L’Histoire du soldat
(A Soldier’s Tale)

Date & Time

Saturday, March 28, 2026 7:30pm
This performance will take place in Goodhart Hall at Bryn Mawr College

Sunday, March 29, 2026 2:30pm
This performance will take place in the Rhoden Theater at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

Artists

Featuring musicians from the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia

Program

Stravinsky’s L’ Histoire du soldat (A Soldier’s Tale) is a timeless parable of fate and temptation, telling the story of a soldier who trades his violin to the Devil for promises of wealth. Presented in its original dramatic form, this captivating work unfolds across
sixteen sections, weaving narration with Stravinsky’s vivid, eclectic score.

Deeply tied to La Belle Époque and the cosmopolitan Paris of the early 1910s, the music draws from a rich tapestry of influences—the pasodoble in the Marche Royale, tango, waltz, and ragtime ( – this seems superfluous without context – “in Joseph’s attempt to cure the Princess”), klezmer-inspired instrumentation, Luther’s Ein feste Burg in the Petit Choral, and echoes of Bach in the Grand Choral.