K101 Abraham and Isaak
K101 אברהם ויצחק
בלדה קדושה לבריטון ותזמורת קאמרית – Abraham and Isaac. A Sacred Ballad for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra - Abraham und Isaak. Geistliche Ballade für Bariton und Kammerorchester – Abraham et Isaac. Une Ballade sacrée pour baryton et orchestre de chambre – Abramo e Isacco. Ballata sacra per baritono ed orchestra da camera
Title: The work was originally to be called ‘A Sacred Cantata’. Strawinsky crossed out ‘Cantata’ and wrote instead ‘Ballad’, presumably because what he understood by the word Ballad was a dramatic narration.*
* He asks the question regarding the “meaning and definition of an Israel festival, which still remained unanswered”. The subtitle may originally have simply been >Cantata<, and in a corrected version of a neat copy, it is even only >ABRAHAM and ISAAC / for Baritone and / Chamber Orchestra < without subtitle. There is also a copyright on the name itself in this manuscript.
Scored for: a) First edition: 2 Flauti grandi, Flauto alto, Oboe, Corno inglese, Clarinetto, Clarinetto basso, 2 Fagotto, Corno, 2 Trombe, 2 Tromboni (ten. e bass.), Tuba, Archi [2 Flutes, Alto Flute, Oboe, English horn, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, Horn, 2 Trumpets, 2 Trombones (tenore and bass), Tuba, Strings]; b) Performance requirements: Solo baritone, 2 Flutes, Alto Flute, Oboe, English horn, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, Horn, 2 Trumpets, Tenor Trombone, Bass Trombone, Tuba, Solo Viola, Solo Violoncello, Solo Double bass, Strings* (First Violins**, Second Violins**, Violas**, Violoncellos, Double basses).
* 24 players.
** divided in two.
Score: The score is a reformed score with modern part-ordering laid out in separate blocks with the systems reduced according to the number of instruments playing; all the instruments are notated in C and sound as written; t he key signature is not reprinted when the subsequent system has the same key signature as the previous one. Instead of the clef, there is a continuous vertical line to the next system, which changes the clef.
Voice type: The baritone part is for high baritone with a range from C(B sharp) to E1.
Summary: Abraham receives the order from God to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham will obey. As he raises the knife to slaughter his son, an angel of God bids him stop.
Source: The English text printed in the score is taken from the King James Bible. The section set by Strawinsky is taken from the first 19 verses of Chapter 22 from the first book of Moses (Genesis = B’reshit) in the Old Testament of the Bible. Their theological meaning is on the one hand the unconditional obedience with which Man must obey God, and on the other the codification of the rejection of human sacrifices.
Problem of translation: Strawinsky stated that some of his compositions were untranslatable because they are bound directly to the language. He was especially referring to Renard, that can only be sung in Russian, Oedipus Rex, in Latin, Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her, in German and Abraham and Isaacin Hebrew. If it was important to him, Strawinsky contradicted his own utterances without hesitation. His official vinyl recording of Renard, which also went into the CD version, was not sung in Russian under his direction, but English. When the Israelis had problems with the German language, the Bach edition was reproduced with Hebrew text. Oedipus Rexis obviously never performed in a language other than Latin. Strawinsky, who had a lot of concert experience, intentionally composed Abraham and Isaacwithout chorus and thus ensured performances outside Israel. While Hebrew-singing choirs outside Israel and America are the exception, the highly developed singing culture of the Jewish Synagogue Cantors enables a performance of this cantata for baritone anywhere where there are synagogues. Strawinsky wanted no translation of the Ballad into another language to be made because the music was specifically written with an understanding of the sound of the Hebrew language in mind. The fact that he came up with several possibilities for specific syllables (for the word Abraham alone he developed around eighteen different musical versions and in doing so clearly set the Hebrew language according to the same process that he had used previously with other languages), appears to relate to this theory that they are untranslatable.
