Igor Stravinsky in Clarens / Montreux
The Russian composer Igor Stravinsky came to the Lake Geneva Region for health reasons. He composed several major works here. The Congress Centre Auditorium bears his name.
Igor Stravinsky
Musician, composer and conductor Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) and his family lived in Montreux after 1910. He was looking for a microclimate favourable to Mrs Stravinsky’s health and stayed in Montreux, Clarens and in 1915, after World War I, in Morges.
Igor Stravinsky composed “The Rites of Spring” (1912) in Montreux. His long walks along Lake Geneva inspired the composition “Petrushka”.
In those days, the sophisticated resort Montreux attracted several composers and musicians, such as Maurice Ravel and Ernest Ansermet, the conductor of the Kursaal Orchestra. Ansermet promoted Stravinsky's work and presented him to Jean Cocteau, André Gide and Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, with whom he composed “A Soldier's Tale” in 1918.
The Congress Centre Auditorium, which is the venue of the Montreux Jazz Festival, was christened "Auditorium Stravinski" in memory of this illustrious resident.
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