Happy Birthday, Stravinsky!

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (June 17 1882 to April 6 1971) is one of the most influential and adventurous composer in the history of western classical music. Born in a family of Polish and Russian heritage, he was also a pianist and conductor. Stravinsky was born in the town of Oranienbaum, Finland. His father, Fyodor Ignatievich Stravinsky , was a bass opera singer in the Kyiv Opera and the Mariinsky Theatre. His mother, Anna Kirillovna Stravinskaya was a daughter of a high-ranking official in the Kyiv Ministry of Estates. Igor was the third of their four sons.

Stravinsky was a lonely student, distasteful of schooling. His only class of interest was piano, which he had started leaning from around the age of 9. By age fifteen, Stravinsky had mastered Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 and finished a piano reduction of a string quartet by Alexander Glazunov. While he was expected to study law, he was taking music tutoring from Nicolai Risky-Korsakov, a leading Russian composer. His respect for Rimsky Korsakov regarded him as a second father, especially after his own father passed away. So much was his respect that he composed one of his 1st pieces, funeral song opus 5, after his teacher passed away. His interest in ballet encouraged him to develop his own style of compositions, a mix of ballet and Russian opera.

The first of these legendary pieces was The Firebird. Attracting him more fame, was the fact that his composition often varied from the traditional rules of western classical. The premiere of The Rite of Spring, 1913, was one of the hugest scandals in western music for the same reason. Combined with the primitive storyline, the dissonance in the piece shocked everyone, especially since it was a piece from a composer who had just started introducing Russian music into Europe. However, many of the composers of that time like Ravel and Bartok appreciated the music score for its uniqueness.

After much financial struggle in Europe and his mother's death he relocated to America with his second wife. He earned quite a lot from his pieces and performances and soon began to tour all over the continent. He was offered many awards, including the prestigious Grammy for his achievements. Towards the end of his life, he was riddled with multiple health issues

and finally passed away after a heart failure.

Stravinsky's dream of having an individualistic style had come true, along with a huge contribution to western repertoire. His home in Ukraine has been turned into a museum and there are celebrations in his honor.