Berceuses du chat

Songs#

The titles of the four songs are: The French titles for songs 2 to 4 are not translations; nos 2 and 3 are poetic titles, no. 4 is the French incipit. The cat is a male cat – кот, not кошка (koshka).

History#

The Berceuses du chat were composed in 1915/16 while Stravinsky was living in Clarens, Switzerland, during World War I. Helmut Kirchmeyer states that the texts are based on Russian folksongs, but the melodies are Stravinsky’s. and subsequently reissued by J. W. Chester (London) in 1923 with Russian, French (by Ramuz) and German (by , 1878–1931) texts.

Premières#

Berceuses du chat was first heard in Paris (Salle des Agriculteurs) on November 20, 1918, in a program that also included the slightly earlier Pribaoutki; both works were accompanied by piano in this performance. The first performance with clarinets was given in Vienna on June 6, 1919, at a concert of Arnold Schoenberg’s Society for Private Musical Performances. Again, the program also included the Pribaoutki.

External links#

• • , Denise Scharley, contralto; members of the orchestra of the Théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique, Paris