Igor Stravinsky: An Autobiography

This is exactly what a memoir should be.  Stravinsky's approach to the recounting of his life is directly in line with his approach to music.  Of the latter, he says: "The interpreter, of necessity can think of nothing but interpretation, and thus takes on the garb of a translator . . . this is an absurdity in music" (34).  He later explains, "All these misunderstandings arise from the fact that people will always insist upon looking in music for something that is not there.  The main thing for them is to know what the piece expresses . . . They never seem to understand that music has an entity of its own apart form anything that it may suggest to them" (162). 

And it is the same objectivity that Stravinsky demands in music that he brings to narrative.  The reader of his autobiography "will not have found any lyrical outpourings or intimate confessions" (174).  Said reader will merely find a very straightforward account of his life, complete with colorful anecdotes.  What does that, or any, life mean?  One can no more answer life than one can answer music.  Both simply are, and must be appreciated and experienced on their own terms.