According to published reports years after The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky wrote a piece for seven musicians that could travel from town to town.
It was 1918. With his income disrupted by World War I and the Russian Revolution, Stravinsky and Swiss writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz set out to make a show they could afford to bring to smaller Swiss towns. They called it L’Histoire du soldat (The Soldier’s Tale), a work to be “read, played and danced.”
The story of The Soldier's Tale came from a Russian folktale. A soldier on his way home trades his violin to the Devil for a book that promises to make him rich. He gets the fortune. Getting his old life back is another matter.
While the influenza pandemic forced Stravinsky and Ramuz to cancel the tour, the composition became a piece audiences love and musicians love to play. In fact, when surveyed, several of our ASO musicians mentioned wanting to perform this piece specifically in Season 65.
Listen to the opening march. The double bass keeps a steady left-right pulse while the tune keeps shifting its accents, as if the soldier can’t quite keep step with his own music. Later, a tango, a waltz and a ragtime turn up in quick succession. With seven players, you can hear exactly who’s holding the rhythm together and who’s pulling it sideways. That’s part of the fun of hearing this piece live. The ASO ensemble features Heather Haughn on violin, Patrick Raynard on double bass, Robert DiLutis on clarinet, Patricia Morgan on bassoon, Christopher Sala on trumpet, David Perkel on trombone and Curt Armbruster on percussion. Claire Lewis will conduct, and Ally Baca will narrate.