Igor Stravinsky
“Petrushka” (Version from 1947)

With the ballet Petrushka, the young Igor Stravinsky entered new territory. Instead of the opulent fairy-tale sound worlds that had characterised his Firebird, it is dominated by barrel-organ tunes and woodcut-like folklorisms, by crystalline clarity and rhythmic vitality. Stravinsky had originally intended to write an orchestral work when, as he recalled, “the distinct image of a puppet, suddenly endowed with life” began to take shape. Together with impresario Sergei Diaghilev and stage designer Alexandre Benois, he developed this idea into a scenario for the Paris-based Ballets Russes. Stravinsky completed the score in May 1911. The ballerina Tamara Karsavina recalled: “Hour after hour we worked until we were utterly exhausted. The choreographer Fokine tore his hair, completely worn out and hysterical. Only Stravinsky remained imperturbable.” The Paris premiere on 13 June 1911, conducted by Pierre Monteux and with Vaslav Nijinsky in the title role, was a triumphant success. Its virtuosic wit has long secured Petrushka a home in the concert hall as well. The slightly reduced and sonically sharpened revision of 1947 was intended not least to safeguard Stravinsky’s copyright interests in the United States. For a Petrushka animated film in 1956, he insisted that this revised version be used – a decision that brought him royalties of 10,000 dollars. “What of it,” he wrote – “I’m doing it for money. Yes, sir!”

The action takes place during the 1830 carnival on the fairground in St Petersburg. Amid the bustling crowd, an organ-grinder plays a simple tune. A drum roll announces a puppet-show master, who brings his figures to life: Petrushka, the Ballerina and the Moor*. They dance a “Russian Dance” based on authentic folk melodies. In the second scene, a bitonal clarinet fanfare expresses Petrushka’s inner torment – his hopeless love for the Ballerina. The third scene shows the Moor as Petrushka’s rival. The combination of a melody in the low woodwinds with stamping ostinatos in the double basses conjures a foretaste of The Rite of Spring. To a circus-like trumpet melody, the Ballerina reappears. With the Moor, she dances a grotesquely distorted waltz, which Stravinsky collaged from dances by Josef Lanner. Petrushka and the Moor engage in a fierce fight.

Fourth scene: evening at the fairground. For the “Dance of the Nursemaids” and “Dance of the Coachmen”, Stravinsky again used Russian folk melodies. The “Dance of the Bear” evokes the growling of the beast in the tuba and the lumbering movements of the double basses. Dancers in mysterious masks cavort to overlapping metres. A trumpet fanfare and Petrushka’s bitonal motif introduce the finale: after a wild chase, Petrushka collapses, struck down by the Moor’s sabre. His head breaks apart with the dry crack of the tambourine. The showman is about to callously drag the broken puppet backstage – but suddenly, to the triumphant sound of his trumpet fanfare, Petrushka’s ghost appears. Mockingly, he thumbs his nose at the audience before vanishing.

* The term “Moor” appears here as a quotation from the original libretto. Its use in this programme note expressly does not imply approval of its discriminatory connotations.