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 Nadia
Boulanger
and the
Stravinskys
E
A Selected Correspondence

Edited by Kimberly A. Francis

 Nadia Boulanger and the Stravinskys

Francis.indd i 2/6/2018 5:06:17 PM

 Eastman Studies in Music
Ralph P. Locke, Senior Editor
Eastman School of Music

Additional Titles of Interest

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Edited by Jeremy Gill

Dane Rudhyar: His Music, Thought, and Art

Deniz Ertan

In Search of New Scales: Prince Edmond de Polignac, Octatonic Explorer

Sylvia Kahan

Leon Kirchner: Composer, Performer, and Teacher

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Stravinsky’s “Great Passacaglia”:

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Donald G. Traut

The Substance of Things Heard: Writings about Music

Paul Griffiths

Variations on the Canon: Essays on Music from Bach to Boulez

in Honor of Charles Rosen on His Eightieth Birthday
Edited by Robert Curry, David Gable, and Robert L. Marshall

A complete list of titles in the Eastman Studies in Music series may be found
on the University of Rochester Press website, www.urpress.com

Francis.indd ii 2/6/2018 5:07:59 PM

 Nadia Boulanger and
the Stravinskys

A Selected Correspondence

Edited by
Kimberly A. Francis

Francis.indd iii 2/6/2018 5:07:59 PM

 The University of Rochester Press gratefully acknowledges generous support from
the Manfred Bukofzer Endowment of the American Musicological Society, funded
in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation.

Copyright © 2018 by Kimberly A. Francis

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no

part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner.

First published 2018

University of Rochester Press

668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.urpress.com
and Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-58046-596-0
ISSN: 1071-9989

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Boulanger, Nadia, author. | Stravinsky, Igor, 1882–1971, author. | Francis,

Kimberly A., 1979– editor.
Title: Nadia Boulanger and the Stravinskys : a selected correspondence / edited by
Kimberly A. Francis.
Other titles: Eastman studies in music ; v. 143.
Description: Rochester : University of Rochester Press, 2018. | Series: Eastman
studies in music ; volume 143 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017048920 | ISBN 9781580465960 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Boulanger, Nadia—Correspondence. | Stravinsky, Igor, 1882–
1971—Correspondence. | Conductors (Music)—Correspondence.
Classification: LCC ML423.B52 A4 2018 | DDC 780.92/2—dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017048920

This publication is printed on acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America.

Francis.indd iv 2/6/2018 5:08:04 PM

 Dedicated to Pamela and Thomas Francis

Francis.indd v 2/6/2018 5:08:04 PM

Francis.indd vi 2/6/2018 5:08:04 PM
 Contents
Acknowledgments ix

Note on Companion Website xi

Abbreviations xiii

Introduction 1

1 October 1929–August 1938 15

2 Toward America: January 1939–June 1940 48

3 The American Years: November 1940–January 1946 68

4 After the War: 1946–1951 136

5 A Friendship Unravels: 1951–1956 190

6 Old Friends: 1956–1972 246

Bibliography 315

Index 321

Photographs follow p. 14.

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Francis.indd viii 2/6/2018 5:08:05 PM
 Acknowledgments
An entire team of research assistants, colleagues, and archivists brought this
project to life, and it is my pleasure to express here, in some small way, my
gratitude to all involved.
To Sonia Kane, Ralph Locke, and Julia Cook, I thank you for supporting
this project and helping to make it a reality. My thanks, too, to the anonymous
reviewers who helped refine this project through their thoughtful, constructive
feedback.
Essential financial support for this text was provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Office of Research
and the College of Arts at the University of Guelph, American Association of
University Women, American Musicological Society, Graduate School of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and private donations from Don
Campbell. Earlier versions of this work were read at conferences and collo-
quia in Canada, the United States, and England. My thanks to all involved for
their provocative insights.
The letters cited in this edition, both in translation and in footnotes,
draw on archives throughout Europe and North America. Materials from the
Boulanger archives are reprinted with the permission of the Centre inter-
national Nadia et Lili Boulanger; materials from the Paul Sacher Stiftung
and the Stravinsky Family papers of the Bibliothèque nationale de France
are reprinted with the permission of John Stravinsky; and materials from
the Théodore Strawinsky archives are reprinted with the permission of the
Fondation Théodore Strawinsky. Special thanks are due especially to the
staff and scholars associated with the three major collections wherein the
majority of the correspondence is housed: Catherine Massip and Élisabeth
Giuliani of the Département de la musique of the Bibliothèque nationale de
France; Heidy Zimmermann, Carlos Chanfón, and Isolde Degen of the Paul
Sacher Stiftung; and Sylvie Visinand of the Fondation Théodore Strawinsky
in Geneva, Switzerland.
This entire project began when I was a graduate student at UNC–Chapel Hill
and had the great fortune to work as a research assistant to Annegret Fauser. I
learned from her the nuances of archival research and the discipline necessary
for success. It was her encouragement and exacting standards that pushed me

Francis.indd ix 2/6/2018 5:08:05 PM

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 x ❧ acknowledgm ents

past my initial fear of working with Stravinsky’s handwriting and drove me to

engage with this material in myriad ways. I consider myself immensely lucky
that she continues to act as a mentor and friend, serving as an example of
erudition and compassion. I must also thank Alexandra Laederich and Jeanice
Brooks, who have supported this project from its inception and have shared so
generously of their deep knowledge of French culture, Boulanger’s world, and
the nature of exacting scholarship. Alexandra, especially, read through the
entire French portion of this text and provided invaluable insights concerning
Boulanger’s prose.
The translations and transcriptions found here involved a veritable army
of research assistants. To Jamie Jackson, Matthew Toth, Victor Fernandez,
Krisandra Ivings, Erin Maher, Jennifer Walker, and especially Melissa Laporte, I
extend my thanks. To Rosheeka Parahoo, who built and populated this book’s
companion website, I thank you for your hard work, your fresh perspective,
your infectious energy, and your commitment to excellence. May this be your
first academic project of many. Dawn Cornelio served as an indefatigable col-
laborator when it came to untangling Boulanger’s prose. Your virtuosity with
translation continues to inspire me. And to Connor Maitland, who served
as this manuscript’s extraordinary copy editor, I cannot thank you enough.
Finally, while this edition exists because of this marvelous team, the final text is
mine alone, particularly any mistakes or infelicities.
To my colleagues, especially Sally Hickson, Margot Irvine, Sofie Lachapelle,
Paola Meyer, Sandra Parmagiani, and Christina Smylitopolous, I thank you
for the inspiring and supportive environment in which I have the pleasure of
working every day. I also thank my friends, especially Stephanie and Michael
Berec, Kristen Meyers-Turner, Christine O’Connor, and Matthew Carl Todd for
their support, encouragement, and guidance. A special debt is owed to Emily
Abrams Ansari, Kevin Bartig, Annegret Fauser, William Gibbons, Alicia Levin,
Avila Lotoski, Friedemann Sallis, and Karen and Doug Shadle, who so kindly
read drafts of this text and whose comments helped shape the final result.
I thank my parents for everything they have given me and for their support
over the years. I lovingly dedicate this book to them and their example. And
to Brian, Emily, Ellison, and Quinton, thank you for your love and patience.
In one of Boulanger’s favorite anecdotes about Stravinsky, she would tell of his
refusal to bow to critics: he didn’t need their applause, he would say, because
he had his boussole (compass) in his pocket. My dear children, my brilliant and
wonderful husband, I don’t need a compass: I have you. I thank you for your
patience and love through thick and through thin.

