Quote of the Day (19/03/08)

Stravinsky wrote Les Noces while staying in a small village in Switzerland. His friend and collaborator C.F. Ramuz, describing the house in which the composer lived, records...

'..how Stravinsky turned one of the attic rooms into a studio, reached by a half hidden wooden staircase well barricaded by doors, and how of a summer afternoon the sound of the composer at his piano and percussion instruments could be heard in the little square outside, where two or three women were usually to be found on a bench, knitting in the shade of the trees. These would raise their heads for a moment in bewilderment, and then with an indulgent "C`est le monsieur russe!" resume their knitting'

Music, Imagination and Culture: Nicholas Cook