Histoire du soldat (sometimes written L'histoire du soldat; translated as The Soldier's Tale or A Soldier's Tale) is a 1918 theatrical work "to be read, played, and danced" ("lue, jouée et dansée") set to music by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, which is based on a Russian folk tale, was written in French by C.F. Ramuz. It is a parable about a soldier who trades his fiddle to the devil for a book that predicts the future of the economy. The music is scored for a septet of violin, double bass, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, and percussion, and the story is told by three actors: the soldier, the devil, and a narrator, who also takes on the roles of minor characters. A dancer plays the non-speaking role of the princess, and there may also be additional ensemble dancers. 1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation) Theater (American English) or Theatre (British English and widespread usage among theatre professionals in the US) is that branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed... Music is an art, entertainment, or other human activity which involves organized sound, though definitions may vary. ... Igor Fyodorovitch Stravinsky (Russian: ) (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a Russian-American composer of modern classical music. ... Libretto can also refer to a sub-notebook PC manufactured by Toshiba. ... Folklore is the ethnographic concept of the tales, legends, or superstitions current among a particular ethnic population, a part of the oral history of a particular culture. ... Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz (September 24, 1878 – May 24, 1947) was a French-speaking Swiss writer. ... An ill digested lesson The Governess. ... A Norwegian soldier (a Corporal, armed with an MP-5) A soldier is a person who has enlisted with, or has been conscripted into, the armed forces of a sovereign country and has undergone training and received equipment to defend that country or its interests. ... The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a fifth apart. ... The Devil is the name given to a supernatural entity who, in most Western religions, is the central embodiment of evil. ... A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. ... The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a fifth apart. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ... A bass clarinet, which sounds an octave lower than the more common Bb soprano clarinet. ... Bassoon Playing range of a bassoon The bassoon is the tenor member of the woodwind family. ... Trumpeter performing with the United States Air Forces in Europe Band The trumpet is a brass instrument. ... The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. ... Percussion instruments are played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped. ... In fiction, a narrator is a voice or character who tells the story. ... A contemporary dancer rehearsing in a dance studio Dance generally refers to human movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual or performance setting. ...

The libretto has been translated into English by Michael Flanders and Kitty Black, and into German by Hans Reinhart. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Michael Henry Flanders (March 1, 1922 - April 14, 1975) was a British actor, broadcaster, and writer and performer of comic songs. ...

A full performance of Histoire du soldat takes about an a hour. There is a half-hour concert suite version, which was later arranged by the composer for violin, clarinet, and piano. In music, a suite is an organized set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed at a single sitting. ... In popular music an arrangement is a setting of a piece of music, which may have been composed by the arranger or by someone else. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... This article is about the modern musical instrument. ...

The music is in the modernist style and is rife with changing time signatures. For this reason, it is commonly performed with a conductor, though some ensembles have elected to perform the piece without one. Much of the music – especially the concerto-like violin part – is considered virtuosic. Modernism in music is characterized by a desire for or belief in progress and science, surrealism, anti-romanticism, political advocacy, general intellectualism, and/or a breaking with tradition or common practice. ... The time signature (also known as meter signature) is a notational device used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each bar and which note value (minim, crotchet, eighth note and so on) constitutes one beat. ... Conductor can mean different things in different contexts: In science and engineering, a conductor is material capable of conveying electricity. ... Origin Etymology Concerto (from the Latin concertus, from certare, to strive, also confused with concentus), in its most general sense, is a name for a piece of classical music in which there are two distinct groups of instruments, one larger than the other. ... A virtuoso is a musician who has attained the highest level of skill in a fine art, especially at playing a specific instrument or singing. ...

Plot

Part 1

As the work opens, Joseph, a Russian soldier, marches toward his hometown on leave, pack in tow. ("Marche du soldat"/"The Soldier's March") He rests by a stream and rummages through his pack. First he takes out his lucky St. Joseph medallion, then a mirror, then a photograph of his girlfriend. Finally, he finds what he was searching for: his fiddle. He begins to play. ("Petit airs au bord du ruisseau"/"Airs by a Stream") The devil appears disguised as an old man carrying a butterfly net, but Joseph does not notice him and continues to play. The devil sneaks up on Joseph from behind and startles him. In the armed forces, leave is permission to be away from ones unit for a period of time. ...

The devil asks Joseph to sell him his fiddle, and when Joseph refuses, he offers him a book that he says contains untold wealth. Joseph does not understand the book, but the devil convinces him that it's worth more than his cheap fiddle. Joseph then realizes the book contains events that happen in the future! The devil offers to take Joseph home for three days to teach him about the book if Joseph will teach him about the fiddle. After the devil describes the life of luxury he lives, Joseph accepts. After three days pass, the devil takes Joseph home. (Reprise: "Marche du soldat")

As Joseph walks the path towards his town, he notices something strange: everyone runs away as they see him. Finally, he arrives at his fianceé's house only to see her with her husband and children. Finally, he realizes that three years – not three days – have passed, and that the residents of the town think he's a ghost. ("Pastorale")

Joseph sees the devil in disguised as a cattle merchant and confronts him. The devils tries to calm Joseph by reminding him of the power of the book. Joseph started off as a peddler. With the knowledge he gained from the book, he quickly amassed great wealth. Soon, he realizes this material wealth means nothing, and all he wants is the things he had before – the things everyone else has. ("Petite airs au bord du ruisseau (reprise)") He realizes the poor have nothing in terms of material wealth, yet they have it all when it comes to happiness. He gets agitated and starts looking through the book for the solution, yet can't find anything.