Francis.indd x 2/6/2018 5:08:05 PM

 Note on Companion Website
All transcriptions of this book’s corresponding French originals can be con-
sulted on the book’s companion website, https://digex.lib.uoguelph.ca/
exhibits/show/boulangerandstravinskys. Indeed, I designed the website to
serve as a reference tool in itself. All letters may be sorted by author, date,
and indexed items. For example, it is possible to isolate all letters written by
Boulanger that reference the Symphonie de psaumes, if one so desires. One may
also choose between viewing French and English texts side by side, or viewing
French or English letters in isolation. All editorial comments and footnotes
appear in the print version only.

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Francis.indd xii 2/6/2018 5:08:06 PM
 Abbreviations
F-LYc Conservatoire national supérieur musique et danse de Lyon,
Lyon, France
CINLB Centre international Nadia et Lili Boulanger
F-Pn Bibliothèque nationale de France—National Library of
France
CH-Fts Foundation Théodore Strawinsky, Genève, Switzerland
N.L.a. Lettres autographes, nouveau fonds—Autograph letters, new
collection
US-NYp New York Public Library
Rés. Vm. Dos. Réserve Vm. Dossier—Miscellaneous reserved
(unpublished/autograph) materials in the Bibliothèque
nationale de France
CH-Bps Stravinsky collection, Paul Sacher Stiftung

To condense score citations, the following abbreviations have been employed:

ph. Photostat (used to describe all manner of reproduced scores,

particularly as “photostat” is the word used by Boulanger and
Stravinsky regardless of the actual means of reproduction).
a. autograph
2p two piano
2pr two-piano reduction
p/v piano/vocal reduction

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Francis.indd xiv 2/6/2018 5:08:06 PM
 Introduction
It all began with music lessons for Stravinsky’s son in October of 1929. By
that fall, Nadia Boulanger, thirty-two-year-old professor at the École normale
de musique in Paris and at the Conservatoire américain at Fontainebleau,
had garnered a reputation as an extraordinarily gifted music educator. The
daughter of a Parisian composer, the distinguished Ernest Boulanger, and an
exiled Russian princess and former Conservatoire vocal student, Raïssa [née
Mychestky], Boulanger had made her place in Paris as a composer, performer,
and pedagogue.1 Her musical prowess had been tested and proven already by
her prodigious graduation with four first prizes from the Conservatoire de Paris
at the age of sixteen. By 1929, despite abandoning her own moderately scan-
dalous career as a composer in favor of performing and teaching, Boulanger
had ascended to a compelling position in modernist circles as a charismatic,
passionate teacher of musical composition, harmony, history, accompaniment,
and performance. Above all, she championed new music.
Contemporaneously, by the late 1920s, Igor Stravinsky held both an impe-
rious and a controversial place within the modernist musical community. Son
of a Russian opera singer, Fyodor, and a Ukrainian-born mother, Anna [née
Kholodovskaya], Stravinsky returned from Switzerland to Paris following the
First World War to find that his new neoclassical aesthetic divided the city that
had earlier celebrated him for works such as The Firebird and Petrushka. Though
his professional world and social acquaintances appear to have had little con-
nection to Boulanger’s at this time, Boulanger had already developed a deep
devotion to Stravinsky’s music, and was actively promoting it. Sparse evidence

1. Raïssa (Rosalie) Mychestky came to Paris in 1876, claiming to be an exiled

Russian princess. Rumors exist that Raïssa may in fact have been Jewish and
from Poland. Jérôme Spycket argues that Raïssa was the daughter of Princess
Yekaterina Ivanovna Myshchetskaya, who was German in background and had
converted from Lutheranism. Spycket suggests that Raïssa was in fact illegiti-
mate, and the title came to her mother as a means of covering up an affair with
a member of the imperial family. Spycket, À la recherche, 65. Raïssa Boulanger
never spoke Russian at home. Nadia Boulanger did not know the language
and had to ask students to translate for her. Boulanger’s later claims that she
understood the Slavic soul were never autobiographical in nature.

Francis.indd 1 2/6/2018 5:08:06 PM

 2 ❧ introduction

and anecdotal references describe Stravinsky’s visits to Boulanger’s studio in the

1920s, a teaching space that must have reminded him of the jours fixes that he
had attended at the home of his own beloved teacher, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
(1844–1908).2 During visits with Boulanger’s students, Stravinsky spoke about
his works and provided feedback on the compositions of Boulanger’s pupils.
These occasional exchanges, as well as Boulanger’s extraordinary reputation as
a pedagogue, led Stravinsky to approach Boulanger about facilitating the educa-
tion of his son, Sviatoslav Soulima. Boulanger accepted the eighteen-year-old as
a student, and in so doing drew the Stravinskys into her world just as she entered
theirs, eventually corresponding with Catherine, Anna, Denise, Théodore,
Soulima, Françoise, Milène, “Kitty,” and of course Igor Stravinsky (table I.1).
The Paul Sacher Stiftung, the Fondation Théodore Strawinsky, and
the New York Public Library all hold Boulanger’s letters to members of the
Stravinsky family. The Stravinskys’ letters to Boulanger can be consulted at the
Bibliothèque nationale de France. Stravinsky’s letters reveal his professional
ambition and bear witness to his thirst for praise, his struggle with detractors,
and his businesslike approach to composition. He operates in these letters as
both friend and foe, by turns officious and doting. His words underscore his
deep love of family and friends as well as his ready manipulation of those who
could help him cement his legacy.
Boulanger’s letters offer a candid glimpse of the praise she lavished on
Stravinsky and her professional strategies employed for his benefit. Particularly
rich are her comments on the Symphony of Psalms, the Dumbarton Oaks Concerto,
the Symphony in C, and The Rake’s Progress. Invaluable are her accounts of
the early reception of The Rake and her general reportage on the reestablish-
ment of European cultural traditions after the Second World War, especially
the place of post-tonal composition and its effect on young composers. Her
words allow for an intimate experience of both her response to the way in
which Stravinsky distanced himself from her after 1952 and her concern over
his health and well-being as reported to her by Stravinsky’s children. Overall,
this epistolary exchange paints a firsthand account of the transatlantic nature
of musical life during the modernist era for both Boulanger and Stravinsky. It
speaks of the complex relationship between creation and reception, between
composition and transmission, and between friendship and careerism.

Boulanger’s Stravinskys

Adding an additional layer of nuance and interest to this epistolary account are
the letters exchanged between Boulanger and Stravinsky’s immediate family.

