Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

As a composer, Igor Stravinsky knew many conductors. Later, he wrote an essay about them. What could
he write about them? What would your typical composer have to say about conductors? Surprisingly, when
Stravinsky wrote about conductors he became very critical. Sarcasm and mockery permeate throughout the
passage when he discusses them. Stravinsky uses a few schemes to convince his reader of the conductor's
insignificance.
First, the language Stravinsky uses in his passage is very caustic. In a few places, he goes beyond his
arguments into simple denunciations and attacks on the conductors. "The conductor is encouraged to
impose a purely egotistical, false, and arbitrary authority, and that he is accorded a position out of all
proportion to his real value in the musical, as opposed to the music-business, community," he says in one of
such places. It is obvious that Stravinsky holds a personal grudge against the conductors; being a musician,
he must have come across them many times. He says, "conducting, like politics, rarely attracts original
minds." Stravinsky uses the word "original" in a different way than it is normally used. In English,
"original" means first, or new. In Russian, however, to call a person original means to say that he is smart,
that he comes with resourceful ideas. Since Stravinsky was Russian, that is what he probably meant.
Therefore in his first sentence, Stravinsky say!
s that, more or less, almost all conductors are s...

Igor Stravinsky

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