42 Facts About Yekaterina Stravinsky

Yekaterina Gavrilovna Stravinsky was a Russian and French painter and amanuensis who was the cousin and first wife of Igor Stravinsky.

Yekaterina Stravinsky first met her cousin Igor in 1890 during his family's first visit to the Nosenko estate in Ustilug.

Yekaterina Stravinsky was the principal copyist of his scores, counseled him on private and professional matters, and was an important influence in his reembrace of Russian Orthodox Christianity.

Yekaterina Stravinsky's confession resulted in what he later described as a "tearful, Dostoyevskian scene", but he and Yekaterina agreed to maintain the marriage and their family's unity.

Yekaterina Stravinsky, who outlived her daughter by three months, died in 1939.

Yekaterina Stravinsky was born in the village of Gorval, located in the Rechitsky Uyezd of the Minsk Governorate, on January 25,1881; and was christened on January 27.

Yekaterina Stravinsky was the second daughter of Gavriil Trofimovich, a college counselor and doctor who worked at Lukyanovskaya Prison, and Mariya Kirillovna Nosenko ; the couple was living temporarily at the Kholodovsky estate in Gorval at the time of Yekaterina's birth.

Yekaterina Stravinsky's father was a descendent of Cossacks who had served in the Chernigov Regiment; her mother descended from nobility, military officers, and government officials.

Later, when Yekaterina Stravinsky's sister married Grigory Belyankin, a graduate of the Marine Architecture Institute in Philadelphia, the family built a school and fire station as well.

Yekaterina Stravinsky developed a profound interest in music and was regarded as a skilled musician.

Yekaterina Stravinsky regularly visited the Louvre in her spare time.

Yekaterina Stravinsky got along well with her aunt, now new mother-in-law, despite the cramped living circumstances.

Yekaterina Stravinsky gave birth to her first son, Theodore, on February 20,1907.

Shortly after, Yekaterina Stravinsky chose to abandon pursuing a career in painting in order to devote herself to her family.

Yekaterina Stravinsky called it a "haven for composition" and spent the summer months playing piano duet arrangements of Ludwig van Beethoven's symphonies with Yekaterina.

Yekaterina Stravinsky gave birth to a second child, Lyudmila, in December 1908.

Nevertheless, Yekaterina Stravinsky accepted the situation as necessary for Igor's continued fidelity to her and their family.

Yekaterina Stravinsky gave birth to her fourth and final child, Milene, on January 15,1914, in Lausanne.

Yekaterina Stravinsky was transferred to a sanatorium in Leysin, where she and Igor remained for three months.

The Yekaterina Stravinsky family moved into Anglet in southwestern France on March 9,1921.

In early 1922, he confessed the affair to Yekaterina Stravinsky, which led to a "tearful, Dostoyevskian scene".

Yekaterina Stravinsky wanted to see them playing happily, so she kept her knowledge to herself.

Yekaterina Stravinsky knew that Igor could be fickle, but now she had to learn to think of it in another way.

Igor supplied Vera with a regular stipend and an apartment in the Passy district of Paris, but delegated to Yekaterina Stravinsky with meeting his mistress at his bank and presenting her with the money, a task that Walsh described as "an atrocious act of self-immolation".

Yekaterina Stravinsky is kept awake all night by awful, constant headaches.

Yekaterina Stravinsky's appendix was removed in January 1927, which left her in a weakened state.

Yekaterina Stravinsky checked herself into Sancellemoz, the first of several trips there that would continue until the end of her life.

Yekaterina Stravinsky sent Igor frequent and thorough reports on her medical condition and treatment, which he expected and possibly demanded.

Vera visited and helped her with domestic tasks, although she and Yekaterina Stravinsky "had never been friends in the real sense of the word, as has been improperly suggested", according to Denise Strawinsky.

Yekaterina Stravinsky's family, including Igor and her mother-in-law, were present.

Yekaterina Stravinsky was well liked to the point of being "idolized" by her family.

Yekaterina Stravinsky was very affectionate to her family, but tended towards shyness with others, did not like to entertain guests at home as she felt it was a "torment", and styled herself as an "enemy of guests".

Walsh, who wrote that Yekaterina Stravinsky's "beauty was not just spiritual", described documentary evidence of her appearance:.

Yekaterina Stravinsky's style is homely or bourgeois Sunday-best, rather than mondaine or fashion-conscious.

Tanya, wrote to her parents during her stay with the Stravinskys in Nice that Yekaterina "looked very young", was "well dressed", and wore a discreet amount of makeup.

Yekaterina Stravinsky was not particularly pious in her youth, but became increasingly so after moving to France and with the worsening of her chronic illness.

Writings about Igor tend to marginalize the central role Yekaterina Stravinsky held in his life.

Yekaterina Stravinsky was the only member of the family permitted into Igor's work room, was the first to hear his new music, of which she was an attentive listener, and was the principal copyist of his scores.

Yekaterina Stravinsky's enthusiasm did not extend to his autobiography, of which she was critical and felt was a distraction from composing.

Privately, Yekaterina Stravinsky used her influence to tactfully and successfully persuade Igor on private and professional matters.

Yekaterina Stravinsky helped to ameliorate his relationship with his mother, whom he disliked.

Guilt over his affair and the example of Yekaterina Stravinsky influenced Igor's reembrace of Orthodox Christianity and the kindling of his interest in religious paraphernalia.