2. Brooks, Musical Work, 27–28, 174.

Francis.indd 2 2/6/2018 5:08:06 PM

 introduction ❧ 3

Table I.1. Stravinsky Family Correspondence with Boulanger, Bibliothèque

nationale de France

Relation to
Name Igor Stravinsky Shelfmark (F-Pn) Dates
Stravinsky, Anna Mother N.L.a. 108 (85–87) 1930–35
Stravinsky, Catherine First wife N.L.a. 108 (88–96) 1929–37
Stravinsky, Catherine Granddaughter N.L.a. 108 (97–101) 1967–70
(“Kitty”)
Stravinsky, Denise Daughter-in-law N.L.a. 108 (102–7) 1939–76

Stravinsky, Françoise Daughter-in-law N.L.a. 108 (108–14) 1946–72

Stravinsky, Igor N.L.a 108 (115–310) 1929–69

Stravinsky, Milène Daughter N.L.a. 108 (312–18) 1969–75

Stravinsky, Soulima Son N.L.a. 108 (319–87) 1929–77

Strawinsky, Théodore Son N.L.a. 109 (1–62) 1931–80

The Stravinsky family, excluding Igor, sent 140 letters to the French peda-
gogue between 1929 and 1979. At either end of this edition, Igor Stravinsky’s
words retreat into the background, and those of his immediate family frame
and fill the narrative. This edition would be incomplete without a discussion
of the correspondents beyond Igor Stravinsky who so enrich this collection
(table I.1).

Yekaterina (Catherine) Gavrilovna Stravinsky (née Nossenko) (1880–

1939) and Anna Kirillovna Stravinsky (née Kholodovskaya) (1854–1939)

The letters of Anna Stravinsky, Igor’s mother, and Catherine Stravinsky, his first
wife, appear in this collection twice and five times, respectively. I have cho-
sen in this collection to refer to his first wife as Catherine, as this is how she
self-identified in letters to Boulanger, and it is what her children called her.
I link Anna and Catherine within this introduction neither to diminish their
importance as individual authors nor to suggest a sort of uniformity of voice
within their texts—quite the contrary. Instead, I join them to draw attention to
their role as matriarchs, to emphasize the power this title granted them within
the Stravinsky domestic framework, and to underline the impact they had on
the lives of those within the household. Given the tremendously patriarchal
portrayal and framing of Stravinsky’s career and his family’s structure in the

Francis.indd 3 2/6/2018 5:08:06 PM

 4 ❧ introduction

current literature, I wish to emphasize here the women’s voices in this family
and the dynamic nature of their personalities. I argue that it was the Stravinsky
women who facilitated and nurtured the lines of communication between Igor
Stravinksy and Nadia Boulanger in the early 1930s. Without them, Boulanger’s
connection to Stravinsky would likely have faltered.
Anna Stravinsky, the composer’s strong, intimidating mother, was the
youngest of four daughters. Though her decision was frowned upon, she
chose to marry Fyodor Stravinsky at the age of nineteen.3 Beyond this brief
biographical reference to his mother’s background, stories of Igor’s parents
center primarily on his father. In 1876, Fyodor Stravinsky premiered the
role of Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust at the Mariyinsky Theatre to great
acclaim. That same year, Anna and Fyodor moved to St. Petersburg with their
first son, Roman, then only a year old. By October 1881, the family was living
in an apartment at 8 Kryukov Canal, and on June 17 [o.s. June 5], 1882, their
third son, Igor, was born.
Anna remained in Russia during the revolution and emigrated west to
live with Igor (by all accounts her least-favorite son) and his family in June
1922.4 She died in 1939, the same year as Catherine and just six months after
Stravinsky’s daughter Lyudmila. Anna’s letters to Boulanger are polite and
respectful, extending warm wishes to Boulanger’s mother. Indeed, Anna’s
mention twice in her letters of the relationship between mother and daughter
leads me to suspect it was a bond she respected and valued. It is quite likely that
Boulanger’s mother’s claims to a Russian royal background may have height-
ened the affinity between Anna Stravinsky and the Boulangers, though none of
the Boulangers’ letters to the Stravinskys contains Russian text.5 Indeed, Nadia
did not speak the language.
Catherine Stravinsky is the other matriarchal figure with whom Boulanger
maintained a conversation.6 Catherine has often been painted as dutiful,

3. For one such depiction of Anna and Fyodor Stravinsky, see Walsh, Creative
Spring, 4–15. Richard Taruskin also provides details about Stravinsky’s upbring-
ing as related to his father and particularly to his father’s work as an opera
singer. He provides very little background information about Anna Stravinsky.
Taruskin, Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions, 77–92.
4. Robert Craft states this in his foreword to the Stravinsky correspondence,
before presenting some of Catherine Stravinsky’s letters. See Craft, Stravinsky:
Selected Correspondence, 3. Walsh repeats this idea, Creative Spring, 4–15.
5. The Stravinsky archives at the Paul Sacher Stiftung contain only one letter writ-
ten by Raïssa Boulanger to the Stravinsky family. Much of the letter is illegible,
and it was most likely written at the end of Raïssa’s struggle with Parkinson’s
disease. The entire text is in French, except for a brief valediction in Russian.
6. Life in Catherine and Igor Stravinsky’s home is considered in Théodore
Strawinsky’s Catherine and Igor Stravinsky. The book is dedicated to Boulanger

Francis.indd 4 2/6/2018 5:08:07 PM

 introduction ❧ 5

though resentful of her husband’s extramarital affairs. She is rarely allowed

moments of agency or assertiveness in the current literature, with perhaps
the exception of Stephen Walsh’s presentation of her as an “intelligent, pro-
found, and exceptionally warm-hearted woman.”7 The letters included here
reinforce Catherine’s agency, showing her to have been a caring mother and
certainly not a shrinking violet. Every bit the fiery counterpart to her husband,
Catherine Stravinsky appears in these letters as an authoritarian—someone
who expected her vision for her children’s care enforced and who did not hesi-
tate to impose her expectations on Boulanger. I have chosen to include the last
letter sent from Catherine to Boulanger (undated, but likely from late 1936
or early 1937). It is touching that the last extant exchange between the two
involved Catherine thanking Boulanger for the flowers the latter had arranged
to have waiting when Catherine returned from the Sancellemoz sanatorium
for what all hoped—in vain—would be a lasting recovery from her battle with
tuberculosis.

Théodore Strawinsky (1907–89)

Of all Stravinsky’s children, Théodore Strawinsky arguably bore the most strik-
ing resemblance to his father and yet was often at odds with him. Théodore
never employed the “v” in the family last name. Even his posthumous foun-
dation remains the Fondation Théodore Strawinsky. For this reason, and as a
means of emphasizing the arm’s-length connection Théodore appears to have
had with the American Stravinskys, I have retained the different spelling of
Théodore’s last name in this edition. No evidence exists in his letters as to why
he maintained the older spelling, though I suspect it related in part to his artis-
tic identity and in part to cherished family memories from before 1939 and the
mixture of cultural influences—particularly Russian, French, and Swiss—that
both fractured and forged his upbringing.
Théodore’s correspondence reveals him as a passionate, devoted, and
deeply religious man. Trained as a painter at l’Académie André Lhote à Paris,
he achieved international acclaim by the age of twenty-four, and worked as
a professional artist for the remainder of his life. Of Théodore’s numerous

and she played a pivotal role in facilitating its publication. Walsh also discusses
Catherine at length in his own biography, particularly A Creative Spring, 90–91.
7. Walsh, Creative Spring, 90–91. The most recent account of Catherine Stravinsky’s
relationship with Igor Stravinsky can be found in Robert Craft, Stravinsky:
Discoveries and Memories. Indeed, Craft’s text is provocative in many ways, par-
ticularly his portrayal of the Stravinsky family as “dysfunctional.” Discoveries
and Memories serves as an intriguing counterpoint to the correspondence pre-
sented in this volume.