The devil arrives disguised as an old female peddler. He takes some things out to sell to Joseph: first, a lucky medallion; next, a mirror; then, a photograph of a woman; finally, a fiddle. Joseph immediately perks up and tries to buy the fiddle from the devil. The devil hands Joseph the violin, but he can no longer play: the violin makes no sound. ("Petite airs au bord du ruisseau (reprise)") Joseph hurls the violin away and tears the book up.

Part 2

Joseph leaves his home with nothing. He marches past his old hometown. ("Marche du soldat (reprise)") He arrives at an inn where he hears the news that the king's daughter is sick, and whoever can raise her from her bed will be given her hand in marriage. An old army buddy spots Joseph in the inn and convinces him he should pose as an army doctor and try to save the princess. Joseph leaves to see the king. ("Marche royale"/"The Royal March")

When he arrives at the palace, the devil is already there disguised as a virtuoso violinist. Joseph turns over some cards and gets an air of confidence when they are all hearts. Suddenly, the devil makes his presence known, clutching the violin to his chest, and taunts Joseph. The narrator tells Joseph the reason the devil controls him is because Joseph still has the devil's money, and if Joseph loses all his money to the devil in a card game, he'll finally be free.

The plan works: the devil falls, and Joseph is free. He takes the violin and plays. ("Petit concert"/"The Little Concert") He triumphantally marches into the princess's chambers and starts to play another tune. The princess is miraculously resurrected by the music, and begins to dance. ("Trois danses"/"Three Dances" "1. Tango; 2. Valse; 3. Ragtime")

Joseph and the princess embrace. The devil arrives, and for the first time he is not disguised. As Joseph protects the princess from the devil, he realizes he can defeat the devil by playing his violin. ("Danse du diable"/"The Devil's Dance") The devil can't resist the music and begins to contort. Exhausted, he falls to the ground. The soldier takes the princess's hand, and together they drag the devil away, then fall into each others' arms. ("Petit choral"/"Little Chorale")

The devil pops his head in and begins to torment the couple, warning them that Joseph may not leave the castle or the devil will regain control of him. ("Couplets du diable"/"The Devil's Song")

Over the "Grand Choral" ("Great Chorale"), the narrator tells the moral of the story:

The princess begins to get curious about Joseph's past, though Joseph knows he is forbidden to revisit it. Finally, she convinces him to sneak out of the palace and visit his mother. As they get near his hometown, Joseph goes ahead to find the frontier. As he arrives at his village, the devil is waiting for him, playing the violin. Joseph hangs his head and follows the devil slowly, but without resistance. ("Marche triomphale du diable"/"Triumphal March of the Devil")

Adaptations

In 1983, Sesame Street animator R.O. Blechman created an animated version for PBS's Great Performances featuring Max von Sydow as the voice of devil. This production was released on VHS the next year and on DVD in 2004. [1]  (http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_media/2003/blechman.html) [2]  (http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/soldierstale.php) 1983 is an integer and composite number that represents a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... From A Celebration of Me, Grover, showing much of the main cast of Sesame Street. ... Animation refers to the technique in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result. ... Note: Public Broadcasting Services is a broadcaster in Malta. ... Carl Adolf von Sydow was born on April 10, 1929 to a middle class family in Lund, southern Sweden. ... Top view VHS cassette with US Quarter for scale Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed The Video Home System, better known by its acronym VHS, is a recording and playing standard for video cassette recorders (VCRs), developed by JVC (ironically, with some of its critical technology under... DVD is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for storing data, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1993, American novelist Kurt Vonnegut reworked the libretto into a tale about World War II Private Eddie Slovik, the first soldier in the United States military to be executed for desertion since the Civil War. [3] (http://www.vonnegutweb.com/vonnegutia/drama/lhis_completetext.html) 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003) Events Media:January January 1 - Czechoslovakia divides. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... Kurt Vonnegut, Junior (born November 11, 1922) is an American novelist, satirist, and most recently, graphic artist. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... This article is about the military rank of Private. ... Private Eddie Slovik Edward Donald Eddie Slovik (February 18, 1920 - January 31, 1945), a private in the United States Army during World War II, was the first United States soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. ... The armed forces of the United States of America consist of the United States Army United States Navy United States Air Force United States Marine Corps United States Coast Guard Note: The United States Coast Guard has both military and law enforcement functions. ... Desertion is the act of abandoning or withdrawing support from someone or something to which you owe allegiance, responsibility or loyalty. ... The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the United States – forces coming mostly from the 23 northern states of the Union – and the newly-formed Confederate States of America, which consisted of 11 southern states that had declared their secession. ...

References

• Igor Stravinsky, C.F. Ramuz, and John Carewe (ed.). Histoire du Soldat. London: Chester Music, 1987. ISBN 0711938415

External links

• A Soldier's Tale (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253729/) at the Internet Movie Database
• Complete text (http://www.vonnegutweb.com/vonnegutia/drama/lhis_completetext.html) of the Kurt Vonnegut adaptation