THE FIREBIRD
The Firebird is a ballet by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, with choreography by Michel Fokine. The scenario by Alexandre Benois and Michel Fokine is based on Russian fairy tales of the magical glowing bird that can be both a blessing and a curse to its owner. At the premiere on 25 June 1910 in Paris, the work was an instant success with both audience and critics. The ballet has historic significance not only as Stravinsky’s breakthrough piece, but also as the beginning of the collaboration between Diaghilev and Stravinsky that would also produce Petrushka, The Rite of Spring, Pulcinella, and others. (More from Wikipedia)
The best-known and probably best album by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band is The Roaring Silence (1976); the Wikipedia article comments: “Like other Earth Band albums, this includes material by other composers. ‘Blinded by the Light’, which reached Number One in Billboard’s Hot 100, is a cover version of a track by Bruce Springsteen; ‘Questions’ is based on the main theme of Franz Schubert’s Impromptu in G Flat Major; [and] ‘Starbird’ takes its theme from Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird.”
(June 2014)
