10 phrases from Stravinsky’s Musical Poetry.

Within years 1939 and 1940, Stravinsky imparted 6 master classes at Harvard´s Poetry Faculty.

On these lessons, Igor showed the world an inner sight of his mind and toughs on the musical phenomenon, revealing for instance that from his perspective (even that he explains that these musical confessions, are not from his own “feelings” but from the experience with the musical creation process), music most likely does not need inspiration to be created but needs a mathematical vision of life, where things such as “balance” and “order” are more important elements to consider when the creation process begin.

On this article, we will see 10 of his most interesting sentences during this speech.

1.       You should not be surprised if I prevent you that the matter I am going to develop, is serious, far much serious from what is generally attributed. (When first starting to speak to the poetry faculty)

2.       While the extension of my course, I will call continuously to the sense and taste of all of you for the order and discipline, which when have been nourished, improved, and sustained for positive notions, form the base of what it´s called: Dogma.

3.       When the consecration of spring appeared, where many the opinions that came up. Into that bunch contradictory of opinions, my friend Maurice Ravel, intervened almost only to put things on their place. He knew that the novelty of the consecration did not reside on the writing, on the instrumentation, or the technical device of the work, but on the musical entity.

4.       The tone of a work such as the consecration, could seems arrogant; its language, rude on its novelty; this does not imply on any way that its revolutionary (in the subversive meaning of the word). If breaking with a habit is enough to deserve the qualifying of revolutionary, any musician that has something to say and that goes out, of the established convention, should be reputed as revolutionary. (Original, is the word he would like to describe him)

5.       To be honest, I would be on a trouble if I wanted to quote, a single fact that on art´s history, could be qualified as revolutionary.  Art is constructive on its essence. Revolution implies a balance rupture.

6.       Sounds such as the singing of a bird, could move us to tell: What a beautiful music! Even these kinds of elements evoke on us the music, they are not music yet. It is of no use to us, to please ourselves with them and imagine that on their contact, we would become musicians.

7.       The art, on its exact definition, it’s a way to make works according certain obtained methods, whether by learning or by invention. Methods are the determined and strict ways that assure the rectitude of our operation.

8.       All music is not more than a series of impulses that converges to a defined rest point.

9.       Most part of music lovers, thinks that what impulse the creative imagination of the composer, is a strange emotive restlessness, generally designed with the name of: Inspiration. I do not attempt to deny the eminent part of the inspiration that is accorded on the genesis we are studying; I just simple pretend that is not on any way a previous condition of the musical art, but a secondary manifestation on the time´s order.

10.   All creation supposes on its origin a species of appetite that makes to feel the discovering. To this anticipated sensation of the creating act, accompany the intuition of an unknown quantity already possessed, but unreadable yet and that will be not defined unless the hard work of a seeing technique is present.