Work: DANCE: Firebird, The

When Igor Stravinsky left Europe for life in America in 1939, his flight was due to more than the impending war. Three generations of his family had died within six months and his neoclassical works no longer met with universal admiration from influential critics. 

No 20th-century composer adapted his style as much as Igor Stravinsky. From his early ballets for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes to his neoclassical phase and serialism, Stravinsky’s music underwent many transformations. 

We look at the fruitful creative relationship between Igor Stravinsky and Sergey Diaghilev and the composer's various creations for the company Les Ballets Russes.