Synopsis

On today’s date in 1910, one week after his 28th birthday, Russian composer Igor Stravinsky attended the premiere performance of his ballet, The Firebird, at the Paris Opera, staged by the famous Ballet Russe ensemble of Serge Diaghilev.

Recalling the premiere, Stravinsky wrote:

“The first-night audience glittered indeed, but the fact that it was heavily perfumed is more vivid in my memory … I sat in Diaghilev’s box, where, at intermission, a path of celebrities, artists, dowagers, writers and balletomanes appeared … I was called to the stage to bow at the conclusion … I was still on stage when the final curtain came down and saw coming toward me Diaghilev and a dark man with a double forehead whom he introduced as Claude Debussy. The great composer spoke kindly about the music and invited me to dine with him. [Later,] I asked him what he had really thought of The Firebird. He said: ‘Well, one has to start somewhere …’”

Stravinsky himself had feared his ballet score would be thought a poor imitation of the music of Rimsky-Korsakov, his great teacher. Nevertheless, The Firebird was Stravinsky’s first big success, and remains one of his best-loved scores.

Music Played in Today's Program

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): The Firebird Ballet; Russian National Orchestra; Mikhail Pletnev, conductor; DG 453 434