K84 In memoriam Dylan Thomas
Dirge-Canons and Song for Tenor voice, String quartett and four trombones – Zum Gedächtnis von (In memoriam) Dylan Thomas. Trauerkanons (Grabgesänge) und Lied für Tenor, Streichquartett und vier Posaunen – In memoriam Dylan Thomas. Canons funèbres et Chanson pour ténor, quatuor à cordes et quatre trombones – In memoriam Dylan Thomas. Canoni funebri e Canto per tenore, quartetto d’archi e quattro tromboni
Text: When Dylan Thomas’ father died, his son dedicated to him a perturbingly lyrical ‘In Memoriam’ ... ‘Do not go gentle into that good night ...’ a poem given special weight by literary historians to this day, and one which Strawinsky chose from the lyrical collection ‘Poems of Dylan Thomas’ published by J. M. Dent & Sons in London in 1952. – The poem states that the old man, instead of reconciling himself with death should storm and rage against the dying of the light. The wise man knows that it is well to live in darkness but notwithstanding his talk would not split lightning. – The good men, the wild and the grave men whose deeds are sung in a stanza each, they all cry and rage against the dying of the light, they do not go gentle into that good night. In the end, the poet asks his father to curse and to bless him with his angry tears and implores him not to go gentle into that good night but to rage against the dying of the light. The poem consists of twenty-two lines divided up into 5 stanzas of three and one of four lines whereby each first and third line are tied into one rhyme-scheme throughout the poem. Each line has ten syllables. Strawinsky kept this scheme intact and used it to structure his work. In German analyses of the work line 14 is sometimes defined as having 11 syllables. This is due to a phonetic error on the one hand and a false evalutation of Strawinsky’s triolic rendering of the plural of ‘meteors’ as me-te-ors. The English word ‘meteor’ may be split into three syllables in writing; it is, however, pronounced [mi:tje], i.e. in two syllables. From this, there arises the following rhyme scheme: A-B-A / A-B-A / A-B-A / A-B-A / A-B-A / A-B-A-A. Two of his lines, the first and the third, are especially emphasised through several repetitions like a refrain and set as a central statement. From this, the following scheme of lines arises: A-B-C / D-E-A / F-G-C / H-I-A / J-K-C / L-M-A-C. Strawinsky retained these rhyme schemes and used them as structural identifiers.
Strawinsky-Thomas: Dylan Thomas is regarded as one of the greatest English poets of his time (b. 20 October 1914 in Swansea in Wales). Many of his nature-orientated and richly associative works of surrealist origin were translated into German. He met with Strawinsky on 22nd May 1952 in Boston and entered into an arrangement regarding a collaboration. He was at this point already marked by alcoholic excess and chain-smoking. He suffered from gout, but did not want to have it treated. His nose was, as Strawinsky later reported, red and swollen from so much drinking. Thomas then travelled back to England, arrived back in New York on 19th October 1953 for a performance tour, at the end of which he was due to have a more extended working visit at Strawinsky’s house in Hollywood. It did not in fact come to this. Dylan Thomas died at the age of 37 on 9th November 1953 in St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York from complications arising from severe alcohol poisoning.
Construction: The piece is composed in three sections and could be described as a complicated serial canon with an antiphonal structure; an orchestral prelude and postlude embrace a central tenor song set to the words of Dylan Thomas’ poem. Except for the end of the song the stanzas are marked by instrumental interludes.
Structure
DIRGE - CANONS / (Prelude)
(Trauer-Kanons / Vorspiel - Canons funèbres / Prélude)
Crotchet = 100-102 (21 bars = figure 5A up to the end of figure D5 [ attacca subito up to SONG figure 51])
SONG / Do not go gentle . . .
(Lied / Gehe nicht sanft . . . - Chanson / N'entre pas doucilement . . .)
Quaver = 60 ([from figure D5 attacca subito] [with upbeat] 55 bars = figure 41 up to the end of figure 116 [from figure 116 attacca subito up to figure 3A in the Postlude]
DIRGE - CANONS / (Postlude)
(Trauer-Kanons / Nachspiel - Canons funèbres / Postlude)
Crotchet = 100-102 ([from figure 116 attacca subito] 19 bars = figure 3A up to the end of figure C4)
Row: e-e b-c-c#-d.
Corrections / Errata
see 84-4Err
[Letters and figures always in boxes]
Instrumentation: For Tromboni bassi I, read Tromboni tenori III throughout.
Prelude:
1 bar before A: Diminuendi in all Trombone parts as in Trombone I.
1st bar after A, 1st Violin, 1st note: add crotchet head D, thus [note example = two-note-chord d1-d2 instead of d2].
Same bar: All strings marc.-cant, instead of marc. ma p.
2 bars before C: Trbn. I: add [breath mark] after 2nd note (E).
3rd bar after D: Trbn. I: add [breath mark] at the end of bar.
5rd bar after D: Trbn. I: II and IV diminuendo for last three crotchets. Trbn. III should read: [note example without accidental and without key signature] natural sign dotted minim c2 breath mark, dotted bar line, underneath which is a >pp< sign, minim b sharp 1 with a staccato dot and a tenuto sign
Song:
3 and 4 bars after 1 / 1 and 2 bars after 5 / 1 and 2 bars after 9 / 2nd bar after 11 [four lines bound together by a rightward-facing bracket:] Voice should have legato slur from / the [natural sign] of “rage” to the F of “– gainst”
2 bars before 5: 2nd Violin: First note is semiquaver [notes in braquets (ligature semiquaver + dotted quaver)] Viola: Add [natural] to last semiquaver (G).
1 bar before 5: All strings have small cresc. as for voice.
2 bars before 7: ‘Cello: Add staccato dot to 2nd and last semiquavers.
