New Light on the Fate of Some Early Works of Stravinsky: The Funeral Song Rediscovery

Abstract

The article is devoted to the sensational discovery in 2015 of the early symphonic piece of Igor Stravinsky Pogrebal’naya pesnya (The Funeral Song) op. 5, written by the young composer in 1908 on the death of his teacher, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. Previously, in all catalogues of Stravinsky’s works an item The Funeral Song was accompanied by the note “unpublished, lost.” On the basis of the documental sources the author of the article reconstructs the origin of The Funeral Song and the history of its premiere, describes the circumstances of rediscover- ing the complete set of the orchestral parts at the library of the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory and the attribution process, as well as analysis of the work itself.