Igor F. Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971)

A Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, Stravinsky is widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the century. In addition to the recognition he received for his compositions, he also achieved fame as a pianist and a conductor, often at the premieres of his works.

Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei Diaghilev and performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (Russian Ballets): The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911/1947), and The Rite of Spring (1913). The Rite, whose premiere provoked a riot, transformed the way in which subsequent composers thought about rhythmic structure, and was largely responsible for Stravinsky's enduring reputation as a musical revolutionary, pushing the boundaries of musical design.

About the Ballet

The Firebird premiered in 1910, choreographed by Michel Fokine. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird of the same name that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor. The ballet has historic significance not only as Stravinsky's 'breakthrough piece' ("Mark him well", said Diaghilev to Tamara Karsavina, who was dancing the title role: "He is a man on the eve of celebrity..."), but also as the beginning of the collaboration between Diaghilev and Stravinsky that would also produce Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.

Popular Influence

The chapter in the animated film Fantasia (2000) based on Stravinsky's piece uses an abridged version of the 1919 suite to tell the story of a spring sprite and her companion elk. After a long winter the sprite attempts to restore life to a forest but accidentally wakes the "Firebird" spirit of a nearby volcano. Angered, the Firebird proceeds to destroy the forest and seemingly the sprite. She is restored to life after the destruction and the forest life is reborn with her. The Fantasia Firebird chapter is considered an exercise in the theme of life-death-rebirth deities; the depiction of the Firebird in it as a violent, flaming volcanic spirit is not related to Stravinsky's original theme. Arguably, this depiction acts as a literal The Rite of Spring, another Stravinsky ballet used by Disney in the previous Fantasia film.

Stravinsky's work has also had a great deal of influence in musical genres outside of classical. Throughout its career, the progressive rock group Yes has opened its live concerts with an excerpt from The Firebird, and their 1974 song "The Gates of Delirium" is heavily influenced by musical ideas pioneered by Stravinsky.