1 bar before 10: Voice, and all strings: Add [fermata sign], marked un po’, on semiquaver rest in voice part. Same bar: Add dolce and the sign [and the marking of a dot with a tenuto line above it] to the 1st note of each instrument immediately / after the pause.
Postlude:
1 bar before A and 3rd bar after B Tenor Trbn. I, II and III: diminuendo on 1st two crotchets.
1 and 2 bars before A and 2nd and 3rd bars after B Bass Trbn.IV poco cresc. and dim., / thus [note example without accidental and without key signature] b sharp crotchet c1 crotchet bar line time signature 3/2 a sharp minim; slur from b sharp to c1, crescendo sign up to the bar line, a >poco< under the bar line and time signature, a d ecrescendo marking under the minim
4th bar after A: ‘Cello: Add mf. and marc.-cant. at beginning of bar.
3rd bar after C: Trbn. I, II and III: diminuendo on second half bar.
Trbn. IV: poco cresc. on 1st two crotchets and diminuendo on last minim.
Style: ‘In Memoriam Dylan Thomas’ returns to the structural principles of the Shakespearean Songs. Central to it is a five tone series used in all kinds of free tonal transpositions thus strictly tying together both the antiphonal pre- and postludes and the actual song without interfering with the emotional character natural to a dirge. Serial structure and form are closely intertwined with the words of the poem. The relative frequency of leaps in the melody line may be also linked to the meaning of the words, while in Strawinsky’s individual way of composing they are generally felt to be expressing a negative symbolic quality. The force of the emotion contained in the music for ‘Rage, rage against the dying of the light’ could really only be achieved through a strong affinity with Dylan Thomas’ words. In the music, there is no harshness.The framing sections of the memorial canon prelude and postlude, which objectify the extremely shocking middle section of the song, stand in a particular inverted relationship to one another. The prelude is 21 bars long, formed of 5 instrumental blocks out of 2 sets of differently defined groups of bars. In this way, the formal scheme A-B-A arises with a relationship between the numbers of bars in each group of 5:3:5:3:5 and a metric scheme 5/4:3/2+2/2+3/2:5/4:3/2+2/2+3/2:5/4. All A sections are played by the chorus of trombones, and all B sections, just as strictly, are played by the string quartet. This corresponds to the age-old tradition of antiphonal music. The serial structure is the same as in the following song. The compositional technique is defined by imitation and a combinatorial permutation of rows. The alphanumeric figuring also highlights the construction. A corresponds to the 5 bars before figure A, B to figure A, A to figure B, the subsequent B to figure C, and A to figure D. This process is inverted in the postlude, resulting in its being two bars shorter. A becomes B, B becomes A. Where the trombones play in the prelude, the string quartet plays in the postlude and vice versa. As a result, the formal scheme B-A-B-A arises with a relationship between the numbers of bars in each group of 3:5:3:5:3 and a metric scheme that slightly differs from that of the prelude, 3/2+2/2+3/2:5/4:3/2+2/2+3/2:4 x 5/4+2/2:3/2+2/2+3/2. In the postlude for this reason, the figuring does not follow the figuring scheme of the prelude.
B corresponds to the three bars before figure A; A corresponds to the 5 bars of figure A; B and A1 together correspond to the 7 bars of figure B, which therefore does not include the last bar, the 2/4-bar of A1; figure D comes at the fifth bar of A1 and encompasses B1. The same process as in the Prelude is being applied here in terms of compositional technique. Even the row is the same. As in the Prelude, flat and sharp notes are specified harmonically/interchangeably (d sharp = e flat, b sharp = c etc.). – In the song itself, the instrumental accompaniment of which is played by just the string quartet, the 4/4 time signature remains unchanged throughout all 55 bars. As a result of Stravinsky taking on Thomas’s line structure, there is a correspondence between the textual material and the musical structure, for which Stravinsky uses three blocks that remain unchanged as central links in a sort of chain rondo. The first block {A} is made up of the three instrumental bars 1 to 3, and the second block {B} is the textual refrain ‘ do not go gentle into that good night’ of bars 3 and 4, while the third block, which as a result of the continuously counting, alphanumeric structural scheme must be labeled {D}, consists of bars 7 to 10 with the second textual refrain ‘ Rage, rage against the dying of the light’. The result of this is a structural scheme (sections, bars, lines of the poetry) in which the lines of text overlap with instrumental sections and block formations, shortened where necessary: It can be seen from the table that Stravinsky, apart from towards the end of the song, marks out Thomas’s verse forms by the use of instrumental interludes, and similarly that he also adopts the unusual feature of singling out the two refrain verses that are marked out in Thomas’s version. He also reinforces this through the way he chooses to set it. He sets the words syllabically, so that the number of notes is practically the same as the number of syllables. The range of the tenor goes from d 1to g 2, but the part generally lies in the middle register. Moments where the word-setting is not syllabic and the points at which the musical line leaves the middle register therefore have a much stronger effect. One such moment is at Thomas’s key statement in the refrain verse, especially the ‘ against the dying’. The ‘ against’ is repeated melismatically with one plus two instead of the two notes that one would expect, and the first syllable of ‘ dying’ even is set to three notes. At the same time, the voice part ‘jumps’ upwards from its lowest note, d, by a major seventh into the light, whilst the a of ‘against’ has the highest note g and falls downwards in a leap of an augmented sixth. It is evidently a significant moment in the setting of the text when both a melisma and the lowest and highest notes used in the piece appear in close proximity at a specific point in this key statement of the refrain, Stravinsky works predominantly with larger intervals. Over the course of time, he settled on the technique of setting pleasant lines of text to a melody with small intervals, and an unpleasant line to one with large intervals. The fact that the use of large intervals predominates in a dirge whilst there is balanced harmonic density, which can be proved statistically, and especially whilst the content of the text is so special, is only consistent. The actual lines of the verses and the first refrain are mostly written in two or three parts, which is naturally linked to the canonic voice writing; only lines 7 and 8 (bars 20-24) move into four-part writing. The melodic line is mostly made up of quavers and semiquavers. Structurally, the song is based on a five-note row, which is continued strictly and in a very dense manner up to the end, and it also extends to the prelude and postlude. In the three bars (in fact, they are 2 bars plus a quaver at the beginning of the 3rd bar) of the instrumental introduction alone, Stravinsky combines 4 different versions of the rows, which are allocated to the four string instruments respectively. In bars 3 and 4, he combines the prime row in the tenor part immediately with its inversion version, which the inversion enters already after the first two bars of the prime row in the same part. The row is constructed in such a way as to allow this to happen.