Construction: Abraham and Isaac is a cantata for baritone in one movement which is continuous and can be divided either into six, seven or ten sections depending on the counting method; the bar numbering is counted in groups of five, there is a metronome mark and it is in ballad form in Hebrew language with English phonetics. The numbering in the score gives 254 bars. The ballad however consists of 258 bars because the six-bar cadenza at bar 89 is miscounted in the score as only two bars. The counting of six goes back to Strawinsky, who presumably only counted sections of the text. The counting of seven refers back to the score itself. The counting of eight includes the introduction (bars 1-10), and the counting of nine includes the introduction and interlude (bars 89 – 104) self standing. The separate sections can also be sub-divided. The row is handled in a non-formal manner with repeats and developed in the first five bars by the violas (10 notes) and the first bassoon (2 notes).
Allocation of line to bar
Vers 1: Bars 11- 25
Vers 2: Bars 26- 45
Vers 3: Bars 52- 72
Vers 4: Bars 73- 79
Vers 5: Bars 80- 88
Vers 6: Bars 105-111
Vers 7: Bars 112-128
Vers 8: Bars 128-138
Vers 9: Bars 138-156
Vers 10: Bars 157-162
Vers 11: Bars 163-169
Vers 12: Bars 170-180
Vers 13: Bars 184-194
Vers 14: Bars 197-205
Vers 15: Bars 207-210
Vers 16: Bars 211-219
Vers 17: Bars 220-228
Vers 18: Bars 229-239
Vers 19: Bars 245-254
Structure
[1.]
Semiquaver = 132
(72 bars = bar 1-72)
[2.]
(stesso tempo)
(18 bars = bar 73-90*)
(bar 89: Cadenza quasi rubato)
[3.]
Quaver = 120
(14 bars = bar 91-104)
[4.]
Meno mosso Quaver = 92-96
(58 bars = bar 105-162)
[5.]
Meno mosso Quaver = 76
(19 bars = bar 163-181)
[6.]
Meno mosso Quaver = 72
(58 bars = bar 182-239)
[7.]
Andante Quaver = 60
(15 bars = bar 240-254)
* Bar 90 is made up of 5 bars that are counted as 1 bar.
Row: g1-g#1-a#1-b#1-c#2-a1-b1-d#2-d2-e2-f#2-f2. The prime row is developed in the first 5 bars by the violas (10 notes) and the first bassoon (2 notes) and developed subsequently by the bassoon in inversion/retrograde.
Errata
Full score 101-3
1.) p. 7, bar 72: last note e1 instead of d1.
2.) p. 10, bar 91: above the metronom marking quaver = 120 the bar number 91 has to be added.
3.) p. 12, bar 105: a >low< above the second for he last semiquaver should be noted.
4.) p. 12, bar 107: a >high< above the third from last note semiquaver fis should be noted.
5.) p. 12, bar 109+110: a >high< above the last note from bar 109 and the first note from bar 110 (d1) should be noted.
6.) p. 13, bar 116: grace-note a2 natural instead of f#1.
7.) p. 14, bars 120+121: the slure from the semiquaver g (bar 120) to minim a (bar 121) should be removed.
8.) p. 14, bar 132: the setting of the text across the barlines >the lamb, the | lamb = d1 to d#1< should have a phrasing mark.
9.) p. 15, bars 140-141: the lyrics from >which< to >told<, from >told< to >God< and from >God< up to the break mark shoud each have a phrasing mark.
10.) p. 17, bar 165 instruments: after bar 165 time signature 4/16 instead of 4/8.
11.) p. 17) bar 166 instruments: before bar 166 time signature 4/16 instead of 4/8.
12.) p. 17, bar 168: Tuba: the time signature 3/16 instead of 9/16; the same applies to bar 177 p. 18.
13.) p. 18, bar 175: the last ligature-note e instead of f#.
14.) p. 22, bars 202-204: the notes e1 (>mount<) to d#1 (>is<) should be have a phrasing mark.
