Cigarettes and Classical music

Austrian Ernst Krenek become famous overnight in 1927 with the premiere of his opera Jonny spielt auf. An Austrian tobacco company named a cigarette after the the main character of the opera, which still exists today. Krenek was proud that the same tobacco company had turned down Alban Berg when he suggested a cigarette be named Wozzeck.

Behold the packaging: http://wind.prohosting.com/cigpack/JJonny.htm

"Mechanic", Time Magazine; July 26, 1948: http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/stravinsky3

On one day producer Sam Goldwyn, who buys only the best labels, summoned Stravinsky, and asked him to write the music for a picture on Russia. The conversation went something like this:

Goldwyn: How can you write the music for this picture; you're not a Communist?

Stravinsky: How can you produce it; you're not a Communist?

Goldwyn: I understand it's twenty-five thousand you want?

Stravinsky: Whatever my agent says.

Goldwyn: Well, you have to have an arranger.

Stravinsky: What's an arranger?

Goldwyn: An arranger! Why, that's a man who has to arrange your music, who has to fit it to the instruments.

Stravinsky: Oh.

Goldwyn: Sure, that'll cost you $6,000. And it'll have to come off your $20,000.

Stravinsky: I thought it was $25,000?

Goldwyn: Well, whatever it was.

At this point Igor Stravinsky stood up, stuffed his black cigarette holder in his pocket, jammed his shapeless little hat on his head, and stalked from the office. That ended the negotiations.

Jeffrey Dane on Leonard Bernstein:

Whether personal addiction or social diversion, smoking was a feature of Bernstein's personal life. The emblematic and ever-present cigarette became as much a part of his familiar image as the cigar and pipe were distinctive personal hallmarks in the hands of Brahms and Arthur Honegger respectively - and the glass of Scotch in the hand of Stravinsky. By pre-arrangement, after Bernstein's concerts someone awaited him backstage with an already-lit cigarette ready for him. The fact remains that, for whatever his reasons may have been, he found enjoyment in it ( - as others do in alcohol and in driving at high rates of speed….). Photographs taken throughout his life indicate how characteristic of him were the cigarettes in which he evidently took pleasure. In our day, particularly in the USA, smoking is denigrated in the name of health, and smokers are often considered outcasts. We live in an era where nonsense too often masquerades as reason, and where personal desire by those in positions of authority for control and power over others is disguised as concern for the health, safety and welfare of the public.

During the period in which I knew him he smoked the American filter cigarette Kent. I was then in my late 'teens and early twenties, impressionable and also impressed with the maestro's genius and ability to succeed in virtually anything he did (musical or otherwise), usually with the exceptional results of which only he was capable. In the spirit of emulation I followed his example for several years, ultimately adopting a brand of my own choice. He would have echoed the sentiment of Robert Schumann: "You reward your teacher badly when you remain always his pupil." It's more than coincidental that several of Bernstein's own smoker's accessories were sold at Sotheby's auction of his estate in 1997, including the cigarette case he used during the 1960s.

RIFF: (Sings)
When you're a Jet,
You're a Jet all the way
From your first cigarette
To your last dyin' day.

Bespoke for Everything Quests - Smoking AND Everything Quests - Classical Music.