Francis.indd 5 2/6/2018 5:08:08 PM

Visit https://textbookfull.com
now to explore a rich
collection of eBooks, textbook
and enjoy exciting offers!
 6 ❧ introduction

accolades, the most treasured was likely his appointment as Commander of the
Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Paul VI in 1977.
Théodore was the only one of Stravinsky’s children never to emigrate to the
United States. Following his marriage to Denise Guerzoni in 1936, his adult life
was spent in Le Mans, France, and after 1946, in Geneva, Switzerland.8 In 1941
he was singled out as a potential communist and detained at Camp Récébédou
near Toulouse by the French government for several months—a terrifying real-
ity his father tried desperately to mitigate while in the United States, as the cor-
respondence demonstrates. After the war, Théodore and Denise assumed care
for their niece Catherine (Kitty), the daughter of Théodore’s sister, Lyudmila
(Mika), and Yuri Mandelstam. Mandelstam’s story adds further tragedy to this
branch of the Stravinsky family tree. Arrested in Paris during the Second World
War, despite having converted from Judaism to the Orthodox faith in 1935, he
died in a concentration camp in Jarworzhno, Poland, on October 15, 1943,
leaving Kitty an orphan.9 Théodore and Denise officially adopted Kitty in 1952,
when she was fifteen years old.
Théodore’s first surviving letter to Boulanger dates from March 22, 1935; it
was sent to offer condolences after he learned of her mother’s death. Few clues
remain to explain how or why Boulanger grew close to Théodore, and this ele-
ment of the Boulanger–Stravinsky network remains a mystery. Yet after 1936,
and particularly following the Second World War, they corresponded quite reg-
ularly and visited each other often, especially after Théodore’s conversion to
Catholicism in 1947. Boulanger became a sort of adopted mother/aunt figure
to Théodore, and their shared faith is often referenced in the correspondence.
The later, deeply emotional letters reveal Théodore’s complicated relationship
with his father, whom he dearly loved; his deep-seated resentment and dislike
of his stepmother Vera; and his distrust of Robert Craft, his father’s amanuen-
sis after 1946. Théodore’s correspondence with Boulanger, it would appear,
served as an outlet for his frustrations and a source of comfort. Théodore
Strawinsky’s letters aid in understanding the final years of Igor Stravinsky’s life,
and though they must be read through the lens of a son who never forgave
his father’s remarriage, they nonetheless reveal the complicated nature of the
Stravinsky family’s inner workings and the role Boulanger played as a sort of
adopted family member.10

8. For details about the marriage, see Walsh, Second Exile, 50–52. Walsh quotes
Vera Sudeikina’s letter on the wedding from July 10, 1936. This letter is now
housed at the Paul Sacher Stiftung.
9. Walsh, Second Exile, 161; and Weeda, Yuriy Mandel’shtam, xxi.
10. Tamara Levitz similarly cautions others about reading Théodore Strawinsky’s
letters as objective texts. See Levitz, Modernist Mysteries, 295 (especially n. 12).

Francis.indd 6 2/6/2018 5:08:08 PM

 introduction ❧ 7

Denise Strawinsky (née Guerzoni) (1914–2004)

Denise Strawinsky was the daughter of Swiss artist Stephanie Guerzoni (1887–
1970). Guerzoni was the only female student of painter Ferdinand Hodler
(1853–1918, with whom she studied from 1915–18. Denise appears to have
been a loving wife and devoted daughter-in-law When, in 1938, the Stravinsky
family found itself convalescing at the sanatorium in Sancellemoz after the
death of Lyudmila, Denise was there to serve as nurse. Elsewhere, Denise
actively participated in family matters. Her letters to Boulanger, three of which
I have included in this edition, often show her acting as intermediary between
Boulanger and Igor or Théodore. In moments of crisis, it was Denise, rather
than her husband, who took up the pen to correspond with Boulanger. This
collection reveals Denise as diplomat—carefully lying to protect Boulanger
from news of Igor Stravinsky’s brazen travels executed against doctor’s orders
in 1939—and as witness to the Stravinsky family dynamic, supporting, with her
husband, the post-1971 counternarratives that celebrated Catherine Stravinsky.
Denise Strawinsky’s letters represent another strong, assertive female voice in
the Stravinsky family environs—a voice that helped smooth over dissent or
facilitate action so as to protect a certain brand of the Stravinsky family legacy.11

Sviatoslav (Soulima) Stravinsky (1910–94)

The younger son and third child of Igor and Catherine Stravinsky, Soulima
was born in Lausanne, Switzerland.12 Boulanger taught Soulima—or Sviétik, as
she referred to him in her diaries during the 1930s—composition and analy-
sis every Tuesday morning at 11:30 a.m.13 Piano performance was likely also
discussed, especially given that Boulanger and Soulima Stravinsky concertized
together in the late 1930s as well as in 1946, performing two-piano reductions
of Igor Stravinsky’s works they themselves created.14
Soulima met his wife, Françoise Bon (Blondlat), in Paris where she was
studying law during the war.15 Their son Jean was born shortly after the war
ended. From across the Atlantic, Boulanger sent numerous care packages to

11. Indeed, seventeen years following Igor’s death, Denise Strawinsky published
her own account of the domestic life of Catherine and Igor. See Denise and
Théodore Strawinsky, Au cœur du foyer.
12. Walsh, Creative Spring, 146.
13. Francis, “A Dialogue Begins,” 22–44. The typical spelling of this Russian nick-
name is Svétik, but Boulanger very clearly added the “i” to her spelling of the
name.
14. For further details of their performance practice, see Brooks, Musical Work,
112–13.
15. Walsh, Second Exile, 179.

Francis.indd 7 2/6/2018 5:08:09 PM

 8 ❧ introduction

the young family, whose vulnerability in early postwar Paris concerned her
greatly. After returning to the French capital herself, Boulanger grew close to
the trio, and the accounts she sent to Igor Stravinsky warmly depict the time
she spent in Soulima and Françoise’s apartment. After the war, Igor Stravinsky
convinced his 35-year-old son and daughter-in-law to relocate to the United
States. Boulanger remained a faithful reference writer for Soulima as he
applied to American teaching positions after emigrating.
The correspondence suggests that Soulima, like so many others of her alumni,
remained a student in Boulanger’s mind for her entire life, and she often refer-
ences him in her letters first and foremost in terms of his musical development.
As for Soulima, this collection presents the youthful, spirited nature of his letters
before World War II and the reverent, sober voice of those that followed it. In
the early years, Soulima approached Boulanger as more of a governess and con-
fidante, while in the later years, his candor is replaced by humble respect. After
1950, when Soulima was appointed to a professorship in piano performance
at the University of Illinois, his letters depict him at once excited about estab-
lishing a reputation for himself outside of his father’s shadow and deeply con-
cerned about his father’s legacy. Unlike his brother, Soulima does not discuss the
family drama that surrounded Stravinsky’s physical care post-1968 in letters to
Boulanger. The sobriety of Soulima Stravinsky’s own brief messages at this point
serve as a foil to his brother’s angry and disillusioned prose.

