Inscribed to Violinist Samuel Dushkin
Chronicle of My Life.
London: Gollancz, 1936.
Price: $7,500.00
About the item
First English edition. Illustrated. 286 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Inscribed to Violinist Samuel Dushkin. Publisher’s black cloth, repaired at head of spine, in yellow printed dust jacket, spine darkened and chipped with some loss to title, small book ticket to spine.
Item #255987
Inscribed on the ffep, “A Sam & Louise Dushkin. Leur ami, I Stravinsky. Paris 30.3.36.”
Samuel Dushkin (1891-1976) was a concert violinist who worked closely with Stravinsky on the composition of the latter’s Violin Concerto (1931), his first major work for the instrument. Dushkin premiered the work in concert with Stravinsky conducting the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Stravinsky recounts his collaboration with Dushkin on pp. 268-278 of his memoir. “I was very glad to find in him, besides his remarkable gifts as a born violinist, a musical culture, a delicate understanding, and — in the exercise of his profession — an abnegation that is very rare” (p. 270). Stravinksy was inspired by his success with the Violin Concerto to compose a sonata for violin and piano which he took on tour with Dushkin to Europe and America, “… a deeper knowledge of the violin and close collaboration with a technician like Dushkin had revealed possibilities which I longed to explore” (p. 275).
An important association, marking a milestone in the expansion of Stravinksy’s evolution as a composer.
