Stravinsky, Igor: The Flood (1961-62) 24'
A musical play for solo voices, chorus, speakers and orchestra
Music Text
Text: Book of Genesis, York and Chester Miracle plays (L-E,L-F,L-G)
Scoring
T,2B,7speakers; SAT chorus 3(III=picc).afl.2.corA.2.bcl.dbcl.2.dbn-4.3.2.btrbn.1-timp.perc: xylorimba/3tom-t/cyms/BD-harp-cel(=pft)-strings.
Abbreviations (PDF).
Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes for the world.
For full details on this stagework, including synopsis and roles, please visit our Opera section.
World Premiere
6/14/1962
CBS Television Network broadcast
George Balanchine, choreographer / CBS Television Network / Robert Craft
Repertoire Note Deutsch
Commissioned by CBS television, The Flood conflates the Creation with the story of Noah's ark. Stravinsky: "Why did I call my work The Flood, instead of Noah? Because Noah is mere history. As a genuine antediluvian he is a great curiosity, but a sideshow curiosity. And even as 'eternal man,' the second Adam, the – to Augustinians – Old Testament Christ image, he is less important than the Eternal Catastrophe. The Flood is also The Bomb." God, impressively strange, is sung by two basses, Lucifer by a tenor; there is also a Caller (for the animal parade) and a Narrator. Stravinsky called the "musical speed" of The Flood "cinematographic;" writing for television, he eagerly dispensed with "the afflatus of overtures, connecting episodes, curtain music."
Reproduction Rights
This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to Boosey & Hawkes/Joseph Horowitz.
Recommended Recording
Peter Hall, David Wilson-Johnson, Stephen Richardson, Michael Berkeley, Bernard Jacobson, Lucy Shelton, London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen
Deutsche Grammophon E4470682
A musical play for solo voices, chorus, speakers and orchestra
Music Text
Text: Book of Genesis, York and Chester Miracle plays (L-E,L-F,L-G)
Scoring
T,2B,7speakers; SAT chorus 3(III=picc).afl.2.corA.2.bcl.dbcl.2.dbn-4.3.2.btrbn.1-timp.perc: xylorimba/3tom-t/cyms/BD-harp-cel(=pft)-strings.
Abbreviations (PDF).
Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes for the world.
For full details on this stagework, including synopsis and roles, please visit our Opera section.
World Premiere
6/14/1962
CBS Television Network broadcast
George Balanchine, choreographer / CBS Television Network / Robert Craft
Repertoire Note Deutsch
Commissioned by CBS television, The Flood conflates the Creation with the story of Noah's ark. Stravinsky: "Why did I call my work The Flood, instead of Noah? Because Noah is mere history. As a genuine antediluvian he is a great curiosity, but a sideshow curiosity. And even as 'eternal man,' the second Adam, the – to Augustinians – Old Testament Christ image, he is less important than the Eternal Catastrophe. The Flood is also The Bomb." God, impressively strange, is sung by two basses, Lucifer by a tenor; there is also a Caller (for the animal parade) and a Narrator. Stravinsky called the "musical speed" of The Flood "cinematographic;" writing for television, he eagerly dispensed with "the afflatus of overtures, connecting episodes, curtain music."
Reproduction Rights
This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to Boosey & Hawkes/Joseph Horowitz.
Recommended Recording
Peter Hall, David Wilson-Johnson, Stephen Richardson, Michael Berkeley, Bernard Jacobson, Lucy Shelton, London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen
Deutsche Grammophon E4470682
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