Stravinsky: The Fairy's Kiss & Scènes de ballet

Featuring

Ilan Volkov
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Igor Stravinsky

Did you know?

1/7

Composition History

Stravinsky's first genuinely neoclassical work was likely the one-act opera Mavra, openly based on 19th-century Russian music idioms, specifically Glinka and Tchaikovsky.

Composition History

The Fairy's Kiss was commissioned by Ida Rubinstein in 1928, at the suggestion of Alexander Benois, to be based on Tchaikovsky's less familiar piano music.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Igor Stravinsky, a 20th-century composer, was acutely aware of questions of style and method, often seeking models for his music.

Composition History

Scènes de ballet was commissioned in 1944 by Broadway impresario Billy Rose for his show 'The Seven Lively Arts' as a classical dance item.

Critical Reception

Stravinsky's Scènes de ballet was met with silence from audiences in Billy Rose's show, contrasting with the applause for Cole Porter's songs, highlighting the challenge of his music for American impresarios.

Composer Biography

Stravinsky publicly defended Tchaikovsky's music in 1921, praising its simplicity, melodic gift, and creative power, at a time when it was unfashionable in Parisian artistic circles.

Compositional Technique

The Fairy's Kiss is a complex and original masterpiece that constantly fragments and reassembles Tchaikovsky's material, making it sound like a modernist or even postmodernist interpretation.