Histoire du Soldat
The story
- Reading time
- 3 min.
About a musical soldier, a magical book and a diabolical deal: read the synopsis of Igor Stravinsky’s dark Soldier's Tale.
Joseph Dupraz, a soldier on leave, is returning to his village. On the way, he takes out his violin and starts playing. The devil appears to him in the form of an old man. The soldier is persuaded to exchange his violin for a book with magical powers. The devil then invites the soldier to his home for three days so that the young man can teach him to play the violin, in exchange for which he will receive shelter, food and drink. The soldier accepts the proposal. However, when he later arrives in his village, he finds that no one recognizes him, not even his mother. Those three days were in reality three years. Only now does he realize that he actually associated with the devil: ‘Je suis mort parmi les vivants.’
A melodrama to be read, played and danced
When World War I broke out, Russian composer Igor Stravinsky sought refuge in Morges, Switzerland, where he befriended local artists such as conductor Ernest Ansermet, painter René Auberjonois and poet Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz but led a financially precarious artist’s life. When, after the Russian Revolution in 1917, he further lost all his personal belongings and the income from his existing works, he and Ramuz came up with the idea of a cost-efficient musical theatre piece tailored for a travelling theatre with a minimal orchestral line-up.
In his despair, the soldier again listens to the devil, who advises him to use the magic book. It provides him with great wealth, but his existence feels empty and meaningless. And so the soldier sets off again, without quite knowing where to go. One day, he arrives in a land where he hears about a sick princess. Taking yet another shape, the devil suggests that he pretend to be a soldier-doctor: that way he can try to cure the princess and win her hand. But for that, the soldier needs his violin … During a card game with the devil, the soldier gets rid of the fortune he had won thanks to the book. And by getting the devil drunk, he finally gets his violin back.
Intimate instrumentation
A clarinet, a bassoon, a cornet, a trombone, a violin, a double bass and percussion: this seven-piece orchestra provides the musical structure for Histoire du Soldat. Within this intimate instrumentation, Stravinsky made the most of each instrument’s individual timbres. Intrigued by a collection of ragtime piano pieces that Ansermet had brought for him from America, Stravinsky added jazz elements to a score that also includes other dances, such as the waltz and tango.
Thanks to his violin playing, the soldier manages to cure the princess. He then marries her, but the devil warns him that he must not cross the kingdom’s borders: ‘Qui les limites franchira, en mon pouvoir retombera.’ When the princess asks the soldier to visit his native village, however, he cannot refuse. He himself longs to see his mother again and to ask her to live with them. He would then have both what he used to have and what he has now. But no one can own everything: as he approaches his village, he loses the princess and his violin. It seems the devil has triumphed …
Translation: Patrick Lennon
