Igor Stravinsky’s 1918 theatrical work L’Histoire du soldat (‘Tale of the Soldier’), designed to be ‘read, played and danced’, involves a narrator, three actors and one or more dancers, plus seven instrumentalists. Conceived by the composer, together with the Swiss writer and librettist Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, it is based on a Russian tale entitled The Runaway Soldier and the Devil in the collection of Alexander Afanasyev. Wikipedia describes the plot as follows:
Ramuz relates the parable of a soldier who trades his violin to the Devil in return for vast economic gain by means of three actors: the Narrator, who both narrates and impersonates several minor characters; the Devil, who assumes various guises; and the Soldier himself, Joseph, from no army identified. A dancer has the usually silent role of the Princess.
In this performance the conductor will be Hakan Şensoy, while the violin part will be played by the distinguished Turkish violinist and pedagogue Cihat Aşkın. Narration, meanwhile, will be provided (in Turkish) by the celebrated Turkish actor Müjdat Gezen.
Issue 66, December 2023
Turkey’s Centenary Issue