Style: Abraham and Isaac is a technically freely handled twelve-tone work in the stylistic area of The Flood. The type of row follows that of A Sermon and Double Canon. Two chromatic groups at an interval of a third and varying notes of polarisation are symmetrically held in the balance. Abraham and Isaac is one of Strawinsky’s rare settings of language in which the spoken accents and sung accents fall together. The declamation, which is as much syllabic as melismatic, wavers between ariososinging and half recitative, intervallic syllabic speech. When words are repeated, the music is not, rather the declamation and melody line are changed. The word ‘Abraham’ appears seventeen times (Bars: 18, 20/21, 53, 75, 81, 105, 114, 128, 143, 158, 168, 184, 189, 198, 209, 246, 252) and is the most frequent word, and each time is set and orchestrated differently. Abraham and Isaacis, according to Strawinsky, an exclusively serial setting without textual meaning or cryptographic symbolism. Visual-, gestural- or movement orientated correspondences between text and music are never a constituent part of the compositional planning, but always only a coincidental, and thus interpretationally meaningless result of the serial structure. The unaccompanied soloistic repetition of the word ‘Abraham’ at the beginning is one of the few intended exceptions; the type of instrumentation, which has a dark and dull effect at specific moments, such as the final path to the mountain peak before the sacrifice. There is behaviour and dramatic effect of the baritone voice and, as is usual with Strawinsky, the differentiation of the respective intervallic ranges. Furthermore, Strawinsky avoided suggesting dramatic images. Even the moment at which Abraham raises the knife to kill his child is depicted by Strawinsky in a declamatory fashion without gesture or effect. The allocation of a three-voice passage to Abraham’s departure to the mountain with two companions should therefore be understood as the consequence of the row construction and not numerically symbolic. Furthermore, a depiction of the ballad leads to a description of the declamatory events inside the sections, whether one recognises five, six or ten, and to an identification of the rows, the breaking of the rows and the basic figures which are not handled in a formal fashion. There are people who wish to see things differently. Strawinsky however would have had sufficient reason in the sensitive area of a probably Christian debatable central point of the Old Testament to read into the results of rows and declamation.
Dedication: > מוקדש לתושבי מדינת ישראל – Dedicated to the people of the State of Israel<.
Duration: 10' 26".
Date of origin: 1962 up to 3. März 1963.
First performance: The première took place on 23rd August 1964 in Jerusalem with the baritone Ephraim Biran and the Israeli Festival Orchestra under the direction of Robert Craft for the occasion of the 4th Israeli Music Festival, the executive director of which was A. Z. Propes. This was in the context of a Strawinsky evening which also contained the première of the Symphony of Psalms and the Capriccio for piano and orchestra with Frank Peleg as the soloist. There was a repeat performance on 24th August 1964 in Caesarea; the first European performance came a month later during the Berlin Festival week (17th September).
Remarks: The Israeli Echo for Germany gave a rather restrained response. Peter Gradenwitz, who is known in Germany as a specialist for new music, wrote a report for the November 1964 edition of Meloswhich quotes from Strawinsky’s programme note but does not even mention the date of the première, the baritone soloist, the orchestra or the performance venue (‘ Twelve Notes for Abraham by Igor Strawinsky ’, p. 364a – 365b) and omitted any remarks about the piece or performance. Since Gradenwitz only behaved in such a way for Strawinsky’s piece, it can be assumed that he did not like it. – In a letter from New York of 12th December 1964 to Rufina Ampenov, Strawinsky writes of the success of his concerts with the audience and its lack of success with the American critics. The only thing that the New York newspaper journalists, whose reports he described as ‘abusive’, knew how to say about the cantata was the description ‘monotonous and minor’. ‘And I really tried!’ not everyone could have the same success as Benjamin Britten with the critics. – In the programme for the Israeli Music Festival for July–August 1964, Strawinsky’s explanations of his piece were printed, but they later had to be revised because they contained errors. The most serious concerned the structural division of the piece and the word Abraham. Strawinsky described the large form as being in one movement but in five sections. In the subsequent printing (programme notes in: The London Magazine, February 1964) he changed five-part into six-part. The Ballad is indicated in the score as being in seven sections. Strawinsky further revised the section of the text in which he stated that the word ‘Abraham’ is the most frequently sung word and is always set unaccompanied, which does not correspond to the score. He revised this saying that it ‘is sung the first time without instruments’. – On the invitation of the board of the Israeli Music Festival, Strawinsky visited Israel for the first time in 1962. Along with Robert Craft, the then 80-year-old Strawinsky conducted a concert with the Philharmonic Orchestra. His reception was very friendly and the plan was put to him of writing a composition with biblical content for Israel. Strawinsky agreed and chose the story of Abraham and Isaac. On 10th March 1963, he said to Ernst Roth that he had completed Abraham and Isaac a week before. The score has the end date, 3rd March 1963. With his usual insistence on secrecy, he asked Roth not to show the score, which had been sent to him by Special Delivery, to anon apart from Leopold Spinner, who had to complete the piano reduction. Strawinsky had the ambition of setting the original Masorete text and synchronising it with the English text from the St. James's Bible by means of English phonetics, although he could not understand a word of Hebrew. For this reason, he avoided the Hebrew intonation and constrained himself to the identification of the accentuation of words and music. His friend Sir Isaiah Berlin was helpful to Strawinsky to understand the text. He also consulted other Hebrew speakers however, although with unsatisfactory results. In a letter that was not intended for publication of 23rd September 1964 to Ernst Roth, he wrote, in connection with the corrections for the piano score, that the reduction should be sent to Israel in order that the Hebrew symbols be inserted with the English phonetics according to the official rules of the university there. Each Hebrew authority – and Strawinsky used the words 'Hebrew authority' ironically in quotation marks – that he had asked for advice in the United States and in England had told him something different, and that could lead to annoyance later on. Strawinsky asked Roth to make contact with Berlin, who was living in Oxford, regarding this matter. In a subsequent letter of 11th March, he once again gave instruction that the Hebrew text should only be printed in Hebrew script. The problem was the distribution of the Roman-alphabet transliteration.He recommended to Roth that he look at Schoenberg's De profundisin order to see how the problem of the distribution of the underlying transliteration had been solved there. Strawinsky had earlier been interested in this piece. In a letter of 22nd May 1961, he had asked Roth at that time to consult Dr. Otto Tomek at the West German Radio, Cologne and to oversee a recording with the Radio choir at Cologne. The Cologne Radio had performed the first German performance of Schoenberg's choral work with the Rundfunk choir of Cologne with musical training by the choir director, Bernhard Zimmerman, on 29th January 1954 in one of the >musik der zeit< concerts under the direction of Wolfgang Sawallisch. This recording was broadcast on18th March 1954 by Herbert Eimert on the Musical Night Programme (>Musikalisches Nachtprogramm<) and was located in the archive. This can only have referred to this recording. Tomek was in charge of the New Music department at the time. The long awaited corrections for the orchestral score were received by Strawinsky on 27th January 1964. A performance of the Ballad with the Philadelphia Orchestra that was planned for January 1965 came to nothing because the vinyl recording that Strawinsky had in mind did not come to fruition. On 4th July 1964, he sent the piano reduction back to Spinner with a catalogue of questions and answers. The problems with the transliteration still remain unresolved. The question was that of Hebrew speakers who had to be heard before the first printing. In a letter of 13th December 1964 from New York to the publishers, Strawinsky had the printing temporarily interrupted because he was occupied with the final corrections.
Versions: All editions - pocket score, the piano reduction produced by ( who remained unnamed ) Leopold Spinner and the conducting score - were published in 1965 by Boosey & Hawkes, the piano reduction and conducting score in February and the pocket score in March. The British Library received its contributory copies on 25th February 1965 (piano reduction and conductor's score). The parts were available to hire. The publishing contract with Boosey & Hawkes was signed on 10th May 1963. The later pocket score editions no longer contain Edidit information.
Historical Record: 24th January/11th July 1967 in Hollywood, Richard Frisch (Baritone) and the Columbia Symphony Orchestraconducted by Robert Craft.
