RAG-TIME, PRINTER'S PROOF, WITH CORRECTIONS IN STRAVINSKY'S HAND
STRAVINSKY, Igor. Rag-Time. Paris: La Sirène, 1919. Quarto, 12 leaves, printed on one side only, unbound. Housed in a custom chemise and half morocco clamshell box. $5500.
Proofs of the first edition of the piano reduction, with corrections throughout by Stravinsky.
"The basic idea behind this work was to produce a composite portrait of the new type of popular dance music that had just emerged in North America, giving it the importance of a concert piece, as in the past composers had done for the minuet, waltz, mazurka and so on" (White, 238). Printed in blue ink (surface pulls from the engraved plates), with Stravinsky's corrections in black ink. With alterations to the dedication ("soit en majusculs!") and his name on the first page, and alterations to notes, clefs, accents and accidentals throughout. At the bottom of the last page, Stravinsky has written "Morges, 1918," being the village in Switzerland in which he lived during and shortly after the war. Published in the same year as the first edition of the full score. White 37. De Lerma R2.
A few corrections rather faint, occasional light chipping to edges, expert paper restoration to right-hand edges.