Expressive Markings: The Question of Love

A central theme found in the letters concerns the question of love shared
between Boulanger and Igor Stravinsky. Boulanger’s letters, especially those
after the Second World War, often reference her love for the composer. Few
of her letters post-1945 fail to mention that she “loves . . . both [Igor and
Vera] madly” (January 27, 1946) and “loves [Stravinsky] so” (November
25, 1946). Stravinsky, similarly, ends letters with expressions of affection for
Boulanger. His first letters after Boulanger leaves the United States end with
“love and kisses” (November 23, 1946) and “[from Stravinsky,] who loves you”
(September 5, 1948). But it was not a passionate, romantic love.
We now know Boulanger had at least three affairs during her lifetime with
married men (Raoul Pugno, Camille Mauclair, and Prince Pierre of Monaco),
and there is no lack of evidence for these relationships. Alexandra Laederich
and Rémy Stricker engage compellingly and thoughtfully with the complicated
and convoluted nature of Boulanger’s romantic relationships, as recorded in
her diaries at length.16 There is no such evidence of an affair with Stravinsky.

16. Stricker, “La Critique de Nadia Boulanger,” in Témoignages et études, 131–18.

Francis.indd 8 2/6/2018 5:08:10 PM

 introduction ❧ 9

If nothing else, Boulanger’s devotion to Stravinsky, to his children, and to his

first wife, Catherine, stood as a formidable obstacle to her own pursuit of the
composer—not to mention that a public alliance with a foreigner, and such a
high-profile musician, would have jeopardized if not altogether undone the
professional identity she had built for herself.17
Instead, Boulanger’s was a platonic love built around Stravinsky as an artist,
as the composer of the music in which she so deeply believed. In many respects,
Boulanger lived an isolated life. Talent, age, and circumstance distanced her
from the majority of her peers, and the death of loved ones separated her from
family. Her gender marked her as the exception in almost all the professional
circles she frequented. Stravinsky, however, realized her vision. His music satis-
fied all of Boulanger’s criteria for great masterworks. When handed the oppor-
tunity to learn of Stravinsky’s kindness and humanity, Boulanger connected his
warmth and friendship to his compositions. Indeed, she found him to be art
incarnate, and he assumed for her both a human and a superhuman quality.
Boulanger blended her love for Stravinsky and her love of Stravinsky’s music in
her lectures and her writing, treasuring this unique and intimate connection.
Regardless of how sincerely that love was reciprocated, her intimate knowledge
of the composer remained something Boulanger treasured.
In fact one wonders, at times, if the Stravinskys in general and Igor in par-
ticular ever completely returned Boulanger’s devotion. Yet, to deem Boulanger
naïvely enraptured and Stravinsky only selfishly exploitative contradicts the evi-
dence, to a degree. When at his most professional, Stravinsky can seem almost
dismissive and cold in his letters to Boulanger, but the reader should not confuse
expediency with apathy. Stravinsky expresses his affection in specific contexts—
there is a time and a place. And yet there are moments, particularly after 1952,
when Stravinsky is clearly guilty of callous and calculating behavior. I argue that
these letters reveal an uneven and ultimately platonic love centered around and
fed by Stravinsky’s art and ego, a love that blossomed in the context of a friend-
ship that in and of itself relieved Boulanger’s sense of isolation.

Editorial Apparatus

Publishing both the French and English versions of these letters would amount
to an excessively large text. Instead, the French transcriptions have been
included as part of this book’s companion website, where one can choose to
view the fully indexed and searchable French and English letters, consulting
them in isolation or with both languages side by side.

17. Francis, Teaching Stravinsky, 116–19.

Francis.indd 9 2/6/2018 5:08:10 PM

 10 ❧ introduction

The letters presented here were chosen because of their narrative power
and ability to walk the reader both through forty years of the tumultuous twen-
tieth century and through the reactions of their authors to said events. If letter
content became predictable (for example, Boulanger’s annual well-wishes on
the anniversary of the death of Stravinsky’s first wife on March 2), I chose not
to publish them. Likewise, Christmas and birthday greetings, unless accompa-
nied by additional information, have not been included here. Whenever pos-
sible, I have endeavored to present the writers in dialogue with one another
rather than produce sequences of unanswered letters.
Unfortunately, most material sent by Boulanger to extended family mem-
bers no longer exists in the archives, though it would have been delight-
ful to read her response to Catherine’s letter of April 1931 or her letter to
Anna Stravinsky after the premiere of the Symphony of Psalms in Brussels in
December 1930. The lack of extant letters sent to Soulima Stravinsky also
disappoints. Those letters in Boulanger’s hand retained in Soulima’s papers
at the New York Public Library fail to be of consequence, and so have been
omitted. Along these same lines, it would appear Boulanger did not bond
with Stravinsky’s daughter Milène to the same extent she did with his sons,
and so the only surviving letter from Stravinsky’s younger daughter that I have
included here appears on October 27, 1969, as a response to Boulanger’s
presentation of her condolences concerning the situation that surrounded
Stravinsky’s final convalescence in New York. One would have hoped for
more from Milène’s voice, and it remains curious to me that Boulanger failed
to connect with her as strongly as with the other women of the family. I have
also chosen not to include any letters written by Françoise Stravinsky, not
because of a lack of extant documents but because of a lack of germane mate-
rial. Finally, I have omitted the letters written by Stravinsky’s granddaughter
Kitty (Catherine) to Boulanger. Though gracious enough, and indicative
of the lengths to which Boulanger went to remember the birthdays of her
friends’ children and grandchildren, the letters from Kitty to Boulanger are
rather perfunctory.
Nothing that remains was chosen to sensationalize, but neither were let-
ters excluded to protect the correspondents in question. This rich collection
often presents Boulanger at her most vulnerable and candid, and Stravinsky
at his more playful and paternal. I remain sensitive to the private nature of
Boulanger’s and Stravinsky’s prose, and yet, the significant moments of these
letters often lie at the interstices of the guarded and the candid.
In the editorial apparatus itself, it has been my intention to stay out of
the way as much as possible. Important figures, events, and works have been
identified in a footnote at first mention, but otherwise I have endeavored
to let the voices represented by these letters speak for themselves—as much
as any historical document can indeed do so. All references to Stravinsky’s

Francis.indd 10 2/6/2018 5:08:11 PM

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Title: Drie blyspelen

Author: Pieter Langendijk

Release date: April 23, 2024 [eBook #73449]

Language: Dutch

Original publication: Schiedam: H. A. M. Roelants, 1856

Credits: Branko Collin and the Online Distributed Proofreading

Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced
from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRIE

BLYSPELEN ***
DRIE BLIJSPELEN.

DRIE BLYSPELEN

VAN
PIETER LANGENDYK.

