Stravinsky's Firebird - a Fiery Symphony Indeed

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Donald Street in The Musical Times explains that when Diaghilev commissioned Firebird for the Ballets Russes, Stravinsky was actually the fifth choice on the docket to be the composer for this ballet. He received the commission in December of 1909, though he must have known the commission was likely coming as he had already started the process of it in the month of November. It was almost a total and complete score by March of 1910 and was officially completed in the following May. The symphony was written with ballet dancing in mind, so the transition from score to full performance was shorter and smoother than usual.. It took less than a month to go from a finished composition to a performance of the entire ballet. This makes it almost certain there was overlap between beginning the staging and finishing the composition in its entirety. However, one last road bump occurred when the principal ballerina decided she no longer wanted to dance the part of the Firebird, stating that she detested the music. She was replaced and the show went on as the show always does. The ballet premiered on June 25, 1910 in Paris, France.[10]

It was a 45-minute ballet,typical of the shorter style of performance Serge Diaghilev preferred. As a music drama, it was said to have been less than groundbreaking. It paled in comparison to the musical genius of the composition itself - hence the reason it was later turned into a suite rather than remaining as a ballet. It was not a piece that was instantly embraced with open arms - at least not for those that were charged with reading it through for the first performance. While those that were involved realized it was incredible, it was hard for them to wrap their minds around it. “It was true that, at orchestral rehearsals, Stravinsky had to explain the music to the bewildered players, and that, at the first rehearsal, the sonorities were so unexpected that dancers missed their entrances.”[11] The dances were relatively tame, compared to his later work The Rite of Spring. The music, however, was incredible. It was indeed different and at times quite complicated, but it was incredible none the less. Stravinsky had taken a page from his old mentor’s book and used structured chromatics to depict the idea of evil or magic. The good and human were structured in diatonics and folksongs.[12]

Sabaneeff suggests that Stravinsky’s Firebird was considered a “perfect” piece when it was revealed to the audience. It already revealed many of the composer characteristics that would be typical throughout his whole career and was filled with dramatic musical color, wit, graphic ideas, objectiveness, and the complete lack of self-revelation in his music that seemed to be so important to the other Russian composers of the time.[13] After the debut in Paris, the ballet seemed to become an overnight international success. Audiences wanted to get a taste of the incredible musical genius that was Igor Stravinsky and his spin on The Firebird fairy tale. According to Walsh, composers such as Debussy (whom Stravinsky greatly admired and was sincerely influenced by - especially for this composition) and Ravel and even the world’s earliest film actress Sarah Bernhardt were all anxious to befriend such a sensational composer. [14] To make a long story short; Firebird was the piece that put Igor Stravinsky on the international radar.

While the ballet itself is no longer a piece of extreme popularity, it still is performed, but the suite (particularly the 1919 version) is what is played most commonly throughout the world. The suite is so beautiful that one does not need to know the story of the Firebird in order to appreciate the music itself. This would be why when Stravinsky created his suite from the ballet, he only included the dramatic orchestration portions.

The story of the Firebird is a classic Russian fairy tale that has been told through generations and generations. The Firebird is known in Russian folklore to be a good and powerful spirit with feathers of fire that are meant to convey the pure essence of beauty and provide protection of the Earth as well as anyone who possess a feather. There are many different versions of the Firebird classic. In this ballet, it spins the tale of a heroic prince named Ivan Tsarevich. The suite is filled with musical painting and extreme texture. Much like his tutor, Stravinsky liked to differentiate between the human and mythical through the different uses of diatonic and chromatic music. The humans - such as Ivan and the princesses - are represented by diatonic harmonies. The supernatural - Koschei and the Firebird - are represented by chromaticism with the majority of the music based on the tritone. It is a suite peppered with ostinatos, rhythmic variety, and pungent harmonies.

The following plot synopsis of each movement is from one telling of the Firebird ballet according to the musicians of a performance workshop put on by the Pittsburgh Symphony.

I: Introduction: The Firebird and Her Dance

The suite opens on the brave Prince Ivan wandering through a mysterious, dark forest in the night. The orchestra plays an equally mysterious and almost tense opening sequence with a very neo-classical feel. In these opening moments, Prince Ivan encounters the Firebird and captures her to forever hold her beauty. Prince Ivan realizes the err of his ways and in a moment of pity and kindness and releases the Firebird back to a life of freedom. The Firebird rewards Prince Ivan for his kindness by bestowing a single feather to him along with the promise that she will help him in his true hour of need.[15]

During the early moments of setting the stage of the forest, the mood is set by the muted strings. The basses can be heard playing in unison but with different styles; half of the basses sound as if they are bowing, while the other half are playing pizzicato and plucking their strings. The only other instrument accompanying that particular moment is the bass drum, or Gran Cassa. An ostinato pattern can be heard many times over throughout the introduction. It is played in both F♭ Major as an A♭ - F♭ - E♭ descending three beat pattern and then in B♭ Major as an ascending three beat pattern D - F - G. Both keys have a tritone between the first notes of the two groups of three in the bass line (A♭ and D). While this ostinato continues, the music rumbles on with the downbeat of each measure creating an intense air of suspense. As Ivan the hero enters, the woodwinds join the orchestration along with the horns and trombones. Upon the entrance of the Firebird, silky orchestral figures and a soft lulling melody can be easily identified. All woodwinds including the piccolo, clarinet, and flute represent the theme of the Firebird. The strings eventually