May 8, 2017.A fascinating life of a little-known composer.A Russian-French-American composer, an early Futurist, Arthur Louriéwas born on May 14th of 1891 in a small town of Propoisk, now in Belarus.Half of the population of the town was Jewish, as was Arthur’s family, though they were reasonably well off as his father was an engineer.In 1899 they moved to Odessa.In 1909 Arthur moved to St-Petersburg and entered the Conservatory where he studied composition with Alexander Glazunov (he never completed his studies and was mostly self-taught).In 1914 Arthur converted to Catholicism and took the name of Arthur-Vincent Lourié, after his favorite painter, Vincent Van Gogh.As part of the artistic elite, he became friends with the poet Anna Akhmatova and was the first to set her verse to music.He also was an acquaintance of the poets Vladimir Mayakovsky and Alexander Blok, and the writer Fyodor Sologub.In 1914, following Marinetti’s example, Lourié, the painter Georgy Yakulov and the poet Benedikt Livshitz published the Russian version of the Futurist Manifesto, “We and the West.”A year later he composed a “futurist” piece called Forms in the Air, which he dedicated to Picasso (you can listen to it here in the performance by the Italian pianist and composer Daniele Lombardi).Extremely innovating, he also wrote several atonal and quarter-tone pieces, in some ways presaging Schoenberg.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Lourié served in the Department of Education under Anatoly Lunacharsky.For all practical purposes, Lunacharsky, who in the early years after the Revolution supported all kinds of radical artistic innovations, was functioning as Minister of Culture.Lourié was his deputy in charge of music.In Moscow Lourié shared an apartment with Sergei Sudeikin and his wife, Vera de Bosset.Sudeikin was an exceptional painter who became well-known in Paris for his decorations to Diagilev’s ballets.Vera de Bosset, a dancer, would play a very important role in Lourié’s life: in 1920 she and Sudeikin moved to Paris where she met and soon become a lover of (and much later the wife of) Igor Stravinsky.Vera would eventually introduce Lourié to Stravinsky which started a long, if contentious, friendship.Lourié’s work at the Soviet ministry didn’t last long, and in 1921 he moved to Berlin where he befriended Ferruccio Busoni and Edgar Varèse.A year later, in 1922, he moved to Paris, and through Vera met up with Stravinsky. He became one of Stravinsky’s most important supporters, writing articles and speaking on his behalf.There is no doubt that of the two it was Stravinsky who possessed an enormous creative talent but many musicologists point out that Lourié’s compositions may have influenced Stravinsky’s work: for example, Lourié’s A Little Chamber Music (here) was written in 1924, and it sounds stylistically very similar to Stravinsky’s Apollon musagète, which was written three years later, in 1927.
Vera de Bosset brought Lourié and Stravinsky together; she, apparently, was also the reason they fell apart.While in Paris, Lourié continued composing, writing two symphonies and many songs on poetry from Sappho and Dante to Pushkin, Verlaine and Mayakovsky.In 1941 the Germans occupied France and with the help of Serge Koussevitzky Lourié fled to the US.He tried to write music for film, but was not very successfull.His major undertaking was the opera The Blackamoor of Peter the Great, after Pushkin’s novel, which has not been staged to this day.Lourié died in Princeton in 1966.
The portrait of Lourié, above, is by Theodore Stravinsky, Igor’s son from his first marriage.The portrait of Vera de Bosset is by Sergei Sudeikin.
Arthur Lourié, 2017
May 8, 2017. A fascinating life of a little-known composer. A Russian-French-American composer, an early Futurist, Arthur Lourié was born on May 14th of 1891 in a small town of
Propoisk, now in Belarus. Half of the population of the town was Jewish, as was Arthur’s family, though they were reasonably well off as his father was an engineer. In 1899 they moved to Odessa. In 1909 Arthur moved to St-Petersburg and entered the Conservatory where he studied composition with Alexander Glazunov (he never completed his studies and was mostly self-taught). In 1914 Arthur converted to Catholicism and took the name of Arthur-Vincent Lourié, after his favorite painter, Vincent Van Gogh. As part of the artistic elite, he became friends with the poet Anna Akhmatova and was the first to set her verse to music. He also was an acquaintance of the poets Vladimir Mayakovsky and Alexander Blok, and the writer Fyodor Sologub. In 1914, following Marinetti’s example, Lourié, the painter Georgy Yakulov and the poet Benedikt Livshitz published the Russian version of the Futurist Manifesto, “We and the West.” A year later he composed a “futurist” piece called Forms in the Air, which he dedicated to Picasso (you can listen to it here in the performance by the Italian pianist and composer Daniele Lombardi). Extremely innovating, he also wrote several atonal and quarter-tone pieces, in some ways presaging Schoenberg.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Lourié served in the Department of Education under Anatoly Lunacharsky. For all practical purposes, Lunacharsky, who in the early years after the Revolution supported all kinds of radical artistic innovations, was functioning as Minister of Culture. Lourié was his deputy in charge of music. In Moscow Lourié shared an apartment with Sergei Sudeikin and his wife, Vera de Bosset. Sudeikin was an exceptional painter who became well-known in Paris for his decorations to Diagilev’s ballets. Vera de Bosset, a dancer, would play a very important role in Lourié’s life: in 1920 she and Sudeikin moved to Paris where she met and soon become a lover of (and much later the wife of) Igor Stravinsky. Vera would eventually introduce Lourié to Stravinsky which started a long, if contentious, friendship. Lourié’s work at the Soviet ministry didn’t last long, and in 1921 he moved to Berlin where he befriended Ferruccio Busoni and Edgar Varèse. A year later, in 1922, he moved to Paris, and through Vera met up with Stravinsky. He became one of Stravinsky’s most important supporters, writing articles and speaking on his behalf. There is no doubt that of the two it was Stravinsky who possessed an enormous creative talent but many musicologists point out that Lourié’s compositions may have influenced Stravinsky’s work: for example, Lourié’s A Little Chamber Music (here) was written in 1924, and it sounds stylistically very similar to Stravinsky’s Apollon musagète, which was written three years later, in 1927.
The portrait of Lourié, above, is by Theodore Stravinsky, Igor’s son from his first marriage. The portrait of Vera de Bosset is by Sergei Sudeikin.