The development of the row is however dependent on the original material in the voice part. Relationships to the text in this area can be excluded. But it can escape one’s notice that Strawinsky always used the same form of the row for the second part of the refrain with the inversion of the original row, because this form corresponds to the form of the verse.
Table
Thomas | Verse(s) | Strawinsky | Bars | Figure |
- | 0 | A | 1-3 | 41-21 |
A | 1 | B | 3-4 | 21-11 |
B | 2 | C | 5-6 | 11-12 |
C | 3 | D | 7-10 | 13-21 |
- | 0 | A | 10-13 | 21-24 |
D+E | 4+5 | E | 13-17 | 24-33 |
A | 6 | B | 17-18 | 33-34 |
. | 0 | A | 19-20 | 41-42 |
F+G | 7+8 | F | 20-24 | 42-46 |
C | 9 | D | 25-28 | 51-54 |
- | 0 | A | 28-29 | 54-55 |
H+I | 10+11 | G | 29-33 | 55-64 |
A | 12 | B | 34-35 | 71-72 |
- | 0 | A | 35-36 | 72-73 |
J+K | 13+14 | H | 37-40 | 81-84 |
C | 15 | D | 41-44 | 91-94 |
L+M | 16+17 | I | 44-48 | 94-104 |
A | 18 | 48-50 | 104-111 | |
C | 19 | D | 50-53 | 111-114 |
- | 0 | J | 54-55 | 115-116 |
Date of origin: February-March 1954.
History of origin: The composition of what was to be Dylan’s dirge was completed in several stages. First of all, Strawinsky searched for a suitable poem from Dylan Thomas’ lyrical oeuvre and found it in ‘In Memoriam’ . Strawinsky composed the stanzas as described in the form of a serial canon and had them accompanied by a string quartet. Around this time it seems he first had the idea of working out an antiphonal, strictly instrumental prelude, possibly in order to objectify the dirge which for Strawinsky’s aesthetic sensibility appeared too personal. There is reason to assume that the postlude was added at a later stage, thus forming the last element in the work and that its addition caused Strawinsky to insert the ‘attacca subito’ at the end of the song part. It was surely not part of the original manuscript sent to Boosey & Hawkes. Strawinsky wrote to Stein at the publishers on 29th June 1954 that he would send with the corrections additional 3 pages of manuscripts, 11, 12 and 13, which were to follow the attacca subito. He used the same music as in the Dirge Canon, but inverted. In this postlude (he put “postlude” in quotation marks), he put two augmented cannons in the string sections from the beginning one octave lower in three places in the trombones and the other passages an octave higher in the strings. The use of trombones in the instrumental pre- and postludes of the dirge canons alternating with the string quartet may have practical performance reasons. The world première concert required four trombones for a work by Heinrich Schütz which was also part of the programme. Thereupon Strawinsky decided to use the instruments for his dirge-canons also.
First performance: In Los Angeles on 20th September 1954 in the series of Monday Evening Concerts with the tenor Richard Robinson and the orchestra led by Robert Craft. The commemorative address for Dylan Thomas was delivered by Aldous Huxley.
Remarks: Strawinsky heard the name of Dylan Thomas, now regarded as one of the greatest English poets of the day, for the first time in the later winter of 1950, when his librettist Wystan Auden appeared late for a meeting with Strawinsky because he had had to get an English poet out of a fix to do with alcohol. Thereuppon Strawinsky began reading Thomas’ works and he and his wife visited one of his readings in Urbana in 1950. In May 1953 the University of Boston intended to commission an opera from Strawinsky with a libretto by Dylan Thomas. Thus the two men met on the afternoon of 22nd May 1953 at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston, their first and - as it should turn out - last personal meeting.Here they became united on the modalities. Thomas, who intended to return to England, was to visit Strawinsky in Hollywood as soon as he could find time and to live with him and his wife for as long as it took to complete the opera. As the Strawinsky’s did not have a guest room, they had a room adjacent to their dining room specially fitted for him.Strawinsky twice received post from Thomas. Strawinsky wrote to Thomas, who had broken his journey in New York on account of a reading on 25th October 1953, asking him for the arrival time of his flight from New York. Before he could reply, Dylan Thomas died on 9th November 1953 in New York from the aftermath of excessive drinking. When Strawinsky received the message on the same day, he was so shocked he began to scream aloud.Certainly not because it costed him the collaboration with Thomas, whom he had since come to revere, but rather because he had developed a genuine affection for the young man, and it weighed heavily on him as an older man (Strawinsky was at this point 71) when a much younger man (Thomas was only 37) died before him. Strawinsky’s shock still reverberates in the preface of his resounding memorial. When the National Film Broadcasting Company held an interview with Strawinsky for his 75th birthday in 1957, he came to talking about Thomas and explained that he was a wonderful poet whom he had loved deeply and whose portrait he always carried with him.
