Stravinsky, Igor

"Pour La Princesse Eugin Murat de son cordialement devoué Igor Stravinsky, Morges 11 Juillet 1917", on the front endpaper, with the autograph title page:  "Berçeuses [sic] du chat et Pribaoutki (Chansons plaisantes) mis en français par C.F. Ramuz...Piano et chant",

the short score notated in black ink on up to five staves per page, extended into the margins in places, with some inner parts and a cadenza notated in small notes, the words in French also written by the composer on the remaining staves, with the titles of Pribaoutki in Russian and in French, and with a second vocal stave prepared for a Russian version but left empty, with annotations in pencil in another hand, some (partly erased) possibly intended for the printer, each song with a separate title and pagination, comprising:



Berceuses du chat ["Cat's Cradle Songs"]
I) 'Sur le poêle', title page and 5 pages
II) 'Intérieur', title page and 7 pages
III) 'Dodo...', title page and 7 pages
IV) 'Ce qu'il a, le chat...', title page and 2 pages,



Pribaoutki ["Chanson plaisantes"]
I) 'Kornilo / L'oncle Armand', title leaf in Russian and French, and 6 pages
II) 'Hatashka / Le Four', title leaf and 4 pages
III) 'Polkovnik i perepyolka / Le Colonel [and the quail]', title leaf and 8 pages
IV)  'Starets i Zayats' / Le Vieux et le Lièvre', title leaf and 10 pages 



59 pages in all, oblong 8vo (c.14 x 20cm), 10-stave paper, with blanks before each work, contemporary boards, [1916-1917] dated Morges, 11 July 1917, browning to margins of the dedication leaf  

S. Walsh, A Creative Spring : Russia and France, 1882-1934, (2003), pp.271-272.  I. Stravinsky, Selected Correspondence, volume 2, (1984), p.89n and 262;  Vera Stravinsky & R. Craft, Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents (1979), pp.127-138.  

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This is a very attractive manuscript by Stravinsky, containing two complete works, comprising eight songs in vocal score, with a dedication to the Princesse Murat, who helped fund their publication in 1917.  

On the 16 November 1916, Stravinsky attended a soirée at the house of the notorious Princesse Eugène Murat (formerly Violette Ney d'Elchingen), where the guests included Bakst, Cocteau, Satie and Milhaud.  He played or directed the Three Pieces for String Quartet and Renard, and so enraptured the Princesse that she agreed to help with publication of his works.  He suggested Berceuses du chat and Pribaoutki and sold the manuscript to her, receiving payment of four thousand francs on 12 January 1917, a day after the dated dedication-leaf.  

Stravinsky sketched Pribaoutki at Salvan in 1914 and Berceuses du chat in Morges during the summer and autumn of 1915. The two works were  published by Adolphe Henn of Geneva in 1917, both in full score for voice and chamber ensemble, and in vocal score, in both French and Russian. The manuscript may have been prepared for the printer, but was not used for the edition: most of the publisher's markings have been erased, and the words are only in French (there are also a few minor divergences from the editions).  Stravinsky described Pribaoutki to Rolland as "a form of very old Russian popular poetry, consisting of a succession of words which have almost no sense, and which are connected by association of images and sounds".  After the early performances in 1919, the songs were praised by Bartók for the "atonality" of the accompaniments, by Prokofiev for the instrumentation, and by Webern for their emotional appeal.

For other examples of Stravinsky's musical handwriting from 1916-1917, see the sale at Sotheby's New York, 18 December 1983, lots 117-119 (Renard; Cinq pieces faciles; Étude for pianola); Stravinsky, Sein Nachlass. Sein Bild, exhibition catalogue (Basel 1984), p.63, and in V. Stravinsky & Craft (pp. 136-137, see below).  A earlier manuscript, in Russian, of 'Dodo', the third song from Berceuses du chat, was in the sale De la collection musicale André Meyer, Sotheby's 16/17 October 2012, lot 480.