Igor Stravinsky

Russian, French, and American composer (1882–1971)

Fame82.4
Momentum21.3
France rank#27

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Fame82.4
Momentum21.3
France rank#27
Musicians rank#139
Wikipedia71.6K

Lived 1882–1971, aged 89France

France

MusiciansSinger / Musician

Wikipedia
141 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in France
#27
Musicians
Era
1882–1971
Aged 89
Known for
Stravinsky
1966

Summary

Updated 2026-08-14

The Rite of Spring nearly started a riot at its 1913 premiere, and Stravinsky spent the next half-century proving that shock wasn't luck. He rewrote the rules of rhythm, then abandoned his own style twice more—Russian folklore, then neoclassical forms, then twelve-tone serialism—leaving each genre transformed.

Biography

About

Born into a musical family in Saint Petersburg in 1882, Stravinsky studied law before Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov took him on as a pupil. Impresario Sergei Diaghilev commissioned three ballets for Paris—The Firebird, Petrushka, and the scandalous Rite of Spring—that made him a name by 1913. He moved through three distinct periods: Russian folk-inflected works like Les noces, a neoclassical stretch drawing on Greek myth and sonata form (Apollon musagète, Oedipus rex), and finally a serial phase adopting twelve-tone technique in pieces like In Memoriam Dylan Thomas. The constant reinvention baffled…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

said1962

One has a nose. The nose scents and it chooses. An artist is simply a kind of pig snouting truffles.

— 1962, quoted in Andriessen and Schoenberger, The Apollonian Clockwork (1989). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Igor Stravinsky

said8 Oct 1961

My music is best understood by children and animals.

— Igor Stravinsky. The Observer, Oct 8, 1961.

Igor Stravinsky

said1946

As for myself, I need music for hygienic purposes, for the health of my soul. Without music in its best sense there is chaos.

— The Musical Digest (1946)

Igor Stravinsky

saidundated

The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music; they should be taught to love it instead.

— Igor Stravinsky. "Subject: Music", New York Times Magazine, 9/27/64.

Igor Stravinsky

saidundated

The phenomenon of music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the co-ordination between man [sic] and time.

— Quoted in DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. , Ch. 3. from Igor

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Listen & Watch

Spotify

Deep cuts

Albums

Low confidence

Histoire du Soldat
1987
Bizet: Symphony in C / Prokofiev: "Classical" Symphony / Stravinsky: Pulcinella
1987
Der Feuervogel (Suite) / Le Sacre du Printemps
1987
Mussorgsky orch. Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition / Stravinsky: Pétrouchka
1986
Le Sacre du printemps / Apollo
1986
The Russian Cello
1986
Music for String Orchestra
1986
Liszt: Sonata in B minor / Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 / Stravinsky: Petrouchka
1986