Evening star., 1960-08-21
BY DAY THORPE
Star Music Critic

Star Music Critic
Memories and Commentaries. Isor
etravinsky and Robert Craft 1877
pp.: illus. Doubleday. S3.95.
The "reminiscences of a
musician usually make a
book so dull that its only
purpose is to supply material
for the notes of symphony
concert programs. Why they
are sententious, plodding.
and commonplace can be eX-
planned, possibly, by the fact
that the good musician is by
nature a master Of notes,
not of words. No matter how
remarkable and interesting a
mans life has been, when he
becomes an author, his sue
cess is me easured by his
ability as a writer. Beechams
"A Mingled Chime" was a
good book. and the several
that Igor Stravinsky has
publis h e d throughout his
career are also notable ex-
ceptions to the rule. None
has been so fascinating as
the second volume of COM
ments and reflections told to
Robert Craft, his disciple
and amanuensis, and pub
lished this week as Memo
ries and Commentaries"
The book is in the form
Of a dialogue. Like Boswell,
Mr.. Craft has prepared the
questions which his subject
answers; unlike Boswell, he
keeps himself severely out Of
the picture. There is the
prepared question and then
the reply which is sometimes
mechanical as See chart on
page 16," sometimes offhand,
but usually carefully and sys-
tematically worked out. If
the book does not have the
charm of a conversation, it
is, nevertheless, an unusual
and fascinating form of lit
erary art.
Artists Remembered
The 78-year-old Stravin-
sky remembers vividly scores
of the most colorful musical
personalities Of the last so
years, and since much of his
life work has been done in
conjunction with writer's and
men of the theater his remi-
niscences enfold artists of
many fields. The composer
is a brilliant verbal minia-
turiSt-
"Diaghilev was in no sense
an intellectual. At times
I thought him pathologi-
cally superstitious. He car
ried amulets; he pronounced
talismanic formulas; like DR..
johnson he counted paving
stones; he avoided 13S. black
cats, open ladders. VaSsili,
his domeStic-who was al
ways by his side holding
Turkish towels, or hair
brushes-but you know Coo
teau's caricature-Vassili was
made to perform what
Diaghilev regarded as the
more orthodox superstition
Of prayer; for. while he was
not believer, he did not
want to exclude the Chris
tian possibility altogether.
Vassili once told me that
when they were en- route to
America in 1916 Diaghilev
was so frightened by rough
seas that he made him 60
down on his knees and pray,
while he, Diaghilev. lay on
his bed, worrying for both-a
real division of labor"
"Prokofiev had merits and
that rare thing, the instant
imprint of personality. Nor
was he cheap-facility is not
the same thing as cheapness.
Only. alas. he would not have
understood Mallarme's reply
to a man who had congratu-
lated him on making such a
clear speech: Then I will
have to add some shadows"
Likened to Corn Surplus
Stravinsky minimizes the
effect Of commissions on his
own art, but he thinks that
most new music is influenced
if not actually predetermined
by the modern buyer of un-
written music. He feels that
the difference between today
and the time Of the Ester
hays or of a renaissance
duke is that now there is no
need for the product. Actual,
lie, commercial, uses for new