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The Firebird
L' O I S E A U D E F E U
(ORIGINAL 1910 VERSION)

IGOR STRAVINSKY

PEDAGOGY HARMONIC ANALYSIS BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Berceuse"

bar 3 of Rehearsal 183 to 1 bar before Rehearsal 187

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Bassoon I Part
Score
Facsimile of Autograph Score

Composed
November 1909 in the country area outside of St. Petersburg; December 1909 to May 1910 in St.
Petersburg

Premiere
June 25, 1910 at the Paris Opera House, conducted by Gabriel Piern, with choreography by Michel
Fokine

Origins
Igor Stravinsky was only twenty-seven years old when he received the commission for The
Firebird from Sergei Diaghilev. Diaghilev, a ballet impresario, had previously hired Stravinsky to
arrange a few short piano pieces for earlier productions at his Ballets Russes, and clearly recognized
both the talent and potential of the young composers work. Initial discussions between Stravinsky
and Diaghilev took place as early as the summer of 1909, but an official commission was not offered
until December. Interestingly, Diaghilev actually offered the job to two other composers during this
period, and only returned to Stravinsky after both of these earlier commissions fell through.
Stravinsky, aware that he was not the first choice to produce the score, began composing anyway:

I had already begun to think about The Firebird when I returned to St. Petersburg from Ustilug
in the fall of 1909, though I was not yet certain of the commission (which, in fact, did not come
until December, more than a month after I had begun to compose; I remember the day
Diaghilev telephoned me to say go ahead, and I recall his surprise when I said that I already
had started). Early in November I moved from St. Petersburg to a dacha belonging to the
Rimsky-Korsakov family about seventy miles southeast of the city. I went there for a vacation
in birch forests and snow-fresh air, but instead began work on The Firebird. Andrei Rimsky-
Korsakov was with me at the time, as he often was during the following months; because of
this, The Firebird is dedicated to him. The Introduction up to the bassoon-and-clarinet figure
at bar seven was composed in the country, as were notations for later parts. I returned to St.
Petersburg in December and remained there until March, when the composition was

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finished.1 [Note: Stravinsky continued orchestrating The Firebird until May 1910.]

It quickly became clear during rehearsals that most of the musicians and dancers were completely
baffled by Stravinskys new score. The stage manager of the Ballet Russes, S.L. Grigoriev, recounts:

From the moment they heard the first bars the company were all too obviously dismayed at
the absence of melody in the music and its unlikeness to what they were used to dancing to
at the Mariinsky. Some of them declared that it did not sound like music at all. Stravinsky was
usually present to indicate the tempo and rhythms. Now and again he would play over
passages himself and, according to some of the dancers, demolish the piano. He was
particularly exacting about the rhythms and used to hammer them out with considerable
violence, humming loudly and scarcely caring whether he struck the right notes. It was
invigorating to watch such a display of temperament, which certainly inspired Fokine in his
work Stravinsky attended the orchestra rehearsals and endeavoured to explain the music;
but energetically though the musicians attacked it, they found it no less bewildering than did
the dancers.2

While the dancers and musicians may have been bewildered by the avant-garde score, Stravinsky
viewed it as a logical continuation of the established Russian tradition. He even compared his
melodic material in The Firebird to that of Tchaikovsky, and his orchestration techniques to those of
his mentor Rimsky-Korsakov.3 More importantly, the public seems to have had little issue with the
complexity of The Firebird, giving it an overwhelmingly positive reception at its premiere.4 Stravinsky
detailed the event in his 1936 autobiography:

The performance was warmly applauded by the Paris public. I am, of course, far from
attributing this success solely to the score; it was equally due to the spectacle on the stage in
the painter Golovins magnificent setting, the brilliant interpretation by Diaghileffs artists, and
the talent of the choreographer.5

The Firebirds success was a turning point in Stravinskys early career, and led to further
collaborations with Diaghilev that would cement his status as one of the centurys most important
composers. In hindsight, it is surprising to learn that Stravinsky was doubtful in his ability to even
attempt such an ambitious project:

The Firebird did not attract me as a subject. Like all story ballets it determined a descriptive