Historical Analysis: The technical process of the Thomas triptych was quickly recognised because the twelve-tone expert Hans Keller published an analysis of “Song” that caused great sensation at the time in an article “in Memoriam Dylan Thomas: Strawinsky’s Schoenbergian technique” for the spring edition of Tempo . It was brought to Germany by Heinrich Lindlar in 1955*. Whilst Keller was completing his analysis, the Webern Renaissance, and with it the technical reduction of Strawinsky’s compositional principles not to Schönberg, but to Webern, had begun, so that it is still Schönberg** who is seen as an influence, which must certainly be called into question for any compositional and constructional realization of Strawinsky’s work.
* Hans Keller: In Memoriam Dylan Thomas. Strawinskys Schönbergische Technik, in: Musik der Zeit. Eine Schriftenreihe zur zeitgenössischen Musik, herausgegeben von Heinrich Lindlar, Heft 12, Strawinsky in Amerika. Das kompositorische Werk von 1939 bis 1955, S. 39-42, with inlaid four-page sheet music sample, Boosey & Hawkes, Bonn 1955. The article is significant, but at times polemical towards colleagues and younger composers, and its mixture of self-confidence and choice of expression (for example, ‚verdummende Hochstapeleien’ = 'stupid hoaxes') sometimes reminds one of Heinrich Schenker's comments, whose theories he also advocated.
** Keller was Schönberg's grandson in Vienna.
The Powell project: In January 1952 Strawinsky received a visit from the English film producer Michael Powell, who wanted to direct one of the masque short films on the subject of Homer’s Odyssey, and thus wanted to engage Strawinsky as the composer, Thomas having already agreed to write the verse for it. Powell required 2 to 3 arias, instrumental pieces and recitations. Strawinsky was open to the project and agreed; Powell however had to drop the project for financial reasons. Early reports that Strawinsky and Thomas had met in 1953 in Boston to bring the Powell film projects to completion under their own steam cannot be confirmed. Strawinsky had in any case never spoken of such an intention. The meeting was connected, according to all new documents, with the (never carried out) intention of the Boston University to bring Thomas and Strawinsky together for an operatic project. For Strawinsky, this would not have been unusual, because the Boston University had invited him shortly before this to perform a Strawinsky-Auden project ( The Rake’s Progress) as part of a teaching event.
The opera project: The opera project that Dylan Thomas was planning for Strawinsky took as its subject the rediscovery of the planet Earth after a nuclear catastrophe. Thomas wanted to take the opportunity to change the language to the effect that it would no longer contain any abstractions. In the opera, there should only be people, things and words. It neither reached the stage of a subject nor a scenario. It remained an idea, especially as with the Boston University’s commission falling through. and Strawinsky, if it had ever come to a collaboration, would have been required to provide further financial support.
Versions: The editors Boosey & Hawkes with whom Strawinsky concluded the contract on 14th June 1954 swiftly produced the necessary editions. Although the manuscript for the postlude arrived only on 29th June 1954, the editors were able to produce all editions by the end of the year as planned. Thus the conductor’s score appeared in August, the piano reduction of the Song in November and the pocket score in December 1954. It is likely that Strawinsky urged publication on account of the occasion. The piano reduction was restricted to use during rehearsals only and was not to be understood as a ‘version’ for voice and piano. Strawinsky always defended his works against piano-accompanied recitals; at least he demanded that such performances were authorised only after some years, giving the original composition enough time to take a hold in the ears and minds of its listeners. This time it is not the characterization of the musical action that is lost in the piano reduction, but the complex serially constructed canons whose finer points cannot be rightly heard and understood any more. The British Library in London received its complimentary copy on 7th December 1954.
Historical recording: Hollywood 13th September 1954 with the tenor Richard Robinson under the direction of Igor Strawinsky; Hollywood 27th Novemver 1965 with the tenor Alexander Young and the Columbia Chamber Ensemble under the direction of Igor Strawinsky.
CD edition: VIII-2/33-35 (Recording 1965).
Autograph: Paul Sacher Stiftung Basel.
Copyright: 1954 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York.
Editions
a) Overview
84-1 1954 FuSc; E; Boosey & Hawkes London; 11 pp.; B. & H. 17597.
84-1Straw1 ibd. [with annotations].
84-1Straw2 ibd. [with annotations].
84-2 1954 VoSc; E; Boosey & Hawkes London; 8 pp.; B. & H. 17637.
84-2Straw ibd.
84-3 1954 PoSc; E; Boosey & Hawkes London; 11 pp.; B. & H. 17597; 688.
84-3Straw1 1954 ibd. [with annotations].
84-3Straw2 1954 ibd. [with annotations].
84-359 1959 ibd.
84-365 1965 ibd.
84-3Straw1 1954 ibd. [with annotations].
84-3Straw2 1954 ibd. [with annotations].
