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Igor Stravinsky

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:800.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Igor Stravinsky

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Auction Date:2013 Jul 17 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Russian-born composer (1882–1971) whose distinctive, colorful, constantly evolving style earned him a place among the most influential composers in music history. His ballets The Firebird, Petrouchka, and Rite of Spring represent three central benchmarks of 20th-century music. TLS in French, signed “I. Str.,” one page, 8.5 x 11, July 4, 1940. Letter to renowned violinist Samuel Dushkin. In full (translated): “Just a few words to explain this declaration (attached): We are about to put together all our papers in order to stay here permanently. Would you be good enough to sign this document with your legalised signature, signed in the presence of a notarised official, and return to me forthwith by courier. Let me know at the same time what fees I need to reimburse you with. I’d like to write you a longer letter, but at the moment I am incapable of speaking about all the things that fill my thoughts and my soul. No news from over there from anybody. It’s very hard.” Stravinsky adds a brief handwritten postscript under his signature sending wishes to Dushkin’s wife. In fine condition, with intersecting mailing folds. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope.

After a string of tragedies—the death of his wife and eldest daughter, and an extended illness that left him hospitalized for months, during which time his mother also passed away—Stravinsky left France for the US at the end of 1939. As World War II began to escalate, the distance took its toll on the composer: “at the moment I am incapable of speaking about all the things that fill my thoughts and my soul. No news from over there from anybody. It’s very hard.” Nonetheless, he began his work delivering the prestigious Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University during the 1939-40 academic year. Shortly after finishing, he joined the countless other European writers, musicians, composers, and conductors who left their homes for the growing cultural center of Los Angeles. An excellent letter from a critical time in the legendary musician’s life.