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Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles Premiere at Princeton

Igor Stravinsky’s late, serial masterwork, “Requiem Canticles,” was given its first performance at McCarter Theatre in Princeton on this date in 1966. It would be the composer’s last major work. (Only his setting of Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussycat” followed.) Stravinsky described the 15-minute, six-movement piece, which is sung in Latin, as his “pocket requiem.” The work would be performed at the composer’s funeral in 1971. It was also played at the funeral of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who attended the premiere.

I wrote about its first performance in 2016, its 50th anniversary, for an article for the Trenton Times, somewhat limited by word count and by the fact that I was tying it in with two Stravinsky concerts to be held at Princeton University – neither of which, disappointingly, included “Requiem Canticles” – but I did get some interesting information from my interview subjects, both eyewitnesses who were working at McCarter in 1966.

There’s conflicting information as to who exactly conducted “Requiem Canticles” on that occasion, the composer or his assistant, Robert Craft. My sources maintain that it was Stravinsky himself.

If you’re interested, you can find the article archived here:

https://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/2016/12/classical_music_puo_pugc_so_pe.html

Robert Craft’s 2005 recording of “Requiem Canticles”

Recording of the actual McCarter premiere (thanks to Mather Pfeiffenberger)

PHOTO: Stravinsky (right) and Robert Craft in 1964

October 8, 2025
Stravinsky 50 Years On A Requiem Remembered

Igor Stravinsky died in New York City 50 years ago today.

As per his wishes, he was buried in the Russian corner of the cemetery island of San Michele in Venice, transported there by gondola, following a service at the Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

His late, serial masterwork, “Requiem Canticles,” was performed at his funeral. Stravinsky described the 15-minute, six-movement piece, which is sung in Latin, as his “pocket requiem.” It was given its debut at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre in 1966, with the composer conducting.

The event left a lasting impression. If you’re interested in some first-hand accounts, you can learn more in this article I wrote in 2016, to mark the work’s 50th anniversary, for the Trenton Times.

https://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/2016/12/classical_music_puo_pugc_so_pe.html?fbclid=IwAR10cMEcv0Uaz4sYSGv-yX2-Xrr7tXOWpumyXcazdrnrigHpgl8rrXpquKg

Robert Craft’s recording of “Requiem Canticles”:

Leonard Bernstein conducts a Stravinsky memorial concert, including “The Rite of Spring,” “Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra,” and “Symphony of Psalms,” in April of 1972.

Gone but not forgotten: Stravinsky and his assistant, Robert Craft, in 1964

April 6, 2021
Stravinsky Birthday A Celebration in Spring

“Igor Stravinsky was born in the spring and died in the spring. In a sense, he lived his whole life in a springtime of creativity. All his music is spring-like, newly budding, rooted in the familiar past, yet fresh and sharp, with that stinging, paradoxical combination of the inevitable and the unexpected.”

On Stravinsky’s birthday, enjoy this brief appreciation, narrated by Leonard Bernstein, assembled not long after Stravinsky’s death:

I especially got a kick out of the cowboy reception, around the 9-minute mark.

Also on this date, in 1908, Stravinsky’s “Fireworks” was first performed, at the wedding of Rimsky-Korsakov’s daughter, Nadezhda, to Stravinsky’s professional rival, Maximillian Steinberg. The wedding took place a few days before Rimsky-Korsakov’s death. Stravinsky received the commission for his breakthrough ballet, “The Firebird,” in part because Serge Diaghilev heard the piece and was impressed with his orchestration.

Stravinsky conducts “Fireworks,” from his Russian nationalist period, in Japan:

Stravinsky, in his last public appearance, conducts his neoclassical masterpiece, “Pulcinella”:

Stravinsky conducts one of my favorite works from his serial period, “Agon”:

Stravinsky’s final masterpiece, “Requiem Canticles,” was first performed at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre in 1966. Against expectations, Stravinsky again conducted. The performance is led here by his assistant, Robert Craft:

“Requiem Canticles” would be repeated at Stravinsky’s funeral five years later.

As a bonus, here’s an article I wrote on Stravinsky in Princeton for the Trenton Times in 2016:

https://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/2016/12/classical_music_puo_pugc_so_pe.html

Happy birthday, Igor Stravinsky, and happy anniversary, Maximillian and Nadezhda Steinberg (née Rimskaya-Korsakova)!

June 17, 2020
Stravinsky at Princeton A 50 Year Remembrance

When an artist like Igor Stravinsky comes to town, you’re not likely to forget – even 50 years later.

Stravinsky was 84 years-old in 1966, and regarded as perhaps the greatest composer of his day, when he was commissioned by Princeton University and Stanley Seeger to write his “Requiem Canticles.” The work was written to the memory of Seeger’s mother, Helen Buchanan Seeger, a benefactor of the university and especially the university’s music department.

Stravinsky described the piece as his “pocket requiem,” six movements spanning roughly 15 minutes. The work is sung in Latin and rendered in the composer’s later, twelve-tone idiom. It was given its debut at McCarter Theatre Center on October 8 of that year. It would be Stravinsky’s last major work. It was played at his own funeral in Venice in 1971.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Stravinsky’s visit, the composer will be remembered, musically, on two programs to be performed at the university this weekend. Michael Pratt will conduct the Princeton University Orchestra in a suite from the composer’s ballet “The Firebird” on Friday at 7:30 p.m., and Gabriel Crouch will lead the Princeton University Glee Club in the choral masterpiece “Les Noces” on Sunday at 3 p.m. Both works will be presented at Richardson Auditorium.

Find out more, and read first-hand accounts of the composer’s visit from Maida Pollock, then manager of the university’s concerts, and Bill Lockwood, then, as now, McCarter’s programming director, in my article in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/12/classical_music_puo_pugc_so_pe.html

PHOTO: Stravinsky (right) with his assistant, Robert Craft, in 1964

December 9, 2016
Stravinsky’s Princeton Premiere 50th Anniversary

It was 50 years ago that Igor Stravinsky came to Princeton to give the world premiere of his new work for chorus and orchestra, the “Requiem Canticles.” The composer, then 84 years-old, was seen lying flat on his back in the McCarter Theatre box office, trying to conserve his energy. He stunned everyone by leading the work’s first performance in October of 1966. (Many had expected to see his assistant, Robert Craft, take over following rehearsals.)

Tomorrow morning on WPRB, we honor the 50th anniversary of Stravinsky’s Princeton University residency. We’ll have a full morning of his music, including the early Symphony in E-flat, composed while he was yet an apprentice of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the ballet “Le baiser de la fée” (“The Fairy’s Kiss”), written in homage to Tchaikovsky, and his final masterpiece, the “Requiem Canticles.”

Dropping by at 10:00 will be Michael Pratt, who will conduct the suite from Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” on two concerts of the Princeton University Orchestra, on Dec. 8 & 9, and Gabriel Crouch, who will lead a program including Stravinsky’s “Les Noces,” with the Princeton University Glee Club and So Percussion, on Dec. 11. All three concerts will be held at Richardson Auditorium.

And we’ll have yet another special treat: some recorded comments by Maida Pollock, whose job it was to pull the concert together in 1966, culled from a phone conversation she granted from her current home in Hawaii. We’ll hear those around 9:00.

I hope you’ll join me for this multi-faceted salute to Igor Stravinsky, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ve always got an ear for Igor, on Classic Ross Amico.

December 1, 2016

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