"The Soldier's Tale" redirects here. For the unrelated 1988 movie, seeA Soldier's Tale.
Histoire du soldat, orTale of the Soldier (as it was first published),[1] is an hour-long 1918 theatrical work to be "read, played and danced(lue, jouée et dansée)" by three actors, one or more dancers, and aseptet of instruments. Its music is byIgor Stravinsky, its libretto, in French, by Swiss writerCharles Ferdinand Ramuz; the two men conceived it together, their basis being the Russian taleThe Runaway Soldier and the Devil in the collection ofAlexander Afanasyev.[2]
Ramuz relates the parable of a soldier who trades his violin to the Devil in return for vast economic gain by means of three actors: the Narrator, who both narrates and impersonates several minor characters; the Devil, who assumes various guises; and the Soldier himself, Joseph, from no army identified. A dancer has the usually silent role of the Princess.
Ernest Ansermet conducted the premiere on 28 September 1918 inLausanne with the support of Swiss philanthropistWerner Reinhart, to whom Stravinsky gifted the manuscript and issued the dedication.[3][4][5]
Edward Clark, Stravinsky's friend and Ansermet's former assistant at theBallets Russes, conducted the 1926 British premiere inNewcastle upon Tyne and three staged London performances the next July.[6]
Reinhart continued his support of Stravinsky's work in 1919 by funding a series of concerts of his recent chamber music.[7] These included asuite of five numbers fromHistoire du soldat arranged for clarinet, violin, and piano in a nod to Reinhart, an amateur clarinetist.[8] This was first performed on 8 November 1919, also in Lausanne. Stravinsky later created a suite scored for all seven original instruments.[9]
Joseph Duprat, the Soldier, is walking exhausted toward his hometown on a 15-dayleave, pack in tow.(Marche du soldat / The Soldier's March). He rests by a stream. From his pack he takes out his lucky St. Joseph medallion, then a mirror, next a picture of his fiancée, and finally his violin. He begins to play.(Petits airs au bord du ruisseau / Airs by the Stream). The Devil appears, disguised as an old man carrying a butterfly net. Joseph does not notice him but continues to play. The Devil sneaks up from behind and startles him.
The Devil asks Joseph to sell him his violin. When Joseph refuses he offers him a book that he says will lead to untold wealth. Joseph does not understand the book, but the Devil convinces him it is worth more than his cheap violin. Joseph realizes the book contains events that happen in the future. He accepts the Devil's offer to spend three days at the Devil's home in great luxury to learn about the book and teach the Devil the violin. After this term the Devil takes Joseph the rest of his way home.(Reprise: Marche du soldat).
But once in his hometown Joseph notices something strange: everyone runs away as they see him. He arrives at his fiancée's house only to find her with husband and children. Finally he realizes that three years, not three days, have passed and that his former neighbors and friends think he's a ghost.(Pastorale).
Joseph sees the Devil in disguise as a cattle merchant and confronts him. The Devil tries to calm Joseph by reminding him of the book's power: Joseph started off as a peddler but with the knowledge gained from the book quickly amassed wealth. The Soldier realizes this material wealth means nothing. All he wants is what he had before, the things everyone else has.(Reprise: Petits airs). Agitated, he leafs through the book for a solution, in vain.
The Devil arrives, now disguised as an old woman peddler. She offers for sale a lucky medallion, a mirror, a picture of a woman, and then a violin. Joseph moves to buy the violin, but when she hands it over he finds he can no longer play: it makes no sound.(Reprise: Petits airs). He hurls it away and tears up the book.
Joseph leaves his home with nothing and marches through town.(Reprise: Marche du soldat). He arrives at an inn where he hears the news that the king's daughter is sick, and whoever can raise her from her bed will be given her hand in marriage. He makes his way to the palace.(Marche royale / Royal March).
The Devil is already at the palace disguised as a virtuoso violinist. Joseph turns over some cards and gets an air of confidence when they are all hearts. The Devil makes his presence known, clutching the violin to his chest, and taunts Joseph. The Narrator informs Joseph that the Devil still controls him because he retains the Devil's money, and if he can lose all of it to the Devil in a card game he will be free.
This the Soldier does. He then takes the violin and plays.(Petit concert / Little Concert). He triumphantly marches into the Princess's chambers where he plays another tune. Miraculously the music revives her, and she begins a sequence of dances.(Trois danses / Three Dances: Tango, Waltz, Ragtime).
As the two embrace the Devil arrives, for the first time undisguised. Joseph shields the Princess. He realizes he can defeat the Devil by playing his violin.(Danse du diable / Dance of the Devil). Unable to resist the music, the Devil begins to contort, is exhausted, and finally falls to the ground. Joseph takes the Princess's hand and together they drag the Devil away before falling into each other's arms.(Petit choral / Little Chorale).
But the Devil pops his head in and begins to torment the couple, warning that Joseph may not leave the palace without the Devil regaining control of him.(Couplets du diable / The Devil's Couplets).
