Coco and Igor
Cover of paperback edition
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| Author | Chris Greenhalgh |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Publisher | Headline Review |
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Publication date
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1 July 2002 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 311pp (first edition, HB) |
| ISBN | (first edition, HB) |
| OCLC | 49394049 |
Coco and Igor is a 2002 novel by Chris Greenhalgh. Set mainly in Paris in 1920, the fictional novel is based on a possible real-life affair between Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky.
Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring has its Paris premiere on 29 May 1913. Coco is mesmerized by the power of Igor’s composition, but the audience is scandalized by its discordant, rhythmic music and Nijinsky's primitive choreography.
Coco finally meets Igor seven years later, at a dinner hosted by Sergei Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes. Igor has been forced to flee Russia – with his wife and four children – following the Russian Revolution. Coco invites him to bring his family to stay with her at her villa in Garches – 'Bel Respiro'.
and composer soon begin an affair. Both experience a surge of creativity; while Coco creates Chanel No. 5 (with perfumer Ernest Beaux), Igor’s compositions display a new, liberated style. But Igor’s wife, Katerina, becomes ill with consumption and an unbearable tension takes hold of 'Bel Respiro' and its occupants.
The piano keyboard operates as a framework for the novel. There are eighty-eight chapters, corresponding to the number of keys on a piano.
Greenhalgh adapted his novel for the 2009 film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, directed by Jan Kounen and starring Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen. The film was selected to occupy the prestigious closing slot at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival on 24 May 2009. The riotous premiere of The Rite of Spring at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913 is legendary (see: The Rite of Spring#Premiere).
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