Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
The Firebird (complete ballet)
Introduction - Kashchey's enchanted garden - The Firebirdvappears,
pursued by Ivan Tsarevich - Dance of the Firebird - Ivan Tsarevich captures the
Firebird - The Firebird's entreaty - The appearance of the thirteen enchanted
princesses - The princesses' game with the golden apples - The sudden
appearance of Ivan Tsarevich - Round Dance of the princesses - Dawn; Ivan
Tsarevich enters Kashchey's palace - The sound of enchanted bells; monsters
appear, Kashchey's guar, and take Ivan Tsarevich prisoner - The arrival of
Kashchy the Immortal - Kashchey's dialogue with Ivan Tsarevich - the princesses
intercede - the appearance of the Firebird - Kashchey's followers dance under
the Firebird's spell - Infernal Dance of Kashchey's subjects - Lullaby (the
Firebird) - Kashchey awakes - Death of Kashchey - Kashchey's spells are broken;
his palace disappears; the stone knights return to life; joy reigns
The origins of the Ballets Russes lie in a late nineteenth century
Russian artistic movement known as Mir
iskusstva [The World of Art]. This
was a group of students that congregated
around the artist Alexandre Benois in 1898. A year later they set up a
magazine, also called Mir iskusstva, the editorship of which was taken up by Sergei Diaghilev. Like the Pre-Raphaelites in England, Mir
iskusstva dedicated itself to the opposition of what its members saw as the
decadence of industrial society, and sought to preserve and restore Russian folk-culture. Few Westerners
would ever see a copy of this magazine; nevertheless it would prove a pivotal
influence on European art in the early 20th century. In 1907 and 1908 Benois and his cohorts presented programmes of
Russian nationalist opera and ballet in Paris.
These proved highly successful, and in 1909 the group returned, now
formally established as the Ballets Russes.
By this time Diaghilev had taken charge of the project. The next few years would see the growth of a
phenomenally successful company whose influence is still felt today.
With an artist such as Benois designing, and the choreographer Mikhail
Fokine directing the dancers, the Ballets Russes offered productions that
combined the exoticism of Russian folk traditions with a revolutionary approach
to design and choreography. However,
where the productions lacked a certain fizz was in the music. Although Diaghilev managed to commission such
eminent French composers as Debussy and Ravel, most of the Russian music
represented was in the form of what the company secretary Walter Nouvel archly
described as "salades russes."
These compilations of old orchestral and ballet repertoire paled in
comparison to what was being achieved in the other elements of the shows. The lack of vital new Russian music did not
pass unnoticed in the press, and so Diaghilev, Benois and Fokine determined to
find a composer who could produce something special. They concocted the most Russian scenario they
could think of. This combined elements of several Russian folk tales: the
Firebird, the demon king Kashchey the Immortal and the archetypal hero Prince
Ivan Tsarevich. This sort of conflation
will be recognised by anyone familar with the 1940s horror films churned out by
Universal Studios featuring the likes of Dracula versus Frankenstein versus the
Wolf Man.
The tale begins as Prince Ivan Tsarevich
enters the magical kingdom of Kashchey the Immortal. In its gardens he sees the Firebird, whom he
chases and catches. The Firebird agrees to help Ivan Tsarevich in exchange for
its freedom. Thirteen Princesses appear,
and play a game of catch with Golden apples.
Ivan Tsarevich falls in love with one of them. As dawn breaks, Ivan Tsarevich enters
Kashchey's castle, determined to marry the princess. He talks with Kashchey but the two soon
argue. The princesses try to intervene,
but Kashchey sends his demonic entourage after the prince. The Firebird appears and bewitches Kashchey
and his creatures, making them dance a wild, infernal dance. They then fall asleep. The Firebird tells Ivan Tsarevich that
Kashchey's soul is contained within a giant egg; if this is destroyed he will
die. Kashchey awakes, but Ivan Tsarevich
breaks the egg and the demon king is killed.
With Kashchey dead, all the magical creatures and the palace
disappear. All Kashchey's prisoners,
including the princesses, awake and celebrate his defeat.
Diaghilev initially hoped that his house composer Nikolai Tcherepnin
would compose the ballet. Why this never
happened is something of a mystery.
Tcherepnin was prone to mood swings, and Benois later claimed that he
was simply becoming less keen on writing for the ballet. However, it is also quite possible that he
declined after he had a falling out with Fokine. In any event, Tcherepnin resigned from the
company, and so Diaghilev's thoughts turned to other composers. He approached Anatoly Lyadov about the
commission, but although Lyadov apparently initially expressed interest,
nothing came of this. By now things were becoming urgent, and so Diaghilev
decided to take a chance. For the 1909
production "Les Sylphides", Diaghilev had commissioned a number of
young composers to arrange piano pieces of Chopin. one of these had made a particular
impression, not only for the distinctiveness of his work, but also his rapid
work rate: Igor Stravinsky.
The break came at just the right time for Stravinsky. As a student he
had actually studied Law, but was promising enough as a composer that
Rimsky-Korsakov agreed to take him as a pupil anyway. As his studies progressed
however, he found that his teacher became less enamoured of him as his style
became more influenced by Skryabin and Glazunov, both of whom Rimsky-Korsakov
considered unacceptably modern.
Stravinsky’s music for The
Firebird is nowadays usually heard in one of the suites that he later
concocted for concert performance. His
complete original score is however an astonishing tour de force of orchestral
writing. His influences are here not yet
fully absorbed, but such dramatic music as the buildup to the climactic
Infernal Dance of Kashchey are as exciting as anything he retained for the
later suites; it is often in these little-heard passages that can be heard the
first stirrings of the musical revolution that would erupt in The Rite of
Spring.
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