SCHIEDAM,
H. A. M. ROELANTS.
 INHOUD.
Bladz.
DON QUICHOT OP DE BRUILOFT VAN KAMACHO 3
PAPIRIUS, OF HET OPROER DER VROUWEN BINNEN
ROMEN 59
DE WISKUNSTENAARS, OF ’T GEVLUCHTE JUFFERTJE 85
 INLEIDING.
’t Algemeen verval onzer Letteren in het laatst der zeventiende en
in het begin der achttiende eeuw was ook op het tooneel duidelijk
waarneembaar. Reeds het nietig gehaspel der Nil-Arduanen met hun
tegenstanders toont, hoe weinig de Letterkunde nog kon
voortbrengen. Een man als Thomas Asselyn werd nagewezen
omdat hij oorspronkelijk durfde zijn. En hoe veel hooger staat hij dan
de peuterige clubmannen.
Slechts Pieter Langendyk is in het begin der achttiende eeuw een
lichtpunt, dat, al is zijn lichtgevende kracht ook niet heel groot, toch
meehelpt om de duisternis een weinig dragelijk te maken.
Langendyk geeft, wat hij heeft, doet, wat hij kan, is daardoor
natuurlijk en verwekt dientengevolge onze sympathie. Daarbij bezit
hij een andere eigenschap, die hem boven vele andere
kluchtspeldichters plaatst. Mag hij zich al eens platte uitdrukkingen
veroorloven, gebruikt hij misschien wel eens woorden, die ons wat
los toeschijnen, vies is hij nooit en nog minder is hij er op uit om
onkieschheden uit te rafelen.
Op zich zelve is die voor ons vrij negatieve eigenschap een groote
loftuiting, te meer wanneer wij letten op ’s mans afkomst en
opvoeding. Zijn vader toch was een metselaar en Langendyk zelf
was zijn leven lang niet veel meer dan een begaafd werkman.
In 1683 te Haarlem geboren, ontving hij niet veel onderricht, daar
zijn vader vrij spoedig stierf en zijn moeder niet goed op de zaken
wist te passen, zoodat beiden uit hun vroegere welvaart spoedig tot
armoede vervielen.
Langendyk, die veel lust in het teekenen had, moest voor zich en
zijn moeder den kost verdienen. Dat gelukte hem als teekenaar van
een damastweverij in Amsterdam, waarvan hij vrij goed kon bestaan.
Wellicht zou hij nog tot welvaart zijn gekomen, als zijn moeder wat
beter had gezorgd voor het huishouden. Toen hij in 1722 naar
Haarlem verhuisde en daar veel werk kreeg van damastweverijen
bracht dit hem niet verder. Zelfs de dood zijner moeder bracht geen
uitredding, want de man trad in het huwelijk en was zoo ongelukkig
iemand te trouwen, die nog minder zuinig was en hem bovendien
nog het leven vergalde door haar slecht humeur. Slechts twaalf jaar
moest hij haar dulden. Toen stierf zij, maar Langendyk, die zelf
waarschijnlijk ook niet veel zuinigheid van zijn moeder zal geleerd
hebben, werd niet welvarender. Gelukkig werd hij op andere wijze
geholpen, doordat de regeering der stad Haarlem hem met den titel
van Stads-historieschryver een jaarlijksch traktement bezorgde en
een onderkomen in het Proveniershuis.
Daar stierf hij in 1756.
Reeds vroeg had Langendyk zijn liefde voor de kunst aan den dag
gelegd, behalve door teekenen ook nog door het dichten van
blijspelen en andere gedichten. Deze laatste hebben evenwel weinig
waarde.
Op zeventienjarigen leeftijd reeds, schreef hij den Don Quichot,
dat door andere stukken gevolgd werd o. a. door zijn levendig
blijspel: „Het wederzijdsch Huwelijksbedrog” (Panth. 68). In 1715
verscheen behalve „de Wiskunstenaars” ook nog „Krelis Louwen”
(Panth. 5). Gedurende den tijd, dat de windhandel in Europa een
groote vlucht nam en ook hier werd gedreven, schreef Langendyk
een paar stukken naar aanleiding daarvan, nl. den „Arlequyn
Actionist” en de „Windhandelaars” (Panth. 5). Na langen tijd rust
verschenen eerst zijn „Xantippe” (Panth. 41) en vervolgens zijn
„Papirius of het oproer der Vrouwen binnen Romen”. De rij zijner
blijspelen werd gesloten door het beste, het fijnste stuk, getiteld,
„Spiegel der Vaderlandsche Kooplieden”.
 DON QUICHOT
OP

DE BRUILOFT VAN KAMACHO.

Blyspel.
 Aan de Heeren
HENDRIK HAAK H.Z.
en
Mr. EVERHARD KRAEIVANGER.
Ik offer u, ô waarde vrinden,
Den vroomen Ridder Don Quichot,
Die zich iets groots dorst onderwinden:
Maar voor zyn daden wierd bespot,
Van volk dat hy niet wys kon maaken,
Dat Amadis en Palmeryn
En honderd Romanike snaaken
Geen leugens, maar vol waarheids zyn.
Ik voer hem hier ten schouwtooneele:
Opdat hy met zyn zotterny
Voor and’ren (zyns gelyken) speele,
Dat alle waan maar zotheid zy;
Hoe al des waerelds schoone dingen
Maar bij verbeeldingen bestaan,
En even als ’t geluid na ’t zingen
In wind en lucht terstond vergaan.
Wie kan den luister bet vergrooten
Van myn geringe Poëzy;
Als gy, die t’zaam als kunstgenooten
Dus lang de Wiskunst aan het Y
Geoeffend hebt en ingezogen;
Daar een van u my dikmaal hiel
Door schoone maatzang opgetogen,
Die al wie kunst bemint beviel:
Dies hoop ik zal ’t u niet mishaagen,
Dat ik, ô Minnaars van de kunst,
Dit blyspel aan u op durf draagen
Tot dankbaarheid, voor al uw gunst.

