Stravinsky

16-4194 — Genève: Edition Ad. Henn 1917. . 24 x 31.5 cm. 4 20pp. Original wraps. Front cover stained along edges. . Signed and dated 28 viii 17 and inscribed .The poet and playwright René Morax founded his Théâtre du Jorat near Mézières Switzerland in 1903. Made entirely of wood so as to be integrated into the barns of the surrounding countryside it was described this way in an early account: “A theater decidedly unlike any other. A sort of vast chalet a kind of huge barn smelling of resin dried hay fresh fruit and on days when there was a performance Sunday clothes but retaining the rustic dignity of a shrine. A large stage descending in broad steps toward the orchestra pit …â€The theater was closed for several years during the Great War and Morax conceived a drama on the subject of King David to reopen it in 1921. When he turned to his wealthy friend Werner Reinhart who incidentally had recently funded the creation of Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale telling him that he was taking inspiration from Hindu theater for this work his patron offered to lend rare Hindu drums in addition to financial assistance. The text is drawn from the Hebrew Bible I and II Samuel I Kings in addition to the Huguenot Psalter which includes poetry by Clément Marot. The poet’s brother Jean Morax set to work designing costumes and sets. After several more established composers turned him down René on the advice of Stravinsky and the distinguished conductor Ernest Ansermet chose the then unknown twenty-eight year old Arthur Honegger. “When Swiss poet Rene Morax 1873-1963 was looking for a composer for his new King David libretto Stravinsky recommended the twenty-nine-year-old Arthur Honegger a composer who just six years later creating the film score for Abel Gance’s Napoleon would reveal himself as a master of music’s ability to translate epics into sweeping evocative sound. In 1921 right on the cusp of his first successes Honegger wrote the David score in a flush of creative energy.â€. Provenance from the estate of René Morax. Expertise by Claire PIGUET Geneva Genève: Edition Ad. Henn, 1917. paperback