Firebird - San Francisco Ballet

History of Firebird
After an enormously successful first season in Paris, Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets
Russes began to prepare the repertoire of new works to premiere during the 1910
season. Given the success of Mikhail Fokine’s earthy and exotic ballet Prince Igor,
to the music of Alexander Borodin, Diaghilev decided to commission
another work drawn from Russian sources. He settled on the legend
of the Firebird, a magical creature of Russian folktales, such as
Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf. This time, however, he wanted
completely new music, and he requested a score from a composer
named Anatol Liadov initially.
Liadov was unable to complete the commission, and so Diaghilev
turned to the young composer Igor Stravinsky, a talented student
of the great Russian icon Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who had never
created music for a ballet before.
Stravinsky completed The Firebird in early 1910, and the
ballet, with choreography by Mikhail Fokine, had its world premiere
on June 25, 1910 at the Paris Opéra. Diaghilev also commissioned
elaborate costumes designed by Leon Bakst and exotic sets created by
Alexandre Golovine, and on opening night, Fokine himself danced the
role of Prince Ivan, with Tamara Karsavina as the Firebird.
Costume design by Leon Bakst for the original Firebird
The ballet, and its unusual score, were an
immediate hit, although Stravinsky continued to
refine the music, creating a shorter concert version
in 1911; another suite, which is most often
performed today, in 1919; and a fuller version of the
music in 1945, which is the one used by Yuri Possokhov for his
version of the Firebird.
Enrico Cecchetti as Kastchei the Immortal
What Did You Learn?
Tamara Karsavina in the headress for the Firebird
1) Who choreographed the first Firebird ballet?
2) When and where did the Firebird premiere?
3) Who danced the original Firebird?
4) How many versions of the music did Igor Stravinsky
create?
SEE PAGE 35 FOR ANSWERS.
S A N F R A N C I S C O B A L L E T 14 F I R E B I R D / B L U E R O S E S T U DY G U I D E