CD edition: XII/5.
Autograph: The original is located at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A copy has been sent to Dr. Paul Sacher. The sketches are at the Paul Sacher Foundation Basel.
Copyright: 1965 by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.
Editions
a) Overview
101-1 1965 VoSc; H; Boosey & Hawkes London; 19 pp.; 19162.
101-1 Straw 1965 [no annotations].
101-2 1965 PoSc; H; Boosey & Hawkes London; 28 pp.; 19197; 762.
101-2 68 1968 ibd.
101-3 1965 FuSc; h; Boosey & Hawkes London; 28 pp.; 19197.
>101-3 Straw ibd. [with annotations].
b) Characteristic features
101-1 Igor Stravinsky / Abraham and Isaac / A Sacred Ballad / for Baritone and / Chamber Orchestra / Vocal Score / Boosey & Hawkes // Igor Stravinsky / Abraham and Isaac / A Sacred Ballad / for Baritone and / Chamber Orchestra / Vocal Score / Boosey & Hawkes / Music Publishers Limited / London · Paris · Bonn · Johannesburg · Sydney · Toronto · New York // איגור סטרווינסקי / אברהם ויצ / בלדה קדושה / לבריטון ותזמורת ק / בוזי והוק // (Vocal score with chant sewn in red 23,5 x 31 (4° [4°]); sung text Hebrew English [capital letters] and translation English (not to sing); 19 [19] pages + 4 cover pages light tomato red on grey beige [front cover title, 3 empty pages] + 6 pages front matter [title page English, empty page, title page Hebrew, text set to music English, text set to music Hebrew, legend >Instrumentation< Italian + transposition mark italic > All instruments are written at actual pitch < + duration data [12'] English + note on performance] + 1 page back matter [empty page]; title head in connection with dedication Hebrew-English > איגור סטרווינסקי / אברהם ויצחק בלדה קדושה לבריטון ותזמורת קאמרית / מוקדש לתושבי מדינת ישראל < / [#] / >ABRAHAM AND ISAAC / A Sacred Ballad for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra / Dedicated to the people of the State of Israel<; author specified 1st page of the score paginated p. 1 above and below English dedication flush right centred >IGOR STRAVINSKY / 1962-63<; without translator specified; legal reservations 1st page of the score below type area flush left >© 1965 by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.< flush right >All rights reserved / Tonsättning förbjudes<; production indication 1st page of the score below type area below legal reservation flush right >Printed in England<; note with asterisc 1st page of the score below type area above legal reservation flush left italic > The English text is not to be sung. It is intended merely as a guide to the original Hebrew text. <; plate number >B. & H. 19162<; end number p. 19 flush right as end mark >2. 65. E<) // (1965)
101-1Straw
Strawinsky’s copy (Basel >IS / PM / 2298<) is without annotations.
