Conversations with Igor Stravinsky

Conversations with Igor Stravinsky, published by Doubleday in 1959, represents the first in a series of collaborative volumes between the composer Igor Stravinsky and the conductor and writer Robert Craft. Emerging from a series of lengthy, recorded dialogues held in the late 1950s, the book was intended to document Stravinsky's perspectives on music, his own compositional evolution, and his interactions with contemporaries like Arnold Schoenberg and Sergei Diaghilev.

The book's design and structural philosophy were heavily influenced by Craft’s role as both interlocutor and editor. By presenting Stravinsky’s thoughts in a candid, conversational format rather than a traditional academic treatise, the authors sought to humanize the often formidable public image of the composer. Upon its release, the work was received as a significant contribution to 20th-century musicology, praised for its insight into the creative process despite some criticism regarding Craft's editorial presence in the narrative.