84-4Err [1954] Boosey & Hawkes London; 1 p; B. & H. 17597.
b) Characteristic features
84-1 igor strawinsky / in memoriam / dylan thomas / full score/ boosey & hawkes // Igor Strawinsky / In Memoriam / Dylan Thomas / Dirge Canons and Song / for/ Tenor Voice/ String Quartet and Four Trombones/ Full Score/ Boosey & Hawkes / London . Paris . Bonn . Capetown . Sydney . Toronto . New York // (Full score sewn in red 23.5 x 31 ([4°]); sung text English; 11 [9] pages + 4 cover pages tomato red on grey beige [front cover title, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s advertisements > Igor Strawinsky<* production data >No. 692< [#] >12.53] + 2 pages front matter [title page, text set to music + list of sources + duration data [>6 minutes<] English] + 1 page back matter [page with publisher’s advertisements > Igor Strawinsky<** production data >No. 693< [#] >12.53<]; movement title >DIRGE - CANONS / (Prelude)< as title head; author specified 1st page of the score paginated p. 3 below title head, paginated p. 5 below piece title >SONG / Do not go gentle< flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1954< flush left >DYLAN THOMAS*< [with asterisk]; l ist of sources appearing as a comment linked to an asterisk p. 5 below type area above legal reservation flush left; legal reservations 1st page of the score, p. 5, p. 10 below type area flush right >All rights reserved< flush left >Copyright 1954 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York.<; plate number >B. & H. 17597<; production indication [exclusively] 1st page of the score below type area centre inside right >Printed in England<; without end of score dated; end number p. 11 flush right as end mark >8.54. E<) // (1954)
* Compositions are advertised in two columns without edition numbers and without price information, in part multi-lingual and assigned (randomly) to genres >Stage Works° / Oeuvres Théatrales · Bühnenwerke° / The Rake’s Progress [#] Le Rossignol / Le Libertin Der Wüstling [#] The Nightingale Die Nachtigall / Opera in three acts Opéra en trois actes [#] Musical tale in three acts after Anderson°° / Oper in drei Akten [#] Conte lyrique en trois actes d’apres Anderson°° / [#] Lyrisches Märchen in drei Akten nach Anderson°° / Mavra [#] Oedipus Rex / Opera buffa in one act after Pushkin [#] Opera - Oratorio in two acts after Sophocles / Opéra Buffe en un acte d’apres Pushkin [#] Opéra – Oratorio en deux actes d’apres Sophocle / Oper°° Buffa°° in einem Akt nach Puschkin [#] Opern - Oratorium in zwei Akten nach Sophokles / Persephone [#] Pétrouchka / Melodrama in three parts by André Gide [#] Burlesque in four scenes / Melodramé°° en trois parties d’Andre°° Gide [#] Burlesque en quatre tableaux / Melodrama in drei Teilen von André Gide [#] Burleska°° in vier Bildern / Le Sacre du Printemps [#] Le Chant du Rossignol / The Rite of Spring [#] The Song of the Nightingale / Pictures from pagan Russia in two parts [#] Symphonic poem in three acts / Tableaux de la Russie paienne en deux parties [#] Poème symphonique en trois parties / Bilder aus dem heidnischen Russland in zwei Teilen [#] Symphonische Dichtung in drei Teilen / Pulcinella [#] Apollon Musagète / Ballet with chorus in one act after Pergolesi [#] Ballet in two scenes / Ballet avec chant en un acte d’apres Pergolesi [#] Ballet en deux tableaux / Ballett mit Chor in einem Akt nach Pergolesi [#] Ballett in zwei Bildern / Le Baiser de la Fée [#] Orpheus / Ballet - Allegory in two scenes [#] Ballet in three scenes / Ballet - Allégorie en deux tableaux [#] Ballet en trois tableaux / Ballet°° - Allegorie in zwei Bildern [#] Ballett in drei Bildern / Symphonic Works° / Oeuvres Symphoniques · Symphonische Werke° / Pétrouchka Suite [#] Apollon Musagète / Pulcinella Suite[#] Symphonies pour°° instruments a°° vents°° / Le Sacre du Printemps [#] Symphonies of Wind Instruments / The Rite of Spring [#] Symphonien für Bläsinsrumente°° / Le Chant du Rossignol [#] Piano Concerto / The Song of the Nightingale [#] Capriccio / Divertimento [#] Quatre Etudes°° pour Orchestra°°/ Orpheus [#] Four Studies for Orchestra/ Symphonie de Psaumes [#] Vier Etüden für Orchester/ Symphony of Psalms [#] Concerto in D ( Basle Concerto) / Psalmensymphonie [#] Messe°° / Voice and Orchestra° / Chant et Orchestre · Gesang und Orchester° / Trois poésies de la Lyrique japonaise [#] Chant du Rossignol (tiré du “Rossignol”) / Three japanese Poems [#] The Nightingale’s Song (from “The Nightingale”) / Trois petites chansons [#] Mephistopheles Lied vom Floh / Three little Songs [#] The Song of the Flea / Two Songs (Paul Verlaine)° / Sagesse · Sleep · Ein dusterer°° Schlummer° / La bonne Chanson · A Moonlight Pallid · Glimmernder mondschein°°+°< [°consecutive, centred lists up to ‘Orpheus’ appearing in the centre and spreading across the columns; °°original spelling; In the opposite column slightly displaced between >Mavra< and the >Burlesque in four scenes<, likewise there is a dislocated line spacing after >Apollon Musagète< in the section for Symphonic Works]. After London the following places of printing are listed: Paris-Bonn-Capetown-Sydney-Toronto-New York.
