Was Igor Stravinsky arrested for his star spangled banner?

Answer 1

This is FALSE.

In an interview with his biographer Robert Craft, Stravinsky recounts that his arrangement of the National Anthem was written in Los Angeles in July 1941 and first performed shortly after that. The incident with the Boston Symphony occurred in 1944. After performing his arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner with the orchestra, he was approached prior to the second scheduled concert by the Boston Commissioner of Police who warned him that he must remove the work from his concert or the parts would be seized by the police. There was a Massachusetts law prohibiting any rearrangement of the anthem apparently. Stravinsky did as he was requested and that was the end of the story.

There is a mug shot type photo of Stravinsky from Boston dated 1940 that is often shown as evidence of his arrest. However, clearly Stravinsky had not written or performed the Star Spangled Banner arrangement in 1940 and the photo has since been identified by as being from a passport application. There was never any arrest.