Key facts
- Native title
- French: L'Oiseau de feu , Russian: Жар-птица , romanized: Zhar-ptitsa
- Choreographer
- Michel Fokine
- Music
- Igor Stravinsky
- Based on
- Russian folk tales
- Premiere
- 25 June 1910, Palais Garnier
- Original ballet company
- Ballets Russes
- Design
- Aleksandr Golovin (sets), Léon Bakst (costumes)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Duration
- 45
- Image
- Paul Petrov in LOiseau de feu (The Firebird), Ballets Russes, Sydney.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- Commons category
- The Firebird (ballet)
- publication date
- 1910-00-00
- number of parts of this work
- 18
- date of first performance
- 1910-06-25
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~34 min read
Article
The Firebird (French: L'Oiseau de feu; Russian: Жар-птица, romanized: Zhar-ptitsa) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who collaborated with Alexandre Benois and others on a scenario based on the Russian fairy tales of the Firebird and the blessing and curse it possesses for its owner. It was first performed at the Opéra de Paris on 25 June 1910 and was an immediate success, catapulting Stravinsky to international fame and leading to future Diaghilev–Stravinsky collaborations including Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913).
The Firebird's mortal and supernatural elements are distinguished with a system of leitmotifs placed in the harmony dubbed "leit-harmony". Stravinsky intentionally used many specialist techniques in the orchestra, including ponticello, col legno, flautando, glissando, and flutter-tonguing. Set in the evil immortal Koschei's castle, the ballet follows Prince Ivan, who battles Koschei with the help of the magical Firebird.