

by Hans Keller, Milein Cosman

Overview

Hans Keller's text and Milein Cosman's vibrant illustrations combine to produce a unique and enlightening book on Stravinsky.

Stravinsky the Music-Maker is the third incarnation of a book that has been greeted with superlatives on each previous appearance. Hans Keller and Milein Cosman collaborated down the decades of their married life, Keller'spen analysing music, Cosman's catching its makers at work. Stravinsky was a source of fascination for them both, and their Stravinsky at Rehearsal appeared in 1962, to be expanded, two decades later, as Stravinsky Seen and Heard. Stravinsky the Music-Maker offers the most generous compilation of their work yet: it includes Keller's complete articles on Stravinsky, written between 1954 and 1980, and augments Cosman's celebrated prints and drawings with a number not previously published. The introduction, by the composer Hugh Wood, sites the Keller-Cosman partnership in the framework of the British musical life they enriched.

HANS KELLER (1919-85) fled Austria in1938 and became a commanding critical voice in British music journalism and on the BBC from the end of the war until his death. He is the author of numerous books, many illustrated by his wife Milein Cosman, including Criticism (Faber), The Great Haydn String Quartets (Dent), Essays on Music (CUP), Jerusalem Diary, Film Music and Beyond and Music and Psychology (all Plumbago). A critic of insight and integrity throughout his life, he remains a powerful influence to this day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780907689690
Publisher:	Boydell & Brewer, Limited
Publication date:	03/17/2011
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

Table of Contents

Preface: Hans Keller and Milein Cosman - A Happy Story Hugh Wood 7

Editorial Introduction Martin Anderson 17

Acknowledgements 23

Part 1 Hans Keller - Writings 25

I Symphony in Three Movements 27

II [Quatre Études and Octet] 28

III [Orpheus and Mass] 30

IV [Symphony of Psalms] 33

V [Mass] 34

VI Schoenberg and Stravinsky: Schoenbergians and Stravinskyians 35

VII A Serial Masterpiece 42

VIII Towards the Psychology of Stravinsky's Genius 45

IX Rhythm: Gershwin and Stravinsky 49

X Symphony of Psalms 64

XI Strawinsky's Performance of Agon: A Report 70

XII 'Conversations with Igor Stravinsky' 75

XIII No Bridge to Nowhere: An Introduction to Stravinsky's Movements and Schoenberg's Violin Concerto 82

XIV Movements 87

XV The Note-Row on May 31 89

XVI Me about Us and Stravinsky 92

XVII Stravinsky's Violin Concerto 96

XVIII Stravinsky Eats 98

XIX Stravinsky the Downbeater 101

XX Concerto in D 105

XXI Perséphone 107

XXII Stravinsky v. Stravinsky 109

XXIII Words v. Music 114

XXIV An Instrumental Problem in Pulcinella 118

XXV Factual Orgy 122

XXVI Stravinsky Heard 126

XXVII Words about Music 167

Part 2 Milein Cosman - Prints and Drawings 171

Drawing Stravinsky 173

A Note about the Illustrations in this Book 175

Index 231

Editorial Reviews

One writer and musicologist who embarked upon a deep study of the essence of Stravinsky, was the great Hans Keller - a Viennese intellectual who became a cultural Svengali at the BBC in the 1960s [...] This extremely well-produced, well-organised book [is] a fitting tribute, both to the critic and his composing hero. [...] what undoubtedly 'lightens the load' of this Stravinsky treasury, are the many curious and engaging illustrations from the pen of Keller's wife, the artist Milein Cosman. [...] Cosman's work provides the ideal epilogue to this survey of a great man's life.

QUARTERLY REVIEW

Now there is more than ever to provide insight into the variety, profundity, breadth and genius... of Stravinsky's work. It's meticulously-produced, well-indexed, closely annotated and referenced. ... [a] useful and recommendable book which you should certainly consider adding to your collection if you are interested in Stravinsky's work at all.

CLASSICAL.NET

One writer and musicologist who embarked upon a deep study of the essence of Stravinsky, was the great Hans Keller - a Viennese intellectual who became a cultural Svengali at the BBC in the 1960s [...] This extremely well-produced, well-organised book [is] a fitting tribute, both to the critic and his composing hero. [...] what undoubtedly "lightens the load" of this Stravinsky treasury, are the many curious and engaging illustrations from the pen of Keller's wife, the artist Milein Cosman. [...] Cosman's work provides the ideal epilogue to this survey of a great man's life. QUARTERLY REVIEW

Now there is more than ever to provide insight into the variety, profundity, breadth and genius... of Stravinsky's work. It's meticulously-produced, well-indexed, closely annotated and referenced. ... [a] useful and recommendable book which you should certainly consider adding to your collection if you are interested in Stravinsky's work at all. CLASSICAL.NET

From the Publisher