The Flood (Stravinsky)

Igor Stravinsky
Operas The Nightingale (1914) Mavra (1922) Renard (1922) Oedipus rex (1927) Perséphone (1934) The Rake's Progress (1951) The Flood (1962)

The Flood: A musical play (1962) is a short biblical drama by Igor Stravinsky on the allegory of Noah, originally written as a work for television. It contains singing, spoken dialogue, and ballet sequences. It is in Stravinsky's late, serial style.

The work was premiered in the United States on the CBS Television Network on 14 June 1962, a production conducted by Robert Craft and choreographed by George Balanchine. Dramatic actors participating in the work included Laurence Harvey (Narrator), Sebastian Cabot (Noah), and Elsa Lanchester (Noah's Wife, which Lanchester played with a Cockney accent). Robert Craft also conducted the first staged performance, in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1962,^[1] and again in Hamburg on 30 April 1963.

Text

Stravinsky with Mstislav Rostropovich (left), 1 September 1962

The narrative of The Flood juxtaposes the story of the Creation with that of Noah. The text was compiled by Robert Craft using material from Genesis and the York and Chester cycles of mystery plays. Excerpts from the Te Deum are sung by the chorus.

Scoring

The work is scored for tenor soloist (Lucifer/Satan), two bass soloists (God), several spoken parts (a narrator, Satan, Eve, Noah, a caller, Noah's wife, son of Noah), chorus (SAT) and a large orchestra of 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 cors anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, xylorimba, 3 tom-toms, harp, celesta, piano and strings.

The Flood was published in 1963 by Boosey & Hawkes.

Movements

The work is in seven parts:

• Prelude
• Melodrama
• The building of the Ark (choreography)
• The catalogue of the animals
• The comedy (Noah and his wife)
• The Flood (choreography)
• The covenant of the rainbow

Recordings

• The original cast recording, with Robert Craft conducting (in the composer's presence) the Columbia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, recorded in 1962 for Columbia Masterworks Records, released on CD by Sony Classical Records (SM2K 46300)
• Oliver Knussen conducting the London Sinfonietta on Deutsche Grammophon (DG 447 068-2, released 1995)

References

Notes

Sources

• Phillip Ramey: Liner notes to Igor Stravinsky Edition, vol. X: Oratorio and Melodrama (Sony Classical SM2K 46300)
• Boosey & Hawkes' information about the score. Retrieved August 16, 2007
• Holman, J. K. (ed.) 2007. Wagner Moments: A Celebration of Favorite Wagner Experiences. New York: Amadeus Press. ISBN 978-1-57467-159-9. Snippet view on Google books at books.google.com.
• Kuster, Andrew, Analysis of The Flood. Retrieved 5 May 2009.

Further reading

• Straus, Joseph. N. 2001. Stravinsky's Late MusicCambridge Studies in Music Theory and Analysis. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-60288-2 (cloth); ISBN 0-521-60288-2 (pbk).
• Stravinsky, Igor, and Robert Craft. 1962. Expositions and Developments. Garden City, NY: Doubleday; London: Faber and Faber. Reprinted, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1981. ISBN 0-520-04403-7.
• van den Toorn, Peter C. 1983. The Music of Igor Stravinsky. Composers of the Twentieth Century. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02693-5.
• White, Eric Walter. 1979. Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works, second edition. Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03985-8.

External links