Mayor Teddy Kollek has donated a rare manuscript by composer Igor Stravinsky to the music department of the Jewish National and Hebrew University Library. The manuscript is the only complete manuscript version of “Abraham and Isaac,” a ballad for baritone and chamber orchestra. It consists of 34 pages, with a market value of about $40,000.
“A document such as this should not be in private hands,” Kollek said in a brief ceremony last week.
Commissioned by the Israel Festival in 1962, the ballad was first performed in 1964 in Jerusalem as part of that year’s festival. Stravinsky dedicated the 12-minute work “to the people of the State of Israel.” The composer gave the original manuscript of the work to Kollek. It will be on display throughout this month at the Library’s exhibit.
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