Stravinsky, God, and Time

Book excerpt: If, as Robert Craft remarked, 'religious beliefs were at the core of Stravinsky's life and work', why have they not figured more prominently in discussions of his works?Stravinsky's coordination of the listener with time is central to the unity of his compositional style. This ground-breaking study looks at his background in Russian Orthodoxy, at less well-known writings of Arthur Lourié and Pierre Souvtchinsky and at the Catholic philosophy of Jacques Maritain, that shed light on the crucial link between Stravinsky's spirituality and his restoration of time inmusic.Recent neuroscience research supports Stravinsky's eventual adoption of serialism as the natural and logical outcome of his spiritual and musical quest.