UEd. Dienstbereide Dienaer en Vriend

P. LANGENDYK.
 Aan den Leezer.
Zie hier den vierden druk van dit Blyspel, hetwelk, buiten myne
verwachting, vrygelukkig op het tooneel, tot nog toe, geweest is. De
aanmerkingen die verscheidene Liefhebbers der tooneelpoëzye op
het zelve gemaakt hebben, en de misslagen die ik daar zelf in
bespeurde, na dat ik wat meer kennis van de schikking, die in een
spel vereischt wordt, kreeg, hebben my lust gegeeven om het hier
en daar te beschaaven. Voornamelyk heb ik getracht om het van de
gaapende tooneelen te zuiveren, door het tussenvoegen van korte
uitkomsten. Ook heb ik eenige naamen veranderd van de Boeren,
hen Spaansche gegeeven, in plaats van Duitsche. Wat den naam
van Meester Jochem de Rymer betreft, die had ook kunnen
veranderd worden: maar gemerkt die Joachim, in alle Landen
gemeen is, heb ik die zo gelaaten. Sommigen hebben my berispt,
dat ik er een Waal in breng als kok, en hem derhalve in Spanje (daar
het spel speelt) Walsch doe spreeken: maar my dunkt (onder
verbetering) dat zulks een slechte critique is: want als men een Waal
door zyn taal niet mag doen spreeken, mag men de andere
Personaadjen ook geen Duits laaten spreeken; hieruit zou volgen,
dat men alle stukken zoude moeten verwerpen van ons Tooneel die
in andere Landen speelen, indien men verstaan wilde weezen. Van
de zelfde natuur is de aanmerking, die ik over de taal van myn
Boeren gehoord heb. Een Boer is immers een Boer? en spreekt als
een Boer? hetzy hy in Spanje of hier in Holland in de Veenen woont?
Sanche Panche is volgens den Roman van Savedra daar dit spel
uitgetrokken is, een Boer, die door Don Quichot uit zyn Dorp mede
getroond is, om zyne dolle avontuuren te zoeken: derhalve moet hy
als een Boer spreeken. Maar al genoeg daar van. Die zonauw wil
ziften banne vry alle Tooneelstukken die in dit Land niet speelen van
’t Tooneel, hy zal werk vinden. De allerheerlykste Treurspelen zal hy
moeten verwerpen. Andromaché zal Trojaans, of in hare Slaaverny,
Grieks moeten spreeken; Heraklius Latyn enz. Nog is my gevraagd,
waar myn Waal zyn deken in het Bosch zo schielyk krygt, om
Sanche in te sollen; om deeze luiden te onderrechten laat ik hem
deze regels zeggen:

Ze’eb lang op jou keloer, om jou hier te attrappeer;

Die Deek is hier kebrok om jou te brui wat meer.

Deze en diergelyke Beuzelachtige aanmerkingen heb ik ligt

kunnen veranderen: maar de grondregel van zyn personaadjen in
het eerste Bedryf te doen kennen, is van meerder gewicht: daarom
heb ik een groot Tooneel op nieuw gerymd, en vooraan gebracht, om
het Karakter van Don Quichot te doen kennen, aan luiden die den
Roman nooit geleezen hebben. Ook geef ik aan Quiteria een
vertrouwde, omdat het wanschikk’lyk is eene Juffer alleen in het
Bosch te laaten wandelen. Ik zal afkorten, de liefhebbers der
Tooneelpoëzye zullen de veranderingen genoeg bespeuren die ik
hier en daar gemaakt heb, zy zullen zonder twyffel nog genoeg
aanmerkingen op het Spel hebben; maar ik meen’er voortaan niets
in te veranderen.
Ik zie’er zelf nog dingen in, die veranderd mochten worden; maar
door dien het Spel zo menigmaal vertoond is, heb ik’er eer iets willen
in brengen als uitlaaten, om luiden van minder kennis in dat slag van
Dichtkunst te gemoed te komen. Het ieder van pas te maaken, is
onmogelyk.
Vaarwel.
P. L.
 VERTOONERS.
Kamacho, een ryke boer, bruidegom van Quiteria.
Bazilius, een Edelman, Minnaar van Quiteria.
Leontius, een adelyk Landman, Vader van Quiteria.
Quiteria, Bruid van Kamacho, en Minnaresse van Bazilius.
Laura, Speelnoot van Quiteria.
Valasko, Vriend van Bazilius.
Don Quichot de la Mancha, een Edelman die zich inbeeldt
een doolend Ridder te weezen.
Sanche Pance, zyn schildknaap.
Vetlasoepe, een Waal, Kok en Hofmeester van de Bruiloft.
De Pastoor.
Meester Jochem, Schoolmeester, en Rymer.
Boer, Boerin, Zingende.

ZWYGERS.
Bruiloftsvolk, zoo Boeren als Boerinnen.
Dansers en Muzikanten.
Eenige Edellieden van ’t gevolg van Bazilius.

STOMMEN.
Ronsinnant, het oud mager Paerd van Don Quichot.
Graeuwtje, de Ezel van Sanche Pance.
 Het tooneel verbeeldt een Bosch, by een Dorp in Mancha. ’t Spel
begint ’s morgens, en eindigt na den middag.
 EERSTE BEDRYF.
EERSTE TOONEEL.

Bazilius, Valasko.