** Compositions are advertised in two columns without edition numbers und without price information, in part multi-lingual >Pocket Scores° / Partitions de Poche · Taschenpartituren° / Apollon Musagète / Le Baiser de la Fée ( The Fairy’s Kiss) / Cantata / Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra/ Le Chant du Rossignol ( The Song of the / Nightingale) / Concerto in D for String Orchestra/ Divertimento / Messe°° / Octet for Wind Instruments / Oedipus Rex / Orpheus / Perséphone / Pétrouchka / Pulcinella Suite/ Four Studies for Orchestra / Quatre Etudes pour Orchestre / Vier Etüden für Orchester / Le Sacre du Primtemps°° ( The Rite of Spring) / Septet 1953 / Symphonie de Psaumes / Symphony of Psalms / Psalmensymphonie / Symphonies pour°°° instruments à vents°°° / Symphonies of Wind Instruments / Symphonien für°°° Blasinstrumente / Piano Solo° / Piano Seul [#°] Klavier zweihändig° / Apollon Musagète / Le Baiser de la Fée ( The Fairy’s Kiss) / Le Chant du Rossignol / [#] ( The Song of the Nightingale) / Marche Chinoise de ” Chant du Rossignol ” / Mavra Overture°° / Octet for Wind Instruments ( arr. A. Lourié) / Orpheus ( arr. L. Spinner) / Serenade en la / Sonate / Symphonies pour°°° instruments à vents<°°° / Trois mouvements de “ Pétrouchka ” / Piano Duets° / Piano à Quatre Mains · Klavier vierhändig° / Pétrouchka / Le Sacre du Printemps ( The Rite of Spring) / Two Pianos° / Deux Pianos · Zwei Klaviere° / Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra/ Concerto / Madrid / Septet 1953 / Trois Mouvements de “ Pétrouchka ” ( Babin) // Violin and Piano° / Violon et Piano · Violine und Klavier° / Airs du Rossignol and Marche Chinoise ( Le/ Chant du Rossignol) / Ballad ( Le Baiser de la Fée) / Divertimento ( Le Baiser de la Fée) / Duo Concertant / Danse Russe ( Pétrouchka) / Russian Maiden’s Song / Suite after Pergolesi / Violoncello and Piano° / Violoncelle et Piano · Violoncello und Klavier / Suite italienne ( Piatigorsky) / Russian Maiden’s Song ( Markevitch) / Chamber Music° / Musique de Chambre · Kammermusik° / Octet for Wind Instruments / Septet 1953 / Three pieces for String Quartet/ Vocal Scores° / Partitions Chant et Piano · Klavierauszüge / Cantata / Le Rossignol / Mavra / Messe°° / Oedipus Rex / Perséphone / Symphonie de Psaumes / The Rake’s Progress / Voice and Piano° / Chant et Piano · Gesang und Klavier° / The Mother’s Song ( Mavra) / Le Rossignol / Introduction . Chant du Pedieur°° . Air du Rossignol / Paracha’s Song ( Mavra) / Russian Maiden’s Song / Two Poems of Balmont / Blue Forget-me-not . The Dove / Trois Poésies de la lyrique japonaise / Akahito . Mazatzuum°° . Tsarajuki°° / Trois petites chansons / La petite . Le Corbeau . Tchitcher-tatcher / Choral Music° / Musique Chorale · Chormusik° / Ave Maria ( Latin) S.A.T.B. a cappella/ Pater noster ( Latin) S.A.T.B. a cappella/ Credo ( Latin) S.A.T.B. a cappella< [° centre; °° original spelling; °°° original mistake in the title]. After London the following places of printing are listed: Paris-Bonn-Capetown-Sydney-Toronto-New York.
84-1Straw1
The copy in Strawinsky’s estate is signed and dated with >IStr / 1954< on the outer title page underneath the name >Thomas<. It contains a printed errata list. On p.3, he enters above flush left a slanted tempo marking >Crotchet = 102 canons / Quaver = 60 chanson<. There are critical markings on the page of adverts on the outer title page, with which he drew attention to discrepancies in the classification of some of the works. He circled >Stage Works< and drew a line to >Song of the Nightingale<. Simliarly, he circled >Gesang der Nachtigall<, drawing a line to >Song of the Nightingale<. He put a question mark after >Apollon< because the ballet, just like >Orpheus< which is also commented on in the same way, appears under the list for Symphonic Works.
84-1Straw2
Strawinsky’s copy from his estate contains on the inside front cover page right above, next to and below >Full Score< the annotation >Thank you / Bob / for your remarcable / performance (first / one) at the MONDAY / EVENING CONCERTS / on Sept 20, 1954 / Love IStr< <. The copy contains no further annotations.
84-2 igor strawinsky / in memoriam / dylan thomas / vocal score/ boosey & hawkes // Igor Strawinsky / In Memoriam / Dylan Thomas / Dirge Canons and Song / for/ Tenor Voice/ String Quartet and Four Trombones/ Vocal Score/ Boosey & Hawkes / London . Paris . Bonn . Capetown . Sydney . Toronto . New York // (Vocal score sewn in red 23,5 x 31 ([4°]); sung text English; 8 [6] pages + 4 cover pages tomato red on light beige [front cover title, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s advertisements > Igor Strawinsky<* production data >No. 693< [#] >12.53<] + 2 pages front matter [title page, observations on the creation of the work >Some notes on / IN MEMORIAM DYLAN THOMAS / by Igor Strawinsky< + duration data [6’] English] without back matter; title head >DIRGE-CANONS / (Prelude)<; author specified 1st page of the score paginated p. 3 below title head flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1954<; l ist of sources appearing as a comment linked to an asterisk p. 4 next to movement title >SONG / Do not go gentle . . . Poem by (Dylan Thomas*)< [with asterisk] below type area above legal reservation flush left; legal reservation p. 3, 4, 8 below type area flush left >Copyright 1954 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York< flush right >All rights reserved<; production indication 1st page of the score below type area centre inside right >Printed in England<; plate number >B. & H. 17637<; end number >11. 54. E<) // (1954)