101-2 HAWKES POCKET SCORES / ^IGOR STRAVINSKY / ABRAHAM AND ISAAC^ / BOOSEY & HAWKES / No. 762 // HAWKES POCKET SCORES / IGOR STRAVINSKY / ABRAHAM AND ISAAC / A Sacred Ballad / for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra / BOOSEY & HAWKES / MUSIC PUBLISHERS LIMITED / LONDON · PARIS · BONN · JOHANNESBURG · SYDNEY · TORONTO · NEW YORK / MADE IN ENGLAND [#] NET PRICE // איגור סטרווינסקי / אברהם ויצ / בלדה קדושה / לבריטון ותזמורת ק / בוזי והוק // (Pocket score stapled 14,1 x 18,9 (8° [8°] ); sung text Hebrew with transliteration English [capital letters] and translation English (not to sing); 28 [28] pages + 4 cover pages thicker paper dark green on dark beige [front cover title with frame 9,6 x 3,6 dark beige on dark green, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s advertisements >HAWKES POCKET SCORES / An extensive library of miniature scores containing both classical works / and a representative collection of outstanding modern compositions <* production date >No. I6< [#] >I/6I<] + 6 pages front matter [title page English, empty page, title page Hebrew, text set to music English, text set to music Hebrew, legend >Instrumentation< Italian + transposition mark italic > All instruments are written at actual pitch < + duration data [12'] English + note on performance italic > All appogiature to be played before the beat. / A line with a dot ( · ) indicates a sharp attack. <] without back matter; title head in connection with dedication Hebrew-English > איגור סטרווינסקי / אברהם ויצחק בלדה קדושה לבריטון ותזמורת קאמרית / מוקדש לתושבי מדינת ישראל < / [#] / >ABRAHAM AND ISAAC / A Sacred Ballad for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra / Dedicated to the people of the State of Israel<; author specified 1st page of the score paginated p. 1 below English dedication flush right centred >IGOR STRAVINSKY / 1962-63<; without translator specified; legal reservations 1st page of the score below type area flush left >© 1965 by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.< flush right >All rights reserved / Tonsättning förbjudes<; production indication 1st page of the score below type area below legal reservation flush right >Printed in England<; note with asterisc 1st page of the score below type area above legal reservation flush left italic > The English text is not to be sung. It is intended merely as a guide to the original Hebrew text. <; plate number >B. & H. 19197<; end of score dated p. 28 next to last bar oblong >March 3, / 1963<; end number >3. 65. E<) // (1965)
^ ^ = Text in frame.
* Compositions are advertised in three columns from >Bach, Johann Sebastian< to >Wagner, Richard< , amongst these >Stravinsky, Igor / Agon / Canticum Sacrum / Le Sacre du Printemps / Monumentum / Movements / Oedipus Rex / Pétrouchka / Symphonie de Psaumes / Threni< angezeigt. After London following the places of printing are listed: Paris-Bonn-Johannesburg-Sydney-Toronto-New York.
101-268 HAWKES POCKET SCORES / ^IGOR STRAVINSKY / ABRAHAM AND ISAAC^ / BOOSEY & HAWKES / No. 762 // HAWKES POCKET SCORES / IGOR STRAVINSKY / ABRAHAM AND ISAAC / A Sacred Ballad / for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra / BOOSEY & HAWKES / MUSIC PUBLISHERS LIMITED / LONDON · PARIS · BONN · JOHANNESBURG · SYDNEY · TORONTO · NEW YORK / MADE IN ENGLAND [#] NET PRICE // איגור סטרווינסקי / אברהם ויצ / בלדה קדושה / לבריטון ותזמורת ק / בוזי והוק // (Pocket score [library binding] 14 x 19 (8° [8°] ); sung text Hebrew with Transliteration English [capital letters] and translation English (not to sing); 28 [28] pages + 4 cover pages thicker paper dark green on dark beige [front cover title with frame 9,6 x 3,6 dark beige on dark green, 2 empty pages, page with publisher’s advertisements >HAWKES POCKET SCORES / The following list is but a selection of the many items included in this extensive library of miniature scores / containing both classical works and an ever increasing collection of outstanding modern compositions. A / complete catalogue of Hawkes Pocket Scores is available on request.<* production date >No. I6<] + 6 pages front matter [title page English, empty page, title page Hebrew, text set to music English, text set to music Hebrew, legend >Instrumentation< Italian + transposition mark italic > All instruments are written at actual pitch < + duration data [12'] English + note on performance italic > All appogiature to be played before the beat. / A line with a dot ( · ) indicates a sharp attack. <] without back matter; title head in connection with dedication Hebrew-English > איגור סטרווינסקי / אברהם ויצחק בלדה קדושה לבריטון ותזמורת קאמרית / מוקדש לתושבי מדינת ישראל < / [#] / >ABRAHAM AND ISAAC / A Sacred Ballad for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra / Dedicated to the people of the State of Israel<; author specified 1st page of the score paginated p. 1 below English dedication flush right centred >IGOR STRAVINSKY / 1962-63<; without translator specified; legal reservations 1st page of the score below type area flush left >© 1965 by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.< flush right >All rights reserved / Tonsättning förbjudes<; production indication 1st page of the score below type area below legal reservation flush right >Printed in England<; note with asterisc 1st page of the score below type area above legal reservation flush left italic > The English text is not to be sung. It is intended merely as a guide to the original Hebrew text. <; plate number >B. & H. 19197<; end of score dated p. 28 next to last bar oblong >March 3, / 1963<; end number >9. 68. E<) // (1968)
^ ^ = text in frame.
