Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 4, No. 12 (1930-09)

402 The Phonograph Monthly Review The Ballets of Igor Strawinski By WILLIAM HENRY SELTSAM 2. The Firebird I T was the originality and vitality of Strawin- ski’s Fireworks that prompted Diaghileff to commission him to compose a ballet on the legendary theme of Kostchei the Immortal. Rimsky-Korsakow had composed an opera by that name and the Russians (Karsavina and Theodore Kosloff in London) had danced the brief supple- mentary story of the Firebird and Prince Ivan to music by Tschaikowsky. Instead of stressing Kostchei as the principal character, however, Prince Ivan was magnified and the Firebird was a sort of “guardian angel” over the Prince while he was seeking the hand of a beautiful princess. What Strawinski gave us in the line of music stands the test of time, perhaps more so than Le Sacre du Printemps will. It is to be regretted that one does not have at least an occasional chance to see the stage production of this charming and colorful ballet. Since the visit of the Ballet Russe to this country in 1916, when Leonide Massine (now with Roxy’s establishment in New York) danced the role of the Prince, there has been no production. It is still in the repertoire of the Diaghileff organization and there have been per- sistent rumors that that organization would re- turn to this country for another tour, which, one trusts will not prove so disastrous financially as that of 1916. The Metropolitan Opera Company might do well to produce the Firebird , for it is certainly as melodious and colorful as Petrouchka. The story is intriguing. In the night, Ivan Tsarvich, the hero of the legend, wanders into an enchanted garden (the first record of the com- poser’s version for Columbia is the most complete version of this section and is very well recorded) when he discovers the Firebird. She is attempt- ing to pick the golden apples from a silver tree. He captures her but foregoes his quarry when he is promised one of her glowing feathers as a re- ward, the feather being a talisman against all evil (the first part of Columbia 67600-D, the only re- corded version of this adagio movement). The Firebird disappears and the night lifts. Ivan is really in the grounds of a large castle. He sees statues everywhere. Presently a group of thir- teen princesses appear, shake the silver tree and scramble for the golden apples as they fall. They toss the apples about while they dance (second half of Columbia 67600-D. This is also recorded on H.M.V. D-1510). After Ivan steps from his hiding place the princesses dance a Khorovode, one of the most delightful sections of the ballet music, in fact, in all Strawinskiana. With the full light of the dawn the princesses go into the castle. Ivan is about to enter the gate of the castle when a horrible din of discordant music and bells greets the ears. Ivan is confronted with a grotesque horde of freakish monsters, fol- lowed by the King Kostchei himself. Kostchei tries to bewitch Ivan and turn him into stone. Suddenly it dawns on Ivan that all these statues he has seen are humans turned into stone and kept in bondage by this great ogre. Ivan, protected by the Firebird’s feather, seeks her aid. She comes to him, causing Kostchei’s power over him to be broken, and compelling both the King and his mot- ley band to break into a furious dance (Danse In- fernale). While the dance is in progress, the Firebird tells Ivan that Kostchei’s soul is im- prisoned in a huge egg, which, if broken, would cause the soul to unit with the King’s body and cause his death. She discloses the hiding place of this egg and at the height of the exciting dance, when Kostchei’s subjects are dropping from ex- haustion, Ivan dashes the egg to the ground. Kostchei falls dead. The castle vanishes; the stone statues become human; all of Kostchei’s victims are liberated. As Ivan receives the hand of the most beautiful of the thirteen princesses, the Firebird soars upward and disappears, her mission completed (this finale is recorded on the Edison-Bell and Columbia ver- sions only, for some obscure reason being omitted from the Stokowski Victor set). The complete ballet has never been recorded, but the composer’s version includes the complete suite with the “Supplications” and “Dance of the Golden Apples” (second record) added. Incidentally, Strawinski’s set is the only complete version of the orchestral suite. The Stokowski set leaves out the 7/4 music of the finale and the Edison-Bell is cut in the Introduction, the Danse Infernale and the Berceuse. While the Defosse (Edison-Bell) read- ing is essentially a ballet reading, the tempos are often taken too slowly, for instance, the Danse Infernale from which he likewise curiously omits the first sixteen measures of music in 2/4 tempo. On the other hand, Stokowski drags his “Dance of the Princesses” (the Khorovode on part two) so that the last nineteen measures are carried over to part three, thus breaking up the entire set (his old acoustical version got it all in one side). That break also causes trouble in the Danse Infernale and the Berceuse. Aside from the better Stokow- ski orchestra, the Strawinski set is the most in- teresting for the general music lover. Possibly in the future Columbia may record the missing por- tions of the ballet so as to give us the complete ballet recording.