* Compositions are advertised in two columns without edition numbers und without price information, in part multi-lingual >Pocket Scores° / Partitions de Poche · Taschenpartituren° / Apollon Musagète / Le Baiser de la Fée ( The Fairy’s Kiss) / Cantata / Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra/ Le Chant du Rossignol ( The Song of the / Nightingale) / Concerto in D for String Orchestra/ Divertimento / Messe°° / Octet for Wind Instruments / Oedipus Rex / Orpheus / Perséphone / Pétrouchka / Pulcinella Suite/ Four Studies for Orchestra / Quatre Etudes pour Orchestre / Vier Etüden für Orchester / Le Sacre du Primtemps°° ( The Rite of Spring) / Septet 1953 / Symphonie de Psaumes / Symphony of Psalms / Psalmensymphonie / Symphonies pour°°° instruments à vents°°° / Symphonies of Wind Instruments / Symphonien für°°° Blasinstrumente / Piano Solo° / Piano Seul [#°] Klavier zweihändig° / Apollon Musagète / Le Baiser de la Fée ( The Fairy’s Kiss) / Le Chant du Rossignol / [#] ( The Song of the Nightingale) / Marche Chinoise de ” Chant du Rossignol ” / Mavra Overture°° / Octet for Wind Instruments ( arr. A. Lourié) / Orpheus ( arr. L. Spinner) / Serenade en la / Sonate / Symphonies pour°°° instruments à vents<°°° / Trois mouvements de “ Pétrouchka ” / Piano Duets° / Piano à Quatre Mains · Klavier vierhändig° / Pétrouchka / Le Sacre du Printemps ( The Rite of Spring) / Two Pianos° / Deux Pianos · Zwei Klaviere° / Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra/ Concerto / Madrid / Septet 1953 / Trois Mouvements de “ Pétrouchka ” ( Babin) // Violin and Piano° / Violon et Piano · Violine und Klavier° / Airs du Rossignol and Marche Chinoise ( Le/ Chant du Rossignol) / Ballad ( Le Baiser de la Fée) / Divertimento ( Le Baiser de la Fée) / Duo Concertant / Danse Russe ( Pétrouchka) / Russian Maiden’s Song / Suite after Pergolesi / Violoncello and Piano° / Violoncelle et Piano · Violoncello und Klavier / Suite italienne ( Piatigorsky) / Russian Maiden’s Song ( Markevitch) / Chamber Music° / Musique de Chambre · Kammermusik° / Octet for Wind Instruments / Septet 1953 / Three pieces for String Quartet/ Vocal Scores° / Partitions Chant et Piano · Klavierauszüge / Cantata / Le Rossignol / Mavra / Messe°° / Oedipus Rex / Perséphone / Symphonie de Psaumes / The Rake’s Progress / Voice and Piano° / Chant et Piano · Gesang und Klavier° / The Mother’s Song ( Mavra) / Le Rossignol / Introduction . Chant du Pedieur°° . Air du Rossignol / Paracha’s Song ( Mavra) / Russian Maiden’s Song / Two Poems of Balmont / Blue Forget-me-not . The Dove / Trois Poésies de la lyrique japonaise / Akahito . Mazatzuum°° . Tsarajuki°° / Trois petites chansons / La petite . Le Corbeau . Tchitcher-tatcher / Choral Music° / Musique Chorale · Chormusik° / Ave Maria ( Latin) S.A.T.B. a cappella/ Pater noster ( Latin) S.A.T.B. a cappella/ Credo ( Latin) S.A.T.B. a cappella< [° centre; °° original spelling; °°° original mistake in the title]. After London the following places of printing are listed: Paris-Bonn-Capetown-Sydney-Toronto-New York.
84-2Straw
The copy in Strawinsky’s estate is signed and dated >IStr Dec/°54< [°slash original] on the outer title page above the name. The statement of duration was corrected to >7 ½< minutes< [with a fraction line].
84-3 HAWKES POCKET SCORES / ^IGOR STRAWINSKY / IN MEMORIAM / DYLAN THOMAS^ / BOOSEY & HAWKES / No. 688 // HAWKES POCKET SCORES / IGOR STRAWINSKY / IN MEMORIAM / DYLAN THOMAS / Dirge Canons and Song / for/ Tenor Voice/ String Quartet and Four Trombones/ BOOSEY & HAWKES / LTD. / LONDON · PARIS · BONN · CAPETOWN · SYDNEY · TORONTO · NEW YORK / MADE IN ENGLAND [#] NET PRICE // (Pocket score stapled 14.6 x 18.6 ([8°]); sung text English; 11 [9] pages + 4 cover pages black green on green grey [front cover title with frame 9.5 x 3.8 green grey on black green, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s advertisements >HAWKES POCKET SCORES / A selection of outstanding modern works/ from this famous library of classical and contemporary Miniature Scores.<* production data >No. 582< [#] >6.50<] + 2 pages front matter [title page, observations on the creation of the work >Some notes on / IN MEMORIAM DYLAN THOMAS / by Igor Strawinsky< English + duration data [6’] English] + 1 page back matter >HAWKES POCKET SCORES / A comprehensive library of Miniature Scores containing the best-known classical / works, as well as a representative selection of outstanding modern compositions.<** Stand >No. 520< [#] >1.49< ; movement title >DIRGE - CANONS / (Prelude)< as title head; author specified 1st page of the score paginated p. 3 below movement title flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1954<; legal reservation 1st page of the score p. 3, p. 5, 10 flush left >Copyright 1954 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York.< flush right >All rights reserved<; plate number >B. & H. 17597<; end number p. 11 flush left >12 · 54 L. & B.<; production indication p. 11 flush right as end mark >Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Limited, London<) // (1954)
^ ^ Text in frame.
