Who wrote the music for the Diaghilev ballets The Firebird and Petrushka?
1) “The Firebird (French: L’Oiseau de feu; Russian: Жар-птица, Žar-ptica) is a 1910 ballet by Igor Stravinsky. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird of the same name that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor. The music was premiered as a ballet by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris on 25 June 1910 conducted by Gabriel Pierné. It was the first of their productions with music specially composed for them. Originally the music was to have been written by Russian composer Anatol Liadov (1855-1914); but when he was slow in starting work, Diaghilev transferred the commission to the 28-year old Stravinsky. The ballet has historic significance not only as Stravinsky’s ‘breakthrough piece’ (“Mark him well”, said Diaghilev to Tamara Karsavina, who was dancing the title role: “He is a man on the eve of celebrity…”), but also as the beginning of the collaboration between Diaghilev and Stravinsky that would also produce Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.” So
