We broke down Igor Stravinsky's Soldier Tale with four-time guest and DMA clarinetist Valerie Nuzzolo.
According to the LA Phil website,
"Toward the end of World War I, Stravinsky was facing the harsh realities of economic deprivation: payments from his German publishers were being held back, and the Russian Revolution had cut off his income from the family estate. Sensing disaster, Stravinsky, ever a pragmatist, formulated with his friends, writer C.F. Ramuz and conductor Ernest Ansermet, a plan to get himself out of this vexing situation.
As he explained it: “Ramuz and I got hold of the idea of creating a sort of little traveling theater, easy to transport from place to place and to show in even small localities.” Thus out of necessity came the chamber-sized neo-classic orchestra. As for their first project, Stravinsky recalled, “We were particularly drawn to the cycle of legends dealing with the adventures of the soldier who deserted, and the Devil who inexorably comes to carry off his soul.” Armed with the fool-proof dramatic stuff of the Faust story, the two created The Soldier’s Tale, “to be read (Narrator, Soldier, Devil), played, and danced (Princess).”
