Igor Stravinskiy
The Great Ballets
Firebird, Petrushka, Rite of Spring, Apollo.

Igor Stravinskiy is a great composer and his career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first became very famous with three ballets commissioned by Sergey Diaghilev: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and the Rite of Spring (1913). They were first performed in Paris by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and significantly transformed the way composers thought about rhythmic structure. One more wonderful ballet was composed a bit later between 1927 and 1928 and it is famous as Apollo (Apollon Musagete).
In Russia everyone has heard about great ballet Firebird by Stravinskiy at least once. The music of this composition is bright and colorful and you don’t even need to see the ballet to immerse yourself in this fairy tale. When you start listening to the music full of orchestral effects and strong emotions, you only need to close your eyes and the world of imagination will give you great possibilities. Nightfall and “creeping” sound draws garden of Kashey, his dark kingdom. Afterwards, Dance of the Firebird starts and we can feel how fantastically beautiful she is. Varying colorful orchestration helps us to draw the picture of this shining bird and her greatness. We hear her fiery wings flapping and see the grace in every movement. She is gorgeous, fantastic and it is impossible to stop looking at this miracle.
Listener feels the typical spirit of Russia through this wonderful composition. Stravinsky even uses Russian folk song “Po Sadiky” in the “Round Dance of the Princess”. Musical flavor here reminds me about Russian winter, beauties of nature and singing birds flying from one tree to another. I see the winter sunny day where all the beautiful ladies went outside to “zakryjit horovod”. The atmosphere here is completely different to the Dance of Kashei, which is full of rhythmic sharp cutaways and filled with elemental force. These sounds disturb previous tranquility and pulsing throughout entire composition.
Another great ballet by Stravinskiy Petrushka is a new word in music. It is carefully composed of popular intonation of Russian urban folklore. Music form of Petrushka is very unique and different from the others. Through this composition we feel the fun that takes place on the square in one or the Russian small cities. All melodies of this work are sustained in national spirit. They remind me about typical Russian celebration of Maslenica, where people have fun, play different games and of course eat pancakes.
In the ballet “Rite of Spring” rhythm became the dominant element. The entry of this composition creates a picture of the gradual awakening of the nature. This precise rhythm, against which you can hear many different flashing melodies. However, at some point this rapid pace is suddenly interrupted. Sound becomes more melodious and we feel how pace is accelerating and drums destroy this charm. We feel the power of nature and realize how it is magnificent.
When we talk about Apollo by Stravinsly we firstly think about something perfect. The perfection of movements, beauty of human body and incredible melody that helps us to fulfill out imagination with details. Igor Stravinskit created an ideal to which everyone should aspire. He reaches it by proportional dance and harmony of all movement. The dance of grace grabs our attention at one moment and every goddess desires Apollo in her hands.
Thinking about such a Great Ballets like “The Firebird”, “Petrushka”, “The rite of spring” and “Apollo” I feel a confusion when I am asked to arrange the priorities. First of all, you cannot choose “the greatest of the great” even if we are talking about personal choice. I want to notice that all his creations are unbelievable masterpieces. Stravinskiy gave a life to wonderful compositions that have no equal. It is extremely hard to place them into different categories, but honestly I can say that “Firebird” is one of my favorite fairy tales and music created by Stravinskiy evokes so many emotions and reminds me about my childhood. It is something kind and bright that happened to me. This composition makes me feel a child..