Octors, Peintre & Ictus: Stravinsky & Aperghis

About the Event

L’Histoire du soldat is rather like a miniature version of Faust: a soldier sells his violin to the Devil in exchange for wealth and a book which predicts the future. The extraordinary economy of the work – it was conceived for a smaller ensemble, due to the difficult conditions of the war – drew upon Stravinsky’s virtuosic imagination: the composer plays with march melodies and popular songs, the soldier’s violin being well suited to play the tangos, waltzes, and rags he incorporates into the work. This highly colorful piece will be followed by The Unknown Soldier by Georges Aperghis. For baritone and ensemble, The Unknown Soldier was inspired by a quote from Kafka describing the creation of the Tower of Babel and the wars which followed its construction. The dense, extended musical writing reflects the absurdity of war.