Over theGrand choral / Great Chorale, the Narrator states the moral:
Il ne faut pas vouloir ajouter À ce qu'on a, ce qu'on avait; On ne peut pas être à la fois Qui on est et qui on était. Il faut savoir choisir; On n'a pas le droit de tout avoir: C'est défendu. Un bonheur est tout le bonheur; Deux, c'est comme s'ils n'existaient plus.
You must not seek to add To what you have, what you once had; You have no right to share What you are with what you were. No one can have it all: That is forbidden; You must learn to choose between. One happy thing is every happy thing; Two, is as if they had never been.
The work ends with Joseph crossing the frontier-post, a boundary not to be crossed, after being tempted by the ideal of having both his wife and his mother. The Devil is waiting as Joseph turns back to find his Princess, now gone.(Marche triomphale du diable / The Devil's Triumphant March): violin and percussion entwined in a rhythmic duel, the final measures played solely by the percussionist; here the score is markeddecrescendo to the end, although this may be changedcrescendo when performing the Suite.
Histoire du soldat shows Stravinsky's absorption of a wide range of musical influences: thepasodoble in theMarche royale; thetango, thewaltz andragtime, as played by Joseph to cure the Princess;klezmer in the instrumentation and textures; Luther'sEin feste Burg in thePetit choral; and Bach in theGrand choral. According to the musicologist Danick Trottier, these influences are linked to a certain extent to Stravinsky's experiences and first successes in the cosmopolitan Paris of the early 1910s, since the capital of France was a confluence-point for a variety of artists and musicians duringLa Belle Époque.[11]
Lausanne, Switzerland, 28 September 1918, conducted byErnest Ansermet. Cast: Gabriel Rosset as the Soldier,Jean Villard as the Devil (speaking parts), andElie Gagnebin as the Narrator. Choreography byGeorges Pitoëff, who danced in the role of the Devil opposite his wife Ludmilla as the Princess. Sets and costumes byRené Auberjonois.
L'Histoire du soldat (Suite).Igor Stravinsky conducts the Columbia Chamber Ensemble, 1961, issued as part of "Igor Stravinsky: The Recorded Legacy",Sony, 1991.
Brian Phelan (Soldier), Robert Helpmann (Devil),Svetlana Beriosova (Princess),Melos Ensemble, film version 1964, Michael Birkett (director), Dennis Miller and Leonard Cassini (producers), Richard Marden (editor), BHE production.[16]
Gérard Carrat (Narrator), François Berthet (Soldier), François Simon (Devil), conducted byCharles Dutoit, 1970,Erato ECD .88198 (this and the Cocteau/Ustinov Philips version listed above are generally considered the best recordings, the Philips being more theatrical – including a speaking part for the princess – but less realistic in terms of the diction of the characters).[citation needed]
In 2022, playwright Carol Wolf was commissioned by thePeninsula Symphony of Los Altos, California to write an updated libretto forA Soldier's Tale. The new libretto tells the story of an American soldier who meets Death on the road in Iraq. It was performed on November 13, 2022 with choreography by Arielle Cole, and danced by Cole's company, ArcTangent.[28][non-primary source needed][29][non-primary source needed][30][non-primary source needed]
In 2024, poetTitilope Sonuga wroteSankofa: The Soldier's Tale Retold, performed by theArt of Time Ensemble inToronto. This version tells the story of a fictional soldier from theNo. 2 Construction Battalion, the only Canadian battalion composed of Black soldiers to serve in the First World War, and his struggles to be accepted by the army and then his trauma after, as he reclaims what was forgotten (the African concept ofSankofa).[31]
Taruskin, Richard (1996).Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works Through Mavra. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
Bailey, Kathryn. "Melodic Structures in the Overture and Scene-Music ofHistoire du soldat".Canadian Association of University Schools of Music Journal/Association Canadienne des Écoles Universitaires de Musique Journal 4, nos. 1–2 (Fall 1974): 1–7.
Craft, Robert. "Histoire du soldat (the Musical Revisions, the Sketches, the Evolution of the Libretto)".The Musical Quarterly 66, no. 3 (July 1980): 321–38.
Marti, Christoph. "Zur Kompositionstechnik von Igor Strawinsky: Das Petit concert aus der Histoire du soldat".Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 38, no. 2. (1981): 93–109.
Ramuz, Charles-Ferdinand.Histoire du soldat, illustrée de lithographies originales parHans Erni. Lausanne: André et Pierre Gonin. 326 copies signed by author and artist. 73 black-and-whitelithographs within the text and 2 on the wrappers. 100 pages + 2 leaves. A livre d'artiste printed onArches paper and housed in a vellum and board folder and matching slipcase.
Vaccaro, Jean-Michel. "La musique dans l'Histoire du soldat".Voies de la création théâtrale 6 (1978): 55–76.
Zur, Menachem. "Tonal Ambiguities as a Constructive Force in the Language of Stravinsky".The Musical Quarterly 68, No. 4 (October 1982): 516–526.
