With The Firebird, the young Igor Stravinsky achieved his great international breakthrough. The ballet was written for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris and premiered in 1910. Its success marked the beginning of a collaboration that continued with works including Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.

The story draws on motifs from Slavic fairy tales. Prince Ivan captures the magical Firebird but lets her fly free, and in gratitude she gives him a feather with which he can summon her to his aid. It proves invaluable when Ivan confronts the evil Kashchei, who uses his magic to hold a number of princesses and knights captive.

Stravinsky’s music dazzled Parisian audiences with its colourful and virtuosic treatment of the orchestra. The legacy of his teacher Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is still clearly audible, but much of what would soon become unmistakably Stravinsky can also be heard here: incisive rhythms, brilliant sonorities and a powerful sense of musical drama. 

The Firebird marked the beginning of the series of ballets that, within just a few years, would make him one of the most talked-about composers of his time.