Catherine Nossenko Strawinsky

Catherine Nossenko is the cousin and wife of the composer Igor Stravinsky. The wedding took place on January 11 (24), 1906 in the village of Novaya Derevnia near St. Petersburg. Marriages between first cousins being prohibited by imperial ukase it was necessary to find a priest who was not too careful about family documents. The only witnesses present at the wedding were Stravinsky, Andreï and Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov (son of the famous composer). They had four children together: Théodore in 1907, Ludmila in 1908, Soulima in 1910 and Milène in 1914. From 1914 to 1920, the couple settled in Lausanne in Switzerland where they had already stayed several times and where their two children were born. last children. After 1920, the family settled in France where musical activity was intense. They settled first in Biarritz for a little over three years, on the French Riviera in Nice until 1932, then in Voreppe (near Grenoble) for two years and finally in Paris from 1934. Catherine was a musician and she was a precious help to Igor, giving him unlimited support. A true collaborator, she faithfully reread and copied her scores. Igor Stravinsky dedicated to his wife the Serenade in A for piano (1925), which is considered by many critics to be his best piano work. Catherine Stravinsky died of tuberculosis in 1939, a little more than four months after her eldest daughter Ludmila also suffered from tuberculosis.