The Firebird 1919 Suite

Stravinsky

In the second edition of the definitive account of Igor Stravinsky's life and work, arranged in two separate sections, Eric Walter White revised the whole book, completing the biographical section by taking it up to Stravinsky's death in 1971. To the list of works, the author added some early pieces that have recently come to light, as well as the late compositions, including the Requiem Canticles and The Owl and the Pussycat. Four more of Stravinsky's own writings appear in the Appendices, and there are several important additions to the bibliography.

The Firebird (1919), Suite

The Firebird, 1919 Suite

Stravinsky's ballet score for The Firebird launched his career as a composer after its Paris premiere in 1910. Although he extracted an orchestral suite the following year, the large orchestra required limited performances in the concert hall. World War I, the Russian Revolution and a move to Switzerland intervened before he was able to arrange a suitable concert suite for a normal-sized orchestra, which was given its premiere by Ernest Ansermet and the newly founded Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in April of 1919. Offered here is the first definitive newly engraved publication of the concert-hall staple in the near-century since its first publication by Chester in 1920 - in a notoriously error-heavy edition. Thoroughly researched and edited by Clark McAlister and Clinton F. Nieweg, this new study score will be a most welcome addition to the libraries of conductors, music students and fans of the great Russian master's music everywhere.