About this edition
Stravinsky's The Firebird (L'Oiseau de feu) is the work that announced one of the twentieth century's most consequential compositional voices. Commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes and premiered at the Paris Opéra on 25 June 1910, the complete 1910 ballet score reveals a young Stravinsky drawing on the orchestral language of Rimsky-Korsakov, Scriabin, and Lyadov while forging the rhythmic vitality and harmonic daring that would soon define Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. The full ballet — far richer than the more familiar concert suites — contains the complete dramatic arc, including the shimmering introduction, the Infernal Dance of King Kashchei, the haunting Berceuse, and the radiant final hymn.
This edition reproduces the original full score issued by P. Jurgenson of Moscow in 1910 as plate number 34920. Jurgenson was Russia's most distinguished music publisher of the era — the firm that championed Tchaikovsky and brought much of the Russian repertoire into print — and this first edition was prepared in close proximity to the work's premiere, making it an invaluable primary document for performers and scholars seeking Stravinsky's earliest published intentions for the complete ballet. The copy reproduced here corresponds to Library of Congress call number M1520 .S912OiJ.
About this edition:
- Full orchestral score, complete 1910 ballet version
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from a public domain historical edition
- Source: P. Jurgenson, Moscow, 1910 (plate no. 34920)
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
This reprint makes a historically significant public domain edition of Stravinsky's breakthrough ballet available again to conductors, orchestral players, students, and scholars who want to study and perform from the score in its original 1910 form. We're delighted to help keep this landmark of the repertoire in circulation.