* Compositions are advertised in three columns without edition numbers and without specification of places of printing from >Bach, Johann Sebastian< to >Tchaikovsky, Peter<, amongst these >Stravinsky, Igor / Abraham and Isaac / Agon / Apollon musagète / Concerto in D / The flood / Introitus / Oedipus rex / Orpheus / Perséphone / Pétrouchka / Piano concerto / Pulcinella suite / The rake’s progress / The rite of spring / Le rossignol / A sermon, a narrative and a prayer / Symphonie de Psaumes / Symphonies of wind instruments / Threni / Variations<.
101-3 Igor Stravinsky / Abraham and Isaac / A Sacred Ballad/ for Baritone and/ Chamber Orch estra / Full Score/ Boosey & Hawkes // Igor Stravinsky / Abraham and Isaac / A Sacred Ballad/ for Baritone and/ Chamber Orchestra/ Full Score/ Boosey & Hawkes / Music Publishers Limited / London · Paris · Bonn · Johannesburg · Sydney · Toronto · New York// איגור סטרווינסקי / אברהם ויצ / בלדה קדושה / לבריטון ותזמורת ק / בוזי והוק / xevu hiuc // (Full score sewn in red 23.5 x 30.9 (4° [4°]); sung text Hebrew with Transliteration English [capital letters] and translation English (not to sing); 28 [28] pages + 4 cover pages thicker paper tomato red on green beige [front cover title, 3 empty pages] + 6 pages front matter [title page English, empty page, title page Hebrew, text set to music English, text set to music Hebrew, legend >Instrumentation< Italian + transposition mark italic > All instruments are written at actual pitch< + duration data [12'] English + note on performance italic > All appogiature to be played before the beat./ A line with a dot ( · ) indicates a sharp attack.<] without back matter; title head in connection with dedication Hebrew-English > איגור סטרווינסקי / אברהם ויצחק בלדה קדושה לבריטון ותזמורת קאמרית / מוקדש לתושבי מדינת ישראל < / [#] / >ABRAHAM AND ISAAC / A Sacred Ballad for Baritone and Chamber Orchestra / Dedicated to the people of the State of Israel<; author specified 1st page of the score paginated p. 1 below dedication flush right centred >IGOR STRAVINSKY / 1962-63<; without translator specified; legal reservations 1st page of the score below type area flush left >© 1965 by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.< flush right >All rights reserved / Tonsättning förbjudes<; production indication 1st page of the score below type area below legal reservation flush right >Printed in England<; note with asterisc 1st page of the score below type area above legal reservation flush left italic > The English text is not to be sung. It is intended merely as a guide to the original Hebrew text.<; plate number >B. & H. 19197<; end of score dated p. 28 next to last bar oblong >March 3, / 1963<; end number >2. 65. E<) // (1965)
101-3Straw
Strawinsky’s copy is signed and dated >IStr / March 27/°65< [° slash original] on the right of the outer title page between the last line of the italic subtitle and > Full Score<. The copy contains numerous performance entries (in pencil). On the back side of the outer title page, there is a review in four columns by Felix Aprahamian, >Stravinsky at his most obscure< from the >Sunday Times< from 23rd July 1965 that has been glued in.
K Catalog: Annotated Catalog of Works and Work Editions of Igor Strawinsky till 1971, revised version 2014 and ongoing, by Helmut Kirchmeyer.
© Helmut Kirchmeyer. All rights reserved.
http://www.kcatalog.org and http://www.kcatalog.net