Concerto Grosso (1930) - Annotated First publisher's proof, inscribed to Serge Lifar

Upright folio.  Lithographed. [PN] B.S.S. 32791. Stamps and pencil inscriptions in the upper-right corner of the first page: first proof November 8, 1930, and second proof November 11, 1930. 52 pp. in three gatherings of 16 pp. (8 bifolia) and one gathering of 4 pp. (1 bifolium), each page 11 × 13.75 inches (28 × 35 cm). Wrapper, stiff paper, 11 × 14 inches closed (28 × 36 cm), inscribed in ink in large letters on front: “Igor Markevitch | Ie Epreuve | du | Concerto Grosso | dedicace | a | Serge Lifar”.


Concerto Grosso (1930) by the Ukrainian-born French conductor and composer, who at age 16 was taken as a protégé of Diaghilev, soon afterward gaining stalwart supporters in Milhaud and Cocteau. The Concerto grosso, for orchestra, including soprano saxophone and percussion, was completed when Markevitch was age 18, and caused a sensation in Paris. The present score is the first publisher's proof, heavily annotated throughout with autograph corrections, revealing the ultimate stage of Markevitch’s compositional process. Its dedication inscription (first page, left margin) shows that Markevitch was already underway with his ballet L’envol d’Icare (1933), a collaboration with Serge Lifar, maître de ballet of the Paris Opéra, who was seven years older than the composer. Our translation: “For Serge, the first proof of my Concerto grosso, with wishes that my next score will be our first work in common” (Pour Serge la première epreuve de mon Concerto grosso, en esperant que ma prochaine partition soit notre première œuvre commune).

The young composer had his champions not only among composers, conductors, and critics, but also publishers; he was awarded an exclusive publishing contract with B. Schotts Söhne in Mainz, including for the present work. Included in the wrapper, a pre-publication subscription form by Schott, undated, for the full orchestral score of the ballet suite Rebus (1931). The premiere in 1930 of the Concerto grosso caused a great stir among the audience in Paris: Milhaud exclaimed that he had not been so carried away during a premiere since the Rite of Spring (Slonimsky, Early Articles, p. 102). Such a comparison is interesting, since the elder and younger Igors—Stravinsky and Markevitch—seem to have felt mutual rivalry: Stravinsky sent his son Soulima to insult Markevitch at one 1930 premiere, “It must be awful being another Igor,” to which Markevitch replied, “It must be worse to be another Stravinsky!” (Taruskin, “Markevitch as Icarus,” p. 120).

Born in 1905, Russian-born, Serge Lifar was introduced to dance in 1920 by Bronislava Nijinska, under whom he began to study. Brought to France to join Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Lifar studied with Cecchetti and became premier danseur of the company and created the title roles in a number of George Balanchine’s early ballets, including The Prodigal Son. He later became director of the Paris Opera Ballet (1929) and there created over 50 ballets, including the path-breaking Icare (1935), which was written to be danced without music. (18315)

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