* Compositions are advertised in three columns without edition numbers from >BÉLA BARTÓK< to >R. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS<, amongst these >IGOR STRAWINSKY / Apollon Musagète ( Revised1947) / Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra / Chant du Rossignol / Concerto in D for String Orchestra / Divertimento ( Revised1949) / Mass for Chorus and Wind instr.° / Octet for Wind Instruments° / Œdipus Rex ( Revised1948) / Orpheus / Perséphone ( Revised1947) / Pétrouchka ( Revised1947) / Piano Concerto / Pulcinella Suite ( Revised1949) / Four Studies for Orchestra / The Rite of Spring ( Revised1947) / Symphony of Psalms / Symphonies for°° Wind Instruments° / Three Pieces for String Quartet< [° original spelling; °° original mistake in the title]. After London the following places of printing are listed: Paris-Bonn-Capetown-Sydney-Toronto-New York.
** Classical editions from >J. S. BACH< to >WEBER< are listed including the titles of their works in four columns under the headline > classical EDITIONSs<, Strawinsky not mentioned;, under the headline >MODERN EDITIONS< the names of contemporary composers are listed without any titles in four columns from >BÉLA BARTÓK< to >ARNOLD VAN WYK<, amongst these >IGOR STRAWINSKY<. The following places of printing are listed: London-Paris-Bonn-Capetown-Sydney-Toronto-New York angegeben.
84-3Straw1
Strawinsky has pasted into his copy a portrait of Dylan Thomas together with an obituary. It is on the front cover page above and below of the publisher’s name right with >IStr Dec 1954< signed and dated. On the inner title he has corrected the duration from 6 minutes to >7 2 0<. The copy contains no further corrections.
84-3Straw2
Strawinsky’s copy of his estate has corrected only the duration from 6 minutes to 7’ 20“.
84-359 HAWKES POCKET SCORES / ^IGOR STRAWINSKY / IN MEMORIAM / DYLAN THOMAS^ / BOOSEY & HAWKES / No. 688 // HAWKES POCKET SCORES / IGOR STRAWINSKY / IN MEMORIAM / DYLAN THOMAS / Dirge Canons and Song / for/ Tenor Voice / String Quartet and Four Trombones/ BOOSEY & HAWKES / LTD. / LONDON · PARIS · BONN · CAPETOWN · SYDNEY · TORONTO · BUENOS AIRES · NEW YORK / MADE IN ENGLAND [#] NET PRICE // (Pocket score stapled 13.45 x 18.5 ([8°]) ; sung text English; 11 [9] pages + 4 cover pages olive-green on green-grey [front cover title with frame 9.5 x 3.8 green-grey on olive-green, 3 empty pages] + 2 pages front matter [title page, observations on the creation of the work >Some notes on / IN MEMORIAM DYLAN THOMAS / by Igor Strawinsky< English + duration data [6’] English] + 1 page back matter [empty page]; movement title >DIRGE - CANONS / (Prelude)< as title head; author specified 1st page of the score paginated p. 3 below movement title flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1954<; legal reservations 1st page of the score, p. 5, p. 10 below type area flush left >Copyright 1954 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York.< flush right >All rights reserved<; plate number >B. & H. 17597<; end number p. 11 flush left >11·59 L & B<; production indication p. 11 flush right as end mark >Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Limited, London<) // (1959)
^ ^ Text in frame.
84-365 HAWKES POCKET SCORES / ^IGOR STRAWINSKY / IN MEMORIAM / DYLAN THOMAS^ / BOOSEY & HAWKES / No. 688 // HAWKES POCKET SCORES / IGOR STRAWINSKY / IN MEMORIAM / DYLAN THOMAS / Dirge-Canons and Song / for/ Tenor Voice / String Quartet and Four Trombones/ BOOSEY & HAWKES / MUSIC PUBLISHERS Limited / LONDON · PARIS · BONN · JOHANNESBURG · SYDNEY · TORONTO · NEW YORK / NET PRICE / / MADE IN ENGLAND // (Pocket score stapled 13.6 x 18.5 ([8°]) ; sung text English; 11 [9] pages + 4 cover pages olive green on green grey [front cover title with frame 9.5 x 3.8 green grey on olive green, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s advertisements >HAWKES POCKET SCORES / An extensive library of miniature scores containing both classical works/ and a representative collection of outstanding modern compositions<* production data >Nr. I6< [#] > I /6 I <] + 2 pages front matter [title page, o bservations on the creation of the work >Some notes on / IN MEMORIAM DYLAN THOMAS / by Igor Strawinsky< English + duration data [6'] English] + 1 page back matter [empty page]; movement title >DIRGE - CANONS / (Prelude)< as title head; author specified 1st page of the score paginated p. 3 below movement title flush right centred >IGOR STRAWINSKY / 1954<; legal reservations p. 3, 5, 10 below type area flush right >All rights reserved< flush left >Copyright 1954 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., New York.<; plate number >B. & H. 17597<; end number p. 11 flush left >5 · 65 L & B<; production indication 1st page of the score below type area inside right >Printed in England< p. 11 flush right as end mark >Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Limited, London<) // (1965)
^ ^ Text in frame.
* Compositions are advertised in three columns without edition numbers from >Bach, Johann Sebastian< to >Wagner, Richard<, amongst these >Stravinsky, Igor / Agon / Canticum Sacrum / Le Sacre du Printemps / Monumentum / Movements / Oedipus Rex / Pétrouchka / Symphonie de Psaumes / Threni<. After London the following places of printing are listed: Paris-Bonn-Johannesburg-Sydney-Toronto-New York.
84-4Err
>Strawinsky / In Memoriam Dylan Thomas / Full Score/ ERRATA< / [corrections] / B. & H. 17597 // (1 page without page number with an empty back side. / [The list contains 5 + 6 + 4 corrections listed by movement with 2 musical examples]
K Catalog: Annotated Catalog of Works and Work Editions of Igor Strawinsky till 1971, revised version 2014 and ongoing, by Helmut Kirchmeyer.
© Helmut Kirchmeyer. All rights reserved.
http://www.kcatalog.org and http://www.kcatalog.net