Bazilius. ’k Weet dat Quiteria, myn Lief, my nog bemint,

En geen behaagen in haar’ dwaazen Bruigom vindt.
Dit is de plaats daar ik die schoone moet verwachten,
Om te overleggen wat wy hebben te betrachten.
Ik hoop dat ik haar hart wel haast bewegen zal.
Val. Myn vriend Bazilius ’k beklaag uw ongeval:
Want nu haar Vader zyn belofte u niet wil houwen,
Baat u haar weêrmin niet.
Baz. Hoe, moet ik dan aanschouwen,
Dat zulk een lompe boer, ten spijt van myne min,
Die schoone Juffer trouwt, in weêrwil van haar’ zin?
o Neen Valasko, ’k hoop dat huw’lyk te beletten.
Val. Het is vergeefs dat gy u daar wilt tegen zetten;
Haar Vader wil het, zy kan hem niet wederstaan,
Vergeet die min, myn Heer, ik bid u, laat u raên.
Baz. Hoe kan ik? neen ik denk myn opzet niet te staaken.
Val. Wat wilt gy doen? Baz. Ik ben van zins om haar te schaaken.
Val. En waant gy dat gy haar daar toe bewegen zult?
Baz. Helaas! ik weet het niet! ’k wacht haar met ongeduld
Om ’t vonnis van myn dood of leeven aan te hooren.
’k Weet dat Kamacho haar in ’t minst niet kan bekooren;
Dit doet my hoopen dat ik haar tot myn besluit
Zal overhalen. Val. Maar zy is alreeds zyn Bruid.
Had gy een week of twe hier eerder kunnen komen.
Baz. Ik heb zo dra als ik de zaken had vernomen
Het hof verlaaten, en begaf mij herwaart aan.
 Myn Schoone had zo dra myn aankomst niet verstaan,
Of heeft my op dees plaats, door Laura, doen bescheiden.
’t Is u bekend dat zy ’t geheim weet van ons beiden.
Dus quam ik hier, daar ik u by geval ontmoet:
Het geen, ô waarde vrind, myn hart verheugen doet.
Val. Ik koom op deeze plaats, om iemand op te sporen,
Die zyne zinnen door het leezen heeft verloren,
Een doolend Ridder, daar een ieder staag me spot.
Baz. Een doolend Ridder! Val. Ja, de dapp’re Don Quichot.
Baz. My is een Boek, ’t geen zo genoemd wordt aangeprezen:
Maar wie zou denken, dat ’er zulk een mensch kon wezen;
Men zegt dat ’t is gemaakt door eenig gaauw Poeët.
Val. Zo hoor ik dat gy mê van zyne daaden weet?
Baz. Kan ik gelooven dat hy zou met schaapen vechten
En kudden, Legers noemt? Val. ô Ja myn heer wat rechten
De gekken niet al uit? Baz. En zien een herberg aan
Voor eenig sterk kasteel, daar hy op ’t huis moet gaan?
Verliefd zyn op een mensch die nergens is te vinden;
Noch op de waereld leeft? zich zelven onderwinden
Met meulens, (die hy voor zeer groote reuzen neemt)
Te vechten? Neen myn Heer het dunkt my al te vreemd.
Val. Hy kreeg die zotheid door het leezen van de boeken:
Als Roeland, Amadis... Baz. Gy hoeft hem niet te zoeken:
Want alzo min als die ter waereld zyn geweest,
Is Don Quichot ’er nu. Ik zeg ’t komt uit den geest
Van eenen Dichter, die deez’ boeken wil bespotten;
Gemaakt tot tydverdryf voor kinderen, en zotten,
Val. Myn Heer, hy is van daag op deze plaats gezien,
Met zynen Schildknaap: ik heb zelf twe edelliên
Gesproken, die met hem zijn herwaart aangekomen.
’k Geloof zoo min als gy aan ’t geen de dichters droomen:
Maar deeze hebben my zoo veel van hem verhaald,
En Sanche Pance, die met hem als Schildknaap dwaalt,
 Dat ik niet twyf’len kan. Baz. Dan moet ik het gelooven.
Val. Maar eene zaak gaat myn gering verstand te boven:
’t Welk is, dat Don Quichot zeer gunstig redeneert
Van veele zaaken; dat hy kloek is en geleerd;
Zodat men hem zomtyds zou voor verstandig achten,
En geene spoorloosheid in ’t minst van hem verwachten:
Maar als hy redeneert van zyne Ridderschap,
Klimt zyne zotheit tot den allerhoogsten trap.
Ziet hy een boer, dien waant hy straks een prins te wezen,
En geeft hem naamen die hy elders heeft gelezen.
Zoo dees hem tegenspreekt, dan tast hy naâ zyn zwaerd,
En stygt vol gramschaps op zyn Ronsinant: een paerd,
Dat door den ouderdom het loopen heeft vergeeten,
Daar hy al dikwijls is met steenen afgesmeten.
Hy vecht schier nooit of ’t koomt met hem op slagen uit;
Daar Sanche Pance mede in deelt, in plaats van buit.
Baz. ’t Is wonder dat hy dan wil langer by hem blijven;
Want altyd slagen, en geen voordeel... Val. Die kan schryven
Noch lezen, en hy is een zeer onnoz’le bloed:
Die juist geen zin heeft in al ’t geen zyn meester doet;
Maar wyl hy hem beloofd tot Gouverneur te maaken,
Zo hy eens meester van een koninkryk kan raaken,
Blyft hy hem by, op hoop of zulks eens mocht geschiên.
Ik kan niet rusten, voor ’k die gekken heb gezien.
Baz. Ik zie Leontius, myn Liefstes Vader, komen.
Val. Ik zie Kamacho ook. Laat ons by deze boomen
Ons wat verschuilen tot zy zyn voorby gegaan.
Baz. Zy hebben mog’lyk van myn aenslag iets verstaan.
Val. Gy vreest het ergste: ’t zal misschien zoo slim niet weezen,
Zy wand’len hier wel meer, gy moet zo licht niet vreezen.

TWEEDE TOONEEL.
 Kamacho, Leontius. Bazilius en Valasko, ter zijde.

Kamacho. Dit is de plek, daer ik van daeg je Dochter mien

Te trouwen. Leont. Ik beken, gy hebt wel uitgezien;
Maar waarom hebt gy ’t juist hier in het Bosch begrepen?
Kamac. Dat’s op zyn edelmans, we weeten van de kneepen,
Ik ben nou ryk ’enoeg, het geldje van kezyn,
Die in Westinje sturf, is allemael nou ’t myn.
Toen jonker smalpens met de vrouw van platbeurs trouwde,
(’Et gien ’em naederhangt zoo euvelik berouwde,)
Was ’t hiele zelschip, als je weet, op deuze plek,
En ’t ging er ong’dieft wel. We binnen ook niet gek.
Waar zou ik al het volk, dat ik genooit heb, laeten,
Men huis is veul te klein. Leont. Laat ons hier niet lang praeten.
Kam. Kom gaen we dan ... daer is myn Liefste of ’k ben een guit!
Leont. Verzeld met Laura.

DERDE TOONEEL.

Leontius, Kamacho, Quiteria, Laura, Bazilius en Valasko, ter

zyde.

Kamacho. Wel myn snoeperige Bruid?

Wel heer, wat binje mooij, ik durf je pas iens raeken,
Je zelt my deuzen dag nog gek van liefde maeken.
Kom zoen me nou eraais. Quit. Ei Bruîgom laat dat staan.
Kam. Wat zo dat smaekt me, hae! Leont. Laat ons nâ huis toe gaan.
Kam. De kok zel ’t allemael wel zongder ongs beschikken,
En laeten wy terwyl met ’t Bruiloftsvolk wat flikken.
Leont. Hoe speelen op de kaart? Kam. Ja, gist’ren avond won
ik met de kaert, in ’t kort, al menig Patakon.
Leont. Waar hebje dat geleerd? Kam. Wat, troeven? bij de Boeren.
Hoo, hoo, mit troeven, kan gien mensch my ummers loeren.
Leont. Ik speel nooit met de kaart. Kam. Ei hoor, wel waerom niet?
Leont. Om dat daar somtyds quaad of moeite door geschied.
Kam. Wel paeij, bin jy zo vies? loop maer in Steê iens kyken,
Daer zelje ’t zien van volk dat fyne knevels lyken.
’t Verkeerbord gaet ’er wel in zwang, zoo ’t niemant weet,
Als maer de schyven fraeij met laeken zyn bekleed.
Leont. Het zy zo ’t wil, ’k zal hen daar niet te meer om pryzen.
Het geest’lijk kleed bedekt veel’ gekken, en veel wyzen.
Quit. Heer Vader, ik verzoek dat ik in eenzaamheid
Met Laura wand’len mag. Kam. Myn zoete lieve meid,
Wat zou je lui hier doen? Quit. Myn and’re speelnoots wachten.
Leont. Kamacho gaen wy dan.
Leontius en Kamacho binnen.
Quit. ’t Ging buiten myn gedachten,
Dat ik hier Vader en myn Bruîgom vinden zou.
Maar is Bazilius my waarlyk nog getrouw?
Lau. Zyn min is al te groot dat hy u zou vergeeten.
Hy heeft den tyd aan ’t hof met ongeduld versleten.
Val. „Myn vrind Bazilius, daar is Quiteria.
Gy spreekt haar best alleen, vaar wel, myn Heer, ik gaa.
Lau. Daar is Bazilius.

VIERDE TOONEEL.

Bazilius, Quiteria, Laura.

Bazilius. ’t Mag my in ’t eind gebeuren

Myn Liefste weer te zien! maar ach zy schynt te treuren!
Quit. Ach, myn Bazilius! Baz. Wat viel de tyd my lang,
Daar achter gindzen boom. Quit. Ja lief, ik wierd al bang,
Toen ik zo onverwagt myn’ Vader hier ontmoette.
Heeft niemand u gezien? Baz. Valasko, die my groette.
Gy weet hy is myn vrind. Quit. Dan ben ik wel gerust.
Hoe is de reis vergaan? Baz. Myn lief, gy zyt bewust,