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music of a kind I did not want to write. I had not yet proved myself as a composer, and I had
not earned the right to criticize the aesthetics of my collaborators, but I did criticize them, and
arrogantly, though perhaps my age (twenty-seven) was more arrogant than I was However, if
I say I was less than eager to fulfill the commission, I know that, in truth, my reservations about
the subject were also an advance defence for my not being sure I could.6 Although The
Firebird remained Stravinskys most popular work for the rest of his life, he was never entirely
satisfied with the score. He went on to release orchestra suites of the ballet in 1912, 1919 and
1945, each featuring a number of significant alterations and revisions.7

Programmatic Elements
The plot of The Firebird is based on an old Russian fairy tale of the same name (in Russian Zhar-
ptitsa). As envisioned by original choreographer Michel Fokine, the ballet version follows the
Czarevich Ivan, who one night discovers a magical garden outside the castle of the evil sorcerer
King Kastchei. Through the garden walls, Ivan is amazed to see golden fruit hanging from silver
trees, scattered amongst the petrified knights who had dared enter before. Out of nowhere, the dark
garden is suddenly illuminated, and the mysterious Firebird enters, moving to pick a golden apple
from its tree. Ivan climbs over the fence and snatches the Firebird, but the Czarevichbeing a noble
and benevolent manis so moved by the creatures plaintive cries that he decides to releases her.
In exchange for his compassion, the Firebird presents Ivan with one of her fiery plumes and
promises to return should he ever find himself in need. The Firebird flies away, leaving Ivan alone
once again in the dark garden.

As Ivan prepares to leave, twelve beautiful princesses file into the garden, followed by a thirteenth
princess whom Ivan believes to be the most fair of all. Unbeknownst to the sleeping Kastchei, the
princesses entered the garden each night to play with the golden apples under the glittering
moonlight. Enchanted by the thirteenth princess, Ivan decides to introduce himself, and though
initially very shy, the princesses soon let Ivan join in their game. As dawn starts to break, the
princesses suddenly realize they must return to the castle before the evil Kastchei awakes. When
Ivan attempts to follow, the thirteenth princess stops him and tells him that he will die if he enters.
The gates close, and the princesses are gone.

Ivan refuses to accept that his beautiful princess is gone forever, and begins clanging at the gates
with his sword. The entire kingdom is awoken, and all manner of grotesque figures spew forth to

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attack the Czarevich. Ivan proves to be a capable and resilient warrior, but the kings minions
inevitably overtake him. King Kastchei himself emerges from the castle, and summons Ivan forward
to be questioned. Ivan, defiant to the end, responds by spitting in Kastcheis face. Enraged, the evil
sorcerer pins Ivan against the wall, and begins the incantation that will turn him to stone. The
thirteenth princess begs Kastchei for mercy, but it is of no usethe Czarevich appears doomed to
join the other petrified statues in the garden.

Suddenly, Ivan remembers the feather given to him by the Firebird, and quickly pulls it out, waving it
in the air. The Firebird immediately swoops in and blinds the monsters, bewildering them into an
uncontrollable dance. Kastchei and his minions dance themselves to the point of exhaustion, and
finally collapse on the ground. As the monsters rock themselves to sleep, the Firebird gently glides
over them as if singing a lullaby (our bassoon solo from the Berceuse). She then leads Ivan to a
nearby tree stump, next to which sits a chest containing an egg. This egg, the Firebird explains,
holds the very soul of Kastchei, and is the key to his defeat. Ivan triumphantly slams the egg to the
ground, smashing it to pieces, and in doing so destroys the evil sorcerer forever. As the ballet ends,
the kingdom is transformed into a Christian city, the castle into a cathedral, and Ivan takes the
thirteenth princess as his wife and queen.

1
Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Expositions and Developments (University of California Press:
Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1959), 127-28.

2
S.L. Grigoriev, The Diaghilev Ballet: 1909 1929, translated and edited by Vera Bowen (R. & R.
Clark, Ltd.: Edinburgh, 1953), 32 & 37.

3
Pieter C. Van den Toorn, The Music of Igor Stravinsky (Yale University Press: New Haven & London,
1983), 2.

4 Maurice Ravel, however, attributed much of the premieres success to the sheer dullness of
Diaghilevs last two productions.

5
Igor Stravinsky, An Autobiography (Calder & Boyars: London, 1975), 29-30.

6
Stravinsky and Craft, Expositions and Developments, 128.

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7 See the Pedagogy section for more on Stravinskys numerous revisions of Firebird and how it has
affected bassoonists.

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