''Berceuses du chat'', K022 (Russian: Колыбельные, ''Kolibelniye'', English: ''(Cat) Lullabies'') by

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

is a 1915 cycle of four songs for a medium

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...

, usually a

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

, and three

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

ists. The work is usually referred to by its French title. Although it is often sung in Russian, Stravinsky assisted his friend, the Swiss author C. F. Ramuz, to make a translation into French at the time of publication. The cycle is set for contralto and three clarinettists: E clarinet; A clarinet (normally played by a B clarinet), and a B

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

Songs

The titles of the four songs are: The French titles for songs 2 to 4 are not translations; nos 2 and 3 are poetic titles, no. 4 is the French incipit. The cat is a male cat – кот, not кошка (koshka).

History

The ''Berceuses du chat'' were composed in 1915/16 while Stravinsky was living in

Clarens, Switzerland Clarens-Montreux or Clarens is a neighbourhood in the municipality of Montreux, in the canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. This neighbourhood is the biggest and most populated of the city of Montreux. Clarens was made famous throughout Europe by th ...

, during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Walsh, Stephen. ''Stravinsky: A Creative Spring: Russia and France, 1882–1934.'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 2000). Helmut Kirchmeyer states that the texts are based on Russian folksongs, but the melodies are Stravinsky's. Stravinsky dedicated the work to

Natalia Goncharova Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova (, ; 3 July 188117 October 1962) was a Russian avant-garde artist, painter, costume designer, writer, illustrator, and set designer. Goncharova's lifelong partner was fellow Russian avant-garde artist Mikhail Lariono ...

and

Mikhail Larionov Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov (; – May 10, 1964) was a Russian avant-garde painter who worked with radical exhibitors and pioneered the first approach to abstract Russian art. He was founding member of two important artistic groups Knave ...

. The cycle was first published in Geneva by Adolphe Henn in 1917, and subsequently reissued by J. W. Chester (London) in 1923 with Russian, French (by Ramuz) and German (by , 1878–1931) texts.

Premières

''Berceuses du chat'' was first heard in Paris (Salle des Agriculteurs) on November 20, 1918, in a program that also included the slightly earlier ''

Pribaoutki ''Pribaoutki'' () is a Song cycle, cycle of four songs composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1914 to Russian texts by Alexander Afanasyev. Its Russian title has no direct English equivalent, although Richard Taruskin suggests "nonsense rhymes" or "jingle ...

''; both works were accompanied by piano in this performance. The first performance with clarinets was given in Vienna on June 6, 1919, at a concert of

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

's Society for Private Musical Performances. Again, the program also included the ''Pribaoutki''.

References

External links

* * , Denise Scharley, contralto; members of the orchestra of the Théâtre national de l'Opéra-Comique, Paris {{Authority control Songs with music by Igor Stravinsky Chamber music by Igor Stravinsky Compositions for clarinet Classical song cycles Music with dedications Songs with instrumental ensemble